POLL: sold order priority, allocation problems

[ford4v429]

Currently big dealer allocation leverage says who gets cars first- do you think a retail ORDERED car should get held up because of a high volume dealer wanting extra 'stock ordered' cars for his lot?

 

Do you think its right to descriminate against customers because of where in the country they live?

 

Certain areas have Mustang GTs on the lots, even spilling onto Ebay to get rid of them- yeah, these guys have allocation leverage...other areas some guys put deposits down over 9 months ago and still have not gotten a vin. Does this system need fixed?

 

Regional allocation and dealer allocation ONLY makes sense if the dealer is the customer- People know without buyers, neither the dealer nor ford would survive, its about time they acknowledge who the true customer is. Allocation also hurts MOST dealers as the few biggest get to 'cut in line' regarding production scheduling, luring buyers away from some good smaller dealers for the faster deliveries of a huge dealer.

 

I'll paste the old allocation 'rules' back in here soon, along with some Ideas Kzinti had posted before the forum got nuked.

 

 

 

HERE IS A VERY DETAILED LISTING ON ALLOCATION/ORDERING SYSTEM- ALBEIT FOR A TRUCK...

 

PASTING FROM :www.f150online.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=127481&highlight=priority+code

 

<<<from: XCR440SP

 

1. Order types

 

There are 3 basic order types, Stock, Retail, Fleet. There are others, but I'm not going to just use these 3. AXZD plan will fall under Retail in my description. The other types are Dealer Demo, drivers ed loan out and lease renewal order. Again I'm going to just use the 3 as the others basicly fall under those 3 also.

 

Stock- Unsold orders for dealer inventory. Order type 2

 

Retail- Sold orders, have a customer name assigned to them in the system. These also have price protection in case of an increase. Stock units don't. Its an order type 1 in the system (or A, X, K for the weird order types)

 

Fleet- Sold orders for compaines with a valid Fleet ID. (a fleet ID requires 15 units in service). This order type schedules differently and also gets different't pricing. Rebates don't apply to fleets (but they do have a "REtail greater than Fleet" discount if rebates are bigger than fleet discounts. They also don't pay the FDAF fees and other things. Orders are schueduled out of a fleet pool and not the dealers allocation, but more on that later. This is an order type 0.

 

Next on an order is an order number. This doesn't mean much its just a way of tracking. Its a 4 digit number (or letters) and is assigned by the dealer. I use the order date for mine. This is one of the 3 items you need to check the status of an order.

 

Body type- This just tells what the truck is, for example a X14 is a Supercab 4x4 styleside. The first letter is the cab style (F=Regular cab, X= Supercab, W=Crewcab) The second digit tells more. On the New F-150 a 0 is a flareside, 1 is a styleside (2 is a F-250, 3 F-350, etc). The 3rd digit tells whether 2 or 4 wheel drive (on New F-150 2 is 2wd, 4 is 4x4, old style was 7 and 8). This explination applies to F-Series trucks, cars can be different. This item is also needed to check an order.

 

Dealer code- This is also on the order and is needed to check the status of an order (with Ford, dealer only gets listing of his units). This is a set of 2 numbers, a letter, and 3 more numbers. The first two corespond to the region, letter tells the zone in that region, and last 3 identify the dealer. Mine is 53W544 (53=KC region, Zone W, dealer 544). This is the 3rd thing needed to check the status of an order. All 3 are listed togeather on a DORA on the Upper portion far right a few blank lines below the priority code.

 

A DORA is a Dealer Order Recipt Acknoldgement. Its a printout we get back from Ford after ordering. Usually comes next buisness day. You should get one from your dealer after ordering. Its a good way to verify what's ordered is what you want.

 

2. Priority Codes. This is listed on the far right upper portion of a DORA. Its also on the dealers print outs of order status. This only applies until a unit is scheudled. Once assigned a VIN this doesn't mean anything anymore.

 

The codes start at 1 and run to 99. A dealer can only assign between 10 and 99. A 99 order can't be schuduled. I use these for people that tell me to get them a unit on date (later than normal orders take). I put in a 99'd order so I have what they wanted in the system and don't forget about it and then change it to a buildable priority when time comes they're ready for the truck. The region (or other Ford divisions) can prioritize below 10, I've only seen a 01 priority below 10. They do this in the event of something unusuall, most orders never see a priority 01. An example is if they're manually scheduling (like the First F-150 for each dealer, or first year T Birds) or if its something that needs to be urgent (first order destroyed in shipping, etc). Again I normally only see this a few times a year. Also if you do get a priority 01, things usually get scheduled fast even if you have some hard to get commodites (but not hold items). More on commodities later. I believe that the under 10 prioritys go first through the allocation system.

 

Other priorities are to organize what order the dealer wants the trucks in. These only affect that dealer and have no bearing on other dealers. If a dealer only uses 50 or higher, another dealer that starts at 10 won't get his trucks any sooner. This system is to orginze the order so they are "in a row" for scheduling. That way in the first pass of scheduling they only look at 1 truck per dealer, then on second pass look at 2nd one. Regardless of what the number actually is. If 50's the lowest at dealer a and 10's my lowest, they are both in the first pass, and are equal to each other.

 

More than one order can have the same priority. If this happens they system looks at order types and then order date. Retails take priority over stock and oldest takes priority. For example:

 

order 1234 Retail order date 9/3/03

order 4321 Retail order date 5/5/03

order 5555 Stock order date 4/4/03

The Retail orders take priority. and then oldest order comes first. So the system would look at these in this order:

Order 4321 because its the oldest retail at this priority

order 1234 2nd as its a retail

order 5555 being a stock order its 2nd despite order date.

 

Also Priority can override stock,retail or order date. If a retail is priority 20 and a stock is 19, the stock tries to scheudle first, the retail and date thing only applies to orders with the same priority number.

 

So the big thing I want everyone to know is don't get too worried if your not a priority 01 as this is very rare, also don't worry if your not at priority 10, I start my retail ordes at 20 so I've got some room if something comes up that I need to prioritize under my current orders I can.

 

On Fleet orders, none of this priority stuff applies. The priority codes are to control build date and are a letter and a number that corespond to a build month and week. This isn't to get stuff quicker but actually slower. Often fleets will order in January and not want the units for a few months. I can order so it can't be built until later so it will arrive in time but not overly early. Fleet units don't compete with retail or stock at all for scheduling as fleet comes out of their own pool and not from a dealers allocation.

 

3. Allocation- Now that we've got orders in the bank they have to be Scheduled, oh getting ahead of my self, I better list some terms that apply to order status. These are on the dealer printouts so if you see these you'll know what they mean.

 

Matl HOLD - unit can't schedule something is not availble. for example, my Harley F-250 is in this status as production doesn't start until 11/3/03

 

unschd/clean- unit isn't scheduled (no VIN, no date, no guarantee to build), but is a buildable order once allocation and comodities allow.

 

Submitted to plant- Unit assigend a VIN and assy plant, plant is assigning build date.

 

Scheduled- has a build date and a vin

 

Locked in- Changes can no longer be made to this order, unit is either close to being built, or at the end of the year they lock in orders early so they don't have left over parts between model years.

 

Bucked- Unit is close to production, its my understanding that this mean the frame is on a Buck thats used to roll it down the line.

 

Produced- Unit is built

 

Rel from plant- Unit is built and through inspection, avaible to ship. May also say Rel to Rail, or rel to convoy depending on location

 

ttgxx7837934- or some weird number like this means its on a rail car and thats the number.

 

Arrived at ramp XX- has arrived at the rail head and been unloaded, the XX is a usually a number and letter. Mine go to 6P (kansas City) or 4T (joliet, IL)

 

Ok, now that we've got some terminalogy lets talk allocation. Allocation determines who gets the units for that build week. The way allocation is split is based on Sales and availability. They don't count equally, I think sales factor 60% and availablity 40%. The region like to call it turn and earn. The more you sell and fewer you have, the more you get. So if you've got lots of units on the ground and haven't been selling them, you won't get many new allocations. If you have none because you sold them all you should get a good number allocated. This information doesn't help a customer much as you really can't tell what dealers will get allocation. Larger dealers will get more allocation, but will have more orders also so doesn't mean faster scheduling. Generally most dealer are in simmilar situations and wait times will be simmilar. There are exceptions to this, for example 1999 Super Duty's were hard to get, but we had plenty of them as in a rural community we've always sold lots of HD trucks and the sales history helped us and hurt the city dealers that were selling them because they were "hot", this will hurt us the other way when the 05 Mustang comes out as I don't sell many normally I'll have a harder time getting them. Now this sytem ends up with leftovers as it doesn't end up with evey dealer earning exact allocation and its hard to schedule .44 of a truck, so the left overs are used to get allocation to dealers that have retail orders and didn't earn (or earn enough) allocation to scheudle them.

 

Select and Contact dealers. There are 2 classifications of dealers Select (smaller dealers) and Contact (large dealers), for scheduling there are sometimes some differences. Right now on F-150 both work in the same allocation system, but on most other models (and F-150 starting in aprox December) the select dealers won't have to get allocation, they get every order they place automaticlly. So on most models, the smaller dealer will be able to get them quickly.

 

Fleet- Fleet doesn't go throught the allocation system. Fleet gets a percentage of the weeks production and schedules by order date so this eliminates any time diffences between dealers and also allows them to sell to fleets without using a allocation that should go to a normall customer. Fleet unit sales don't count to earn allocation either.

 

4. Commodites- We usually get a list of controled comodites on Wednesday these are the items that are not availble (not Material hold, just overscheduled from past or supply issues, short term shortage, Material hold items Can't schedule, IE DVD is currently Material hold) and items that aren't going to be "Free demand". Free demand items are ones that you can get as many as you want, supply outdoes demand. Other items may have a restriction. Currently two-tone paint is a commodity. For example let me give a list of controls (not actuall amounts, just for example based on things I've seen in the last few weeks.

 

Two tone paint (supercab/Regular cab) 30%

two tone paint (SuperCrew) 18%

total SuperCrew 35%

5.4L V-8 80%

 

 

Other items can also control, this is just an example (and items that I've seen on control already for the 04's). What this means is the % of the trucks scheduled that can have this option. That isn't an individual dealer thing, but all dealers in the region (controls are often regional, but usually most regions are the same). That means that if 1 dealer doesn't use his share another may get a higher percentage, or if another doesn't prioritze right, he may miss all the controls and get the free demand items only.

 

Now were ready to go to the complicated part, Scheduling.

 

5. Scheduling. Scheduling usually happens Thursday night (allocation happens Wed night and we get the results sometime Thursday). Basiclly its all done by computer (unless something like a priority 01 may be manually scheduled first to make sure it gets scheduled). It lines all the dealers (that have allocation) in some sort of random order. If there are no commodities, this is easy, first dealers unit scheduled, sencond dealers, third dealers, etc, Once all dealers first allocation has been scheduled they go to the next round and do the same for the dealers that have a second allocation, once everyonce second is done they go those with a 3rd and so on. Now thats in a perfect world where there aren't any comodites.

 

Here in the real world it works a little different. Comodities screw this all up. Right now most vehicles only have 1 or two commodities so its not as big of deal. At times there might be 10 different commodites that are all separate and different and can make things difficult.

 

If when scheduling gets to a dealers allocation, and his order has a comodite that has already run out, they skip him for that pass. He doesn't loose his allocation, it gets used in the next pass, but it can cost him in other commodities. Let me do an example. This is PURELY SAMPLE, not actuall numbers.

 

Lets say Super Duty F-Series comodities

 

5% Crew Cab

30% Two tone

50% Power Stroke

25% V-10

 

now we're going to use Dealer A and dealer B. Lets say they both got 3 allocations.

 

Dealer A

F-250 V-10 Supercab with 2 tone priority 20

F-350 V-10 Regular cab with 2 tone priority 25

F-250 PowerStroke priority 30

 

Dealer B

F-250 V-10 Crew Cab priority 10

F-250 V-10 Crew Cab priorty 11

F-250 Supecab Two tone V-10 Priority 12

F-250 Regular cab PowerStroke priorty 13

F-250 Sueprcab 5.4L priority 17

F250 Regular cab 5.4L priority 18

F350 supercab 5.4L priority 20

 

OK now to scheudle. Lets say dealer A is toward the beggining of scheudling and dealer B is at the end (suposed to be a random order, but someone has to be first and someone last, but the dealer has no say in this).

 

1. System looks at dealer a's first order, Comodities still available so it gets scheuduled.

2. System gets do dealer b's first order and is out of Crew cabs before it gets there so dealer b doesn't get a unit scheduled

 

3. Dealer A's up again and gets his second scheuduled sa both are available.

4. Dealer B's second order is a crew cab again so nothing schedules again this pass

 

5. Dealer A's 3rd order is still OK so it also gets scheduled and uses up his final allocation.

6. Dealer B's 3rd order isn't a Crew cab, but after 2 and 1/2 passes 2 tone is exhausted so again nothing scheduled.

 

7. Dealer B's Power Stroke order doesn't schedule as they are used up in previos passes so he has yet to have a unit schedule.

8. Dealer B gets the next three units scheduled in the next three passes as the comodities ordered are still availble (in this example).

 

So when its said and done Dealer A got 2 V-10's 1 Power Stroke, and 2 two tone orders where dealer B got nothing off of the control list. He gets his three units that he was allocated, but doesn't get any of the hard to get stuff due to the way his order bank was prioritized. This is why a dealer would want to put some of the moderately difficult items in the middle instead of all the hardest to get stuff at the first priority. If I had set up my order bank (in this example) I would have had a crew cab 1st and some a two tone second.

 

This example was a little extreme, but it shows how the system works.

 

This info doesn't really help you as a customer as there isn't much you can do to affect this, but I thought people would find it interesting on how the system works. With current commodites, there isn't a lot of risk because after the only major comodites (not holds) are two tone and SuperCrew so after they run out you can still get some decent vehicles. But in years passed, they tried to stick dealers with some stuff that wasn't worth ordering. If you don't want something you can pass on your allocation, but many dealers will take slow moving trucks instead of passing on allocation. This can hurt worse thought as now the system shows you with that truck in inventory so it can cost you future allocation (remember the turn and earn system). Sometimes vehicles are excluded to get dealers to take them. In years passed, V-6 F-150's were excluded and 6 speed diesels didn't count against you.

 

6. Other

 

Now that your unit is scheduled, here are some other points of interest.

 

Once scheduled some changes can be made. If an item is a comodity, it probably can't be added, but can be removed. Trim level (XLT, Lariat, etc) can't be change nor can body style (4x4, 4x2, Crew cab, Reg cab, etc). But color and options can be modified unitl the truck is locked in for production. If the change takes, you'll get a new DORA the next day. If not nothing happens.

 

After Locked in status the truck gets "Bucked" and will be produced very soon.

 

Next step is Produced. This means the truck is built but hasn't left the plant yet.

 

Rel from plant is next, self explanitiory

 

Then things change based on your location. It may be REL to convoy (truck), Rel to Rail (train) or it may have a long number like ttx198345, that is the rail car the truck is loaded on. There may be a space and then a 2 digit number after this. Thats the Ramp (rail yard where loaded and unloaded) where the train is at.

 

Arrived at ramp XX (the XX is a 2 digit number) this is again the place where loaded and unload, unfortunately I don't have a list of them. This means the truck has been unloaded from the train and is waiting truck shipment.

 

Next step truck arrives at dealer!

Edited May 1, 2006 by ford4v429

[ford4v429]

pasting this from another thread, as also applies here:

I think Ford should take what Kziniti is doing one step further. If you go to Ford's website to look at a car you want to buy (I think I might have been here just a few times) http://www.fordvehicles.com/cars/mustang/

There's tabs for, "get a price quote," "build and price your ford," "locate a dealer," "search dealer inventory," all are designed to sell a car.

 

Why not add "BUY Your Ford"

 

It doesn't take much more than adding a tab on their website to improve customer service, lower inventory, and make their product more accessible to customers. Come on Ford, I know you've been trying to do something like this with your internet coupons. Just put the damn tab on your website already.

 

This is how I would do it. First, you need to be sure that someone is really buying a car, and the customer needs to be sure he/she is getting a car. Take a deposit via credit card (I had to give $500 for ordering my Mustang). Have the customer enter his/her information, name, address, phone number, e-mail, etc. Next, have the customer enter his/her social security number so a credit check can be done to see if he/she would be approved for financing. Unless the customer is paying it all at once, then this can be skipped. Also, I'd only do the credit check until the deposit has been taken. This would avoid people using the site just to see if they could be approved for a car, unless they are willing to part with $500 for it. Next, mail out a letter to the address to confirm the order. Inform the dealership closest to the customer of the order. If the customer does not get approved for financing, the dealer can try to sell him/her a used car or a car of lesser value (you have someone that wants to buy a car, don't let them spend their money else where). Next have an option that says something like, would you like your order to be confirmed via US mail to the address you previously entered, or at your local dealership. As soon as the order gets verified, it gets a VIN and Serialized. The order gets built based on availability, not allocation. After all these cars are already sold. Kzinti would know best what to do from here, because he's done a wonderful job at it already! The window sticker, I love that. Its hanging up on my wall right now If possible maybe add a pic of it getting built, that would be a nice touch. I guess this should go back up towards the beginning, but as for the price to charge this way, I don't know. This is the first car I've ever bought, I'm paying $200 under sticker plus a $500 student discount (I'm an MBA student, so this should be good adivce), it'd be nice to get that keep it simple no tags too, but we'll find out next week (I hope). Anyways you want people to do this b/c it saves Ford money, but you can't just give the car away. $500 over invoice, I don't know someone else would be better at making this call than me. Anyways, Kzinti is so good he can probably inform the customer that his/her car should arrive at the dealership Tuesday at 5:00 depending on traffic :D The car gets dropped off at the closest dealership, and the dealership gets some of the profits for using a parking spot for a few hours and filling out some paper work.

 

Lower inventory. Benefits - saves a ton of money, customers get exactly what they want. Disadvantages - people are still going to want to buy a car the same day they go to the dealership, some cutomers will not trust the internet (there are ways around that, but it won't work for everyone).

Take a look at Dell. It's probably nice to have an expensive product sold before its built.

 

Improving customer satisfaction and making cares more accessible to customers: The benefits are a given, and it's pretty hard to come up with a disadvantage.

 

 

 

In case existing dealer agreements might prevent changing the rules, how about considering just adding another type of order?

 

 

HERES MY SUGGESTION:

 

instead of just 'fleet', 'retail', and 'stock' categories for orders, lets add 1 for the real customer...call it 'customer'.

'Customer' orders could be handled as follows:

1) adjustable percentage of production, as needed to minimize waiting time. The flat percentage bypasses allocation(just like 'fleet' currently does) but will still be subject to commodity restraints.

2) will not count towards or against dealer allocation. This still gives big dealers a bit of muscle to decide on pricing- perhaps a small dealer might need allocation sales to keep cars coming, but let them decide on cost between retail/customer type. Gives us buyers something to shop for too.

3) dealer cost levels stay the same- any negotiated pricing still comes from the dealer level.

4) ALSO- ORDERS COULD BE PLACED VIA INTERNET- CUSTOMER SAYS WHICH DEALER GETS THE SALE>price is not over sticker, as a Ford rep, dealer should not be allowed to try and markup over. Dealing under sticker would need a dealer agreement though- perhaps build out the order, then email it to dealers and see who will accept lowest cost over true invoice. Once dealer is decided. fill out the bottom line(deposit already placed) and add dealer confirmation number if under sticker or simply dealer code if sticker.

 

 

What this would achieve:

1) any dealer could get a car in same timeframe as the biggest. however needed allocation might cause a bit of pricing difference- its up to the dealer(greedy dealers might lose sales)

2) rather than a handful of dealers getting 6-8 weeks on GTs and eveyone else waiting up to 9 months, All would likely fall into 8-10 week. Not great, but hey, this is a very high demand product.

3) most importantly, this type of order would prevent what has gone on all over the last year- dealers playing prioity games to get stock for the lot they can try to sell at over sticker.

 

One local dealer told me he had a dozen backordered 05's some over 6 months old 'that would never get built' yet had 4 loaded GT converts as stock orders coming in a few weeks. Sales manager there even said'you know these guys that ordered at sticker are just getting dealer traded so someone can sell at market adjusted price'.

 

Edited November 26, 2005 by ford4v429

[kcsuperduty]

pasting this from another thread, as also applies here:

In case existing dealer agreements might prevent changing the rules, how about considering just adding another type of order?

 

 

HERES MY SUGGESTION:

 

instead of just 'fleet', 'retail', and 'stock' categories for orders, lets add 1 for the real customer...call it 'customer'.

'Customer' orders could be handled as follows:

1) adjustable percentage of production, as needed to minimize waiting time. The flat percentage bypasses allocation(just like 'fleet' currently does) but will still be subject to commodity restraints.

2) will not count towards or against dealer allocation. This still gives big dealers a bit of muscle to decide on pricing- perhaps a small dealer might need allocation sales to keep cars coming, but let them decide on cost between retail/customer type. Gives us buyers something to shop for too.

3) dealer cost levels stay the same- any negotiated pricing still comes from the dealer level.

4) ALSO- ORDERS COULD BE PLACED VIA INTERNET- CUSTOMER SAYS WHICH DEALER GETS THE SALE>price is not over sticker, as a Ford rep, dealer should not be allowed to try and markup over. Dealing under sticker would need a dealer agreement though- perhaps build out the order, then email it to dealers and see who will accept lowest cost over true invoice. Once dealer is decided. fill out the bottom line(deposit already placed) and add dealer confirmation number if under sticker or simply dealer code if sticker.

What this would achieve:

1) any dealer could get a car in same timeframe as the biggest. however needed allocation might cause a bit of pricing difference- its up to the dealer(greedy dealers might lose sales)

2) rather than a handful of dealers getting 6-8 weeks on GTs and eveyone else waiting up to 9 months, All would likely fall into 8-10 week. Not great, but hey, this is a very high demand product.

3) most importantly, this type of order would prevent what has gone on all over the last year- dealers playing prioity games to get stock for the lot they can try to sell at over sticker.

 

One local dealer told me he had a dozen backordered 05's some over 6 months old 'that would never get built' yet had 4 loaded GT converts as stock orders coming in a few weeks. Sales manager there even said'you know these guys that ordered at sticker are just getting dealer traded so someone can sell at market adjusted price'.

 

[roscoe356]

I waited 8 1/2 months for my Mustang. It was ordered in Mid March and I just received it a week and a half ago.

During this entire wait, my dealer could give me no meaningful information about when I would get my car. Since I went through a model year, I had to change the color and endured a price increase of about $1,000.

The only line of communication was through this forum with the help of Kzinti.

When I went to the dealer with more information than they could get about the progress of my car, they were astounded. I think its ridiculous that the dealer is not getting the information needed to help keep their customers informed.

Since I live in the northeast you can imagine that It wasn't the best time to receive a brand new Mustang GT convertible. ( It snowed the day after I got the car) but I am still happy its here. However,

The allocation process that caused such a long wait is incredibly poor customer relations. If I order a car and pay a deposit, my car should be built in the order that it was received. PERIOD. To do anything else is patently unfair and therefore not conducive to good business relationships.

My point is that I don't have a complaint with my dealer ( I just feel bad that they are kept in the dark by Ford) But I do have a complaint with the FOMOCO because of the frustration endured waiting for my car to be delivered.

Now that I have the car. I enjoy it. I like it even more than I thought I would BUT and its a BIG BUT, I will have serious reservations about buying another FORD because of their lack of interest in the final consumer of their product. It they care about us than they will do away with the useless allocation process and realize that a car that is ordered is a car that is sold and that it should be delivered without any unnecessary delays or unfair distribution policies. By the way, my last three new vehicles were Fords: 95 Explorer, 97 Explorer and 99 Explorer all purchased from the same salesperson as my new Mustang. I think I've earned some loyalty and respect from Ford. Roscoe <_<

[roscoe356]

I guess my posting has fallen on deaf ears.

Roscoe

I waited 8 1/2 months for my Mustang. It was ordered in Mid March and I just received it a week and a half ago.

During this entire wait, my dealer could give me no meaningful information about when I would get my car. Since I went through a model year, I had to change the color and endured a price increase of about $1,000.

The only line of communication was through this forum with the help of Kzinti.

When I went to the dealer with more information than they could get about the progress of my car, they were astounded. I think its ridiculous that the dealer is not getting the information needed to help keep their customers informed.

Since I live in the northeast you can imagine that It wasn't the best time to receive a brand new Mustang GT convertible. ( It snowed the day after I got the car) but I am still happy its here. However,

The allocation process that caused such a long wait is incredibly poor customer relations. If I order a car and pay a deposit, my car should be built in the order that it was received. PERIOD. To do anything else is patently unfair and therefore not conducive to good business relationships.

My point is that I don't have a complaint with my dealer ( I just feel bad that they are kept in the dark by Ford) But I do have a complaint with the FOMOCO because of the frustration endured waiting for my car to be delivered.

Now that I have the car. I enjoy it. I like it even more than I thought I would BUT and its a BIG BUT, I will have serious reservations about buying another FORD because of their lack of interest in the final consumer of their product. It they care about us than they will do away with the useless allocation process and realize that a car that is ordered is a car that is sold and that it should be delivered without any unnecessary delays or unfair distribution policies. By the way, my last three new vehicles were Fords: 95 Explorer, 97 Explorer and 99 Explorer all purchased from the same salesperson as my new Mustang. I think I've earned some loyalty and respect from Ford. Roscoe <_<

[vpc]

I guess my posting has fallen on deaf ears.

Roscoe

 

I feel your pain, roscoe. I suppose Ford treated the Mustang as a "reward" to their dealerships.

 

I feel retail orders should be filled before stock orders by individual dealership.

 

I guess one reason they don't do priority by retail date is then every dealer would be submitting all of their orders as retail orders and then a bunch of customers would mysteriously back out. Then Ford really couldn't tell which submitted orders really are retail vs inventory.

 

In a perfect world where everyone was honest, then I agree that retail should take preference over stock.

[DukeBrubaker]

I guess my posting has fallen on deaf ears.

Roscoe

 

 

I have a few questions...

1. Did you have a signed buyer's order?

2. How much money did you give as a non refundable down payment to order the car?

3. Did you pay closer to invoice or closer to MSRP for the car?

 

I have noticed the good dealers will take a non refundable down payment to order a car, then have you sign an official buyers order. Some will even have you initial the DORA for accuracy! If you didn't give the money or get a signed BO, then you probably didn't really have a car on order. A retail order should not take 8.5 months to arrive. Even on the hottest of hot vehicles.

[roscoe356]

1. Yes I did have a signed order

2. I paid $500. deposit which is standard at my dealership.

3. I paid half way between the two which I considered a very good deal considering the premium that they were getting from other customers.

So, do I or don't I have a legitimate beef with FOMOCO for having to wait 8.5 months for the car, in your, undoubtedly humble opinion?

Roscoe.

PS still loving the car even though I haven't had the top down yet.

quote name='GoBigBlue' date='Feb 21 2006, 12:50 PM' post='25041']

I have a few questions...

1. Did you have a signed buyer's order?

2. How much money did you give as a non refundable down payment to order the car?

3. Did you pay closer to invoice or closer to MSRP for the car?

 

I have noticed the good dealers will take a non refundable down payment to order a car, then have you sign an official buyers order. Some will even have you initial the DORA for accuracy! If you didn't give the money or get a signed BO, then you probably didn't really have a car on order. A retail order should not take 8.5 months to arrive. Even on the hottest of hot vehicles.

[ford4v429]

A retail order should not take 8.5 months to arrive. Even on the hottest of hot vehicles.

 

I know of one other guy at over 8 months- woulda been longer but he got some help. Dealer shenanigans- maybe, but the 'regional allocation' is BS. Regional told my dealer that the 99 dealers in our region (ne ohio/pittsburgh) were getting 6 gts a week...allocation SUCKS.

 

First come/First served is fair on scheduling retail orders. Allocation made ford 'the enemy' to too many folks who ordered in good faith- dealer shenanigans was probably over half the problem, but regional allocation sure upset a lot of folks, and caused a lot of folks to stuff their northern dealers pockets excessively compared to the rest of the country. I could have ordered thru Florida and had a car in 4 weeks- and thats no exaggeration. Had I known how dealers get treated via region, I woulda got off my 'I'm allowed to spend my money where I want to' high horse and cheated to cut in line thru florida. my first car sat months unvinned/allocated...florida= vin next thursday-period.

 

Ive known of guys up here with up to 7 months of priority 10 allocated unvinned orders- let alone sequenced/blended...delivered. Now that supply/demand are evening out, it should be all hunky dory again, but regional/dealer allocation sure upset a LOT of folks, and in this day and age of instant communication, there was absolutely no reason for it.

[sab]

Let me start by saying, I'm a born and bred Detroiter, with family who has worked at Fords for 2 generations. I live in the Northeast now and refused to pay $6,000 over full sticker last summer for a Convertible Mustang GT, so on July 6, 2005, I ordered one from the only dealer I could find who would accept A/Z or X Plan. I HAVE NO BEEF WITH MY DEALER, THEY DON'T HAVE ANY INFORMATION BUT THEY DID TELL ME I'D PROBABLY NOT GET MY CAR UNTIL DECEMBER, 2005. I have a vehicle order confirmation and I paid a deposit.

 

It is now March 20, 2006, 8 1/2 months later and I still don't have any information on when my car will be ready, or even where it is in the process. I understand Ford thinks that vehicle allocation is fair, but do you know what you are doing to customer perception and loyalty? I firmly believe in supporting America's auto industry, but several of my friends who don't own one American car between them point at the wait for my dream car and say, this is why I won't buy American. This system needs to be fixed; you allow dealers to get "stock" cars for their lot where they charged well above sticker, but let a customer with a deposit waits 8 1/2 months from a more reputable dealer???? I drove by the dealer last week who was selling way above sticker and the exact color and model I order last July was being showcased. Am I suppose to be happy about that?

 

The system is broke and it needs to be fixed, otherwise even diehard loyalist will take their hard earned money elsewhere.

[yamahaR1]

I drove by the dealer last week who was selling way above sticker and the exact color and model I order last July was being showcased. Am I suppose to be happy about that?

 

The system is broke and it needs to be fixed, otherwise even diehard loyalist will take their hard earned money elsewhere.

Sounds like your car came in and they are trying to rape some else with it. Another example of dealer greed. Look in the mustang thread, it is an on-going topic. I am with you, I will not pay over MSRP, and would prefer X plan also. I am hoping on the '07 model GT when it is available to get it with the new options at price. I will not pay over. The guy who pays the rape charges might as well be screwing us in the ass as well, because the dealer will never end their greed. I feel for you, it is a bad situation that Ford should involve themselves in. Sorry man.

[sab]

Sounds like your car came in and they are trying to rape some else with it. Another example of dealer greed. Look in the mustang thread, it is an on-going topic. I am with you, I will not pay over MSRP, and would prefer X plan also. I am hoping on the '07 model GT when it is available to get it with the new options at price. I will not pay over. The guy who pays the rape charges might as well be screwing us in the ass as well, because the dealer will never end their greed. I feel for you, it is a bad situation that Ford should involve themselves in. Sorry man.

 

 

No the dealer who has a car just like the one I ordered is not the dealer I ordered from. The greedy dealer refused to take an order with X Plan, said he didn't have to. I understand he didn't want to sell me a car off his lot at X Plan price, but not take an order? I will never buy a car from them, I won't always be buying the hottest car in the line and why should I give them my money ever. I ordered from the only well known dealer around here who would take Z or X Plan. It a crazy situation when a paying customer waits 8 1/2 months and nobody can tell me anything about my car.

[ford4v429]

No the dealer who has a car just like the one I ordered is not the dealer I ordered from. The greedy dealer refused to take an order with X Plan, said he didn't have to. I understand he didn't want to sell me a car off his lot at X Plan price, but not take an order? I will never buy a car from them, I won't always be buying the hottest car in the line and why should I give them my money ever. I ordered from the only well known dealer around here who would take Z or X Plan. It a crazy situation when a paying customer waits 8 1/2 months and nobody can tell me anything about my car.

I think what he might be saying is like the bad dealer near here told me- lots of sticker cars got shuttled off thru dealer trades before they ever hit the doors. why sell to the coustomer at msrp if another dealer offers you 2 or 3 k over...its free money. There was one guy in here- think his handle was loserpunk or something like that whos vinned car never materialized- but finding out tyhat once its got a vin, its gonna be built, he did some checking, Kman pulled the number and it had sold at another dealer. That was the only documented blatent dealer bullshit trade I've seen so far, but I'm sure it was just the tip of the iceberg. I'd pm'd the guy and suggested where to send his info, never got a reply- hopefully he worked thru it and got his car and didnt go buy something else. This was a caution my own salesman told me- just to make sure no one else can touch the order, put a deposit on the order, get a copy of the dora with order number- that ties the car down as 'yours' and the slick sales guy in the next cubicle cant sell it otherwise...let alone someone higher up. the thought of 'free money'can be hard toresist, but once that order has had a good faith deposit on it, its 'hands off'. I think a lot of guys never got their vins- most probably never got their DORA either, so never even knew if their car got ordered/traded/or simply shuffled to the bottom of the allocation pile. There has simply GOT to be a better way. Perhaps the DORA should have more than a possibly fictitious name attached- like a name/address something traceable so if sly ford orders a dozen gt verts for joeblow at 123main street. Better yet, simply let Ford take the deposit checks- thats pretty simple. I'm sure if the financial/allocation wizards simply understood their system from a customers perspective, they could figure out an easy way for dealers to be held truthful. Its Ford customers getting pissed at Fords system- Fords got a lot more on the line than a gougy dealer.

[ccwinchester]

I have a question, what if your dealer hasn't even told you about the colors, ordering or anything? Everyone else seems to be on the ball about this stuff. What is the time frame here to get the orders in? Our dealer is getting three cars in and has now decided to try to slap 10g's on top of the msrp, which we are NOT GOING TO STAND FOR, we have bought three BRAND NEW vehicle's from them in the past three years. And just because they said some dealer has offered them this amount they are considering passing this on to us the customers who are getting these cars, can you believe this? We just found this out about two weeks ago. I had to tell my dealer that the pricing, colors and ordering guides were online, he had no idea...what do you think about that!!!!

[fllcobra]

There are so many car choices out there. Why wait for the Mustang? The dealerships down here wouldn't take my bid for MSRP a year ago for a Mustang GT Vert. Now they won't stop calling to accept my X-Plan PIN for the '06 car.

 

F K them.

 

If you guys are willing to wait 8 friggin months, you get little sympathy from me.

[ford4v429]

I have a question, what if your dealer hasn't even told you about the colors, ordering or anything? Everyone else seems to be on the ball about this stuff. What is the time frame here to get the orders in? Our dealer is getting three cars in and has now decided to try to slap 10g's on top of the msrp, which we are NOT GOING TO STAND FOR, we have bought three BRAND NEW vehicle's from them in the past three years. And just because they said some dealer has offered them this amount they are considering passing this on to us the customers who are getting these cars, can you believe this? We just found this out about two weeks ago. I had to tell my dealer that the pricing, colors and ordering guides were online, he had no idea...what do you think about that!!!!

 

 

 

There are so many car choices out there. Why wait for the Mustang? The dealerships down here wouldn't take my bid for MSRP a year ago for a Mustang GT Vert. Now they won't stop calling to accept my X-Plan PIN for the '06 car.

 

F K them.

 

If you guys are willing to wait 8 friggin months, you get little sympathy from me.

 

 

two more 'shoulda been Ford buyers' fall to the fine Dealer network...Man if Ford could just (1)find a way to end the oversticker on even PLACING ORDERS due to starry eyed dealers, (2)get Kzinti back online, and(3) put five year warranty on everything- and pay normal rates on warranty service they could sure sell a lot more cars...

 

even if they upped the prices a bit to pay for these 'perks' that in actuality are becoming 'requirements' at least a lot of the 'same old bullshit' would go away.

[Walt]

Ford needs to have "new thinking" if it ever going to get back on track.

 

Part of that needs to be, that all customer orders need to be filled within 8 weeks.

 

No exceptions. No excuses.

 

Any manager or executive that gets in the way of that happening, needs to be personally fired by Bill Ford. Remember, allocation problems are really managing problems.

 

This is all based on, you can't cry that you can't sell enough vehicles while also having people wanting a Ford vehicle, but can't get it in a reasonable, timely, fashion.

[pro3qtr]

So bad here in WA its hard to find a stock GT on the lot. (wheels, lowered, tint is the norm) Will not pay $36K for a GT thats resale will be maybe $20K the next year.

 

My friend bought a new 03 Cobra for $35K cash and had to give it away for $25K last month (car was mint with 15K miles). Don't mind paying more if the car is worth it. Mustangs do not hold there value at all.

 

So we are ordering a 07 GT Prem and driving it till it rust away. :happy feet:

 

I am scared to death in ordering a new car, dealers can not be trusted IMOP.

 

We will see what happens when I get back from the war in Sept............

 

Still Ford Blue Inside for life

[ford4v429]

wow- so far this poll is 61:0...

 

perhaps a slight 'hint' that US customers think the allocation by dealer size is a bad thing from OUR point of view? wonder if anyone at Ford has an ear to the ground on this...

[RobErnst]

Let me give you my perspective on the Mustang GT's from the Dealer's Side. Also, if anyone is interested, I have a 2007 GT Convertible in White with Tan leather at $500 BELOW invoice minus the current (for our region in Cincinnati anyway) $1000 rebate.

 

I had a soldier (in Iraq) email me that he wanted a Black GT 5 Speed. I'm the Internet Director at a small dealership (60 cars per month total) on the West Side of Cincinnati so of course I want to support one of our "boys in uniform". This was in April. Several emails back and forth. Say's he's putting $10k down so I figure credit won't be a problem. We nail down what he wants (Black GT Premium 5 Speed Manual with Black Leather Interior interior upgrade pkg). I agree to sell him a stick (commodity) at invoice minus rebates AND he gets the $500 military discount.

 

I didn't feel the need to take a deposit because we'd been talking back and forth since April when he tells me in October that he'll be home in December do I think I can have the car for him by then. The sales answer to that question is ALWAYS "Yes! Absolutely!" I also offer to sell him the car at Invoice minus the $1000 rebate and also minus the $500 military rebate. By the time he was coming home, Ford even put an additional $500 December Bonus Cash Rebate on it!

 

I have my GM order the car the way he wants. Allocation cuts in (5 speed manuals are a commodity) but we get it scheduled to be built. It has a build date of Dec 16th. I told the guy this and he said he'd be home the week before that. I still didn't take a deposit but I got on the phone and called a LOT of dealers and found a Black GT 5 Speed Manual exactly like he wanted but with the Satelite Radio ($195) and the Exterior Appearance Pkg ($2-something hood scoop and engine cover). We talk (by now he's in Houston TX) on the phone and he says yes, that's fine, I'll take it. I go and GET the car for him (remember, I still have the other one ordered as well). I offer to PICK HIM UP AT THE AIRPORT in it but he says, "No, I want to spend Wednesday with my family, I'll be up on Thursday at 9AM to sign the paperwork and pick up the car." I've also offered to sell him the car at Invoice minus the $1000 rebate and also minus the $500 military rebate. Ford even puts an additional $500 December Bonus Cash Rebate on it!

 

So far, all very understandable and we're all in agreement. Thursday Morning? No show but we'd had some icey/rain/snow that morning so I'm figuring he doesn't want to get his new Black GT all dirty. I call him at 11 and he says, "I'm at the mall, let me call you back."

 

He calls me back and says, "Oh, I went out last night and bought one from another dealer. Oh by the way, its not black, its Alloy cuz I couldn't find a Black one"

 

This is why I HATE to order cars for people. I WILL not without a non-refundable $500 deposit ever. The only other time I ever took a deposit before this one was for a Lariat Crew Cab Super Duty Diesel with a 6 speed manual transmission.

 

I do 5-7 dealer trades per month and typically only asked for their word but after this situation, I take a deposit on all of them now.

[ford4v429]

Let me give you my perspective on the Mustang GT's from the Dealer's Side. Also, if anyone is interested, I have a 2007 GT Convertible in White with Tan leather at $500 BELOW invoice minus the current (for our region in Cincinnati anyway) $1000 rebate.

 

I had a soldier (in Iraq) email me that he wanted a Black GT 5 Speed. I'm the Internet Director at a small dealership (60 cars per month total) on the West Side of Cincinnati so of course I want to support one of our "boys in uniform". This was in April. Several emails back and forth. Say's he's putting $10k down so I figure credit won't be a problem. We nail down what he wants (Black GT Premium 5 Speed Manual with Black Leather Interior interior upgrade pkg). I agree to sell him a stick (commodity) at invoice minus rebates AND he gets the $500 military discount.

 

I didn't feel the need to take a deposit because we'd been talking back and forth since April when he tells me in October that he'll be home in December do I think I can have the car for him by then. The sales answer to that question is ALWAYS "Yes! Absolutely!" I also offer to sell him the car at Invoice minus the $1000 rebate and also minus the $500 military rebate. By the time he was coming home, Ford even put an additional $500 December Bonus Cash Rebate on it!

 

I have my GM order the car the way he wants. Allocation cuts in (5 speed manuals are a commodity) but we get it scheduled to be built. It has a build date of Dec 16th. I told the guy this and he said he'd be home the week before that. I still didn't take a deposit but I got on the phone and called a LOT of dealers and found a Black GT 5 Speed Manual exactly like he wanted but with the Satelite Radio ($195) and the Exterior Appearance Pkg ($2-something hood scoop and engine cover). We talk (by now he's in Houston TX) on the phone and he says yes, that's fine, I'll take it. I go and GET the car for him (remember, I still have the other one ordered as well). I offer to PICK HIM UP AT THE AIRPORT in it but he says, "No, I want to spend Wednesday with my family, I'll be up on Thursday at 9AM to sign the paperwork and pick up the car." I've also offered to sell him the car at Invoice minus the $1000 rebate and also minus the $500 military rebate. Ford even puts an additional $500 December Bonus Cash Rebate on it!

 

So far, all very understandable and we're all in agreement. Thursday Morning? No show but we'd had some icey/rain/snow that morning so I'm figuring he doesn't want to get his new Black GT all dirty. I call him at 11 and he says, "I'm at the mall, let me call you back."

 

He calls me back and says, "Oh, I went out last night and bought one from another dealer. Oh by the way, its not black, its Alloy cuz I couldn't find a Black one"

 

This is why I HATE to order cars for people. I WILL not without a non-refundable $500 deposit ever. The only other time I ever took a deposit before this one was for a Lariat Crew Cab Super Duty Diesel with a 6 speed manual transmission.

 

I do 5-7 dealer trades per month and typically only asked for their word but after this situation, I take a deposit on all of them now.

 

I can understand the frustration on cancelled orders- and believe ALL orders should require a deposit- it protects both parties...being in Cincinnati, I'm sure you gotta feel the allocation pinch back in 05/06 too...like I mentioned before, regional had told my dealer that the entire Pittsburgh region(we're in northeast ohio- not sure if your in our region or maybe new jersey?) was getting (6) GT's per week...split among 99 dealers at that time...When I was down at Yeomans in Daytona, they had 15-20 gt's on the lot as stock orders, and due to their allocation leverage, place an order for one with them, and it gets a VIN the following Thursday, no matter what...thats fine for folks in Florida, but it sucks bad for those of us in ohio. 'Pullmeoverred05' in here waited 7-8 months on an allocated 06 priority 10 order JUST TO GET A VIN(one day after contacting a VP at Ford)...when I placed my order, I watched Kzinti's data daily seeing where we were...saw thousand Vins issued ahead of mine- some for same exact options placed only a week before Vin...yet mine stalled for 2 months due to regional allocation. My beef with Ford is not scheduling all retails in the order recieved (a belief shared by at least one Vice President at Ford), barring commodity restraints- but still in some kind of order by CUSTOMER order DATE, NOT DEALER ALLOCATION LEVEL.

 

Allocation makes perfect sense for 'lot filling'/stock order type stuff, but a CUSTOMER should be treated as such no matter if they live in 'sunny year round mustang selling florida' or freakin Alaska. I think a lot of the folks at Ford and at the dealers too, often dont understand that to some folks thier product is more than commodity transportation...when I saw the new 05, I had a new 'dream car', and I was eager to get a car loan for the first time in my life...then found out that Ford sees a customer as a dealers problem, and a dealer as thier 'customer', and ADM/cancelled deals/dealer trades on ordered cars, and a whole lot of BS that had a discouraging effect on the ACTUAL buyers just became a fact of life. I do know of only a few for sure that threw in the towel and bought something else...and those that got pissed always blamed Ford- even if 90% dealer shenanigans. Small dealers(allocation wise) might have done everything in thier power to fulfill a deal, and yet 'allocation' shoved them out of line enough to cost them a customer.

 

to me allocation application to retails is just stupid. The only way to really fix the problem would be non-refundable deposit, name on the order, requirement that first titling can ONLY go to name on order, or car gets returned to general allocation(to discourage shady dealer from 'increasing allocation' on the sly).

Maybe ford wont do it, but ask anyone that wanted a 05 in a 'allocation poor area' how they felt about seeing florida cut in line for months - even on freakin stock orders.

Edited January 13, 2007 by ford4v429

[MKII]

I had factory ordered car experience only with 3 Volvo's, which all came EXACTLY as I ordered, and in a 6 week time frame.

My first Ford factory ordered car was MY2005 Focus SES (only trim level in Canadian market) with one option only "side-air-bags."

The ZX5 was replacing a MY2002 Focus SE sedan on lease. With the lease ending on the 02 Focus end of December 2004, I was in contact with

my Ford salesperson beginning of September, but I was told to wait and order middle of November with an expected delivery 6-8 weeks.

But I was able to persuade my salesperson to put my order in at the end of October. My car did not arrive until end of February 2005,

and of course the car arrived with leather seats (which both myself and wife do not like). And no as displeased as I was with the leather,

after waiting for 4 months I was not going to wait again.

 

Some will wonder why I would order a econo car, main reason was to get manual tranny and side air bags, which at the time, was impossible to find on any dealers lots in Ontario.

 

Paid $1,000.00 deposit, plus signed purchase order etc.

 

Ford is not a pleasant company to deal with in this regards.

Edited January 14, 2007 by MKII

[ford4v429]

I had factory ordered car experience only with 3 Volvo's, which all came EXACTLY as I ordered, and in a 6 week time frame.

My first Ford factory ordered car was MY2005 Focus SES (only trim level in Canadian market) with one option only "side-air-bags."

The ZX5 was replacing a MY2002 Focus SE sedan on lease. With the lease ending on the 02 Focus end of December 2004, I was in contact with

my Ford salesperson beginning of September, but I was told to wait and order middle of November with an expected delivery 6-8 weeks.

But I was able to persuade my salesperson to put my order in at the end of October. My car did not arrive until end of February 2005,

and of course the car arrived with leather seats (which both myself and wife do not like). And no as displeased as I was with the leather,

after waiting for 4 months I was not going to wait again.

 

Some will wonder why I would order a econo car, main reason was to get manual tranny and side air bags, which at the time, was impossible to find on any dealers lots in Ontario.

 

Paid $1,000.00 deposit, plus signed purchase order etc.

 

Ford is not a pleasant company to deal with in this regards.

 

other than the delays, sounds to me like maybe the dealer screwed up...not all dealers give you a DORA to verify order is EXACTLY what you wanted, while there is still time to change it, but all should be required to do so on orders. theres definitely a lot of room for improvement, and I still think Kzinti was on the right track...if every customer was provided access like he had to orders, we could all KNOW where we stood, and verify what we would be getting...but until 'allocation by region being applied to retails' gets rethought, theres still going to be those that wait in areas for the car they put a deposit and order in for, while many newer 'stock' lot filling orders to big volume regions get to cut into the VIN line every thursday...

 

"back of the line...we got a big dealer that 'turned and earned' the right to kick your deposted order to the back of the line as long as he wants to fill his lot...'' now theres a way to make a happy customer- er dealer... oh yeah, the dealer IS the customer...I keep forgetting that philosophy for some STUPID reason...

[mbagsb]

Anyone care to help shed some light and/or help with navigating this situation?

 

We ordered a 2008 FEH hybrid in early June. We started calling the dealer about 3 weeks later to get an update and just got the run around. Called Ford customer service and they said there was no order in the system.

 

When we went back to the dealer, they gave us a song and dance about how we were next in line but that they didn't have allocation to place the order so they were just holding on to it.

 

After making a bit of a stink about the fact that they took my deposit but hadn't done anything with the order, the dealer finally put it into the system and I now have a copy of a DORA. It shows that we are "priority 10" which, from my understanding, means we are next in line for that dealer's orders.

 

Now, close to 8 weeks after I gave them a deposit and an order, it is still, according to Ford, sitting in their system unscheduled for production. I understand that these are in high demand, but I gave FORD an order and a deposit quite a long time ago and 8 weeks seems like an awful long time to be waiting with nothing going on. There isn't even a VIN assigned to the car yet.

 

Now I'm being told that some district or region rep sits with it until they decide its time to release it to the factory for production. Seems to me that the order, and deposit, have been sitting with paper pushers long enough and the folks at the factory, the people BUILDING the car, should be deciding when they are able to get to the order.

 

Anybody know how I can track down the name and number of this district/regional rep to bend their ear and find out when they plan to release it for scheduling?

 

Is this really the process or am I getting fed stories? Is there a way to address this or am I just supposed to keep waiting?

[Deanh]

Currently big dealer allocation leverage says who gets cars first- do you think a retail ORDERED car should get held up because of a high volume dealer wanting extra 'stock ordered' cars for his lot?

 

Do you think its right to descriminate against customers because of where in the country they live?

 

Certain areas have Mustang GTs on the lots, even spilling onto Ebay to get rid of them- yeah, these guys have allocation leverage...other areas some guys put deposits down over 9 months ago and still have not gotten a vin. Does this system need fixed?

 

Regional allocation and dealer allocation ONLY makes sense if the dealer is the customer- People know without buyers, neither the dealer nor ford would survive, its about time they acknowledge who the true customer is. Allocation also hurts MOST dealers as the few biggest get to 'cut in line' regarding production scheduling, luring buyers away from some good smaller dealers for the faster deliveries of a huge dealer.

 

I'll paste the old allocation 'rules' back in here soon, along with some Ideas Kzinti had posted before the forum got nuked.

HERE IS A VERY DETAILED LISTING ON ALLOCATION/ORDERING SYSTEM- ALBEIT FOR A TRUCK...

 

PASTING FROM :www.f150online.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=127481&highlight=priority+code

 

<<<from: XCR440SP

 

1. Order types

 

There are 3 basic order types, Stock, Retail, Fleet. There are others, but I'm not going to just use these 3. AXZD plan will fall under Retail in my description. The other types are Dealer Demo, drivers ed loan out and lease renewal order. Again I'm going to just use the 3 as the others basicly fall under those 3 also.

 

Stock- Unsold orders for dealer inventory. Order type 2

 

Retail- Sold orders, have a customer name assigned to them in the system. These also have price protection in case of an increase. Stock units don't. Its an order type 1 in the system (or A, X, K for the weird order types)

 

Fleet- Sold orders for compaines with a valid Fleet ID. (a fleet ID requires 15 units in service). This order type schedules differently and also gets different't pricing. Rebates don't apply to fleets (but they do have a "REtail greater than Fleet" discount if rebates are bigger than fleet discounts. They also don't pay the FDAF fees and other things. Orders are schueduled out of a fleet pool and not the dealers allocation, but more on that later. This is an order type 0.

 

Next on an order is an order number. This doesn't mean much its just a way of tracking. Its a 4 digit number (or letters) and is assigned by the dealer. I use the order date for mine. This is one of the 3 items you need to check the status of an order.

 

Body type- This just tells what the truck is, for example a X14 is a Supercab 4x4 styleside. The first letter is the cab style (F=Regular cab, X= Supercab, W=Crewcab) The second digit tells more. On the New F-150 a 0 is a flareside, 1 is a styleside (2 is a F-250, 3 F-350, etc). The 3rd digit tells whether 2 or 4 wheel drive (on New F-150 2 is 2wd, 4 is 4x4, old style was 7 and 8). This explination applies to F-Series trucks, cars can be different. This item is also needed to check an order.

 

Dealer code- This is also on the order and is needed to check the status of an order (with Ford, dealer only gets listing of his units). This is a set of 2 numbers, a letter, and 3 more numbers. The first two corespond to the region, letter tells the zone in that region, and last 3 identify the dealer. Mine is 53W544 (53=KC region, Zone W, dealer 544). This is the 3rd thing needed to check the status of an order. All 3 are listed togeather on a DORA on the Upper portion far right a few blank lines below the priority code.

 

A DORA is a Dealer Order Recipt Acknoldgement. Its a printout we get back from Ford after ordering. Usually comes next buisness day. You should get one from your dealer after ordering. Its a good way to verify what's ordered is what you want.

 

2. Priority Codes. This is listed on the far right upper portion of a DORA. Its also on the dealers print outs of order status. This only applies until a unit is scheudled. Once assigned a VIN this doesn't mean anything anymore.

 

The codes start at 1 and run to 99. A dealer can only assign between 10 and 99. A 99 order can't be schuduled. I use these for people that tell me to get them a unit on date (later than normal orders take). I put in a 99'd order so I have what they wanted in the system and don't forget about it and then change it to a buildable priority when time comes they're ready for the truck. The region (or other Ford divisions) can prioritize below 10, I've only seen a 01 priority below 10. They do this in the event of something unusuall, most orders never see a priority 01. An example is if they're manually scheduling (like the First F-150 for each dealer, or first year T Birds) or if its something that needs to be urgent (first order destroyed in shipping, etc). Again I normally only see this a few times a year. Also if you do get a priority 01, things usually get scheduled fast even if you have some hard to get commodites (but not hold items). More on commodities later. I believe that the under 10 prioritys go first through the allocation system.

 

Other priorities are to organize what order the dealer wants the trucks in. These only affect that dealer and have no bearing on other dealers. If a dealer only uses 50 or higher, another dealer that starts at 10 won't get his trucks any sooner. This system is to orginze the order so they are "in a row" for scheduling. That way in the first pass of scheduling they only look at 1 truck per dealer, then on second pass look at 2nd one. Regardless of what the number actually is. If 50's the lowest at dealer a and 10's my lowest, they are both in the first pass, and are equal to each other.

 

More than one order can have the same priority. If this happens they system looks at order types and then order date. Retails take priority over stock and oldest takes priority. For example:

 

order 1234 Retail order date 9/3/03

order 4321 Retail order date 5/5/03

order 5555 Stock order date 4/4/03

The Retail orders take priority. and then oldest order comes first. So the system would look at these in this order:

Order 4321 because its the oldest retail at this priority

order 1234 2nd as its a retail

order 5555 being a stock order its 2nd despite order date.

 

Also Priority can override stock,retail or order date. If a retail is priority 20 and a stock is 19, the stock tries to scheudle first, the retail and date thing only applies to orders with the same priority number.

 

So the big thing I want everyone to know is don't get too worried if your not a priority 01 as this is very rare, also don't worry if your not at priority 10, I start my retail ordes at 20 so I've got some room if something comes up that I need to prioritize under my current orders I can.

 

On Fleet orders, none of this priority stuff applies. The priority codes are to control build date and are a letter and a number that corespond to a build month and week. This isn't to get stuff quicker but actually slower. Often fleets will order in January and not want the units for a few months. I can order so it can't be built until later so it will arrive in time but not overly early. Fleet units don't compete with retail or stock at all for scheduling as fleet comes out of their own pool and not from a dealers allocation.

 

3. Allocation- Now that we've got orders in the bank they have to be Scheduled, oh getting ahead of my self, I better list some terms that apply to order status. These are on the dealer printouts so if you see these you'll know what they mean.

 

Matl HOLD - unit can't schedule something is not availble. for example, my Harley F-250 is in this status as production doesn't start until 11/3/03

 

unschd/clean- unit isn't scheduled (no VIN, no date, no guarantee to build), but is a buildable order once allocation and comodities allow.

 

Submitted to plant- Unit assigend a VIN and assy plant, plant is assigning build date.

 

Scheduled- has a build date and a vin

 

Locked in- Changes can no longer be made to this order, unit is either close to being built, or at the end of the year they lock in orders early so they don't have left over parts between model years.

 

Bucked- Unit is close to production, its my understanding that this mean the frame is on a Buck thats used to roll it down the line.

 

Produced- Unit is built

 

Rel from plant- Unit is built and through inspection, avaible to ship. May also say Rel to Rail, or rel to convoy depending on location

 

ttgxx7837934- or some weird number like this means its on a rail car and thats the number.

 

Arrived at ramp XX- has arrived at the rail head and been unloaded, the XX is a usually a number and letter. Mine go to 6P (kansas City) or 4T (joliet, IL)

 

Ok, now that we've got some terminalogy lets talk allocation. Allocation determines who gets the units for that build week. The way allocation is split is based on Sales and availability. They don't count equally, I think sales factor 60% and availablity 40%. The region like to call it turn and earn. The more you sell and fewer you have, the more you get. So if you've got lots of units on the ground and haven't been selling them, you won't get many new allocations. If you have none because you sold them all you should get a good number allocated. This information doesn't help a customer much as you really can't tell what dealers will get allocation. Larger dealers will get more allocation, but will have more orders also so doesn't mean faster scheduling. Generally most dealer are in simmilar situations and wait times will be simmilar. There are exceptions to this, for example 1999 Super Duty's were hard to get, but we had plenty of them as in a rural community we've always sold lots of HD trucks and the sales history helped us and hurt the city dealers that were selling them because they were "hot", this will hurt us the other way when the 05 Mustang comes out as I don't sell many normally I'll have a harder time getting them. Now this sytem ends up with leftovers as it doesn't end up with evey dealer earning exact allocation and its hard to schedule .44 of a truck, so the left overs are used to get allocation to dealers that have retail orders and didn't earn (or earn enough) allocation to scheudle them.

 

Select and Contact dealers. There are 2 classifications of dealers Select (smaller dealers) and Contact (large dealers), for scheduling there are sometimes some differences. Right now on F-150 both work in the same allocation system, but on most other models (and F-150 starting in aprox December) the select dealers won't have to get allocation, they get every order they place automaticlly. So on most models, the smaller dealer will be able to get them quickly.

 

Fleet- Fleet doesn't go throught the allocation system. Fleet gets a percentage of the weeks production and schedules by order date so this eliminates any time diffences between dealers and also allows them to sell to fleets without using a allocation that should go to a normall customer. Fleet unit sales don't count to earn allocation either.

 

4. Commodites- We usually get a list of controled comodites on Wednesday these are the items that are not availble (not Material hold, just overscheduled from past or supply issues, short term shortage, Material hold items Can't schedule, IE DVD is currently Material hold) and items that aren't going to be "Free demand". Free demand items are ones that you can get as many as you want, supply outdoes demand. Other items may have a restriction. Currently two-tone paint is a commodity. For example let me give a list of controls (not actuall amounts, just for example based on things I've seen in the last few weeks.

 

Two tone paint (supercab/Regular cab) 30%

two tone paint (SuperCrew) 18%

total SuperCrew 35%

5.4L V-8 80%

Other items can also control, this is just an example (and items that I've seen on control already for the 04's). What this means is the % of the trucks scheduled that can have this option. That isn't an individual dealer thing, but all dealers in the region (controls are often regional, but usually most regions are the same). That means that if 1 dealer doesn't use his share another may get a higher percentage, or if another doesn't prioritze right, he may miss all the controls and get the free demand items only.

 

Now were ready to go to the complicated part, Scheduling.

 

5. Scheduling. Scheduling usually happens Thursday night (allocation happens Wed night and we get the results sometime Thursday). Basiclly its all done by computer (unless something like a priority 01 may be manually scheduled first to make sure it gets scheduled). It lines all the dealers (that have allocation) in some sort of random order. If there are no commodities, this is easy, first dealers unit scheduled, sencond dealers, third dealers, etc, Once all dealers first allocation has been scheduled they go to the next round and do the same for the dealers that have a second allocation, once everyonce second is done they go those with a 3rd and so on. Now thats in a perfect world where there aren't any comodites.

 

Here in the real world it works a little different. Comodities screw this all up. Right now most vehicles only have 1 or two commodities so its not as big of deal. At times there might be 10 different commodites that are all separate and different and can make things difficult.

 

If when scheduling gets to a dealers allocation, and his order has a comodite that has already run out, they skip him for that pass. He doesn't loose his allocation, it gets used in the next pass, but it can cost him in other commodities. Let me do an example. This is PURELY SAMPLE, not actuall numbers.

 

Lets say Super Duty F-Series comodities

 

5% Crew Cab

30% Two tone

50% Power Stroke

25% V-10

 

now we're going to use Dealer A and dealer B. Lets say they both got 3 allocations.

 

Dealer A

F-250 V-10 Supercab with 2 tone priority 20

F-350 V-10 Regular cab with 2 tone priority 25

F-250 PowerStroke priority 30

 

Dealer B

F-250 V-10 Crew Cab priority 10

F-250 V-10 Crew Cab priorty 11

F-250 Supecab Two tone V-10 Priority 12

F-250 Regular cab PowerStroke priorty 13

F-250 Sueprcab 5.4L priority 17

F250 Regular cab 5.4L priority 18

F350 supercab 5.4L priority 20

 

OK now to scheudle. Lets say dealer A is toward the beggining of scheudling and dealer B is at the end (suposed to be a random order, but someone has to be first and someone last, but the dealer has no say in this).

 

1. System looks at dealer a's first order, Comodities still available so it gets scheuduled.

2. System gets do dealer b's first order and is out of Crew cabs before it gets there so dealer b doesn't get a unit scheduled

 

3. Dealer A's up again and gets his second scheuduled sa both are available.

4. Dealer B's second order is a crew cab again so nothing schedules again this pass

 

5. Dealer A's 3rd order is still OK so it also gets scheduled and uses up his final allocation.

6. Dealer B's 3rd order isn't a Crew cab, but after 2 and 1/2 passes 2 tone is exhausted so again nothing scheduled.

 

7. Dealer B's Power Stroke order doesn't schedule as they are used up in previos passes so he has yet to have a unit schedule.

8. Dealer B gets the next three units scheduled in the next three passes as the comodities ordered are still availble (in this example).

 

So when its said and done Dealer A got 2 V-10's 1 Power Stroke, and 2 two tone orders where dealer B got nothing off of the control list. He gets his three units that he was allocated, but doesn't get any of the hard to get stuff due to the way his order bank was prioritized. This is why a dealer would want to put some of the moderately difficult items in the middle instead of all the hardest to get stuff at the first priority. If I had set up my order bank (in this example) I would have had a crew cab 1st and some a two tone second.

 

This example was a little extreme, but it shows how the system works.

 

This info doesn't really help you as a customer as there isn't much you can do to affect this, but I thought people would find it interesting on how the system works. With current commodites, there isn't a lot of risk because after the only major comodites (not holds) are two tone and SuperCrew so after they run out you can still get some decent vehicles. But in years passed, they tried to stick dealers with some stuff that wasn't worth ordering. If you don't want something you can pass on your allocation, but many dealers will take slow moving trucks instead of passing on allocation. This can hurt worse thought as now the system shows you with that truck in inventory so it can cost you future allocation (remember the turn and earn system). Sometimes vehicles are excluded to get dealers to take them. In years passed, V-6 F-150's were excluded and 6 speed diesels didn't count against you.

 

6. Other

 

Now that your unit is scheduled, here are some other points of interest.

 

Once scheduled some changes can be made. If an item is a comodity, it probably can't be added, but can be removed. Trim level (XLT, Lariat, etc) can't be change nor can body style (4x4, 4x2, Crew cab, Reg cab, etc). But color and options can be modified unitl the truck is locked in for production. If the change takes, you'll get a new DORA the next day. If not nothing happens.

 

After Locked in status the truck gets "Bucked" and will be produced very soon.

 

Next step is Produced. This means the truck is built but hasn't left the plant yet.

 

Rel from plant is next, self explanitiory

 

Then things change based on your location. It may be REL to convoy (truck), Rel to Rail (train) or it may have a long number like ttx198345, that is the rail car the truck is loaded on. There may be a space and then a 2 digit number after this. Thats the Ramp (rail yard where loaded and unloaded) where the train is at.

 

Arrived at ramp XX (the XX is a 2 digit number) this is again the place where loaded and unload, unfortunately I don't have a list of them. This means the truck has been unloaded from the train and is waiting truck shipment.

 

Next step truck arrives at dealer!

the one big weakness...and perhaps the cause is dealers slamming in bunches of ficticious orders on prime merchandise.........