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Vehicle Tracking without VIN


Dlcorbett

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I ordered my expy in july. Since production of the 2018s started on monday, i read that the assembly line has to go through a few runs( i believe a week or 2) of problem free vehicles before they begin to make retail orders. I asked my dealer that i ordered my truck from if they have the vin and est del date for my order which they said no not yet. Is there anyway to find out when and what date my truck would be built without the vin? Also, is there somewhere you could smtrack the process of the build? A few f150 owners were able to do this so i was interested in that as well.

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If it hasn't been scheduled yet then there is no way to predict the build date. The plant has to go 5 consecutive days with no build issues. If they go 4 3/4 and have one issue the 5 day clock starts all over. This can take a couple of weeks or a couple of months in extreme cases - just no way to predict it. Only AFTER that will sold vehicles get scheduled and at that point you'll get a VIN that can be tracked. Your order priority amongst all of the other orders from your dealer play a role as well as dealer allocation. Make sure you have a priority 10. That's the best priority you can get. 19 is the worst. 20+ is reserved for dealer stock orders so they don't ever get built before a retail (sold) order. If yours is higher than 10 ask your dealer why. Orders with the same priority get scheduled first in, first out.

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If it hasn't been scheduled yet then there is no way to predict the build date. The plant has to go 5 consecutive days with no build issues. If they go 4 3/4 and have one issue the 5 day clock starts all over. This can take a couple of weeks or a couple of months in extreme cases - just no way to predict it. Only AFTER that will sold vehicles get scheduled and at that point you'll get a VIN that can be tracked. Your order priority amongst all of the other orders from your dealer play a role as well as dealer allocation. Make sure you have a priority 10. That's the best priority you can get. 19 is the worst. 20+ is reserved for dealer stock orders so they don't ever get built before a retail (sold) order. If yours is higher than 10 ask your dealer why. Orders with the same priority get scheduled first in, first out.

Is there any way of knowing when the 5 day error free production has been achieved?

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If it hasn't been scheduled yet then there is no way to predict the build date. The plant has to go 5 consecutive days with no build issues. If they go 4 3/4 and have one issue the 5 day clock starts all over. This can take a couple of weeks or a couple of months in extreme cases - just no way to predict it. Only AFTER that will sold vehicles get scheduled and at that point you'll get a VIN that can be tracked. Your order priority amongst all of the other orders from your dealer play a role as well as dealer allocation. Make sure you have a priority 10. That's the best priority you can get. 19 is the worst. 20+ is reserved for dealer stock orders so they don't ever get built before a retail (sold) order. If yours is higher than 10 ask your dealer why. Orders with the same priority get scheduled first in, first out.

 

I have read (and my dealer confirmed) that with a new model like this, stock orders actually get built first. See the first response line of this post:

http://www.blueovalforums.com/forums/index.php?/topic/62689-2018-expedition-production-information/page-8&do=findComment&comment=1009146

 

My dealer actually told me that "With the new model coming out, they will do stock orders first and then retail orders. I currently have yours in as a stock order so you get it ahead of the retail orders."

 

At this point I don't know who to believe!

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I have read (and my dealer confirmed) that with a new model like this, stock orders actually get built first. See the first response line of this post:

http://www.blueovalforums.com/forums/index.php?/topic/62689-2018-expedition-production-information/page-8&do=findComment&comment=1009146

 

My dealer actually told me that "With the new model coming out, they will do stock orders first and then retail orders. I currently have yours in as a stock order so you get it ahead of the retail orders."

 

At this point I don't know who to believe!

 

 

That's exactly what I said.

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The reason they build dealer stock first is that every vehicle built prior to the OK to Buy gets held for inspection and possible repair before shipping. Some of these vehicles can end up sitting at the factory for weeks or months in worst cases. So.....

 

A - you don't want your vehicle sitting at the factory for months with no real ETA

B - you don't want a vehicle with a lot of problems even if they do repair them before leaving the factory

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OK, this thread got me thinking. Interested in people's advice.

 

As I noted above, my dealer ordered my Platinum Expy as a dealer stock order so he could get it to me faster. Some of the comments here about stock vehicles sitting waiting months for repairs make me nervous. We really need the vehicle by December. My dealer is offering to switch it to a retail order. When I asked he did say he's never seen vehicles waiting months for repairs.

 

 

There are no concrete answers, but curious on others' experience with Ford (this is our first one).

  • I know it's based on so many different factors, but any sense for what the switch from a stock order to a retail order (let's assume priority 10) does to my timing? Are we talking weeks or months of extra time?
  • In the past have we really seen these initial stock orders having significant issues? Months of repair time at the factory?

I'm leaning toward switching it over but curious on opinions here.

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Ah, I must have misunderstood. I was reacting to "20+ is reserved for dealer stock orders so they don't ever get built before a retail (sold) order." But it sounds like right now dealer stock gets built first. Thanks for the clarity.

 

What I was referring to is how Ford assigns priorities and how things work in normal production (after Ok to Buy) which is the opposite of what they do for the initial launch.

 

After the OK to buy, Ford builds vehicles with lowest priority first. This means that Retail (sold) orders with priorities 10-19 always get built before dealer stock orders with priorities 20+ after OK to Buy.

 

During the launch period Ford simply does not schedule any vehicles with a priority below 20 until after the OK to buy.

 

Sorry for the confusion but that's how Ford does it.

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OK, this thread got me thinking. Interested in people's advice.

 

As I noted above, my dealer ordered my Platinum Expy as a dealer stock order so he could get it to me faster. Some of the comments here about stock vehicles sitting waiting months for repairs make me nervous. We really need the vehicle by December. My dealer is offering to switch it to a retail order. When I asked he did say he's never seen vehicles waiting months for repairs.

 

 

There are no concrete answers, but curious on others' experience with Ford (this is our first one).

  • I know it's based on so many different factors, but any sense for what the switch from a stock order to a retail order (let's assume priority 10) does to my timing? Are we talking weeks or months of extra time?
  • In the past have we really seen these initial stock orders having significant issues? Months of repair time at the factory?

I'm leaning toward switching it over but curious on opinions here.

 

I've only seen two examples where vehicles sat for more than a month waiting on repairs. One was a Mustang launch a few years ago (which I think was limited to a small number of vehicles) and the 2013 Fusion/MKZ launch where vehicles were actually being shipped from Mexico to Detroit to be repaired then shipped back to Mexico. That was probably the worst.

 

I wouldn't expect any of that in this case. But it's always possible.

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What I was referring to is how Ford assigns priorities and how things work in normal production (after Ok to Buy) which is the opposite of what they do for the initial launch.

 

After the OK to buy, Ford builds vehicles with lowest priority first. This means that Retail (sold) orders with priorities 10-19 always get built before dealer stock orders with priorities 20+ after OK to Buy.

 

During the launch period Ford simply does not schedule any vehicles with a priority below 20 until after the OK to buy.

 

Sorry for the confusion but that's how Ford does it.

Thanks for all the great info. Do you mind if I ask one more question? My dealer just emailed me this:

 

"Ford just opened up the OK TO BUY to dealer which means the stock orders will start building in the beginning of November for a December delivery. This means the retail orders will start building in December for January delivery."

 

My problem is that it seems to conflict with what you just said? If the OK to Buy just opened, your note suggests Retail then Dealer stock. His note suggests stock then retail.

 

What am I missing here? Sorry for being so dense!

Edited by MiddKid
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Where do they get this crap?

 

If production started on 9/25 and the OK to Buy was given today then retail (sold) orders would start scheduling today and I presume would start building within the next week or so. Stock orders would have already been scheduled and started building on 9/25.

 

Just so you know, they don't build every Retail order first, then do stock orders. Each week each dealer gets a certain allocation of vehicles (if they're eligible - the allocation process is complicated and I don't understand all the nuances).

 

So let's say your dealer gets 3 vehicles in this week's allocation. They go to your dealer's order queue and take the 3 vehicles with the lowest priority. If more than one vehicle has the same priority they take the one with the earliest order date.

 

So depending on the allocations, stock orders from dealer A might be built before Retail orders from dealer B. Priority only comes into play after the dealer gets allocation and is only relevant within that dealer's order queue.

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My 2011 raptor screw sat in Detroit for at least a month after it's build waiting for a replacement something before it shipped. Mine was built early and others across the country received theirs before me being only 2 hours from the factory. If that happens, you do not want to be an early build.

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My 2011 raptor screw sat in Detroit for at least a month after it's build waiting for a replacement something before it shipped. Mine was built early and others across the country received theirs before me being only 2 hours from the factory. If that happens, you do not want to be an early build.

that's why as a rule personally I will never buy a brand new model less than 6 months into production.
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I've only seen two examples where vehicles sat for more than a month waiting on repairs. One was a Mustang launch a few years ago (which I think was limited to a small number of vehicles) and the 2013 Fusion/MKZ launch where vehicles were actually being shipped from Mexico to Detroit to be repaired then shipped back to Mexico. That was probably the worst.

 

I wouldn't expect any of that in this case. But it's always possible.

What about the Focus RS? Some of those guys waited a year to get their cars due to issues.

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I don't know if that is totally necessary, but I understand. I only had one other problem with my truck that was early build connected, driveshaft, and that was taken care of immediately. I have had it ever since with no trouble. The frustration was having an early order then watching others jump you. I was very impatient when I got that truck, my first new car ever, this time, a couple more weeks doesn't mean anything.

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Hey WALOUD. Can you give us any update on how the first build week is going

 

The launch is going slow. I believe we built about 50 between both shifts Friday. I'm not sure if they are having any problems. All i can say, have some patience! This is a totally new vehicle. As soon as I hear the OK to ship I will pass it on.

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OK, this thread got me thinking. Interested in people's advice.

 

As I noted above, my dealer ordered my Platinum Expy as a dealer stock order so he could get it to me faster. Some of the comments here about stock vehicles sitting waiting months for repairs make me nervous. We really need the vehicle by December. My dealer is offering to switch it to a retail order. When I asked he did say he's never seen vehicles waiting months for repairs.

 

 

There are no concrete answers, but curious on others' experience with Ford (this is our first one).

  • I know it's based on so many different factors, but any sense for what the switch from a stock order to a retail order (let's assume priority 10) does to my timing? Are we talking weeks or months of extra time?
  • In the past have we really seen these initial stock orders having significant issues? Months of repair time at the factory?

I'm leaning toward switching it over but curious on opinions here.

 

If your Dealer switches your order type to "Retail" the order date gets reset to the date of the retail order.

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I used the vehicle locator thread here yesterday(got a fast response too) that at this moment, my order isn't scheduled. Going off the fantastic(and slightly confusing) information from waloud and akirby(thanks for the info gentlemen) my vehicle may not even be built until late to early november. Starting november, ima start my search and if i find the same or comparable vehicle, i may have to bite the bullet.

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I used the vehicle locator thread here yesterday(got a fast response too) that at this moment, my order isn't scheduled. Going off the fantastic(and slightly confusing) information from waloud and akirby(thanks for the info gentlemen) my vehicle may not even be built until late to early november. Starting november, ima start my search and if i find the same or comparable vehicle, i may have to bite the bullet.

 

Sorry for the confusing info. On a launch like this, a new vehicle from the ground up, it's going to be slow. I'm not on the line building, so the info. that I get is slow. Before we stopped building the 17's, the line was running about 150 units per shift. This also includes the Navigator. As long as there is no problems and supplier problems, we will gradually up the production.

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