[kutts]

Some of the waiting period is also brought in by the dealer to create an artificial demand hike. While I was scouting for my upgrade, a prominent Maruti dealer said that he can deliver a Swift VDi or a Dzire VDi in 2 weeks if I take accessories worth 35,000/-. Else it is back to the "standard" waiting period of 4 months - 9 months.

[Omtoatom]

I'm not willing to wait more than 2-3 weeks tops. Push come to shove, maybe a 4th week but then, it would have to be something special and in any way, I would be really really stretching myself.

Our fluidic Verna 1.6 CRDi was booked in September 2011 on the mutual agreement that it will be made available in 4-6 weeks. We were even flexible about the color and actually kept this open-ended. Paid in full up front. From a dealership standpoint, this is what makes a dream customer.

It was finally delivered to us at the fag end of February 2012. That, to this day, remains an exception. It happened only because we needed the car for a specific purpose/set of reasons and the fact that the dealership took us for a bit of a joyride. Each week of those 5 months was a concoction of different versions as to why our promised timelines weren't being met despite us keeping our end of the bargain. Five months is painstakingly long to wait for any car and I don't intend to have a repetition of that episode. Ever.

I'll happily look elsewhere for options, if I'm told to wait 3 months for a car. Once I set my mind on something and willing to fork out the cash for it, I have little patience in getting my hands on it. Simple as that.

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Just a cursory look at the results and its revelation to see that 80% of the buyers wait no longer than 2 months to get the car. With about half of them not willing to wait over a month.

Considering this sample as a representative of the real world, it proves to the manufacturers that long waiting periods are bad for their brand and the product. So the saying they do market study and be ready for heavy rush does make sense from a business perspective.

Splendid point Mayank. However if they do an in-depth market research, most companies don't seem to be doing a great job of anticipating the demand or projecting sales. Since clearly most of them seem to be struggling to keep up with the orders.

[Mortis]

I would wait for a maximum of 1.5-2 months maximum for a car, that too only for a colour or variant that I REALLY like otherwise less than a month is an acceptable waiting period for me. I think most of us try to sell the old car simultaneously while researching and booking a new car so we would hate to be stuck without a vehicle because used cars in a decent condition get sold pretty quickly.

[Geo_Ipe]

Originally Posted by kadanaJ

I get the supply and demand scenario, but what I don't understand is why manufacturers don't increase the price (thus earning greater margins) until supply and demand match?

Wasn't the Honda City doing that for a number of years when there was no real competition around? And if you ask me, that is what led to its downfall in its category. Competition started rolling out better products like the Fluidic Verna & Vento at competitive prices, and the City fell off the throne. Maybe they were not 'better' products than the City, but better than the competition the City had before their arrival. And the City never caught it back. Even with price cuts or discounts or Corporate editions! As somebody else pointed out, it is so much easier to lose the consumer's trust than to gain it.

So if the Swift or the Bolero was to raise its price, I would definitely capitalise if I was a competitor. Noone is a king forever unless they rule smart!

Back to the topic, I booked my Jazz in Sept '11 and got delivery in Dec '11, but not my original colour choice. Looking back, I'm not regretting the 3 month wait for that gem of a product!

[Parthasarathig]

Im not willing to wait more than a month, in any case thats stretching my patience.

My first question to a dealer always is, How long is the waiting period? If the answer ranges from readily available to one or two weeks, then I make the payment and wait. In case dealer tells me a month or even more, I look at other dealers of the same brand or a different brand altogether.

In fact initially I had been interested in buying the Swift petrol. When the dealer said 6months waiting period, i moved onto the Ritz. The one that I liked was some special edition model. Even that had a 3 month waiting period for reasons unknown to me. I thought special editions were made in limited numbers and that too I was only interested in petrol models. Seeing this attitude i felt put off and moved onto Nissan. Where it was the same story.

None of the showrooms had models ready to deliver that same day or within two weeks. Only Hyundai and Ford had delivery ready models. Hyundai was able to deliver the next day and in the case of ford, they asked for two weeks as the model that I wanted was out of stock.

Even Honda gave me delivery within three days.

Currently wishing for the waiting periods to reduce on the Duster and XUV. When the SA told my parents the wait period for each of these vehicles, they were :shocked:.

Its the same story for my entire clan of relatives. None of them would like to wait more than two weeks after booking/payment has been done.

[sam003]

Usually I do not want to wait once I signed the cheque. But this time I have no other choice than wait for my Fortuner. Almost 2 months I m waiting for my 4*4 drive. Still no clue.

[ashphil]

Thank God that the waiting periods which would sometimes run into years for a vehicle of one's choice are over. I dont think I would wait or a period of more than two months to get the vehicle especially as the market has a wide choice to offer.
Regards,
Ashok

[W.A.G.7]

If I like the car, then I don't mind waiting for it (e.g Micra). I booked the car in Feb2010 and got delivery on 27th July 2010. In the end end months, the wait became so horrible that I was thinking of cancelling the booking and getting a Ritz which was available pretty much off the shelf. But I persisted since I liked the Micra wee bit more than the Ritz. I can say upto 6 months of waiting period I can handle, provided I am getting what I want.

[ganesc]

I wouldn't like to wait much especially after paying that much money and when we have these many options to go for. We are not in HM Ambassador era to wait an year to get a non-upholstered Amby.

At the max of 2 weeks is what I consider a normal waiting period.

[SkyWalker]

The only car we have waited > 1 month in our family was 2 decades back, for a Maruti 800. All my cars - Palio, Honda City and Hyundai i10 was delivered in a few weeks.

Above 1 month is a deal breaker for me. Its a shame that manufacturers get away with such long wait times. I dont think there is a *single* car in the market today which justifies waiting for 2+ months.

[TaureanBull]

I am a particular brand-model and colour specific. So, obviously dont mind waiting for a longer time to get my choice. Also, I always plan to keep a vehicle for long time.

[zoombiee]

I would avoid any manufacturer who will make me wait more than a month. If they cannot provide cars on time, not sure how they would manage after sales and spares. A company which makes its customers wait for more than a month should summarily sack its supply chain division. It either means
1) They have messed up forecasting models
2) Dont have good supplier commitments
3) Do not want to invest to meet the demand (off-shoot of point 1)
4) Have very bad storage network and transport network

I have no idea why these companies cannot give a delivery date for a customer order that can be honored. All it needs is some operational discipline and good systems in place.

[rohanjf]

I don't believe in waiting for more than 2 weeks, unless the car has to be custom built to suit my tastes. 2 weeks is the maximum time required to ship a car from the plant to dealership, is what I feel.

When I bought my Palio Stile MJD, the waiting period was more than 6 months for Swift. There wasn't even a top end variant for it. I got the car through my employer's car lease policy. Even then, they said Swift would take at least 3 months.

So I did not even test drive it. I wasn't much aware of Fiat's legacy or the passion a Fiat car induces. I test drove it and booked it on next day, on 12th August 2008. I got a July made Palio 4 days later.

[srikanthns]

I think waiting period of Maruti is slowly melting away, atleast in Kerala. I got an SMS from my dealer in Trivandrum from whom I bought my RITZ saying that Swift diesel can be arranged quickly. I phone him up. He told that if any of my friend wants, he can arrange it in 15days. I asked him what variant. He says any variant. Then I asked about Ertiga. He told that also can be arranged though it may take 20,25 days. Does anybody else in Kerala have the same info?

[evilmessiah]

The worst waiting period I've seen is for Royal Enfield Classic motorcycles. I had booked a Classic 350 on Feb 2012 and the showroom guy had told me it would be delivered on last of June 2012. That was already 5 months. They postponed it again and again without providing a concrete date for delivery. It extended to July and I lost it on the end of August when they said that the delivery will be made sometime in September.

Their waiting period has grown for the Classics- now it's nine months or more in Cochin for C3-s and about 5-6 months for C5-s. T-Birds, Standards and Electras have shorter waiting times.

I didn't really mind the waiting as I loved the bike and I was really busy with work & studies. I wouldn't have minded it at all if they had provided a solid date and if they stuck on delivering it on that date. I understand that RE-s are hand made and they have trouble meeting the booming demand, but I really wonder what's wrong in providing a set deadline.

That and an incident where the carb flew off a test ride C3 which I had been loaned to for a weekend ride made me cancel the booking and go for a CBR250R instead. The Ceeber was delivered within 2-3 days itself. It's a beautiful ride- I don't miss the thump and the excess baggage of the C3 a bit.

RE simply cannot afford to continue with their 'chalta hai' attitude (in all areas be it sales, customer service, ASC, quality control, etc) anymore. The Enfield bikes may have no direct competition per se, but there are a lot of good bikes in their price range that would make most customers to seriously consider cross shopping even if they would belong in a different segment. I really hope that RE gets its act together and step up its QC someday.

Speaking of cars, all the cars in my family had been ready deliveries except for an M800 which took about 1-2 days, IIRC. There's also the fact that all my family cars are/have been petrol models- that's probably why the delivery times were so short.