Many car buyers are waiting for their plug-in hybrid cars: the race for the prize | regional

Bottrop (NRW) – This traffic (delivery) congestion costs money.

Hundreds of car buyers are waiting for the plug-in hybrids they’ve ordered. Lazy supply chains of chips from China and wire harnesses from Ukraine are to blame.

That alone is annoying, they are now at risk of losing the packaged environmental bonus of up to €4,500 for the purchase of a new car.

“Every day I receive at least 30 calls from customers asking where their car is,” said 65-year-old Seat dealer Christoph Behlendorf of Bottrop-Kirchelin. Sales Director Michael Werner (38): “The customer is the dumb customer and I’m the dumb customer to the customer. He doesn’t complain to the federal politicians.”

The perpetrators are sitting there. The Traffic Lights Coalition is considering phasing out government subsidies for the purchase of hybrid electric vehicles at the end of the year. It was supposed to be awarded until 2025.

Problem: Money will only be given to those who allowed their car in 2022. The date of purchase is not important.

For Thomas Riegel (53) an absurd case of forgetting. He’s been waiting for a Seat Leon Hybrid since April 2021. “Am I tearing up the contract now or do I still have hope that the father country will come up with something?”

In any case, Kai Galander (53 years old) is angry: “On June 21 I ordered the Cobra Formentor Hybrid for 49,000 euros. It was supposed to be delivered on October 21. It still doesn’t exist. I wouldn’t have bought it without the promise of the reward.”

Nearly 200 Bellendorf Auto Dealership customers are currently in the dark. “80 percent of them are sounding the alarm, threatening to call a lawyer,” says the senior manager. But it’s not our fault either.”

A special right of termination applies if the vehicle is not in the yard after six weeks from the agreed delivery date. “Fortunately, not many people have taken advantage of it,” says Michael Werner.

Traders and buyers are now hoping for a compromise. “It would be better for politicians to set a deadline: the premium applies to all hybrids purchased before June 30, 2022,” Bellendorf suggests.

The idea favored by auto expert Professor Ferdinand Dudenhofer (71), President of the Duisburg CAR Institute, is: “Uncertainty for buyers is very bad. I expect Economy Minister Habek to find a solution for these people so that they can get their financing. It is also about maintaining political credibility. “.