It is frustrating for some dealers like us that do a huge volume of orders but quite honestly as a percentage of produced cars 99.9% don't care. Think about the money and effort it would take to set up a real time tracking system and for what. If every registered user on this board factory ordered a new Mustang every single year that is only 20,000 out of the couple hundred thousand sold every year. I currently have 18 sold Mustang orders at some point in the system. There are about 5-7 of those that are concerned enough to track it (most of those members here). The remainder are more the "call me when it shows up" type. The average dealer may receive 1000-1500 cars in a year and 5-10 of them may be sold orders, so there just isn't enough need or demand to change the system.

 

I sure do!
RA2P
How does that help?
Thanks

 

Paul -- excellent points but what about innovation? Set the trend, don't follow it! Be the "we build to order" dealer. Create a new product delivery option for people who just don't want to settle on what's on the lot. It's called differentiation and it can provide a competitive advantage. If everyone just said, "that's how we've always done things" where would we be today? The reason MORE people don't order cars is simply that they don't know it's an option. How many salesman want to sell a car in 6-8 weeks vice "today" off the lot? Another advantage is it reduces carrying costs for inventory creating more of a just-in-time inventory rather than holding cars for 3, 6, or even 12 months.

There's always the risk of taking a ton of orders and having a percentage of those deals walk away or fall through leaving the dealer holding the bag (or car as it were.) Non-refundable deposits (if legal and a signed contract) should be able to alleviate or minimize that risk.

 

Three words

bar code scanner


If ups can do it, come on Ford.

 

Exactly!
If I am not mistaken, there is a bar code of your car on the window sticker!

 

We had this discussion previously comparing the Dominos pizza tracker to Ford's production line. I was opting for RFID vice bar codes though. That whole 21st century thing. . .

 

There is.

My guess is Ford doesn't want people knowing that their car sits in a lot for two weeks waiting for a train or something. That would cause even more phone calls than they currently get now.

To take liberty and paraphrase from Alec Baldwin in The Departed...

What do mushrooms, the Feds, and Ford order tracking all have in common?

They all like to feed you full of **** and keep you in the dark!

 

I used to think sitting on the lot for 2 weeks was alot of time.
Not anymore
3 and still waiting

 

I would bet that 90% of the systems are in place to allow this though. I doubt the cost to add a level of tracking for customers would be that much investment. But Ford already knows where your car is, the problem is from what I've been told the system only updates when your order changes or the car is moved. So if your car is in a staging area and not touched, the system never udpates - thus your ETA doesn't change until they move it for some reason.

I think alot of it comes down to Ford isn't going to ship one Mustang to one dealer, so they wait for a few to be ready to go to the same area. Just image how much UPS would charge you to ship a 3600lb car 2000 miles away?

The wait sucks, but in the end its worth it. I guess its one of the trade offs of pre-ordering a custom car.

 

Also remember that once it leaves the plant Ford is no longer in charge. It gets turned over to a rail company who then turns it over to a trucking company who may the turn it back over to another train who may then give it to another truck to ultimately get it to the dealer. Once it leaves Ford these are independent companies who handle them as best suits them. I am sure there are some rules in place but I am sure they also get alot of say in when and how the cars travel through the system. Sears doesn't track the shipping for you they turn the package over to UPS and you track it through them. You would need the truck and rail companies to do this not Ford.

When it is all said and done unfortunately it won't get there any faster if you can track it or not.

 

I agree with you 100%. I pretty sure the RR is the holdup.
It is amazing that my vehicle can't travel 800 miles in 3 weeks.
I work in communications. If the internet is down 1 minute, people think their going to die!
Have a good day
Tom

 

okay so this is my thought, let me know if it sounds crazy (I can see someone posting something down below with one word crazy lol) that on the trains it's still fords $$$ so why wouldnt they want to know where the cars are at enroute for delivery?? Just a thought....

 

Well mine finally left Michigan, currently traveling through Ohio. ETA is next friday, crossing fingers.

 

My dealership just received 3 of their stock units. Sadly, mine is still sitting at AAI. Today marks 1 month since it was built.

 

An anniversary date for me.
My car sitting for one month in a parking lot in Michigan with still no updated ETA.

I called Ford today to check and got the same answer as last week.
I then proceeded to tell the CSR that I am not real happy that my car has been sitting a month and it needs to get hear pretty soon or they might just lose a customer.
I then proceeded to email my sales rep, who has gone out of his way to help, that my patience is starting to run out with Ford and my car sitting for a month for no real reason.

 

All the people on here had me worried that my stock order would ship weeks after the retail orders. I've had mine for 2 weeks now and my dealer's order that was kept as a retail is still stuck at AAI. Guess I could of been lucky.......

 

Lucky for you, yes.
Glad you got your car.

Not shipping built orders for a month, I call it Ford screwing its customers.
But that is just me.

 

Your not alone in your thinking. My dealer is mad too. He has my trade-in sold, but until I get mine, he can't do anything. I still find the way Ford operates very strange. Why would you have vehicles sitting that are sold?

 

This day and age you think they would know where it is at all times. Walmart tracks things in their warehouse by Radio tags on their items, can't Ford do something like that?

 

Yeah, same thing is happening to me. Not too happy either. My Dealer did get in a couple of 2011 GTs, so they are shipping, but it looks like mine is just sitting there as well....