No build week at 6 weeks before estimated delivery?

[Pakkapol Lailert]

Hello everyone!

I ordered a SEAT Leon Estate back in April and I was told it'd take 11-13 weeks to arrive. I'm actually away from the UK for the summer, so I asked for it to be held until September, which they said they'd do and then officially gave a delivery estimate as the 1st of September on the order form.

Fast forward to late last month, I asked my dealer for whether they'd been a build week assigned to the order or any updates on the order. They said that it's still at "Accepted at Factory" (the same status it'd always been since ordering) and that they'd chase up on it for me. After quite a bit of chasing (both by me and the dealer), it's still not got a build week as of today (14 weeks after first ordering), and no one seems to be able to tell if this is normal or what's happening. I did make a change to the specification in early May, but I have been told this would not change the expected delivery date, and even if it restarted in the queue, I think I should expect to see a build week by now?

Someone from the dealer did tell me today that the order is still expected to be on-time for 1st September and that there's nothing known to be causing delays. SEAT Support also said that they see nothing on their side that should be holding the order back.

I'm just wondering if this is normal? And is it really possible for an order that's still not got a build week will get built and delivered in just 6 weeks? Someone from the dealer said that they've been seeing a car arriving just around a month after a build week is assigned, is this really true? I'm currently planning my transport and accomodation options for when I return to the UK (hoping to move to a smaller city and I don't currently have a car), so would like to know how realistic this is!

Thanks!

 

[oldglosracer]

I wouldn't worry too much, once it's built the journey to the UK is pretty quick.
They just don't have detailed tracking like some makes.
There isn't much demand for Seat Leon's, so it will be quick.

 

[Pakkapol Lailert]

Update on the progress of my car in case anyone is also waiting for theirs:

29 July – Dealer contacted me saying that the vehicle has just been assigned a confirmed build week of Week 37 (week starting 7th September). Expecting delivery mid-October.
10 Sept – No updates yet so asked for an update. Dealer confirmed that it got pushed back to Week 38.

So it is still not built but hopefully some time very soon!

And for those wondering here’s the full timeline so far

31 March – Deposit paid. Was quoted 11-13 weeks from order (which would be around June), asked for 7th September delivery as I’m away for the summer which the dealer said they’re happy to hold the car.
2 April – “We’ve got your order” email from SEAT UK
6 May – No build week yet. Requested panoramic roof and 5-year warranty to be added to the order
7 May – Factory accepted the order amendment
25 June – No build week (estimated nor confirmed)
7 July – No build week (dealer contacted SEAT Support and was promised update by 8 July)
13 July – No update from SEAT Support and no build week
20 July – “Factory fully accepted the order” but still no build week
29 July – Allocated confirmed build week of W37
27 August – Still W37
10 September – SEAT Support said it would be built “next week”, dealer confirms its been moved to W38

It has now been 24 weeks if you count from date of order and 19 weeks from last amendment not including shipping/delivery which is much longer than the initial estimate. Does anyone here know if Leons are currently delayed or if there are any other reasons?

Also, how long do cars take from Martorell to the UK these days?

 

[SRGTD]

I may be wrong but I think if you make a change to your original order that requires additional parts / components for your car, then your vehicle order may be treated by the factory as a brand new order and go to the back of the queue (that seemed to be the case when I’ve bought new VW’s in the past). If so, then that will have had an impact on timescales for the build of your car.

I wouldn’t pay too much regard to any initial estimated build week you were given - it is just an estimate; any unforeseen disruption to the supply chain that’s out of Seat’s control can result in vehicle build schedules being pushed back - e.g. if one or more of Seat’s suppliers are having supply issues themselves, resulting in disruption of the manufacture of certain parts / components.

 

[Pakkapol Lailert]

I may be wrong but I think if you make a change to your original order that requires additional parts / components for your car, then your vehicle order may go to the back of the queue (that was the case when I’ve bought new VW’s in the past). If so, then that will have had an impact on timescales for the build of your car.

I wouldn’t pay too much regard to any initial estimated build week you were given - it is just an estimate; any unforeseen disruption to the supply chain that’s out of Seat’s control can result in vehicle build schedules being pushed back - e.g. if one or more of Seat’s suppliers are having issues themselves, resulting in disruption of the manufacture of certain parts / components.

Ah that would make sense and I kinda suspected that that would be the case. I think I put a bit too much trust on the 11-13 weeks estimate and thought that given early May was still 19 weeks away from when I needed it, it would’ve been safe to submit the amendment anyways!

Also I just got an email from SEAT UK earlier today (14th Sept) with the subject “Your SEAT is about to be built.” and the timeline showing “In Build” so that’s great news! Not sure if this is just scheduled for the start of the production week the car is assigned to or actually indicates it being built though.

 

[Pakkapol Lailert]

Quick update for anyone who comes across this in the future and is in similar situations.

17 Sept - Called SEAT UK and confirms that the car has been built
18 Sept - Dealer confirms VIN visible and sent me the VIN (using the VIN to get a build sheet, the build date is shown on the sheet is 17 Sept)
24 Sept - Called dealer and they said all they still see is that the car is not in the UK yet and that it’s showing 30 In Transit from Factory, unsure whether they’d be able to see any intermediate statuses between this and when it arrives in the UK.

Also as many others in SEAT and Cupra forum noted seems like their email system is very unreliable as I still have not gotten an “In Transit” email notification from SEAT UK (the latest email I got from them is the “about to be built” email above).

Finally for those who are awaiting their Martorell-built cars we’ve got two ships currently coming to/current in UK ports

- Neptune Koper left Barcelona the evening of 18th Sept, arrived in Sheerness 25th Sept, currently (26th Sept) en route to the Port of Tyne
- Neptune Hallas left Barcelona afternoon of 26th Sept, due in Sheerness evening of the 1st of October

Hope this is useful and will update again once the car is ready to be picked up (hopefully soon!)