Help on ED Delivery Date!!!
06-28-2013, 03:12 PM
#11
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ED responded back, the factory is closed in Ingolstadt for 10/3 and 10/4, so no factory tours on these dates. They are still waiting to hear back in regards to Neckarsulm, but assuming they had factory tours, we would need to find transportation from Munich to Necakrsulm. That would not be easy for 6 people, so most likely we are leaning towards Option #3 and waiting for Monday 10/7. It's probably not necessarily the best scenario, but probably the least stressful. 
Why break all plans just for 3 hrs factory tour?
06-28-2013, 03:57 PM
#12
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You make a good point, but who knows when we'll have another chance to do ED again? I guess many of us wanted to see the tour and go through the entire ED process. It sounds like everything will be closed at the factory on 10/4, so basically we would simply be picking up our car and leaving. I kind of saw it as if everything is closed, then it would almost be like going to a car rental place and picking up a car. Hahah.
06-28-2013, 08:21 PM
#13
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Well it's actually not as bad as I had originally thought it would affect our plans, in reality it only cuts basically one day from another city. I've already filled one of the three waiting days with a day tour to the castles in Germany, which we were originally planning to go after taking delivery of our car. One other day was originally planned to explore Munich anyways, so it's one extra day in Munich which wasn't originally planned. It is during the end of Oktoberfest, so maybe we'll just join in on all the festivities.
You make a good point, but who knows when we'll have another chance to do ED again? I guess many of us wanted to see the tour and go through the entire ED process. It sounds like everything will be closed at the factory on 10/4, so basically we would simply be picking up our car and leaving. I kind of saw it as if everything is closed, then it would almost be like going to a car rental place and picking up a car. Hahah.
You make a good point, but who knows when we'll have another chance to do ED again? I guess many of us wanted to see the tour and go through the entire ED process. It sounds like everything will be closed at the factory on 10/4, so basically we would simply be picking up our car and leaving. I kind of saw it as if everything is closed, then it would almost be like going to a car rental place and picking up a car. Hahah.
about factory tour?
You go there pick your car and have a good time. don't let small thing like this ruin your vacation.
06-28-2013, 09:45 PM
#14
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I'm planning the trip and they seem up for anything. I'll mix in a little bit of everything (some nice driving roads with scenery, some big landmarks, and some smaller towns). It's my parents and the in-laws that are joining us, so it will be an interesting trip. I'll see what options ED comes back with. I probably won't hear back from them until Monday.
06-28-2013, 09:51 PM
#15
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LOL, probably not, but my wife and I are, so they will need to pretend to enjoy it.
I'm planning the trip and they seem up for anything. I'll mix in a little bit of everything (some nice driving roads with scenery, some big landmarks, and some smaller towns). It's my parents and the in-laws that are joining us, so it will be an interesting trip. I'll see what options ED comes back with. I probably won't hear back from them until Monday.
I'm planning the trip and they seem up for anything. I'll mix in a little bit of everything (some nice driving roads with scenery, some big landmarks, and some smaller towns). It's my parents and the in-laws that are joining us, so it will be an interesting trip. I'll see what options ED comes back with. I probably won't hear back from them until Monday.
Btw during Octoberfest all hotels in Munich near beer garden ask double, if not triple price.
Last edited by TIME89; 06-29-2013 at 09:41 AM.
06-29-2013, 07:43 AM
#16
AudiWorld Member
alatsacto,
I can empathized with you on the planning process and the lack of a guaranteed delivery date. It certainly made my airline tix purchase and hotel accommodations highly stressful as I felt I was planning my trip very late last year. Once the car is complete then they can confirm delivery date. As you can see it doesn't take them that long to build the car. And they usually give a pretty good lead time to account for any delays. So yes my car was sitting there collecting dust for over a month.
To give you a better idea of the entire process from beginning to end here was my timeline. Hope you find it helpful.
5/3/12 - Contacted Peter A at Penske.
5/14/12 - $1000 deposit. Euro delivery for August 16, 2012 requested. Commission #T16178
5/25/12 - Welcome package arrives
6/5/12 - car released for production
6/27/12 - production complete
6/29/12 - confirmed August 16, 2012 delivery at Ingolstadt Forum
6/29/12 - VIN # obtained
7/2/12 - call from Jeff West about payment.
7/5/12 - purchased Lufthansa airline tickets.
7/9/12 - International Drivers License @ AAA $15
7/10/12 - final hotel booked
7/20/12 - paid car off
7/30/12 - Euro delivery final documentation package
8/16/12 - S4 pickup, factory tour
8/24/12 - S4 dropped off
9/19/12 - Rhea Leader departed Emden (Northwest Germany)
10/1/12 - docked at US Brunswick
11/3/12 - car arrives at dealer
Check out my pictures at the bottom of this page.
https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho...2828974&page=3
I can empathized with you on the planning process and the lack of a guaranteed delivery date. It certainly made my airline tix purchase and hotel accommodations highly stressful as I felt I was planning my trip very late last year. Once the car is complete then they can confirm delivery date. As you can see it doesn't take them that long to build the car. And they usually give a pretty good lead time to account for any delays. So yes my car was sitting there collecting dust for over a month.
To give you a better idea of the entire process from beginning to end here was my timeline. Hope you find it helpful.
5/3/12 - Contacted Peter A at Penske.
5/14/12 - $1000 deposit. Euro delivery for August 16, 2012 requested. Commission #T16178
5/25/12 - Welcome package arrives
6/5/12 - car released for production
6/27/12 - production complete
6/29/12 - confirmed August 16, 2012 delivery at Ingolstadt Forum
6/29/12 - VIN # obtained
7/2/12 - call from Jeff West about payment.
7/5/12 - purchased Lufthansa airline tickets.
7/9/12 - International Drivers License @ AAA $15
7/10/12 - final hotel booked
7/20/12 - paid car off
7/30/12 - Euro delivery final documentation package
8/16/12 - S4 pickup, factory tour
8/24/12 - S4 dropped off
9/19/12 - Rhea Leader departed Emden (Northwest Germany)
10/1/12 - docked at US Brunswick
11/3/12 - car arrives at dealer
Check out my pictures at the bottom of this page.
https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho...2828974&page=3
06-29-2013, 09:48 AM
#17
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Thanks Osicom. Right I knew going in there were no "guarantees" on the date, but it's hard to wait on planning such a big trip especially when you have others joining on the trip. In the end, it was probably a good thing we didn't do ED for our honeymoon last year, cuz that would have made it even more stressful.
I'm pretty sure I did see your timeline previously. So basically you waited till around 40 days from delivery date to purchase your airfare? Wow I know we wouldn't have been able to do that. I can only imagine the price of your tickets, on top of it being peak season during summer vacation. Did you keep track of how much the airfare prices went up while you waited? I mean yes, I want to definitely enjoy this trip, but I also had to justify it financially. I guess maybe ED isn't made for someone like me who needs to plan things in advance. Hahah. While AoA gave me the "company line" of how they couldn't guarantee my date, they kept telling me it should be no problem, especially with me planning it this far ahead of schedule. I was in contact with them and my dealer from at least January.
I have a few issues with Audi. For one, while they listed 10/3 as a blackout date, they also should have also listed 10/4 as no factory tours as well. Because even if this had all worked out timing-wise and I had gotten my 10/4 date locked in, I would have been disappointed that the factory was closed on that date. I went to their website, made sure the dates I was considering were not closed and then made my plans accordingly. Seems pretty straightforward.
On top of this, did they not know this blackout date in advance? I've had this date set as my delivery date probably since February or March. In my many conversations with AoA, they supposedly checked with ED and they said this date would not be a problem AT ALL. So did they all of a sudden decide, to shut down the factory on 10/4? I'm guessing not. It's like July 4th for us this year sits on a Thursday, but technically most of us need to go back to work on July 5th, however I know many people have taken the 5th off as well for a long holiday weekend. I mean I definitely understand why they are closed, but shouldn't Audi have been aware of this and planned it better? Seems a little odd.
When I was ordering in June, my dealership offered me the option of ordering both the Q5 and SQ5 and then picking the one I want at a later date, since at that time pricing was still not available on the SQ5. Technically if that option was presented to me in March/April, I probably would have been more than happy to place my order at that point for both cars. But I'm guessing this only became an option to me since we were running close to my timeline of needing to order for an October delivery.
These are just some small gripes I have with Audi. I love the company and the car. I can't wait to pickup the car in Germany. Overall I've had really positive interactions with my dealership and AoA in this process, plus the ED program was very quick to respond back to me over the past couple of days. I just hope it all works out.
I'm pretty sure I did see your timeline previously. So basically you waited till around 40 days from delivery date to purchase your airfare? Wow I know we wouldn't have been able to do that. I can only imagine the price of your tickets, on top of it being peak season during summer vacation. Did you keep track of how much the airfare prices went up while you waited? I mean yes, I want to definitely enjoy this trip, but I also had to justify it financially. I guess maybe ED isn't made for someone like me who needs to plan things in advance. Hahah.
While AoA gave me the "company line" of how they couldn't guarantee my date, they kept telling me it should be no problem, especially with me planning it this far ahead of schedule. I was in contact with them and my dealer from at least January.I have a few issues with Audi. For one, while they listed 10/3 as a blackout date, they also should have also listed 10/4 as no factory tours as well. Because even if this had all worked out timing-wise and I had gotten my 10/4 date locked in, I would have been disappointed that the factory was closed on that date. I went to their website, made sure the dates I was considering were not closed and then made my plans accordingly. Seems pretty straightforward.
On top of this, did they not know this blackout date in advance? I've had this date set as my delivery date probably since February or March. In my many conversations with AoA, they supposedly checked with ED and they said this date would not be a problem AT ALL. So did they all of a sudden decide, to shut down the factory on 10/4? I'm guessing not. It's like July 4th for us this year sits on a Thursday, but technically most of us need to go back to work on July 5th, however I know many people have taken the 5th off as well for a long holiday weekend. I mean I definitely understand why they are closed, but shouldn't Audi have been aware of this and planned it better? Seems a little odd.
When I was ordering in June, my dealership offered me the option of ordering both the Q5 and SQ5 and then picking the one I want at a later date, since at that time pricing was still not available on the SQ5. Technically if that option was presented to me in March/April, I probably would have been more than happy to place my order at that point for both cars. But I'm guessing this only became an option to me since we were running close to my timeline of needing to order for an October delivery.
These are just some small gripes I have with Audi. I love the company and the car. I can't wait to pickup the car in Germany. Overall I've had really positive interactions with my dealership and AoA in this process, plus the ED program was very quick to respond back to me over the past couple of days. I just hope it all works out.
06-29-2013, 10:00 AM
#18
AudiWorld Member
Looking back I would've just ordered my plane tix earlier. Despite them saying they can't guarantee the delivery date it's very unlikely that they wouldn't meet your deadline especially w such a large lead time. In hindsight I would've just planned my trip earlier. I was monitoring plane tix prices daily and lucky for me there wasn't a big difference. But indefinitely caused a lot of stress as I felt I was planning my trip and route very last minute. The other problem I had last year was rumors of a strike causing production slow down. That was another reason why i didnt book my tix earlier. Audi ED is very responsive in their email thank god.
06-29-2013, 07:52 PM
#19
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Well it's actually not as bad as I had originally thought it would affect our plans, in reality it only cuts basically one day from another city. I've already filled one of the three waiting days with a day tour to the castles in Germany, which we were originally planning to go after taking delivery of our car. One other day was originally planned to explore Munich anyways, so it's one extra day in Munich which wasn't originally planned. It is during the end of Oktoberfest, so maybe we'll just join in on all the festivities.
You make a good point, but who knows when we'll have another chance to do ED again? I guess many of us wanted to see the tour and go through the entire ED process. It sounds like everything will be closed at the factory on 10/4, so basically we would simply be picking up our car and leaving. I kind of saw it as if everything is closed, then it would almost be like going to a car rental place and picking up a car. Hahah.
You make a good point, but who knows when we'll have another chance to do ED again? I guess many of us wanted to see the tour and go through the entire ED process. It sounds like everything will be closed at the factory on 10/4, so basically we would simply be picking up our car and leaving. I kind of saw it as if everything is closed, then it would almost be like going to a car rental place and picking up a car. Hahah.
I feel like we could have used another day in Munich, and yes, I would have liked it to be during Oktoberfest (we did ED in May).
07-03-2013, 01:15 PM
#20
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Okay, we were able to square away some of the issues with the dates, but we should be good to go. Delivery date and time has been set. We will take delivery on Monday 10/7. I spoke with my dealership and according to him at this point everything should be on auto-pilot. Now it's just waiting for the car to be built. Thanks everyone for your tips and assistance. Now I can relax a little and start planning this trip. I'm looking forward to checking out Munich, Oktoberfest, and the Neuschwanstein Castle, while we wait to take delivery.
As of right now, we will have about 3.5 days in Munich. Most likely 1 day will be to take a day tour to see the castle. I'm thinking for the other days, we will hop on and off public transportation to explore the city. Any suggestions on places to go or things to see while in Munich? We are most likely staying near the airport and taking the S-Bahn into town each day. With Oktoberfest, hotel prices in downtown Munich are really expensive. Thanks.
As of right now, we will have about 3.5 days in Munich. Most likely 1 day will be to take a day tour to see the castle. I'm thinking for the other days, we will hop on and off public transportation to explore the city. Any suggestions on places to go or things to see while in Munich? We are most likely staying near the airport and taking the S-Bahn into town each day. With Oktoberfest, hotel prices in downtown Munich are really expensive. Thanks.