Fancy a new Volkswagen van but don’t like visiting dealerships? Here’s a new solution for you – VW Commercial Vehicles has just launched an online service that allows you to lease one of its vans or pickups without setting foot in a showroom.
Called Contract Hire Direct, it’s a collaboration between VWCV and Volkswagen Financial Services, and you can find it on the firm’s UK website now.
How does VW’s Contract Hire Direct work?
You simply pop online, find the Van Contract Hire Stock option and set the sliders to the monthly cost, annual mileage and contract length that meets your needs.
The website will then generate a list of available vans and pickups – the Amarok is part of the scheme – for you to select from.
Doing this puts you in touch with a member of the ‘contract hire team’ (sorry, you do still have to speak to a human at this point), who will help you complete the necessary paperwork.
Assuming everything is approved, the next step is to arrange delivery – to either your local VW Van Centre or your own doorstep.
You can apparently go from website to new van in as little as 10 days.
How is VW able to do this so quickly?
Because at present Contract Hire Direct is only available on stock vehicles – and when we looked, the Caddys, Crafters and Amaroks were all offered in a limited range of specs.
Starting the service in July 2019 also feels like a bit of warm up for the arrival of the T6.1 Transporter facelift, expected in the UK this autumn. At the time of writing there were no Transporters available through the website at all.
How long before I can buy a van outright online?
Contract Hire Direct is an obvious first step, putting VW itself into competition with the vast number of websites that already do these things independently.
VWCV’s head of marketing, Sarah Cox, explained: ‘The typical customer journey has changed and we are excited to be launching this new system to keep up with the demand.’
She added: ‘We’re committed to evolving our services to meet the ever-changing needs and requirements of the modern-day business, and we would expect to see more direct sales options coming on line in future.’
Is that a pun? Either way, if the contract hire website proves successful, it seems likely the complete online purchase option won’t be too far away.
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>> VW reviews on Parkers Vans and Pickups
