[Andy McCrory]

Hello everyone, I've been following the forum for a few months now and thought I should join.

Actually I have a leased Volt on order to replace my BMW 520, currently delivery date is set for 4 Jan 2013 :-(

Why a Volt? I have been trying to reduce my tax liability for some years and a company car is a high burden. I picked up on the Ampera well over a year ago and actually got to test drive a LHD Opel model at Millbrook in July 2011. The driving experience, the overall package and of course the 5% tax were all very attractive. Vauxhall gave me pricing at below £30k and said the car would be available end of 2011. However their pricing was a lot higher and delivery very delayed but I was still trying to make it work. I looked at hybrids (Citroen & Peugeot) and almost went for one but saw that Chevy were selling the Volt at the price Vauxhall had originally promised and whilst it still came in above my leasing rate allowance it made sense due to the tax saving.

My company should be able to save fuel costs if they install a charging station at work, I have a 25miles each way commute to Basingstoke. I do travel all over the UK occasionally but am mostly based at the office. The "charge when you can" ethos and the lack of range anxiety make the Volt/Ampera a compelling choice.

I just hope the delivery date improves!

 

[Duncan]

Welcome to the forum.

I'm afraid your delivery date sounds entirely plausible: I ordered my Volt on 1st April and collected it on 20th July. So far as I can tell, while they may actually carry stock of the Amperas in the UK, the Volts are made to order. Based on my VIN number I think they started building mine about 3 weeks after the order was placed and from what the dealer said I don't think it left Hamtramck until late May. It then took until mid July to reach the UK.

 

[Duncan]

Just in case you didn't know, the Hamtramck assembly line is closed from 17th September to 15th October while they upgrade some of the facilities for a new Impala, so your Volt is probably waiting until after they restart. They increased the stock of US Volts before the shutdown, but I doubt they did the same for our ones.

Also, regarding after-sales timescales: I paid for the fixed price servicing pack and the paperwork for that just turned up yesterday, so it took 9 weeks for Chevrolet UK to send out.

 

[dpeilow]

I was told when I ordered my Ampera that the build to order lead time was 12 weeks. Fortunately the exact one I wanted was already on the ship.

 

[Andy McCrory]

I just took a call from Cambridge Chevrolet and they want to deliver my Volt tomorrow, I'm now quite exited!

They said that there was only one volt (without satnav) in the country and it was always scheduled for delivery in September so I guess there was some sort of mix up on allocations and my order must have jumped from production to stock last week.

Since we were aiming for January delivery none of the charging facilities are ready at work but hey, it's an EREV I'll just have to run it on petrol until the charging stuff is installed.