jscozz Posted August 25, 2006 Share Posted August 25, 2006 I could not find this in searching here... if I missed something, please point me to it. 1) Do all Explorers get built in Louisville? 2) How long after the order is placed by the dealer is a build date and VIN assigned and the dealer able to access it and give it to me? 3) Are Explorers backlogged since they just started production a few weeks ago? What is the average time from order to build on an Explorer? Any input from all of you on the front lines would be greatly appreciated. My dealer should be putting the order in tomorrow... (sales manager was busy in meetings all day Monday so it did not get in)... Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calvin@LAP Posted August 25, 2006 Share Posted August 25, 2006 I could not find this in searching here... if I missed something, please point me to it. 1) Do all Explorers get built in Louisville? 2) How long after the order is placed by the dealer is a build date and VIN assigned and the dealer able to access it and give it to me? 3) Are Explorers backlogged since they just started production a few weeks ago? What is the average time from order to build on an Explorer? Any input from all of you on the front lines would be greatly appreciated. My dealer should be putting the order in tomorrow... (sales manager was busy in meetings all day Monday so it did not get in)... Jeff 1.) Yes, all Explorers are built at the Louisville Assembly Plant in Louisville. 2.) Sorry, not sure about that one. 3.) There is no backlog on orders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jscozz Posted August 25, 2006 Author Share Posted August 25, 2006 Thanks, Calvin. Now if I could only get my dealer to place the order... I gave them a deposit a week ago and they were "busy" on Monday and Friday, the only two days they say they can place an order... hmmm, I thought dealers were in business to sell cars... I wonder what they were more busy with than selling a car... I am giving them until Monday to order it otherwise I go elsewhere... hopefully you will see my Explorer rolling down the line one of these weeks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calvin@LAP Posted August 26, 2006 Share Posted August 26, 2006 Thanks, Calvin. Now if I could only get my dealer to place the order... I gave them a deposit a week ago and they were "busy" on Monday and Friday, the only two days they say they can place an order... hmmm, I thought dealers were in business to sell cars... I wonder what they were more busy with than selling a car... I am giving them until Monday to order it otherwise I go elsewhere... hopefully you will see my Explorer rolling down the line one of these weeks... Private Message me the email address of the the dealership that is dragging their feet. We have people at our plant that handle issues concerning dealerships. I could forward it to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeeman84 Posted August 26, 2006 Share Posted August 26, 2006 Thanks, Calvin. Now if I could only get my dealer to place the order... I gave them a deposit a week ago and they were "busy" on Monday and Friday, the only two days they say they can place an order... hmmm, I thought dealers were in business to sell cars... I wonder what they were more busy with than selling a car... I am giving them until Monday to order it otherwise I go elsewhere... hopefully you will see my Explorer rolling down the line one of these weeks... I believe the dealer can place the order at any time. When my explorer was ordered, the owner of the dealership did the vehicle order on his computer with me and sent the order to the factory when I confirmed that everthing was correct. He even let me hit the key on his computer that sent the order out. He then gave me a copy of the vehicle order confirmation with all of the vehicle order information on it. About four weeks later I had my vehicle. Something sounds fishy with your dealer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carguy Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 I posted this a couple of years ago but it might help you understand the process. BTW a dealer can place an order on the computer 24/7. After you agree on a deal the dealership will translate your order into a series of three digit codes and input those codes into a computer. The next day they will receive a dealer order receipt acknowledgement (DORA), which I recommend you review with your salesperson. Mistakes do occasionally happen and this is the first step to avoiding one. While placing the order the dealer will assign it a priority code. For sold units the code will be a number from 10 to 40 with 10 being the highest (best) priority. I personally assign the codes based on when the customer ordered the vehicle i.e. the oldest order gets the highest priority. Now comes the hard part. Dealers are assigned a certain number of vehicles (allocation) for four or five week order periods. In one order period depending on the size of the dealership he could get 0 to 100 rangers. Production weeks start on Thursday for Ford. If on Thursday night the dealership has allocation for a ranger you have reached the next hurdle. Within each vehicle line certain options aka commodities are controlled (limited). For example this week if I have 3 ranger allocations I can only order 47% of them with a flare side box. So if I only have 2 sold orders for rangers and both have a flare side box only one of them will be scheduled for production. Since I must buy 3 they will schedule 2 without the flare side box for stock while the other sold unit sits in the order bank. On Thursday night the computer will look at each dealers order bank individually to schedule the necessary units. On Friday morning the dealer will get a print out showing the serial number (VIN) that the scheduled units will be produced with. On Saturday or the following Monday the print out will show the week the unit will be built. All schedule dates are Mondays. That means the unit could start down the line any day that week. How long after the vehicle is produced until it arrives at the dealership depends on the distance from the manufacturing plant to the dealership. For example in Michigan a Mustang produced in Dearborn or a Focus produced in Wayne will arrive within a day or two of the vehicle coming off the assembly line. A pick up coming from Kansas City may take a week or a Windstar from Canada may take 2 weeks. Once the vehicle is in the hands of the transport company the dealer has no way to track it. Sorry for the length of this post but I could not think of a way to condense it. If something is unclear or you have any other questions just ask. Carguy This question seems to appear in one form or another quite frequently. This is a cut and paste of an explanation I did for a similar question. I hope it helps you understand the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jscozz Posted August 28, 2006 Author Share Posted August 28, 2006 (edited) Carguy, Thank you for the very detailed response. When I went to see the dealer about ordering this Explorer 10 days ago, I handed him a sheet listing all of the base and optional items including their 3 digit codes for the vehicle I wanted to order. They actually came back to me with a printout from their system titled "Vehicle Order Confirmation". Another field on the sheet says "Priority: 14", "Order type: 2", "Order No: J001".... and that is where I have sat for 10 days... them claiming that the order has not been placed yet. I assume that they just built this in the system and did a screen print without submitting the order... so, if the reason they have not hit the "Submit" key is that they have allocation problems, it would seem like a more honest approach to tell me they would have to hold off for some number of days or weeks to place the order... but, since Explorer sales are down 33% from last year, I find it hard that they have allocation problems... does that make sense? Especially since Calvin is saying there is no backlog in orders... So, if they place the order tomorrow (Monday) I should be able to get a DORA from them on Tuesday and a VIN and build date the following Monday? Is it reasonable for me to require these milestones or cancel the order? Jeff Edited August 28, 2006 by jscozz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carguy Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 I always key an order into the computer as soon as humanly possible. There is nothing like finding a customer’s sold order under a pile on my desk. As far as the dora goes the dealer should be able to provide you a copy the morning after he submits it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jscozz Posted August 29, 2006 Author Share Posted August 29, 2006 carguy... I just got my order placed yesterday (I think)... they faexed me the "Vehicle Order Confirmation" (2-column print out, looks like a screen print, top left says CNGP530, bottom says F1=Help, F2=Return to Order, etc.). I assume this is NOT the DORA... and does not confirm that the order was actually placed... the only order # on here is J001. So, I have requested the DORA be faxed to me today... gotten nothing yet... what will the DORA say on it (title, info) so I will recognize it and know that they really placed the order? Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jscozz Posted August 30, 2006 Author Share Posted August 30, 2006 It is the end of the day and the dealer says they got no info from Ford on the order they placed yesterday... is the DORA always available 24 hours after placing the order and my dealer is just wrong or not interested in looking or are there cases where it takes longer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jscozz Posted August 31, 2006 Author Share Posted August 31, 2006 Still 3 days later and all I have been able to get them to fax me is a "Daily Status Report"... even after asking for the DORA. This report has no Factory Order #... and the status shows "Unsch/clean"... on the VIN only MEU758 are filled in... order type RET. Dlr Order # J001... Are these guys jerking me around or is what they sent me any confirmation that they really ordered my vehicle? Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calvin@LAP Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 Still 3 days later and all I have been able to get them to fax me is a "Daily Status Report"... even after asking for the DORA. This report has no Factory Order #... and the status shows "Unsch/clean"... on the VIN only MEU758 are filled in... order type RET. Dlr Order # J001... Are these guys jerking me around or is what they sent me any confirmation that they really ordered my vehicle? Jeff I'm sure they ordered your vehicle. I couldn't imagine a reason why they would refuse to sell you a vehicle. Good Luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jscozz Posted September 1, 2006 Author Share Posted September 1, 2006 Thanks, Calvin. In any case, I am going to be in their showroom first thing in the morning to get the info I need... I cannot take a chance that they did not order it. I have a car loan at a great rate that cannot be locked in forever, and this dealer could wind up costing me a lot of money if they delay me. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calvin@LAP Posted September 1, 2006 Share Posted September 1, 2006 Yeah, sounds like a wierd deal all the way around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carguy Posted September 2, 2006 Share Posted September 2, 2006 Sorry for the delay in my response. I was out of town for the week and cannot view outside web sites from my company’s lap top. The J001 is the order number. The other numbers are the constants it the VIN number. You will not see any other numbers until the vehicle is scheduled for production. If the vehicle is on the daily status report someone in the dealership has the DORA. It would not be on the status report if the vehicle was not ordered. I will be available for further questions until Monday afternoon. After that I am gone until at least next Friday. Again my apologies, Carguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jscozz Posted September 2, 2006 Author Share Posted September 2, 2006 Hey, carguy... no need to apologise... I just appreciate your's and calvin's help in understanding this process. Once I hopefully have the VIN next week I am hoping there is a way I can independently verify that the options are correct on the order... since the dealer has not provided me any confirmation to verify. I can't afford to find out in 6 weeks that a mistake was made... my loan lock will be off and APR higher. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navistar Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 (edited) Sorry for digging up an old thread. I am just trying to clarify something for my order. Is the"Vehicle Order Confirmation" the same as a D.O.R.A.? Thanks. Edited November 15, 2007 by Navistar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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