DEALER ALLOCATION. I hate it like we all do.

[shoeman]

I have had my EX LTD on order for 5 weeks ,and very patientlly waiting for a VIN and Build date. Seni has been great keeping us all informed as to our status. I went and saw th sales manager this morning who I deal with for my last 3 cars ,and he punches mine up and as of today still clean un scheduled. He looks up further in his system and he has 6 EXs that were pulled and serialised today with build dates ,mine was not in this batch and there are still 2 EXs in front of mine in the line. He then looks into it a little more and tells me that this was his allocation for the balance of the month,and that the odds are I will need to wait till early May. And I deal with one of the largest stores in the Toronto area. Two reasons he stated for the length of time, Allocation ,and the fact that in Canada our orders are back of the bus . That is why there are so many members here that have orders placed same date or later and already have a VIN and build date. Just call me simply frustrated. Thank you again to Seni for keeping us all in the loop,as she was the one yesterday that advised me to check with my dealer ,as something sounded weird.

 

[edge929]

The whole dealer allocation process is overly complex in my opinion and needs to be rethought. It's trying to be everything to everybody and it doesn't work. It tries to satisfy the most amount of people at the cost of First-In First-Out which every product/service should follow. The current process attempts to reward high volume dealerships that will most likely order their first 2 batches for their stock, not for pre-orders. In the end, you're at the mercy of your dealership assuming there are no part holds on the factory side. If they want to make you happy, they'll give your vehicle their highest priority so when allocation comes around every month, yours is picked as the first for that dealership.

If you are just the victim of "being late to order" with many other non-dealer-orders ahead of you then I say it's fair game. I waited 5.5 months from order to delivery, 2.5 if you count when they started production. I can all but guarantee you I was in the first 5000 pre-orders and those were built in the first 2 weeks of December, yet my VIN was 25017 delivered in mid-Feb. Ordered from the third largest Ford dealership in my state with 1 non-dealer-order ahead of me (ordered 3 hours before I ordered).

 

[ATLcanuck]

I agree about blowing up the allocation process...and I would be in favor of a pretty radical "regional hub" approach where the manufacturers would sell directly to the public, and scrap the dealers altogether (with the exception of service, possibly).

Failing that...I just wish dealers would be 100% transparent on allocation when you order. That woud help you pu their price into context. You may be getting a great price, but have to wait 3+ months due to allocation. Or, you can go to another dealer and pay a few hundred more but have your car 1-2 months sooner. I wish I had a) known more about allocation when I ordered and suffered a 9-week wait to get a VIN, and b) my dealer had explained that to me.

 

[teehee]

I agree about blowing up the allocation process...and I would be in favor of a pretty radical "regional hub" approach where the manufacturers would sell directly to the public, and scrap the dealers altogether (with the exception of service, possibly).

Failing that...I just wish dealers would be 100% transparent on allocation when you order. That woud help you pu their price into context. You may be getting a great price, but have to wait 3+ months due to allocation. Or, you can go to another dealer and pay a few hundred more but have your car 1-2 months sooner. I wish I had a) known more about allocation when I ordered and suffered a 9-week wait to get a VIN, and b) my dealer had explained that to me.

ATLcanuck, I have to agree with you! I was not informed about the allocation when I ordered, now I'm stuck waiting. It makes me feel as though my money is worth less than someone else's and that isn't right. I was on the ball and ordered mine on March 22nd, yet there are others that ordered after me and already have their ex's. To me, that just isn't right!!

 

[Loganfilm]

I ordered Feb 9th.

I'm told it's on a rail car near St Louis headed to Los Angeles.

Should be here within a couple weeks.

I'm starting to have second thoughts after reading about all the problems people have been having with their new Explorers. I may not take delivery now, since it's only a few more months before the 12's should be coming.