AS Build Numbers

Hello everyone

Probably a stupid question but here goes....

We have been given an AS build number by our dealer on a new van conversion

Is it worth contacting AS to check on progress? And if so what is the best contact number?

We have had July, August and now September as our delivery date. I had always anticipated October in reality, as our dealer had ordered in July last year.

Thanks in anticipation

David H

David,

I personally would not ring AS, even though I would share your frustration.  It is the job of your dealer to keep you informed of these things, and he/she should have the right contacts at the factory to get this information.  If the dealer is not doing this, you should put them on the spot and tell them you want a factory update every 3/4 weeks.

We are in the holiday season which will affect the build rate, and additionally factories across the country are affected on an unpredictable and variable basis for electronic parts because of the Ukraine war.  This doesn't help, I know, but it may explain the prolonged wait.  The other factor is that I believe they make batches of models - not all of the models at the same time.  So it may be that there has been a delay for some reason of the model you have ordered.

Regards

Below is an extract from Motability but the same issue applies to vans and chassis cab deliveries.

"Why are vehicle orders being delayed?

The main issue affecting new car supply is a global shortage of semiconductors, or ‘chips’, which feature in most electrical items from washing machines and home computers, to TVs and new cars.

Each new car features around 1,500 of these chips, which act as the ‘brain’ of the vehicle, but high demand for electrical items during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a shortage of semiconductors. Although chip supply is slowly starting to improve, most manufacturers now have large order backlogs. It’s likely that longer lead times for new cars will continue for much of 2023, as manufacturers work through these backlogs."

Peter Brown wrote:Below is an extract from Motability but the same issue applies to vans and chassis cab deliveries.  

"Why are vehicle orders being delayed?

The main issue affecting new car supply is a global shortage of semiconductors, or ‘chips’, which feature in most electrical items from washing machines and home computers, to TVs and new cars.

Each new car features around 1,500 of these chips, which act as the ‘brain’ of the vehicle, but high demand for electrical items during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a shortage of semiconductors. Although chip supply is slowly starting to improve, most manufacturers now have large order backlogs. It’s likely that longer lead times for new cars will continue for much of 2023, as manufacturers work through these backlogs."

Thanks Peter 

Yes, We're just trying to get through the fog of dealership vs van converters conversations at the moment. 

The van we are waiting for was ordered last June and we're hoping that getting a build number from Autosleepers means it will be available pretty soon.
Assuming that an Autosleepers build number means that the chassis is in the country and being worked on!!!

We received a text on Sunday asking if we were available to be pick the van up on Monday, but this was apparently an automated system error.
So now it's September delivery date. And then maybe it will be October.

Anyway, we're crossing all our fingers

Hope you get it soon! We ended up buying a new dealer stock Warwick XL for that reason. We were told at least 18 months wait and up to two years if we wanted an automatic! Didn’t bother us in the end as it had all the options we wanted and ended up liking the furnishing colour scheme. 

Think van supply is better now but still issues exist so not surprised they are being somewhat flakey.

DeeBee wrote:Hope you get it soon! We ended up buying a new dealer stock Warwick XL for that reason. We were told at least 18 months wait and up to two years if we wanted an automatic! Didn’t bother us in the end as it had all the options we wanted and ended up liking the furnishing colour scheme. 

Think van supply is better now but still issues exist so not surprised they are being somewhat flakey.

Hi Dee Bee  

Yes thanks for this 

We didn't want to wait for the 18 months - so our order is also dealer stock which they're waiting for - which is why we went for new rather than used. 
We didn't choose colour, furnishing or packs, just put a deposit on whatever they were getting - the Warwick Xl stock comes with everything we wanted anyway.
They were supposed to be getting their three new XL's in July, but it looks like even the dealers have no real say on delivery times 

Hopefully its weeks now rather than months .......

Just to emphasise how important previous advice is - do channel all communication up to the end of the warranty period through your Dealer unless he specifically asks you to do something else.

David - which dealer are you using?

Peter Brown wrote:Just to emphasise how important previous advice is - do channel all communication up to the end of the warranty period through your Dealer unless he specifically asks you to do something else.

Thanks Peter - yes we will do

Rocky wrote:David - which dealer are you using?

We're with SMC - and have found them to be great 

The guys there are always helpful

That's  good - some are better than others!

Davidh wrote:
Hi Dee Bee  

Yes thanks for this 

We didn't want to wait for the 18 months - so our order is also dealer stock which they're waiting for - which is why we went for new rather than used. 
We didn't choose colour, furnishing or packs, just put a deposit on whatever they were getting - the Warwick Xl stock comes with everything we wanted anyway.
They were supposed to be getting their three new XL's in July, but it looks like even the dealers have no real say on delivery times 

Hopefully its weeks now rather than months .......

I’m bias but its a great van conversion. Had a few different vehicles over the years but by far the best layout for us. We also used SMC and ours was actually in the showroom - originally we wanted a Fairford but seeing the Warwick XL we changed our minds and bought it then and there (we still had to wait almost 6 weeks!).

Everyone’s experience of dealers (in this case SMC) seems to be different. The finance guy at SMC and the chap that did handover were both great - also I had an issue with the tracker registration due to autosleepers messing up the number of the vehicle but SMC admin were great and helped me to get it resolved.

The sales guy we had though… I can’t say I was that pleased with the service. Had some warranty issues which I was given the run around (broken promises, excuses etc) and then some false information such as being told very specifically that I had to use SMC or another AS dealer for habitation checks which is simply not true. We also had a water leak issue when the pipes came apart (watch for that with your new one as they just use push fit piping which seems insane to me!) and they weren’t interested so I did the job myself.

The warranty work we had done wasn’t done correctly either (I posted a thread about my kitchen side panel which I also resolved myself).

He wasn’t new in the job, he was friendly enough when buying but after sales from them hasn’t been great. I have seen lots of people very happy with SMC overall but I can only go off my own experience - I don’t know if I’d want to use them again for our next purchase if I’m being honest (would certainly use a different sales guy if we did).

Like I say though, love the van itself - generally speaking the build quality is much better than our Swift - few niggles outside of the warranty stuff but nothing major. Also Auto Sleeper themselves have been great - provided me with a few parts that were missing (just little things like screw covers that were missing and replacement for the sink rubber that was slightly damaged after the warranty work) also they were really helpful explaining what they needed from an independent hab check for the warranty to be valid.

Thanks DeeBee. 

Yep we love the look and design of the Warwick - so glad you’re enjoying it. 

The guys we have been dealing with have been fine with us. It’s always difficult to read between the lines of conversations but it’s so far so good. I think that dealers are between a rock and a hard place - customers wanting vans now and AS struggling to supply. 

We gave up on one dealer when we found out that they had supplied new to someone who just turned up at their door after we had been waiting for many months. Presumably a cancellation but we were never given the option of that van. 

SMC have stock arriving, they were told July and it’s now September.  So we have to wait 

Out of interest, when did you manage to get yours? Is it a 22 or 23 plate?

Yeah doesn’t sound like you will have too much longer to wait, supply is definitely much better than last year. Ours is a 22, we’ve just passed the 12 months of ownership with it

Think you definitely did the right thing getting one that’s already being supplied - I couldnt believe it when they told us 18 months if we wanted bespoke spec!

DeeBee wrote:Yeah doesn’t sound like you will have too much longer to wait, supply is definitely much better than last year. Ours is a 22, we’ve just passed the 12 months of ownership with it

Think you definitely did the right thing getting one that’s already being supplied - I couldnt believe it when they told us 18 months if we wanted bespoke spec!

We were close to trying to get used anything . Desperate to get out and about now . I know we’re going to get some problems - just hoping they’re not too bad.

DeeBee, 

Good to read some positive reporting on AS build quality, especially from an owner who’s had experience of other converters. Hope the snagging is now behind you, it’s rare not to have any given the complexity of these vehicles and the idiosyncrasies of the conversion process.

We’re on our 4th AS and wouldn’t consider anything else.

Tim