mstang

Me either, and the worst part is those smaller dealerships are not filled with land sharks looking at you like a wounded fish waiting to take a bite, they have you over a barrel and they know it, the smaller dealers represent the customer much better in general.

Its a total shame, customer orders first FORD !
[/b][/quote]

Not to defend Ford's Allocation system, because it frustrates me everyday, but whenever there is a situation where demand far surpasses supply, there is going to be frustration no matter what system is used.

If the system scheduled sold orders prioritized by when they were received, what is to stop a dealer from submitting a "sold" dummy order or two or more to scoop allocation. If an order is presented as sold, Ford has no way to verify.

Commodities are also a huge factor. If you want a V6 non-IUP I would think any dealer could get it real quick. Virtually all waiting sold orders are for GTs with IUP.

As for the cars that Summit has, they were ordered back in December/January when Ford (of Canada anyway) offered all dealers a "one-shot" opportunity to order supplementary allocation. They had to be built to commodities, so you will find they only have a few IUP GTs.
Ordering a bunch of non-IUP GTs or V6s in hindsight was a good move, but with the market and availability as it was in December, its a questionable call.
We ordered up, but not as heavy. It costs approx $225 per month in wholesale charges to keep a Mustang on the lot - GT or V6.

We have been telling customers since the end of February that they may not get an '05. We will get our balance-out allocation in a couple of weeks and am hoping I can cover our two February sold orders, but in reality there is no hope for our March or April orders.

holderca1

Yes, if they stuck with the current system. With the technology available today there are certainly ways to insure that a retail order is, in fact a retail order, and not a dealer stock order.
[/b][/quote]
I don't know about that, I have never physically been to the dealership that I ordered and purchased my vehicle with. It wouldn't be too difficult for a dealership to put an order in with a fake name and address and then when the car comes in, have the order cancelled and it by default goes into the dealer's stock.

TomServo92

I don't know about that, I have never physically been to the dealership that I ordered and purchased my vehicle with. It wouldn't be too difficult for a dealership to put an order in with a fake name and address and then when the car comes in, have the order cancelled and it by default goes into the dealer's stock.
[/b][/quote]

Exactly. Dealerships will find a way to cheat the system. Short of the consumer placing the order directly with Ford (never happen), there's no way to prevent the dealer from using loopholes in the system.

Top Down

I think it is reasonable to assume that if I order a Mustang on 1/27/05 that someone that ordered one on 1/26/05 would get theirs built first, but someone that ordered on 1/28/05 would get theirs after me no matter where they lived.

I ordered from the largest dealer in northeren Michigan and still don't have it and am not sure I ever will get it. That is totally BS.

moc1976

Holderca1, if you've never been to the dealership how did you pick up your car, did they deliver it? And just because you haven't been to the dealership, doesn't mean you can't supply certain information over the phone that Ford can use to verify a retail order. And I would say that you are in the minority if you never went to the dealership that you ordered from, most people do this.

OK, so you guys are saying that there is no way possible to build a system that knows that a retail order is what it is. Of course you could have situations where people change their mind and the car goes into dealer stock, but that is the EXCEPTION.

This is 2005 and I work in the IT business, and there is a way to do this. There is information on people that can't be faked, driver's license number, soc sec #, etc. I'm not saying these are the best ways, but they are examples of information that can be verified. All I'm saying is that you could use information like this so that Ford knows its an actual retail order, contact the person for verification, and fill the order.

Its not that hard, but I know that Ford is not going to spend the money to do this, since they are still selling the cars. This would be about customer service which Ford really could care less about. All they want to do is sell them to the dealers and make their profit.

holderca1

Yes, they delivered it. What information are you talking about that could be used to verify an order?

ISELLFORD

The only flaw to this approach of allocation per sold orders is that the "no so straight dealers" will somehow come up with [X] number of dummy "sold" orders to get cars built so they can sell to whomever. heck it already happens now.

If you want to order a car or truck, irregardless of what it is, find a dealer with a good commercial department and ask for the commercial sales manager. Even if you are not buying for a business, they are commissioned also and would love to help you. Besides, most are more knowledgeable than the average floor salesperson plus they understand the Ford ordering system and are able to order the vehicle themselves to lessen the chance of a mis-speced vehicle.

Just my .02 cents worth.

moc1976

Yes, they delivered it. What information are you talking about that could be used to verify an order?
[/quote]

Did you read the rest of my post? How about driver's license number just off the top of my head. You can't fake one of those if it actually gets verified. Like I said, I know Ford isn't going to change this process, cause to them it isn't broke. Its only broke for people that have to wait 4 months or more for the car. Ford is selling them as fast as they can build them to the dealers, they don't care that a dealership has 60 on the lot and people are waiting 6 months.

And I'd be interested to see how many people had their Mustang delivered, you must be some kind of "super customer" Of course that means letting somebody else drive the car :notnice:

holderca1

Did you read the rest of my post? How about driver's license number just off the top of my head. You can't fake one of those if it actually gets verified. Like I said, I know Ford isn't going to change this process, cause to them it isn't broke. Its only broke for people that have to wait 4 months or more for the car. Ford is selling them as fast as they can build them to the dealers, they don't care that a dealership has 60 on the lot and people are waiting 6 months.

And I'd be interested to see how many people had their Mustang delivered, you must be some kind of "super customer" Of course that means letting somebody else drive the car :notnice:
[/b][/quote]
Okay, so they can just as easily use a real person to put in a fake order and have information that can be verified. You are giving dealers too much credit.

And as far as the car being delivered, the dealership is 150 miles away, so it was kind of difficult finding someone to give me a lift over there.

TomServo92

I have cited two examples in this thread where other automakers have experienced the same type of allocations issues. If this is as easy to do as you've stated, why haven't the others done it yet? If it's that easy to improve the allocation process, someone would have already done it.

blackhat

Coming up with names is easy. When I worked in the auto business there were coworkers who used their family as customers when they knew they'd be getting a bad survey. CSI is important and can effect allocation. One guy's kid, according to the "records" has 3 ML 320s and he's only 8!

Also as mentioned Ford is selling all the cars to the dealers and making money on each one. They don't care. I knew a Toyota dealership that was moving Acura's out of it's lot b/c its sister store in another state was an Acura dealer. So they were competing with us even though there was no other "official" Acura store in the county. Acura didn't do anything about it; they didn't care.. they were moving cars.

moc1976

so, what, free test drive and give us your driver's license number and we'll give you a coffee mug? Maybe DL # is a bad example, its just something I thought of off the top of my head. How about Social Security number, I don't think people would give that out unless they really put in an order.

Obviously any system could be cheated, but if you made it harder to do, the dealerships would be less likely to do them.

Bottom line to me, the current process stinks, if you or Ford wants me to come up with a better one, I want a contractor rate to figure it out. I just think its ridiculous that 1)people have been waiting over 6 months for their car 2)people ordered in March have their car, while I wait, 3)there are dealerships with 60 05 Mustangs on the log - if you can't see that this is bad business, I don't know what else to do to try to convince you

holderca1

Umm, theres the answer to your question, go to the lot with 60 Mustangs, not the one with 0.

moc1976

I have cited two examples in this thread where other automakers have experienced the same type of allocations issues. If this is as easy to do as you've stated, why haven't the others done it yet? If it's that easy to improve the allocation process, someone would have already done it.
[/b][/quote]

I never said it was easy, check my posts. IN FACT, I said it would be expensive and Ford won't do anything about it cause it isn't broke in their eyes. I'm done on this thread, I guess you guys won't ever understand customer service if you think this process is OK.

TomServo92

I never said it was easy, check my posts. IN FACT, I said it would be expensive and Ford won't do anything about it cause it isn't broke in their eyes. I'm done on this thread, I guess you guys won't ever understand customer service if you think this process is OK.
[/b][/quote]

Actually you did say it was easy:

Perhaps you should check your own posts.

What you've failed to grasp is that isn't just a Ford problem. You can search the web and find examples of people complaining about Lexus, Nissan, and Chrysler, et al allocation problems that are nearly identical to what we have with the Mustang. It's the way the entire industry handles allocations and like I said before, if there was a better way to do it, someone would have already implemented it.

pk2112

Lets face it-if this car wasn't so incredibly desirable, this thread would not even exist. This is a great catharsis for all involved to sound out about the frustration involved with not having their new Mustang, nothing more nothing less. I have seen exact examples of my GT vert that has been c/u since 1/17 on the road, on various websites, etc. that I know were ordered after me. None of it makes me happy, but the purchase of this car is now a quest for me to fulfill. The notion that Ford just doesn't care simply does not hold water; to sell your soul to the devil for 18-24 months of profitable bliss is too great a mistake for a company like this to make. Ford's mistake came from not learning from the "introductory model sins of the past". This car should have been studied and focus grouped into the ground to determine what demand there was. Not being as educated on the Mustang as most on this site are, I don't know the last time this model received such a comprehensive makeover, which would result in pent-up demand for a car like this. Another factor may be the monumental flop of the Thunderbird-leading Ford to be much more careful with a "throwback" model like the new Mustang (once again, symptomatic of not enough pre-production study of demand in the marketplace). Pricing could also be an issue with the tremendous demand (especially with the GT); where else can you go and pay from $25,000 to $35,000 for a car with the looks and performance characteristics of the Mustang?

I guess I could ramble on about this, but everyone should get the point. Dumping on Ford is a healthy excercise that I have engaged in for the better part of 6 weeks; it feels good but probably won't get any results. The allocation system is what it is, the solution is for the dealers to be straight with their customers about the limitations of the system, and be realistic and honest about their capabilities within that system.

moc1976

Actually you did say it was easy:

Perhaps you should check your own posts.

What you've failed to grasp is that isn't just a Ford problem. You can search the web and find examples of people complaining about Lexus, Nissan, and Chrysler, et al allocation problems that are nearly identical to what we have with the Mustang. It's the way the entire industry handles allocations and like I said before, if there was a better way to do it, someone would have already implemented it.
[/b][/quote]

It's not that hard is not the same as easy.

pk2112 said it right, if I want to come here to vent about this stupid allocation system than its a healthy way to do that. I also agree, that Ford didn't do enough homework on this car. With this substantial re-design they should have done more work to determine what the allocation mix should have been. Then people wouldn't be waiting so long for their cars.

Ugly Ernie

Lottery? At least you'd know right away you lost & could move on!

TomServo92

Are you sure you're in IT? You sound more like a politician to me.

Sure you can vent about the allocation system just like I can vent about you venting about it. It's healthy for everyone involved!

What exactly do you mean by "allocation mix"? Are you referring to the V8-to-V6 ratio (which is determined by CAFE)? Or are you referring to dealer allocations (which is determined by dealer sales of all Ford models not just the Mustang)? Or are you referring to allocation of parts for popular options like IUP (which I would agree was marketing short-sightedness)?

pk2112

According to my dealer, the allocation system is model specific. He is a "small" dealer in the sense that his physical facility is small, and the number of cars he sells is small, but he moves a tremendous number of trucks. When certain models like to F250 were really hot in the last few years, he got one of the largest allocations in the area, and there are many dealers that could be considered "mega-dealers" that were crying to Ford that this little po-dunk dealer was getting these trucks almost at will. Not knowing this fact is why I placed my Mustang order with this dealership (along with an 8+ year relationship). He is still a good guy, but had I known then what I know now.....