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Yes. It's assembled at Aurangabad not at Chakan.

Strange thing happening at dealership, they asking for full 100% even before the PDI. No VIN, no nothing.

I am skeptical that if they are passing out a defective one?

Only getting "Sir this is CKD unit, no chance of defective product, it's in sealed packaging that can't be opened before full payment is done. That's the order by the management."

Here is tentative quote.

Don’t fall for it. You DO NOT need to make full payment before PDI.

Right. I will not. Can fellow owners shed some light on this phenomenon if they faced it.

Sales manager says 'post covid things are changed now sir'.

And I also see it's seller's market not the buyer's one, but still this is ridiculous.

My experience was different. They shared VIN while the vehicle was in transit. I requested them that I would want to do PDI before they invoice, and they were fine with that.

The more desperate you are the more they fleece you. They cannot afford to slide you down the booking at their whims unless you genuinely fail to make payment. My understanding is VINs are assigned by Skoda directly against a booking unless its a dealership paid unit. Email Skoda making it clear that you have the payment ready but the dealership is throwing tantrums. This should get them in line. But as others mentioned do not fall for this trap of having to pay upfront and that CKD units are defect free. Except for Kushaq and Slavia, every offering from Skoda is a CKD and dealers share the VIN once its assigned to you.

Looks like this is the new norm with dealers, given the imbalanced demand-supply equation these days. For my Nexon EV, I was refused PDI by the dealer till I paid up in full, or at least gave them a cheque for the full amount. I found this ridiculous too, since I never faced this prior to this whole Covid-19/chip-shortage mayhem. Problem is that if you dilly-dally, there are 10 customers in line, waiting to get their hands on the car with full payment ready; that is how bad the situation is these days :disappointed

Try to put some pressure on the dealer and see if they are okay with a partial payment or similar. All the best :thumbs up

I did face this. Considering how much Kodiaq was/is in demand, I fell for it. This is after me knowing my SA who mentioned pressure is from the top.
You can be conservative but what @cool_dube said below is reality.

Good luck :thumbs up

You can Pay the Ex-showroom amount after VIN number is handed to you and pay the remaining amount after PDI. Looking at the waiting list for kodiaq, PDI is almost becoming a 5 min formality.

VIN number can be given before the car is shipped from the Skoda plant.

Call Skoda CC and make sure that VIN number is on your name.

I have mailed Skoda about the same, but I also don't want to irk dealership from external pressure, that may be damaging in long run.

Good to know. That's the way things should actually work like.

Can't agree with you more. Sales manager has already softly told me that
'Sir, if you can't arrange funds in time then we may have to refund the amount for the same. As there is literally do or die situation among customers for Kodiaq. And getting Kodiaq is itself a privilege.'

Sales manager says the same, instructions are from higher management.

VIN is there with the dealership, they aren't just disclosing it to me before full payment. Only relief is from central customer care, that too I don't want to press dealership much. They might not be disclosing VIN as they are in mood to hand it over to another customer (first out of ten), in case I fail to release the payment in time. :Frustrati

Thanks to all BHPians for the inputs, will keep updating as things move forward.

My dealer gave me the vin number without creating any trouble. I also told him that I want to see the vehicle and they readily agreed. They didn't link it to payment. At least not yet.

Just to highlight that these are sales folks and will not interact with you again. Once the vehicle is sold, they are gone. Service folks are the ones you want to build relationship with.

Expecting delivery of Kodiaq next week.

Coming back to the previously discussed subject in this thread of PPF/Ceramic coating (my first time), am seeing a few service providers online but finding it difficult to gauge workmanship quality or reliability. Will appreciate PMs or posts with any specific leads or some first hand feedback on reliable installers/ workshops in Mumbai. Would getting this done by the dealer be any safer? Thanks in advance.

Not really true always. Some ofthe smarter sales folks tend to maintain relationships, and explore benefits from your networks. My sales guy from Toyota does exactly that, and i have referred customers to him and he has referred his sales prospects to me for feedback on him and the brand.:thumbs up

The issue i see is that in somecases, sales guys have no say with the service folks. The service folks at Toyota here have good respect for customers but do not even talk properly to their own sales staff, and that drastically reduces their leverage. Have noticed this in Jeep too. Strange but true sometimes :disappointed

Completed 5000 kms. Some random clicks of my Kodiaq on nearby trips.

The swirl marks are becoming an eye sore now so thinking of doing an ceramic coat for the same. Carsbuddy in Bengaluru is quoting Rs.55k for an ‘Platimum’ package. 7 microns think coat and 5 years warranty with yearly maintenance. Thoughts on this and are there other options I should consider?

Finally.. the bear has landed. Photo after they unloaded the car from the container. PDI done. Hope to get delivery in 4-5 days :Cheering: