What car are you changing from?

[JB XC40]

]2020 Mini Cooper S Sport. I always thought I would have a Mini as my first car. It only took until I was 55 to get one!

[RonFleet]

I've just ordered an XC40 B3 Mild Hybrid Plus to replace my 2020 XC40 T3 R-Design. Although no haggling was allowed on the new car's price, the dealer gave me a good trade-in for my car, plus £1,500 worth of "products" including GAP insurance, Supagard (which I always have, anyway), tyre and wheel insurance, and Volvo threw in a £2,000 "deposit contribution" if I bought using Volvo Finance - I wasn't planning to do this, but the £2k contribution and 0% interest rate swayed me. as I can keep my cash in the building society and earn some interest on it, further effectively reducing the cost of the new car. The dealer told me Volvo were quoting 8 weeks for delivery, but he emailed me this week to say that they've been told it would be two weeks sooner. Now, where's that owners' manual?

[percymon]

My C40 company car replaced a privately owned Porsche Macan S



Wife says the Macan was the best car we ever had, i'd argue the Boxster. Macan was comfy but it was no sports car

[ChrisLF]

Hi Ron

Interesting what you say about the dealer emailing you. I thought with this move to the agency model and ordering online that it would be Volvo communicating?

I ordered mine not long before you and have heard nothing since confirmation of the order. Have been thinking of contacting Volvo to see if there is a build date yet.

As regards the £2000 loyalty bonus I had to cancel my original order and then my dealer sent me a link to reorder so that they could intervene and apply. I don't think Volvo have got their act together. Neither one thing or the other!

[ChrisLF]

Contacted Volvo via Chat and was told that build is week commencing 18 September so that is 8 weeks from placing the order.

I did comment that Volvo should, having moved to the agency model, be proactive and keep the customer informed of progress. I'm yet to be convinced of any improvements for the customer in the move!

[JFDIT]

So you should have it by early October. That's not bad going.

[ChrisLF]

Much better than it was. That's 8 weeks from order to build. Maybe mine will be quicker as well?

[gripross]

So today i have decided to place a new order....i wasn't even thinking of changing yet as my present R Design Pro B4 in pearl white has been a pleasure to own but out of the blue received a call 2 weeks ago saying i had popped up on Volvos system as i was in a favourable position.
I thought why not at least see what the figures were. Got some figures and was pleasantly surprised so thought i would try Carwow as that is how i got a decent discount on my present car. Volvo now don't do discounts as i am sure you have all found but after mulling it over for a week or so and checking out other brands decided today to take the plunge. I love the black roof of the R Design but as this is no longer available decide a sunroof would give some sort of similar look. Priced the Plus with extras but then priced the Ultimate as it comes. To be fair the Ultimate seems the best value for what i wanted and so today ordered :
XC40 B4 Ultimate in Vapour Grey
i must admit the ordering experience of having to fill all the computer screens in yourself seems a little poor from a company that prides itself on customer satisfaction.... i can see some lets say "older persons" not being too impressed with this. I'm 55 and feel if say my dad was ordering this way he would be asking when making a purchase of this value why he has to do it himself.
Anyway not a big concern for me and looks like i will get the car in approx 12 weeks...thats fine by me.
Seems like the dealer can't even sort my private plate out for me....i have to do this with Volvo uk...am sure it will be fine but just feel the inability to do a bit of haggling and the order process makes me feel more like i've ordered something off of Amazon than getting the full buyer experience. Maybe its a sign of the times and im too "old school"

[ChrisLF]

I'm nearly 70 but very computer literate, so ordering online wasn't a problem for me. It's just this pretence that the agency model is for the benefit of the customer when will all know that the real reason is for manufacturers to take a bigger slice of the profit that gauls me.

Talking of the dealer, whilst I don't like being jumped on I didn't appreciate having to ask for a salesman either!

Whilst using Volvo chat I asked what the process was for registering the car as in the past I've had a limited choice of numbers to pick from as I didn't want an odd looking registration - I've always thought that a Z always looks a bit odd - and was informed that it was thought that the registration numbers were allocated automatically. Not convinced by this I've emailed the dealer about this.

I know it's early days, but as I've said elsewhere, it really is a dog's breakfast so far with it neither being one thing or the other.

[gripross]

Hi Chris
Yes I remember the old days when you could sit down with the dealer and look through all the registrations and pick one that you liked..,As mine is a private plate that’s not an issue but in the past I’ve just emailed them a DVLA barcode and they took care of the rest… hope you didn’t feel I was suggesting anyone over 55 is computer illiterate…. I was just speaking about relatives I have thst wouldn’t be impressed with the present set up.,, looks like you’ll get your car before me do get some pics up when it arrives… best regards to you for a smooth timely delivery…
My previous order in July 2021 was somewhat “unsmooth” as on the day of collection I psyed the deposit…, but between paying and arriving at dealers they managed to reverse the car into the corner of the valet bay… so when I was on my way and took the call of what had happened wasn’t best pleased…Dealer was great and this is what I mean by good dealer experience…. They said they’d repair csr in a few weeks and get it to me but I said I dint want it… they sent me on my way in a demo car.. did a brand new factory order and gave me my original car to use when it was ready to use till the new factory order arrived…and the best part was payment free till the new one arrived.., now that’s what I want from a Volvo dealer .