How does the ordering process REALLY work?

[afdent11]

I'm trying to get a better idea of how the ordering process works since my dealership isn't giving me a ton of info. Maybe someone here who has recently ordered an S4 can help out?

I ordered mine on 30 Sep and the only update I have received from the dealer so far is that it was released for manufacture on 17 Oct. Next step according to them is for the car to be released for production. As far as I understand, the time between 30 Sep and 17 Oct was just the dealership waiting for an allocation, correct?

I was told 90 days from the order date which would put the car at the dealership at the end of December. Is it still possible the car could arrive by then even though it hasn't been released for production yet? Does any happen to have any idea how long it takes to move between the individual steps in the process?

I know I could just wait and see, but I'm getting anxious. Especially since I'm almost halfway through the 90 days and it seems to me there's not a lot of progress being made.

Thanks!

[chet]

They do them in batches up to 3 months apart (or once they get enough orders in). If you order near the end of a cycle, you'll get lucky.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

[Enoonmai80]

I'm in the same boat, ordered 9/5/13 and have received an email 9/11/13 that my order has been placed. Haven't received any updates so I called the dealership and was told second week in December. I too thought that there would be more info funneled my way. Dealership says that this is normal and to be patient.

[dennisA4]

This sums it up really well. I've ordered a few audis over the years and its always the same.
http://www.theaudiguy.com/the-audi-g...car-order.html

But I usually can shave off about a month by having the dealer find one that's already in the que that is either exactly what i want or still early enough to make minor changes.

Also, once the car has been produced and sent to the port, your dealer can find out the name of the boat which you can track on marine traffic.com.
I followed mine all the way over and into the port of houston.

[mmmkam]

Easiest thing to do is ask your sales guy for a screenshot of the dates and status screen from the audiaccess.com ordering system. It will show every step in the process along with actual dates for events that have occurred and ETA dates for several of the future events in the delivery process depending upon how far along your car is.

For mine I ordered the last week of sept and got a screenshot about a week and a half ago with the car "released to manufacture". It shows ETA dates for Ship loading, Port arrival, release to carrier, and dealer delivered.

From what I can tell the 90 days, give or take a week or two in some cases, seems to be fairly accurate depending on where you are. Once the car has actually been build and has a VIN I also hear the ETA dates are a bit more accurate.

A quick forum or google search with give you a lot more detail on the above. Hope that helps.

[SwankPeRFection]

You mean you can't just order it online and go pick it up at the local dealership the same day like you can with an Apple product?! WTF Audi?!

[goondog]

If it makes you feel better my dealer had a car in his allocation back in mid july. After about a couple of weeks of haggling on price i gave a cc deposit and he said the car was in my name with items ordered.
i received an commission number soon thereafter.
Last week i just got the vin number and its due at the dealer week of nov 20ish.
Agreed a lengthy wait but i was in no hurry and I will be getting a screen shot soon of the ordering timeline.(thx mmmkam)
good luck...

[SwankPeRFection]

What if you don't like the VIN number they assign to the car?

I know it sounds crazy, but I've always picked cars that have some kind of pattern to the VIN that looked a certain way to me. All of these have always "felt right" when you sit in them. The other ones I've had that weren't like this have always not felt personable. Is it just me? Am I really crazy?

[afdent11]

Thanks for all the informative replies. The Audi guy article was great! Interesting that it only takes about a day to actually build the car. It makes sense when you think of an assembly line, I just hadn't really thought about it. Based on that article, it sounds like I'll have it about a month after it leaves Germany. Hopefully it will come in time for Christmas

[Mattb7]

Finally got mine 3 days ago...I caught mine in que so just made some mod's for the production process so it only took 6 weeks. Take a peek at the time line

Order Entry 08/23/2013
Marked Sold Order 09/19/2013
Vehicle Assigned 09/19/2013
Release to Manuf. 09/04/2013
Release for Production 09/23/2013
Factory Inspected 10/09/2013
Departure Port Arrived 10/11/2013
Ship Loaded 10/18/2013
Port Arrived 10/30/2013
Dealer Invoice

Port Hold End

Rel. to Carrier (Port) 11/05/2013

[afdent11]

Finally got mine 3 days ago...I caught mine in que so just made some mod's for the production process so it only took 6 weeks. Take a peek at the time line

Order Entry 08/23/2013
Marked Sold Order 09/19/2013
Vehicle Assigned 09/19/2013
Release to Manuf. 09/04/2013
Release for Production 09/23/2013
Factory Inspected 10/09/2013
Departure Port Arrived 10/11/2013
Ship Loaded 10/18/2013
Port Arrived 10/30/2013
Dealer Invoice

Port Hold End

Rel. to Carrier (Port) 11/05/2013

This is what I was hoping to see. Thanks! So if my dates end up being close to yours, I could expect mine to possibly be released for production around 20 days after it was released to manufacture which should be now, actually. Hmmm...

Looks like you had yours about a month and a half after production. Although, unlike yours, mine will have to cross the country once it gets to the port...

It sucks to wait, but the anticipation is also kind of fun

[LakeShow]

You mean you can't just order it online and go pick it up at the local dealership the same day like you can with an Apple product?! WTF Audi?!

Exactly, and ship right to your door as well lol.

[kcrunch]

What if you don't like the VIN number they assign to the car?

I know it sounds crazy, but I've always picked cars that have some kind of pattern to the VIN that looked a certain way to me. All of these have always "felt right" when you sit in them. The other ones I've had that weren't like this have always not felt personable. Is it just me? Am I really crazy?

I agree this sounds crazy.

[chachachaudhry]

My car was ordered on 10/4/13. Just received an e-mail yesterday with the VIN number. According to the screenshot I got, the Shipment Process From Factory date is: 11/13/13 and the Port Process Date is: 12/05/13. The Dealer Delivered ETA is 12/09/13. I checked www.pwl.de and the VW Logistics schedule and the only two Vessels around my date are:

Guardian Leader 11/16 Emden 11/27 Davisville
Seven Seas Highway 11/15 or 11/16 Emden 12/02 Davisville

Not sure which one it will be on, but how long is the wait usually once the VIN is assigned?

[mmmkam]

My car was ordered on 10/4/13. Just received an e-mail yesterday with the VIN number. According to the screenshot I got, the Shipment Process From Factory date is: 11/13/13 and the Port Process Date is: 12/05/13. The Dealer Delivered ETA is 12/09/13. I checked www.pwl.de and the VW Logistics schedule and the only two Vessels around my date are:

Guardian Leader 11/16 Emden 11/27 Davisville
Seven Seas Highway 11/15 or 11/16 Emden 12/02 Davisville

Not sure which one it will be on, but how long is the wait usually once the VIN is assigned?

Nice. I need to email my SA for status. I ordered the week before you and haven't gotten that yet.

[Audi Newb]

I picked mine up last week and the timelines were odd.

I ordered on 8/28 and it was at my dealer 11/3, so from order to delivery it was only 68 days.
the emails that came from Audi seemed to be pretty behind compared to where they were really at in production.
the week before my car arrived at the dealer I got an email saying that it was just going to port to come stateside.
maybe i got lucky in the que and that is why i got mine earlier than expected.

[chachachaudhry]

So the CA says he doesn't know which vessel the car is on. He said he's got limited access and all he can get is: Intransit from Factory! He says should be here within the month. He sent a screenshot where under "Shipment Process from Factory", the actual date was 11/08/13 compared to the ETA date of 11/16/13. How can I get the name of the vessel???

[SwankPeRFection]

So the CA says he doesn't know which vessel the car is on. He said he's got limited access and all he can get is: Intransit from Factory! He says should be here within the month. He sent a screenshot where under "Shipment Process from Factory", the actual date was 11/08/13 compared to the ETA date of 11/16/13. How can I get the name of the vessel???

What's that going to give you? Are you going to go out there in the ocean with the pirates and board the vessel and look at your car? Are you going to go to the ports when it arrives and pay some guy to let you know when the container is loaded so you and your 5 friends can hijack it on the road to the dealer?

[chachachaudhry]

What's that going to give you? Are you going to go out there in the ocean with the pirates and board the vessel and look at your car? Are you going to go to the ports when it arrives and pay some guy to let you know when the container is loaded so you and your 5 friends can hijack it on the road to the dealer?

Ummmm No. But you can track the vessel on sites like marinetraffic; vesseltracker; and fleetmon. Example: Here's Seven Seas Highway!

What are you, 10? Your attempt at sarcastic humor failed miserably!!!

[mmmkam]

On that screenshot there should be an ETA (or actual) for the "Ship Loaded" date. You can use that to look up the ship which is scheduled to be in port that day and then track it.

Use this site to pull the schedule: http://www.pwl.de
- Under liner schedules select the US routs and VW logistics in the two dropdowns and you will get a pdf
- See which ship is scheduled to port in Emden on your ETA

Once you have the ship name you can track it at http://marinetraffic.com/

Once your car has been loaded and depending on the ship owner you can also try tracking it by using the VIN as the cargo ID at this site... https://att.2wglobal.com/gstattweb/o...uickSearchPage

My car is scheduled to be loaded on the 20th and I was able to get all of the above to work with the exception of the last part which I will have to wait a couple days to test. Mine for example, unless schedules change, should be on the ship "Olympic highway" which is currently parked just off the coast of Germany and is due into the Emden port today.

Hope that helps for those as OCD about tracking as I have become

[SwankPeRFection]

Ummmm No. But you can track the vessel on sites like marinetraffic; vesseltracker; and fleetmon. Example: Here's Seven Seas Highway!

What are you, 10? Your attempt at sarcastic humor failed miserably!!!

Don't be pissed because you got made fun of. lol

And I'm actually 12... cuz the wit is more at that age.

[chachachaudhry]

Don't be pissed because you got made fun of. lol

And I'm actually 12... cuz the wit is more at that age.

Made fun of? Pissed? Good joke!!! Clearly you lack what's called a 'sense of humor'. Your post is hardly 'witty'!!! More like a pathetic attempt at being witty!

[chachachaudhry]

On that screenshot there should be an ETA (or actual) for the "Ship Loaded" date. You can use that to look up the ship which is scheduled to be in port that day and then track it.

Use this site to pull the schedule: http://www.pwl.de
- Under liner schedules select the US routs and VW logistics in the two dropdowns and you will get a pdf
- See which ship is scheduled to port in Emden on your ETA

Once you have the ship name you can track it at http://marinetraffic.com/

Once your car has been loaded and depending on the ship owner you can also try tracking it by using the VIN as the cargo ID at this site... https://att.2wglobal.com/gstattweb/o...uickSearchPage

My car is scheduled to be loaded on the 20th and I was able to get all of the above to work with the exception of the last part which I will have to wait a couple days to test. Mine for example, unless schedules change, should be on the ship "Olympic highway" which is currently parked just off the coast of Germany and is due into the Emden port today.

Hope that helps for those as OCD about tracking as I have become

Awesome. Thanks for some actual help... At least you know what I'm talking about

[dennisA4]

What's that going to give you? Are you going to go out there in the ocean with the pirates and board the vessel and look at your car? Are you going to go to the ports when it arrives and pay some guy to let you know when the container is loaded so you and your 5 friends can hijack it on the road to the dealer?

How about an interesting way to enjoy the wait and learn what it takes to ship a car overseas, and being able to say you followed your car across the pond.

Here's a very interesting article I found during my wait.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/au...5500-cars.html

And you can search youtube as well.
I found a neat video from earlier this year of my actual boat (seven seas highway) leaving the port of Houston, which was my car's final destination!

[afdent11]

On that screenshot there should be an ETA (or actual) for the "Ship Loaded" date. You can use that to look up the ship which is scheduled to be in port that day and then track it.

Use this site to pull the schedule: http://www.pwl.de
- Under liner schedules select the US routs and VW logistics in the two dropdowns and you will get a pdf
- See which ship is scheduled to port in Emden on your ETA

Once you have the ship name you can track it at http://marinetraffic.com/

Once your car has been loaded and depending on the ship owner you can also try tracking it by using the VIN as the cargo ID at this site... https://att.2wglobal.com/gstattweb/o...uickSearchPage

My car is scheduled to be loaded on the 20th and I was able to get all of the above to work with the exception of the last part which I will have to wait a couple days to test. Mine for example, unless schedules change, should be on the ship "Olympic highway" which is currently parked just off the coast of Germany and is due into the Emden port today.

Hope that helps for those as OCD about tracking as I have become

It looks like we're on a similar schedule; I ordered mine 3 days after you did. Can you share what all of your estimated dates are from Audi? Mine just updated.

Order entry/marked sold order: 30 Sep 2013
Release to manufacture: 17 Oct 2013
Ship loaded: 12 Dec 2013
Port arrived: 01 Jan 2014
Released to carrier (Port): 05 Jan 2014
Dealer delivered: week of 06 Jan 2014

Looks like you might be a ways ahead of me based on when yours is scheduled to be loaded. Did 3 days really make that much of a difference?! :)

[mmmkam]

Was originally scheduled for Delivery the week of 12/24 but got moved up (not that I was complaining!). This was latest when I checked last week on mine...

Order Entry 9/27/13
Marked Sold Order 9/27/13
Vehicle Assigned 9/27/13
Released to Manuf. 10/10/13
Released for Production 10/29/13
Factory Inspected 11/12/13
Departure Port Arrived 11/13/13 <--Current Status
Ship Loaded ETA 11/20/13
Port Arrived ETA 12/2/13
Rel. to Carrier (Port) ETA 12/6/13
Dealer Delivered ETA Week of 12/16/13

[afdent11]

Was originally scheduled for Delivery the week of 12/24 but got moved up (not that I was complaining!). This was latest when I checked last week on mine...

Order Entry 9/27/13
Marked Sold Order 9/27/13
Vehicle Assigned 9/27/13
Released to Manuf. 10/10/13
Released for Production 10/29/13
Factory Inspected 11/12/13
Departure Port Arrived 11/13/13 <--Current Status
Ship Loaded ETA 11/20/13
Port Arrived ETA 12/2/13
Rel. to Carrier (Port) ETA 12/6/13
Dealer Delivered ETA Week of 12/16/13

Cool! Thanks! I hope mine gets moved up, too. Based on my current dates, though, it will probably be some time the second week of January. I'll probably do all of the paperwork at the end of December, though. I need to make sure I get my $1000 new owner acquisition rebate. I've got a newly purchased 2001 BMW in my garage just for that rebate and it expires 02 Jan 2014 :)

Thanks again for the info.

Also, I jacked your signature format. Hope you don't mind :)

[chachachaudhry]

Alright! So I AM on Guardian Leader (as I had thought initially) and that boat docks at Davisville in 3 days! My ETA on Delivery is Week of Jan 9. Guess being the holidays next week it will take that long. But maybe there's a slim chance of getting it a week sooner? :)

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