How do I find out what my dealer's allocation is and is it broken down (by type of car i.e. GTs, V6s, ponys)? I can't seem to get answer from my dealer. It seems to me since they told me I'm a prioity 10 and the first 06 to come in is mine I should not see any other 06s on his lot? Just a little confusing

 

yeah, there is no actual way to find out a dealer's allocation that I've discovered, unless you know someone on the inside or can really trust what your salesman tells you. You could ask another dealership in the area, but of course they have their own agenda.

If you are indeed priority 10 (no definite way to know this either, though a DORA is probably right), and you are paying MSRP or more, then I doubt you have too much to worry about. I ordered the day after you (6.25), am priority 16 (they start at 15 at my dealer, supposedly) with 1 GT order in front of me, and am paying x-plan. It is the x-plan that worries me, as I'm afraid I'll be bumped for someone with deep pockets.

Obviously I'm a little pessimistic about the whole process, but also still hoping my dealer will step up and earn a youngish customer who'll be back for many years to come.

 

If anyone knows of a way to find out I'd love to hear it. (not that I don't trust salesmen )

 

Other than the dealer telling you, I do not know of any way to find out. We do not even know what our competitor's allocation is; I think it would be easier to get Pentagon Top Secret files than another dealer's allocation numbers.

Also when we are given our number for an allocation period [usually a months worth od production], we do not know the breakdown until each week due to commodity issues. So for example last month we were allocated 5 Mustangs and I personally had 5 retail orders in the system [one had since cancelled after his car got scheduled a week after I ordered it for him]. 3 were GT's and 2 V-6's. Our rep loaded the Gt's up front as there was allocation and after the 3rd week our region was out of GT's. Then last week which was the last scheduling week Ford was going to schedule a V-6 for stock as our 5th car. Our rep called me and told me that on my last GT retail order, if the customer made one change due to a commodity issue, that they could get it scheduled right away. my custome was in agreement and the car was scheduled that night. We still got the V-6 the next night so we wound up with 6 cars instead of the 5 we had allocated. So with Ford you never know what is going to happen.

Also for ALL who order cars telll your dealer to ADD the option code B16 to the order. This is a code that is very seldom used and cues the Ford computer that it is ok to schedule this car even if the dealer does not have allocation but due to some quirk, Ford may have a few extra slots that week. This is what happened this week. Even though we were out of allocation, because my order told Ford it was ok to schedule it anyway, it was fortunate enough to get pulled. I would almost wager that most dealers do not know about this code as it is from the old days of ordering and is not written anywhere but somehow is still in Ford's system.

Hope this helps.

 

Ed, you are an endless fountain of valuable informational goodies. Where would we all be without truly generous pros like you??!!

 

Ford should give you some kind of bonus for all the overtime you spend here in the forums!

 

This business has been VERY good to me and my family over the past 24 years. I learned a very long time ago to treat customers and prospective customers the way I would like to be treated. Also this give me a way of giving back, kinda like community service or doing volunteer work. Luckily I am in management now and I do a LOT of outside bidding and government bidding which gives me a little extra free time as I am not competing with the slaes floor for business. I get to work on my own and only answer to the owner. It'sa great gig plus I am well compensated. So why not help others.

Also over the years I have seen the incompetant salespersons and the salespersons that really don't give a snot about the customers; they only look at them as a paycheck. I just want to let people know that there are good salespersons around, you just have to look. We have a good group on these boards.

 

Ed let me ask you a question, I remember before I ordered my Mustang that my dealerships owner told me he can't ask for more Mustangs buecause if he did that he would have to take 6 explorers for every one Mustang GT and 4 Explorer Sport (I think thats what it's called) for every V6. This to me sounds like a giant LOAD, but I could be wrong. What do you think?

 

Well, I tried to have B16 added to my order today. Turns out my order hadn't been even placed yet due to allocation reasons, so it wasn't hard to try and ask them to slip it in. However, one of the fleet managers ears perked up when I talked about B16. Apparently he's been with Ford for about 27 years now, and knew all about B16. He was shocked that it was still in the system. We had a laugh about it when I explained where I had heard about it, and he told me, "good try."

Oh well. I'll just be patient.

 

Whenever a dealer asks for 'hot' product, the factory sales rep always tries to package it with slow moving stuff. Luckily we are the #1 dealer in our zone so we usually get a few favors from time to time.

 

Thanks for the info, Ed. That B16 could come in VERY handy for a lot of us. I'll have to remember that the next time I order one.

Love the comment about "community service." Really puts it into perspective regarding the way some salesmen treat people.

 

Thanks Ed. But now what will keep everyone from using the B16 option and clogging the system?

 

My dealer was kind enough to throw the B16 code in there when the car was ordered initially.

 

I would imagine the number of actual people with cars orderd on this site is 100 or less which is a very small number. Besides in each weeks allocation there is always some type of commodity issue. So if you take 100 cars, half of which will have some sore of issue that leaves 50 left which is a very small number in the scheme of things. Besides the B16 won't clog the system anyway.

On Thursday nights when Ford pulls orders for production, the computer [which I think is controlled by the Evil Robot Lady's Twin Sister], makes a pass over all the buildable orders along with the total allocation of the dealers, after that sometimes dealers get a cal saying they need to change a few options or order a different vehicle to line up with what is avaialble. After a second pass, there could be some additional availability so it will pick up buildable B16 orders.

I did that in 98 when super duty trucks first came out. They were in high demand so I B16'ed all my orders and i orderd tons extra. While my direct competitors had 5-6 super duty trucks to sell, I had 25-30. We soon built up our allocation under the turn and earn and i was selling more super duty's than the 4 other dealers in our market COMBINED.

 

You know Ed, this is why we should all order from you. If only all salespersons were as knowledgeable and willing to share that knowledge with their customers as you.

I know that if my dealer told me that certain options I ordered were keeping me from getting scheduled, that I could reconsider their importance to me depending on how hard it would be to put them on after delivery (spoiler/no spoiler, shaker 500/1000, anti theft/no anti-theft, IUP, etc.).

I know it may be restricted to just your region, but have you seen any consistency in the types of commodities the sales rep has been trying to schedule around? Or would that put the rumor mill around here on warp speed?

 

I have no way of finding out about commodity issues in other regions. I do know that last week the anti-theft became a controlled commodity and my region rep called and asked me if my customer could do without it and if so he would get it scheduled ASAP. Customer said ok and it was scheduled that evening [even though our allocation was used up, it was B16'd] So my customer got his GT scheduled 11 days after it was ordered! Made me look like a hero!

 

Friend/Salesmen at ford and I were shootin the breeze, and he was telling me how Ford offered them 3 more GT's if they sold so many Explorers and such. So I guess theres ways to bring up the allocation along the way.

 

Thanks Ed.

Called today to have my sales guy see if he can get B16 added to my order.

I am a bit irked with them currently since they screwed up my initial order then revised it and got me a new VOC 2 days later (8/3) and I still don't have my DORA (something about the sales manager being on vacation and he's the only one who can get them... I feel bad for any sucker that ordered a car that week since he's also apparently the only one who puts orders into the system). So anyways we'll see how it goes.

 

RE: B16

"It's an older code, sir, but it checks out. I was about to clear them."

... all I can think of, sorry. I'm gonna have to try this with my dealer.

:jedi:

 

Thanks for the info ED I will have to call my dealer and see if I can get them to add the ol' B16. I'm sure he will like hering from me since I just changed my order last week. Oh well I guess for making me wait that's what happens.