Is my dealer being honest???

[Benson73]

First off let me apologize in advance, its kind of a long story but I will try to keep it as short as possible.

On Oct 6th, I ordered a 2010 F-250, 5.4L, 4.10 limited slip, etc., etc. I have a copy of the Dealer Order Receipt, so I know it was accepted by Ford on the 6th. My salesman said to expect it in 6-8 weeks and I understood that was a reasonable time frame. About 2 weeks later, I called my dealer to see if he had an estimated build date yet, or even a VIN. I had read that Ford normally assigns a VIN within a few days of receiving an order. My salesman said the status was "unscheduled/clean", but should have a build date any time.

Fast forward to today. After a few more calls to the dealer with little success, I decided to call Ford directly. The person on the phone researched my order and told me it was in exactly the same status, unscheduled/clean. He then went on to say that there had to be something wrong and that I should contact my dealer to investigate. I went to the dealer today, told him about the phone call, he in turn called the "zone rep" who actually handles all the orders for our area. After about 15 minutes, the sales manager came out to give me the bad news. He said there was some kind of allocation problem, but it was fixed now. He didn't elaborate and I didn't even ask because of the next sentence out of his mouth. He goes on to say that my truck wouldn't be built until the first week of December and that I would be lucky to see it on the lot before Jan 1st! I say why, and he said its because they only build F-250's with 5.4's during certain times of the year, not continuously, and the next time is around December 1st.

Needless to say, I'm really disappointed that 6-8 weeks turned into 12-14. I would really like to know if anyone here has any knowledge of this "certain times of the year" thing. Something just seems fishy to me about the whole thing and if I do find out that they're just feeding me a line of B.S., I will be really pissed.

So, sorry again for the long post but, any thoughts?

[amcgibbon]

I actually ran into that when I ordered my truck because it was ordered with a manual transmission. I guess manuals were only built on particular shifts or weeks, etc. So, yes it does sound familiar. Now they dont even build manuals so it is a non issue with any future purchases. Off to Dodge I go to get my manual tranny.

[ponyexpress94]

Actually it sounds fairly possible. When I placed an order recently for a diesel truck the salesman told me that Ford was focusing on building diesels right now so the lead time on my truck was 6-8 weeks and it looks like it will actually be closer to 5 weeks. Keep checking back with your salesman once a week to keep track of it but I think he is being honest.

[Scottb NY]

An ALLOCATION problem is when the dealer does not have enough credits to get orders built. It has to do with the volume of sales that the dealer does. The more you sell, the more ford will let you order as "retail" orders. The first question to ask a dealer is if he has allocation, if the answer is NO then find a dealer that moves more vehicles per month.

Originally Posted by Benson73

First off let me apologize in advance, its kind of a long story but I will try to keep it as short as possible.

On Oct 6th, I ordered a 2010 F-250, 5.4L, 4.10 limited slip, etc., etc. I have a copy of the Dealer Order Receipt, so I know it was accepted by Ford on the 6th. My salesman said to expect it in 6-8 weeks and I understood that was a reasonable time frame. About 2 weeks later, I called my dealer to see if he had an estimated build date yet, or even a VIN. I had read that Ford normally assigns a VIN within a few days of receiving an order. My salesman said the status was "unscheduled/clean", but should have a build date any time.

Fast forward to today. After a few more calls to the dealer with little success, I decided to call Ford directly. The person on the phone researched my order and told me it was in exactly the same status, unscheduled/clean. He then went on to say that there had to be something wrong and that I should contact my dealer to investigate. I went to the dealer today, told him about the phone call, he in turn called the "zone rep" who actually handles all the orders for our area. After about 15 minutes, the sales manager came out to give me the bad news. He said there was some kind of allocation problem, but it was fixed now. He didn't elaborate and I didn't even ask because of the next sentence out of his mouth. He goes on to say that my truck wouldn't be built until the first week of December and that I would be lucky to see it on the lot before Jan 1st! I say why, and he said its because they only build F-250's with 5.4's during certain times of the year, not continuously, and the next time is around December 1st.

Needless to say, I'm really disappointed that 6-8 weeks turned into 12-14. I would really like to know if anyone here has any knowledge of this "certain times of the year" thing. Something just seems fishy to me about the whole thing and if I do find out that they're just feeding me a line of B.S., I will be really pissed.

So, sorry again for the long post but, any thoughts?

[6SPDMANUAL]

yea i think your dealer is having financial trouble too. thats probably what the "allocation" bs was about. and no your dealer is more than likely not being honest with you. and it does not make any sense to me about time frame during the year etc. i have seen trucks on dealer lots and in inventory searches that are in vin number sequence, 1, 2, 3 etc. and the trucks are different. some different trim, some different configs, trannies, etc. that machine putting the truck together could less what engine, tranny, color, seats, etc it puts in. the build system is very sophisticated and it can handle building a gas 5.4 a v10, and then diesel all in different trims, and sizes right behind each other. but heck unless you really love the 5.4 for some reason, the new gas engine coming out will be much better. plus i am sure there v10 around you get a steal of a deal if you look hard enough.

[StanMI]

Might want to contact Bobby Williams on this site. I'd be willing to bet he's sold half the trucks on this site.

OK, that might be a slight exaggeration !!

[fordktp99]

Your dealer is full of it. We run a mix of trucks down the line all day. We have one engine line and they run every engine on every shift. So 5.4L being built only at certain times is a crock. I have been building these trucks for years and never heard anything like that nor seen it happen.

[Jonstoy]

Well i ordered my new f-350 on oct 22, and my dealer told me about 6-8 weeks also but then i called the sales manager on nov 2 and he gave me my vin number for my truck but told me to expect it right around christmas or even the first week in january. So my 6-8 weeks also went to 10-12 weeks. I think its just the crazy volume of trucks that ford has to build before they shut down and have to switch over the factory in order to build the new 2011.

[09F350Stroker6.4]

That could be it more than anything. They are the only US car company staying afloat. Its a good problem to have for the factory but not the customer.