Here's my situation: I ordered a 2006 GT Premium on 1/4/2006. Salesman faxed me the Vehicle Order Confirmation on 1/5/2006. It's now 1/24/2006, no DORA. Spoke with salesman a few days ago, he said there was a "problem with our system", that it's been corrected, and that my order has been re-entered. He mentioned that the problem had to do with the Interior Upgrade Package and that it was entered incorrectly (???).

Anyway, he said he expects the DORA sometime this week. So, my questions are:

- how long after the order has been entered should the dealer recieve the DORA from Ford?

- Does any of this sound fishy to you? Should I be concerned that this guy is jerkig me around? They've had my $1000 credit card deposit since 1/5/2006.

 

When a dealer puts in an order for ANY car, the DORA will come back within 24 hours. For example, if your order was placed into Ford's computers in the early AM, they will get the print back the next day. If the order was placed late in the evening, the DORA usually comes not the next day, but the following day.

About your question of being concerned? YES I WOULD!! And this is coming from a salesperson who has ordered over 20 Mustangs from a small dealer in NE PA. If they say the order wasn't placed because the code for the IUP was entered incorrectly, what does that say about that place. With the car being so popular, and I constantly price these out for customers, I know all the order codes by heart. If I were you, I would get on the phone with them, and demand a DORA. If they still hesitate, get your money refunded, and go to another dealer. Believe me, the other salespeople on this forum will agree with me. You should have had the DORA at the latest, 2 days after ordering the car. Let me know how things turn out.

 

Jeff is absolutely right. A DORA is generated the next business day unless the order is placed late in the day then they will receive it the following business day.
If they already screwed up 1 order and you lost a couple weeks, either go somewhere else or look over your DORA with a fine toothed comb to make sure it is correct.

 

Okay, so I got the salesman to fax me the re-entered VOC. It has a new order number, new order date (1/16/2006), priority 10. I called ERL, and for the first time I got the "clean/unscheduled" message as of 1/20/2005. (Up until now I've gotten "no info found"). I'm assuming that's a good sign? So, shouldn't there be a DORA if it's in the system? The salesman said he expects it Thursday (something about updates being done on Tuesday and Thursday) and he will fax it to me.

So:

- does this sound a bit more legit now? Is the lack of the DORA thus far a cause for concern? The new order is correct, no mistakes.
- how long should I expect before a VIN is assigned?
- also, will 18" fanblades delay the order?

Thanks for your past and future replies.

 

From what you said, it is sounding alot better now. That you got a message from the ERL, this tells you that they finally put your order in the system. As for a DORA, he sould fax it to your by the end of the week at the latest, if he is at all concerned about keeping his customer happy.

About the VIN. You will get this, once they have the allocation to get the order pulled. What you should do, is ask the Sales Manager, or General Manager how many GT's are in head of you. This will give you an idea when to expect your order to get "pulled" for serialization. For my car, it took 4 months go get a VIN, and this was just because here in the NE Region of the country, allocation really stinks. As to the Fanblade wheels, they are a very low commodity, I believe still i the single digits (though Ed can correct me if I'm wrong) It they are a low commodity and the dealer you bought them from didn't add them to any other cars, you shouldn't have an issue. Just keep tabs on the dealer thats all. Good luck.

 

Thanks, 05 fordgt. I feel a bit better now. This is very large Ford dealer in Raleigh, NC, so I'm hoping that helps with allocation issues. I have emailed my salesman with regards to the number of GT orders ahead of me. Still waiting on the DORA.

Thanks for all your help.

 

No problem at all. Always here to help. There are still a few salespeople out there who actually care about the customer, and I am definitely 1 of them. Keep me posted on how your order comes out.

 

Fanblades here are controlled but not that much, our big control is the bullits.

 

Okay, here's an update: vehicle is still c/u on ERL. I'm just glad it's in the system. I last spoke with salesman on Mon 1/23. He said he expects DORA either Tues. or Thurs. It's now Thurs., about 4:30 pm. I emailed him at lunch, no response (he rarely responds to emails). I faxed him around 2:00 (he sometimes responds by fax believe it or not). Before I call him tonight, I would like to know - could there be any possible reason that he wouldn't have a DORA by now? Order date was 1/16/2006. Today is 1/26/2006. No DORA, but car is in system. What gives? His reason on Monday was that there have been "system errors".

I've been patient and courteous thus far, but I'm starting to wonder about this guy and this order. Before I get a bit more assertive with him, can you guys think of any reason for not getting a DORA 10 days after an order? Also. do I NEED a DORA? Is there some critical info on it that's NOT on the Vehicle Order Confirmation? (The VOC has the agreed upon sales price written on it and signed by both me and the salesman).

 

99% of my customers never ask for nor do we give them a DORA as a matter of normal operating proceedures. Some dealers do not give them out as they show invoice prices. The VOC should be all you need as long as it shows all of your equipment, color, etc. It should also have your name somewhere on it.
Your dealer should have a DORA by now though, as we stated it is automatically generated 24-48 working day hours after the order is submitted.

 

My VOC shows invoice prices as well. Is it possible for the DORA and the VOC invoice prices to be different? If so, that may be the issue - our agreement was invoice plus doc fee. If the DORA invoice prices are lower than the VOC invoice prices, then he probably wouldn't want me to see it.

 

VOC and DORA pricing should be the same. Invoice is invoice. When it comes time for delivery just ask to see the invoice.

 

Thanks for the info.

Another question - I read somewhere that a retail order (code 1) had built in price protection. In other words, if the price of the vehicle goes up while it's being built, the dealer still pays the original price at the time of order. Is that true? I ask because my salesman said the only reason our agreed upon price would change would be if Ford raised the price before delivery.

 

Sold orders are price protected so you shouldn't have to pay any more regardless of price increases.

As for the DORA, I would still want a copy. Typo's do occur when the order gets submitted. The DORA will confirm exactly what was entered and ordered.

 

Wow, things are moving fast now! As of 1/26, my car was serialized. Called ERL today - I now have a build date of 2/13! Still no DORA (salesguy says "GSM does not track them as closely because they do not carry as much urgency in the order system"), but he did fax me a vehicle order status and it appears there are no other retail gt orders in front of me - cool!

So, how long after the build date can I reasonably expect to be driving this thing?

 

Build date indicates the week of Feb 13, not the exact date.
It should be released by Feb 20, probably earlier depending on scheduling.
The Coupes are shipped fairly quickly, so it should at your dealer by Feb 24 to 27, possibly sooner. Add a couple of days if it is a Convertible, for water testing.

Try to get some sleep between now and then.

You are going to love your new 'Stang!
Do you have her name pick out yet?

 

My only concern in all this is that without actually seeing a DORA you have no confirmation in what was ordered, just what was supposed to be ordered.

 

Agreed. But I figure every option I ordered is easy to verify on visual inspection. Worse case, they screwed up and have to re-order. That would suck, but as long as it doesn't cost me anything but time, I'll deal with it. It certainly would have been nice to get a DORA, especially since I requested it even before I commited to the purchase and was told no problem. My answer will be to give a different Ford dealer my service business.