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As the club get a lot of questions regarding lead times for their DS3's I thought it might be handy for your guys to see the working chart that your dealer will use in order to give you arrival times for orders.
First off it might be handy to understand the process a little more.
When you place an order with a dealer for a car there are three routes a dealer can take to satisfiy that order;
1.) Dealer's own stock
2.) Network Stock
3.) Factory Floor
Most dealers will attempt to supply from dealer stock as this is a sure fire way to ensure quick delivery, normally this would be a car that is in the showroom or held at the dealers RDC (holding park). If a car has to come from the dealer's RDC expect the car to take around 7-10 days to arrive at the dealership.
If the dealer does not have stock to match an order then the next option is to take a look at the network stock to see if another order within the network matches your order. This will happen in one of two ways, first the network lists car as 'Free Release' which means that there is no order against that car and the dealer has not called the car to the dealership and therefore is available to any dealer. Cars listed as 'Free Release' are built units and normally take about 10-14 days to arrive at the dealership. If no 'Free Release' cars are available then the dealer can attempt to swap stock with another dealer or request a transfer, the only thing with this route is the dealer with the vehicle is under no obligation to part with it ( I have sent many a time phoning around only to be told tough! ). If your dealer does manage a swap in this way then depending on if the car is built, as some dealers will swap orders in transit to the UK, then you could be looking at a two week wait.
If your dealer exhausted the above options then your order will go to factory floor. Your dealer has access to a Supply Bulletin from Citroen which will indicate when the next build month is due. For example if a DS3 is listed as build month MAY then expect the car to arrive the next month which would be JUNE, it is rare for car to arrive on the same month as their build month. Will factory floor orders the dealer will be given a forecasted date by Citroen, this is by no means set in stone but is a guide to delivery. Once a order is constructed it will be given it's VIN number and then start to make it's way onto the UK, you can use the 'Lead Time' sheet to forecast delivery to your dealership.
Please remember that with any order other factors may effect delivery time so don't be worried if you car arrives a couple of dates late. Also when a car arrives at your dealer you will need to allocate a couple of days to allow the dealer to PDI the car, add any accessories and valet the car in time for you to collect.
I hope this has helped to open your understanding on the order process and give you a good idea of when to expect your order. Below you can find a couple of resources to look at.
If you have questions about the process then please shout!
Bigfeet
Copy example Supply bulletin from Citroen UK
Example of a customer order on the Dealer's system, you can see the forecasted delivery dates listed.
Below is the Lead Time chart. To use this work from the day the order left the factory which your dealer should be able to give or indeed with the forecasted date to get an idea of delivery times.
Lead Time Chart
DS3's are transported from Calais to Sheerness via ship around twice a week on average but when there is increased volume to move that can go up to 4 times a week.
The main carrier fleet is UECC (Untied European Car Carriers) and the boat that does the most runs on that route is the M/V Ivan which is chartered to UECC.
You can track it here - http://shipfinder.co/
*UPDATE*
Thank you everybody who sends me a PM regarding the delivery status of their vehicles but unfortunately the way the Citroen Order system works is that ONLY the ordering dealer can view and track order process so I am unable to help in this regard. Best advice is to speak with your dealer and if you get the factory exit date you can roughly track delivery with the above chart.
**UPDATE**
There does seem to be a little confusion over the information dealers have regarding factory exit times, what happens is the dealer is normally informed of a forecasted exit date from the factory two/three weeks before the order is physically built and only while the order is scheduled at the factory floor. This date is confirmed by Citroen a few days before the order is completed, but note that this date is only when the factory hands over the order to GEFCO for transport. From that point your dealer can see when the order arrives at 1st PARC and again when the order arrives at RDC, the table above should give an idea of when these points are due.
***UPDATE***
Please bear aware that the Production Factories closed during the month of August and all construction of vehicles stops during this time, production then resumes in September. This means that if you make an order in July that is a factory build it won't been scheduled until September for construction.
****UPDATE****
Citroen has declared today (19/09/11) a new delivery tracking system which let be run by GEFCO for real time tracking within the UK and hopefully factory exit tracking.
First off it might be handy to understand the process a little more.
When you place an order with a dealer for a car there are three routes a dealer can take to satisfiy that order;
1.) Dealer's own stock
2.) Network Stock
3.) Factory Floor
Most dealers will attempt to supply from dealer stock as this is a sure fire way to ensure quick delivery, normally this would be a car that is in the showroom or held at the dealers RDC (holding park). If a car has to come from the dealer's RDC expect the car to take around 7-10 days to arrive at the dealership.
If the dealer does not have stock to match an order then the next option is to take a look at the network stock to see if another order within the network matches your order. This will happen in one of two ways, first the network lists car as 'Free Release' which means that there is no order against that car and the dealer has not called the car to the dealership and therefore is available to any dealer. Cars listed as 'Free Release' are built units and normally take about 10-14 days to arrive at the dealership. If no 'Free Release' cars are available then the dealer can attempt to swap stock with another dealer or request a transfer, the only thing with this route is the dealer with the vehicle is under no obligation to part with it ( I have sent many a time phoning around only to be told tough! ). If your dealer does manage a swap in this way then depending on if the car is built, as some dealers will swap orders in transit to the UK, then you could be looking at a two week wait.
If your dealer exhausted the above options then your order will go to factory floor. Your dealer has access to a Supply Bulletin from Citroen which will indicate when the next build month is due. For example if a DS3 is listed as build month MAY then expect the car to arrive the next month which would be JUNE, it is rare for car to arrive on the same month as their build month. Will factory floor orders the dealer will be given a forecasted date by Citroen, this is by no means set in stone but is a guide to delivery. Once a order is constructed it will be given it's VIN number and then start to make it's way onto the UK, you can use the 'Lead Time' sheet to forecast delivery to your dealership.
Please remember that with any order other factors may effect delivery time so don't be worried if you car arrives a couple of dates late. Also when a car arrives at your dealer you will need to allocate a couple of days to allow the dealer to PDI the car, add any accessories and valet the car in time for you to collect.
I hope this has helped to open your understanding on the order process and give you a good idea of when to expect your order. Below you can find a couple of resources to look at.
If you have questions about the process then please shout!
Bigfeet
Copy example Supply bulletin from Citroen UK
Example of a customer order on the Dealer's system, you can see the forecasted delivery dates listed.
Below is the Lead Time chart. To use this work from the day the order left the factory which your dealer should be able to give or indeed with the forecasted date to get an idea of delivery times.
Lead Time Chart
DS3's are transported from Calais to Sheerness via ship around twice a week on average but when there is increased volume to move that can go up to 4 times a week.
The main carrier fleet is UECC (Untied European Car Carriers) and the boat that does the most runs on that route is the M/V Ivan which is chartered to UECC.
You can track it here - http://shipfinder.co/
*UPDATE*
Thank you everybody who sends me a PM regarding the delivery status of their vehicles but unfortunately the way the Citroen Order system works is that ONLY the ordering dealer can view and track order process so I am unable to help in this regard. Best advice is to speak with your dealer and if you get the factory exit date you can roughly track delivery with the above chart.
**UPDATE**
There does seem to be a little confusion over the information dealers have regarding factory exit times, what happens is the dealer is normally informed of a forecasted exit date from the factory two/three weeks before the order is physically built and only while the order is scheduled at the factory floor. This date is confirmed by Citroen a few days before the order is completed, but note that this date is only when the factory hands over the order to GEFCO for transport. From that point your dealer can see when the order arrives at 1st PARC and again when the order arrives at RDC, the table above should give an idea of when these points are due.
***UPDATE***
Please bear aware that the Production Factories closed during the month of August and all construction of vehicles stops during this time, production then resumes in September. This means that if you make an order in July that is a factory build it won't been scheduled until September for construction.
****UPDATE****
Citroen has declared today (19/09/11) a new delivery tracking system which let be run by GEFCO for real time tracking within the UK and hopefully factory exit tracking.
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