Inbetween

A dealer near me has a GT on his lot that is not listed on the FordDirect
search site...all his V6 Mustangs are listed.

Some other dealers in the area have done this too, while yet others
have all their 2005's listed.

Why would they do this?

jwede

That is updated by Ford I believe, and it is reaaalllyyyy slow to update.

Inbetween

When they sell a V6 it dissapears quickly from the web inventory...

Tho' you are probably right....

Seeing how slow they are to build them, I can see Ford taking
weeks to ADD a delivered car to the web inventory...

The GT in question has been there 5 days, maybe they didn't
think it would stay there that long.......

holderca1

The GT could also have been ordered and the buyer had second thoughts and decided against buying it. Customer orders do now show up on Ford Direct.

SixtySix

Dealers get cars in all kinds of ways, there's dealer trades, wholesale purchases, buyer returns... all of which probably wouldn't ever show up on Ford Direct.

TKEUofM

I work for FordDirect.

We only display vehicles that were odered for stock. Custom orders that are reserved for a specific customers do not display on the website. Also, fleet vehicles will not display.

Once we show that a vehicle is delivered to the dealer by Ford's inventory system it will display on the site. It is automatically removed from the site when the dealer reports the car sold to Ford. This all depends on how fast the dealer processes the paperwork once the car is sold.

We are working on the technology that will be able to show what a dealer has in their oder pipe and is basically en-route to the store.

If there is a dealer trade, it may take longer for the vehicle to show up on the site due to it needing to be reinvoiced and updated through the main inventory database.

I tried to look for my car on the FordDirect site when I ordered it, but it never showed up on the site since it was a custom order.

The dealer isn't trying to hide anything from you.

Hope this helps explain things.

GIZMOTOO

Some Dealers due not elect to participate in FordDirect.com, but they are still listed in a specific zip code area. In another words, there name appears, but it indicates you need to call the Dealer regarding his inventory. My question is this. Is this practice due the cost to participate in FordDirect.com or is it the Dealer management deciding they want people to call so they always havetotal control.

Altoid

That's cool, can't wait to see that implemented.

GIZMOTOO: No need to copy his entire reply... It's the post above you.

redstang

A dealer here did hide a GT he had got in Dec. and used it in a car show. It didn't show till Feb. after the car show and he had it back for sell.

slavehand

TKEUofM, I agree w/ redstang on this one. Gwinnett Place Ford of GA is a prime example of this. They had 2 GT's come in Nov. of last year. They were listed on Ford Direct at invoice, around $28K. Nick Scaranto or whatever his name is, the ISM over there, FLAT OUT LIED to me about not having any. He told me that I could order one for around $31K plus.... I then confronted him about it as soon as he said "no". He then wanted to commend me for "doing my homework" and that they "just came in late that day" when I have proof from your website dated 11/20/04, two days prior to speaking w/ him. I even drove to GPF and looked @ them on this same date. My opinion, GPF are nothing but crooks. I have heard nothing but complaints from people who have ever done business w/ them.

TKEUofM, 'nother question. What about Roush and Saleen mustangs? If a dealer orders these for stock, not for a customer, will these show up on the Ford Direct website?

BEACHBOY

Ryan you said the following, .
This may be true but I know for a fact that what shows up on Ford Direct and what is on local dealers lots do not jive. It seems to me that all their inventory and stock orders show up on Ford Direct. The dealer I used showed a few GTs on Ford Direct some time ago. I went by to go look at the white one because I had not seen a white GT, was told not in yet. Ford Dirct showed it every time I checked it, several weeks later the car came in. Of course it was sold before I ever saw it. This is the case with several dealers around here, they show GTs on Ford Direct, but none on the lot.

Greg2005GT

Thanks for explaining that. Although I was told something else by a dealership in my area. They have three GT's listed on FordDirect, but when I called them about it they looked into it and said that they haven't been delivered yet. I went in to try to buy one of them before it was to be delivered but was told that they didn't have the paperwork on them so they couldn't sell them until they were delivered. Then two days later I got a call from that dealership telling me that the three GT's were customer orders.

If they were customer orders, how did they show up on FordDirect? If FordDirect shows only what's on the lot (or the sale hasn't been processed yet), why wouldn't the dealership have known? I spoke with two sales guys and one of them talked to the sales manager. Strange.

The other strange thing is that I ended up buying a GT from a dealership that didn't have any GT's listed on FordDirect. They claimed to have had 4 more the previous day. I had been monitoring FordDirect for a while before I started just calling dealerships (because I wasn't finding any GT's).

jmcgee21

slavehand, you are right about Gwinnett Place Ford. What a pitiful place! They were adding $8995 market adjustment stickers to the GTs for a couple months and then dropped to $6995 and had huge markups on the V6s as well. Which is why I went to Alpharetta and ordered mine from one of the Team Ford dealers. I got a good deal, but when the car came in last Thursday, they had a new GM and tried to back out of the deal until I showed them an email string with one of their sales managers showing an agreed upon price. I have little respect for dealers.

cti

I was on ford direct .co one day looking at local inventory when the exact car I ordered came up at the other dealers across town when I went to look at it they didn't know anything about it etc. I left and about two hours later the dealer called me and said that the car just showed up on the truck. So I went back over there and they had it in the back doing the inspection and everything.

SO< what's up with that?

BEACHBOY

Mark, I think shows that Ford Direct not only shows inventory cars but what the dealers stock orders are. I will use my white GT example again, that I used above . The white Mustang GT car was on Ford Direct's wed site for several weeks before the car ever arrived at the dealer.

RaGsHoCkEy88

they arent holding info....these sites take a while to update and by the time they get them they r gone before the info can be released. i saw a few dealers with GT's tho

CME

I've noticed that it can be a little off. When the first 05 GT showed up on my local dealer inventory I went by every evening (after work and they're closed) to check it out. In fact I got pulled over by the Police one night, because I had driven around back where they keep the cars bofore they're prepped. Anyways it eventually drps form FordDirect. I finally got a free day and stopped to talk them about maybe ordering one and what it would cost. I tell them what I'm interested in and they tell me they've got one similar on the way for a customer. And will they let me know when it gets there so I can see it. Then they descibe it and it's the one from the web, it shows up a week or so later. But never appeared on there inventory again. That's still the case sometimes they have exactly what the web says. Sometimes more, and sometimes less. It doesn't really matter much now since mines gonna be here soon.

TKEUofM

Our site is correct according to the main Ford inventory database. And there can be times where there is a lag in information which creates some missinformation.

FordDirect is an optional program for the dealers to participate in and that's why some dealers may not have inventory listed. There is a cost associated with the technology.

I do apologize if anyone had bad experiences with a particular dealer. As much as we try to train dealers in internet sales practices, we are unable to control what they actually do and say. And it does happen that salesman mis-represent what they actually have or what is available.

We are continuously looking for ways to improve the site and make it more friendly to use for customers. We have some huge changes coming up this year that will blow away any other information site. And also hope to take inventory locating to the next level.

Thanks for all of your feedback. I have already brought up several concerns from past posts at company staff meetings.

Cheers for now......

Ryan

Stustang05

[quote=TKEUofM,February 15, 2005, 2:20 PM]
I work for FordDirect.

Why doesn't FordDirect show the 2005 convertible as a choice in the "Build Your Car" section?

slavehand

Ryan, thanks for your reply. Is there any way to repremand or control dealerships for wrongful practices from Ford directly to these dealerships?

Also, what of Tuner vehicles as I stated before, is it common practice for these vehicles to show on Ford direct's website?

And when will the 'Vert be available in the "Build your own" section?