sdotlow Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 Hi all! I'm looking to purchase a Ford Fusion Titanium in the next month or so. I've been using the Ford site to look at what is available in my area, but it's not as clean and detailed as the Dodge / Chrysler car finder is. My issue is I don't want to have to deal with a local dealer as a middle man, as there are no titaniums available there. I want to find the vehicle on the Ford site, and know exactly which dealer the vehicle is at so I can contact them directly. I had thought this was provided in a windowed map below, but it appears to not be showing up any more. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hermans Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 (edited) You will find vehicles on the dealer websites that are customer ordered cars. They do this to drive traffic to their lots. Both my FFH and MKZ were ordered by me, but appeared on the dealer's website for sale for some time after I took delivery. Make sure you call to confirm the car is there before you go. Edited June 13, 2013 by hermans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 I think when you do build your own on the Ford website you get the option of letting Ford find the vehicle you want at a local dealer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdotlow Posted June 13, 2013 Author Share Posted June 13, 2013 You will find vehicles on the dealer websites that are customer ordered cars. They do this to drive traffic to their lots. Both my FFH and MKZ were ordered by me, but appeared on the dealer's website for sale for some time after I took delivery. Make sure you call to confirm the car is there before you go. This is beyond obnoxious if this is true. Wow. Is there a way to know WHICH dealership the car belond to? When you enter in your zip code, it routes all information to the local dealership at that zip code and will not provide dealership info for the vehicles that are in the "extended area". My local dealership has a horrid reputation and I'm not interested in dealing with them at all. I'd prefer to know which dealerships have the cars in my price range without having to manually look up every individual dealership and checking their inventory. This of course may not be possible. It's horrible they funnel everything to their local dealership. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearcats98 Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 (edited) When I was looking I saw what hermans indicated but they called it "Dealer Ordered" and I just emailed and asked if that VIN was actually on the lot. Sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn't. Also as part of that search, you put in a zip code in the upper right hand column. If there are dealers you know about in other areas, put in those zip codes. I found mine 60 miles away by that procedure. What I did after re-reviewing the website was: Click on Fusion Click on Search Dealer Inventory Put my zip of area Then a new screen pops up and I click change dealer and move around the inventory. I would pick the cars I wanted and then at the bottom of the refreshed page there is a Dealer information box with dealer website info that tends to be more updated. Edited June 13, 2013 by Bearcats98 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hermans Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 (edited) This is beyond obnoxious if this is true. Wow. Is there a way to know WHICH dealership the car belond to? When you enter in your zip code, it routes all information to the local dealership at that zip code and will not provide dealership info for the vehicles that are in the "extended area". My local dealership has a horrid reputation and I'm not interested in dealing with them at all. I'd prefer to know which dealerships have the cars in my price range without having to manually look up every individual dealership and checking their inventory. This of course may not be possible. It's horrible they funnel everything to their local dealership. It's true. I called on the MKZ and asked about the car (they didn't know who I was) they said the car had just been sold. This was a couple of weeks after I took delivery. The salesman said for me to come on down and take a look as "we have MKZs just like that car." Of course I knew they didn't. Edited June 13, 2013 by hermans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
http Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 (edited) This is beyond obnoxious if this is true. Wow. Is there a way to know WHICH dealership the car belond to? When you enter in your zip code, it routes all information to the local dealership at that zip code and will not provide dealership info for the vehicles that are in the "extended area". My local dealership has a horrid reputation and I'm not interested in dealing with them at all. I'd prefer to know which dealerships have the cars in my price range without having to manually look up every individual dealership and checking their inventory. This of course may not be possible. It's horrible they funnel everything to their local dealership. That's only if you enter your zip code. From the ford.com Fusion page, you search local inventory and enter your zip code. Then when your local dealer page appears, there's a little link near the top that says Change Dealer. If you hit that, you can pick a dealer by name or just see 4 or 5 others near you. Then you can use their zip codes to expand your search even further. It's not easy but it works. If you know the area that you're willing to drive to to shop, just look up that zip code and enter that. I was able to search all the Ford dealers in the Virginia-Maryland area for my FFH NRG TI. I wound up ordering it to get the color I wanted because I wasn't willing to drive to Columbia Maryland to buy off the lot. You DO have to call first. They go fast. At least around here they do. Edited June 13, 2013 by http Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdotlow Posted June 13, 2013 Author Share Posted June 13, 2013 Thanks all. I was doing what has been suggested, shuffling around dealers. I think at this point it's going to be fairly hard to find a base Titanium with no options in my area (DC metro). I don't think financing one with all of the options I've seen is going to be in my budget. It sucks you can't scour a 300 mile radius like you can for dodge/chrysler. Guess I'll start preparing to find a Chrysler 300 / Honda Accord / VW Passat if my lender doesn't qualify me for an upper ranged Titanium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff_h Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 (edited) Two points - 1) On both of my retail orders, they didn't show up on the Ford site or on the local dealer's site - which is opposite of what hermans noted above so maybe it's a dealer-specific thing? 2) When you pull up the window sticker on a VIN, the PDF will populate (have to view in browser, I don't think this works when saving off a PDF and opening in acrobat reader) and on the lower left there is a block for the dealer from which that VIN was ordered - part of the loading actions of the PDF is to load all of the data and then quickly blank out that dealer field (and a couple others around it), and if you have a very fast internet connection you will probably miss it. However if you have a not-as-fast internet connection (e.g., my PC at home with hard-wired connection will blank it out too quickly, however the laptop feeding data through wi-fi is slow enough that you can see it), then you can see the dealer name and also hit the 'print screen' key to capture it and paste into another window to get a better look at it. Added - any dealer does have the capability to search within a X mile radius for certain attributes, so if you contact a salesman then he/she can do the legwork for you, if you want. Edited June 13, 2013 by jeff_h Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdotlow Posted June 13, 2013 Author Share Posted June 13, 2013 Two points - 1) On both of my retail orders, they didn't show up on the Ford site or on the local dealer's site - which is opposite of what hermans noted above so maybe it's a dealer-specific thing? 2) When you pull up the window sticker on a VIN, the PDF will populate (have to view in browser, I don't think this works when saving off a PDF and opening in acrobat reader) and on the lower left there is a block for the dealer from which that VIN was ordered - part of the loading actions of the PDF is to load all of the data and then quickly blank out that dealer field (and a couple others around it), and if you have a very fast internet connection you will probably miss it. However if you have a not-as-fast internet connection (e.g., my PC at home with hard-wired connection will blank it out too quickly, however the laptop feeding data through wi-fi is slow enough that you can see it), then you can see the dealer name and also hit the 'print screen' key to capture it and paste into another window to get a better look at it. #2 is genius. I was looking over the stickers on the PDF's for some identifying thing but couldn't see any. I'll do this, as my work connection is absurdly slow. Testing in a moment. Thanks! On another note, how viable is requesting a specific option set and having the dealer find me one? I'm willing to travel 200-300 miles to get what I'm looking for, but I won't be looking to purchase for another month. Or even having them bring it to the dealership. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdotlow Posted June 13, 2013 Author Share Posted June 13, 2013 @Jeff - That worked perfectly! It shows the dealership and than it goes away. Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdotlow Posted June 13, 2013 Author Share Posted June 13, 2013 A bit off topic... If I contact a dealership to search for a car, can I also request they check in VinCent to confirm if I have the $750 coupon on file for my name? I've been requesting brochures for a couple weeks now and would imagine that the coupon would be on file by now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 Your local dealer can do a search over several states to find the vehicle with the color and options you want in just a few minutes. They can also check Vincent for incentives at any time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdotlow Posted June 13, 2013 Author Share Posted June 13, 2013 Your local dealer can do a search over several states to find the vehicle with the color and options you want in just a few minutes. They can also check Vincent for incentives at any time. Curious if anyone has done this, and if they can report charges to have the vehicle brought to the dealership? I would imagine the dealer wouldn't give you the other dealerships info to go buy from them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 Dealers swap cars all the time. There usually isn't an extra charge unless it's coming from a long distance. Some dealers will tell you the other dealer and some won't. I called my dealer and said that I found a vehicle locally and to see if he could get it. They ended up swapping Fusion Titaniums with another local dealer. I called on a Wednesday morning and was driving my new Fusion home Friday afternoon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdotlow Posted June 13, 2013 Author Share Posted June 13, 2013 Dealers swap cars all the time. There usually isn't an extra charge unless it's coming from a long distance. Some dealers will tell you the other dealer and some won't. I called my dealer and said that I found a vehicle locally and to see if he could get it. They ended up swapping Fusion Titaniums with another local dealer. I called on a Wednesday morning and was driving my new Fusion home Friday afternoon. This makes me feel better. I want as close to base on a titanium as possible. Preferably the H wheels only. You guys have been great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdotlow Posted June 13, 2013 Author Share Posted June 13, 2013 @ Akirby - If a dealer is doing a swap, does that put you in a bad spot for price negotiating? I know it's end of model year and new models are coming out in a few months. I'm expecting to get an amazing price. Eating MSRP is not acceptable lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearcats98 Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 If you are looking for a "base" Titanium, they are hard to find. I didnt want any of the drivers nannies. Shipping a car seemed to adjust the pricing at my local dealer which is why I went and found it myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 @ Akirby - If a dealer is doing a swap, does that put you in a bad spot for price negotiating? I know it's end of model year and new models are coming out in a few months. I'm expecting to get an amazing price. Eating MSRP is not acceptable lol. It shouldn't put you in any worse shape for negotiating. Most dealers swap vehicles at cost so it doesn't matter. If they're shipping it you may or may not have to pay for that depending on what you negotiated. You won't pay anywhere close to MSRP - $500 over invoice or less should be easily attainable. End of model year doesn't mean anything with only minor changes in store and with the current ones selling so well so don't wait just for that. If you can wait a few weeks anyway then just go order exactly what you want from whichever dealer you like best and don't worry about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdotlow Posted June 13, 2013 Author Share Posted June 13, 2013 It shouldn't put you in any worse shape for negotiating. Most dealers swap vehicles at cost so it doesn't matter. If they're shipping it you may or may not have to pay for that depending on what you negotiated. You won't pay anywhere close to MSRP - $500 over invoice or less should be easily attainable. End of model year doesn't mean anything with only minor changes in store and with the current ones selling so well so don't wait just for that. If you can wait a few weeks anyway then just go order exactly what you want from whichever dealer you like best and don't worry about it. You can still order 2013 Titaniums? I currently do not own a vehicle so I'd like to get one asap. Ordering one may not be in the cards if I'm going to have to wait for 2014's to come out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MineralstangGT Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 You can still order 2013 Titaniums? I currently do not own a vehicle so I'd like to get one asap. Ordering one may not be in the cards if I'm going to have to wait for 2014's to come out. You would have to wait for 2014's if you ordered at this point, which puts you at August for delivery at the soonest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 You can still order 2013 Titaniums? I currently do not own a vehicle so I'd like to get one asap. Ordering one may not be in the cards if I'm going to have to wait for 2014's to come out. 2013 or 2014 doesn't really matter - they'll stop building the 2013s one day and start the 2014s the next day (if not the same day). Should take 6-10 weeks regardless. If you can't wait find a local dealer to help you find what you want. Or use the online inventory and just start searching all of the local dealers zip code by zip code. There are good dealers who will work with you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
http Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 sdoflow, I live in the DC metro area and you are going to have a hard time finding a base Titanium. Check out Apple Ford in Columbia. They had the biggest selection when I was shopping. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdotlow Posted June 14, 2013 Author Share Posted June 14, 2013 I think I've figured out I won't really need to settle for base, as long as it's out the door under 34k (I'm thinking, we'll see how this ends up working out). In which case, I'm considering shopping for an AWD model. Any opinions on Ford's AWD in the Fusion? I can't find much online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rico567 Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Thanks all. I was doing what has been suggested, shuffling around dealers. I think at this point it's going to be fairly hard to find a base Titanium with no options in my area (DC metro). I don't think financing one with all of the options I've seen is going to be in my budget. It sucks you can't scour a 300 mile radius like you can for dodge/chrysler. Guess I'll start preparing to find a Chrysler 300 / Honda Accord / VW Passat if my lender doesn't qualify me for an upper ranged Titanium. This is appearing more and more likely in our search...except that the Chrysler 300 and Accord aren't on our radar (the Accord Hybrid won't be out until this Fall, and we're not prepared to wait). The FFH Titanium is the car we want, but unfortunately it's so popular right now the prices they're going for are just too high for me to consider. The USAA car buying service has around $4K coming off a top-end VW Passat TDI SEL Premium, but only around $800 coming off the loaded FFH Titanium we want. That's going to work out to a >$4K difference. It isn't that I can't cut a check for the Titanium right now.....it's that I just won't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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