As promised in my newbie post I’ll provide a rundown of the stages over the 7 month or 33 week wait.

This is for the benefit of those (living in Australia primarily) who have ordered their vehicle and wish to track their VW to delivery.

All up the “order-to-build” took 15 weeks and the “build-to-delivery” took 16 weeks.

I placed the order for the 162TSI highline with driver assist package (no R Line, no sunroof) on 12 July 2017 and collected it from the dealer on 21 February 2018. When I placed the order, via a tender process, all 7 dealer offers acknowledged that they could supply by my target delivery date of 18 October 2017. An acceptable 3 month delivery timeframe. As I was travelling overseas for a period I sold my XV Subaru and went off overseas.

When I returned for a week in mid-September, as I had not heard anything from the dealer, I contacted them to get a status update. The sales rep was apologetic, “Sorry, but there is a problem. Demand has been such that VW has run out of driver-assist components and are waiting for the supplier to catch up. Also VW are “retooling” for the MY18 model and production is held up by this also. So I can’t give you an expected delivery time. But hey, you will get the MY18 model updates!”.

Naturally I was very annoyed as when I finally returned home in mid-October I would have NO car and NO potential date for the new Tiguan. Additionally while I was away, the sales person I had been dealing with “left the dealership” and when I contacted them again at the end of October no-one knew about my order or could find anything “on the system”. Thankfully, a thoughtful employee put me through to the Fleet Manager. He took all my details and listened sympathetically to my situation and promised to get back to me regarding the order.

The next afternoon he contacted me and provided an update on my order/vehicle; that the Tiguan unfornately wouldn’t be landing in Australia until mid-December — at a best guess; the name and details of my new sales contact, and – as I had no car — that the Principal of the dealership had agreed to provide me with a loan vehicle until the Tiguan arrived, which was not something they normally offer to new car buyers. I was very relieved and thankful as I could get around again while I waited… and waited.

It was not until the 8 November that I found out from VW that the car was built and the 15 December from the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics website that the car had been loaded onto a ship.

Some key dates of the wait:

  • 12 July 2017: Order placed with dealer
  • 17 August: VW Australia acknowledges order (Welcome)
  • 20 October: Expected delivery date by dealer at time of order
  • 1 November: Build date of vehicle (obtained from documentation at dealer delivery)
  • 8 November: VW Australia acknowledges vehicle has been built. (I’m built), but dealer information system indicated vehicle was “in-build”
  • 4 December: Requested and provided VIN of my vehicle from the dealer as the vehicle now existed
  • 14 December: Vehicle loaded on ship to Australia via UK, USA, Panama Canal and NZ. This information was obtained from the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics website using full vehicle VIN. Ship schedule showed expected unloading in Brisbane on 31 January 2018.
  • 30 December 2017: VW Australia acknowledges vehicle shipped (I’m on my way)
  • 1 February 2018: Vehicle unloaded in Brisbane (information from the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics website).
  • 13 February 2018: Dealer advised that vehicle would be ready to deliver from the 18th February. But as of today they do not yet have the car on-site.
  • 20 February 2018: Drove my new “Tiggy” home.
  • 28 February 2018: VW Australia provides welcome and warranty/road assist information.


Some observations from my “ordered my new Tiguan” experience:


  • There is a delay between a vehicle milestone and VW notifying the owner of the event.
  • My dealer couldn’t access accurate/up-to-date status information regarding my vehicle from VW.
  • The only useful date about your vehicle delivery is the docking/unloading date at your closest port of the ship carrying your vehicle. This can be found on the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics website (Global Shipping & Logistics Solutions | Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics) from firstly using the “Track and Trace” page and then using the ship “Schedules” page to view the ship’s schedule and track it through ports. You need the full VIN for your vehicle to do this and it may take repeated searches over a couple of weeks before you get a “return ping” once your car is loaded.
  • Once a vehicle lands in Australia it is held at the docks (customs etc.) for 10-14 days before it gets trucked to your dealer. Once the car lands it does not appear anymore on the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics website and the dealer does not know when the car will arrive at the dealership until it actually arrives. Only then is it possible to get a delivery date to you from the dealer.


I hope you find this information useful.

In my next post I’ll cover my first couple of weeks' experience with my new Tiggy.