Ford, why do reservations not have priority?

[DevSecOps]

GT’s

I have a GTPE that I reserved/ordered and it's original build date was in September... it's still under reservations in my account but now it shows November 14 and each week it just moves forward another week.

I finally said enough is enough and went on Edmonds and found one across the country and purchased it, exactly the same as I had one reserved. So there are other options, it just takes dedication to find one. I spent weeks on it.

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[Davedough]

I have a GTPE that I reserved/ordered and it's original build date was in September... it's still under reservations in my account but now it shows November 14 and each week it just moves forward another week.

I finally said enough is enough and went on Edmonds and found one across the country and purchased it, exactly the same as I had one reserved. So there are other options, it just takes dedication to find one. I spent weeks on it.

I spent weeks trying to find my configuration and gave up because not one could be found in my build without ADM. I looked as far as Texas at any dealer I could find for two weeks straight

 

[DevSecOps]

I spent weeks trying to find my configuration and gave up because not one could be found in my build without ADM. I looked as far as Texas at any dealer I could find for two weeks straight

I feel the pain ... I had to have made 300 phone calls trying to work deals. Some dealerships wouldn't budge other's would. But if you do continue looking I found that Edmunds and cars.com had much more reliable and far more inventory that ford.com

 

[Davedough]

I feel the pain ... I had to have made 300 phone calls trying to work deals. Some dealerships wouldn't budge other's would. But if you do continue looking I found that Edmunds and cars.com had much more reliable and far more inventory that ford.com

Yeah mine is 2 hours away in Delaware for now. Has been for 2 weeks. At this point I’ll just wait

 

[HuntingPudel]

i ordered a Premium ER AWD on 2.21. It still has not been delivered to my dealership! I also ordered a GTPE on 4.27 to see which one came first since I still did not have a build date on my orginial order. Guess which one is sitting in my garage? I’m not sure what the Premium issue is, but it’s an issue.

When did you reserve your GT-PE? Long before the Premium?

I have a GTPE that I reserved/ordered and it's original build date was in September... it's still under reservations in my account but now it shows November 14 and each week it just moves forward another week.

I finally said enough is enough and went on Edmonds and found one across the country and purchased it, exactly the same as I had one reserved. So there are other options, it just takes dedication to find one. I spent weeks on it.

When GTs started getting delivered and my car was still a pipe dream, I spent some time looking for another one in my spec. Couldn’t find one, so I stopped looking when my production week hit. ??

 

[TTT]

OP:

I think the dealer model has a lot to do with all of this. Primarily its the number of cars allocated to your dealer, and how your dealer chooses to put you in line.

I went to a large local dealer the day after I placed my digital order and confirmed everything in person in Late July, and waited. The ford.com website showed that the order had been received.

In late September when nothing had happened I stopped by again to discuss what was happening with the 22 MY and while my order was up on screen I saw that my Priority Code was still 19, the dealers way to telling Ford they were in no rush to see my car produced. The dealer didn't want to have direct conversations about the priority code, but the internet has plenty of information about how it works and I kept asking enough questions and making it clear I understood how the system worked that they finally informed me they had changed my status to Code 10, which essentially means that they are asking Ford to get the car built as one of the dealerships next allocations - at the top of their list.

By this time nothing was getting scheduled because of the model year switchover and all of the cars reportedly going to Europe, but finally 2 weeks ago I got a build date.

I believe if my dealer priority code remained at 19 I'd probably be waiting a lot longer - maybe not - but I believe there was a causal relationship between their changing my code and my getting a build date in the second week after scheduling resumed.

The ford dealer in Chambersburg might only get 1 or 2 Mach Es every month, and it may well be that those cars are going to the owners personal friends, customers that have purchased many cars over the years, etc first and you are just waiting until they get around to you. I don't know that to be a fact - it's just what I believe based on my experience out on the far side of the country.

I suggest that you go in person to the dealer, sit down in your salespersons office and ask them to open your order so you can look at it together. Once it is up on the screen - look at the priority code, if you can't find it, only once its open then ask them to scroll around and show it to you. If its at 10, they value your business - it its 19, they don't care very much when ford gets around to building it, and if it is 99, the dealer has specifically instructed Ford to put the order on hold and not do anything until the dealer changes the number to something between 10 and 19. If its 15 for example, that means the dealer is slowly moving you through a list and ask more questions about how many cars are ahead of you, and if other cars will be put in line in front of you.

If its 99, I'd ask when the code was assigned, by who, and why. I also wouldn't leave until it was changed to 10, and I'd get some kind of promise that it would remain a 10 or someone would call you first.

The only thing this will do, potentially is get you a build date. As you have seen here that will likely slip. Once its built it may sit for a long while waiting for chips, then there may be delays in transportation, etc. I don't think you can do anything at all about the delays tied to those steps, but if your dealer is delaying your production date - that is something you can do something about potentially.

If you look through the tracking list you will see that cars are getting build dates and even deliveries faster than you are. I feel confident in proposing that when these dates are accurate (sometimes delivery dates show earlier than order dates - so...) that the person ordering the car just got very lucky with their dealer, or they play golf with the owner of the dealership or are the brother in law of the general manager, but somehow they got through the dealer priority portion section faster.

Finally, I will postulate that while its possible that a car with a dealer priority code of 19 might be selected by Ford for manufacturing for Dealer A, and an identically optioned car with a priority code of 10 gets built the same week for Dealer B, and then they both move our to the parking lot to wait for chips... Which one do you think Ford is going to put chips into and ship to Kansas City first? It seems to me, getting scheduled with a Priority code of 10 would never be worse than getting scheduled with a priority code of 19.

Much of this is conjecture, admittedly.

 

[Glen]

Just a comment. It would be interesting to note. Those of you that ordered. If you are in small towns with small dealerships that dont sell many cars. Or are you in big cities/towns ordering from very large dealers that sell many vehicles. Just from reading, I am wondering if BIG DEALERS in very populated areas that sell many vehicles get priority from Ford. Does this make sense?. I am just trying to make sense why some order and get cars quick while others wait so long.

 

[heywardjr]

Very confused on the ordering process here. I placed an order directly with my Ford dealer I have ordered cars from the last 30 years. All I have received is an automated email from Ford with a Preview Order number (4 digits). It shows Priority 10 and dated 9/30/2021. The dealer has seen nothing else since that time. Is there a way of seeing if this has been scheduled or has some other order confirmation?

 

[RickMachE]

My dealer is very large. They prioritized my order as a 10. However, I ordered on 5/29, well into the process. 1/3 week build as of yesterday.

We'll see how the Lightning process goes. I reserved within the first 12 hours. They tell me I am in the first 50 reservations they have. But nothing matters until it is an order, and there isn't even an order guide yet. With an expected 15,000 first year production, we don't even know of we'll make that cut.

 

[EELinneman]

Your sig says it was completed on Aug 26th, you should have it by now? Sounds like a transport issue? Your dealer should be able to tell you where it's stuck.

I am in a very similar position. My reservation was in 2020. Order for a GT PE the first day. Build started on 8/30, but chip hold means it finished on 10/6 and took the choo choo on 10/8. It was delivered to the Argentine ramp on 10/21. My delivery was set for between 11/5 and 11/11 then changed to 11/28 - 12/5. I've talked to Ford, my dealer and even had a tweet response from Jim Farley. Nobody has any answers. Nobody has any authority or inclination to make things right. And, of course, nobody is accountable. It really is the best of large corporations and almost government-like bureaucracy. The answer is always "talk to the hand".

 

[yngwenli]

Just a comment. It would be interesting to note. Those of you that ordered. If you are in small towns with small dealerships that dont sell many cars. Or are you in big cities/towns ordering from very large dealers that sell many vehicles. Just from reading, I am wondering if BIG DEALERS in very populated areas that sell many vehicles get priority from Ford. Does this make sense?. I am just trying to make sense why some order and get cars quick while others wait so long.

Maybe it's like the fast food franchises (or any retail/wholesale business) where manufacturers actually don't like small franchisees since they are less capitalized and as you can imagine, just does less business from Ford. Sorta like would someone prefer to sell to a dealer that buys 200+ million in cars or someone who does 10 million?

Like all businesses, the 200+ million buyers are what keeps the lights on.

 

[Plutoman15]

Can’t say I saw the priority on the original order but when my car hit the plant Aug 19 it said priority one on the vvr. Finished aug 26 but on chip hold until sept 30. Said shipped oct 1 but did not get on train until Nov 1. So it sat for a month while many newer builds passed it.

I didn’t mind newer orders getting similar build weeks but making mine sit while many past me onto the train is insulting. Smaller dealer or not. Yes there are shipping issues but again, stay in line.

 

[RickMachE]

The reality is that expectation doesn't match up with reality. People unfamiliar with the auto business think their tracking is like Amazon's, when it's more a big box store. You ask them if they have something in stock, they say yes, and most stores say "it should be over there". Then it's not, and they're puzzled.

Home Depot and Lowe's have bin locations available to consumers. You look up the item in the app, and walk to aisle, and bin, and there it is.

Menard's has a map with possible locations. You then ask an Associate, who if they have a handheld looks it up, and then goes over and wonders where it is. Last year we tried to buy small metal stakes to hold down fabric. 15 minutes later they realized that they had moved them to the Christmas display area instead of lawn and garden. Other times we ask about an item that shows 8 in stock, and they then decide they have none.

Ford's order tracking is just like it's always been, but now they've added a consumer interface that shows everyone how bad it is.

 

[Plutoman15]

Maybe it's like the fast food franchises (or any retail/wholesale business) where manufacturers actually don't like small franchisees since they are less capitalized and as you can imagine, just does less business from Ford. Sorta like would someone prefer to sell to a dealer that buys 200+ million in cars or someone who does 10 million?

Like all businesses, the 200+ million buyers are what keeps the lights on.

Is a large dealer really going to try to sell fewer cars because they are not getting special treatment? Seems self defeating.

Where as a small dealer may not survive if they don’t sell enough which gives all the business to GM or someone else if that happened.

Don’t call it a reservation system, call it a popularity contest.

 

[shoopla]

Is a large dealer really going to try to sell fewer cars because they are not getting special treatment? Seems self defeating.

Where as a small dealer may not survive if they don’t sell enough which gives all the business to GM or someone else if that happened.

Don’t call it a reservation system, call it a popularity contest.

I'm not too far east of you in PA. Reserved the day they were announced, but didn't actually order until 6/30/21 (was debating on whether or not I really wanted it), Build 8/22ish, delivered 10/15. Also received the "6 week delay due to chip shortage" email in between order and build. From what I can tell, they also run the specific configurations in batches, as there were 3 others that had the same config as me getting the same build and ship dates, even though we all had different order dates and destinations. We also all had similar original reservation dates.
But I also agree on the comments about dealer allocations. I went to one of the "mega dealers" which I despise due to past dealings as opposed to a smaller one that's a little less convenient, so that may have helped. They only had 1 other MME customer order, and that was for a first edition, plus they had ordered 2 premiums, which they have only received 1 so far. They were also super excited that they received 10 new cars (not MMEs) that weekend... they had been only getting 1 or 2 in a week for the previous 11 months due to all the chip shortages.

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