Can someone explain how Ford prioritizes builds (Dealer vs consumer ordered)

[slingha]

I ordered a Lincoln product on 10/19(day after the order books opened) for the product. I am a May build. My dealer has 6 for sale on the lot(all asking over sticker) while mine keeps getting pushed back. I just dont get it. They have both my interor and exterior colors on the lot, all of the options I've requested are represented on the lot as well. It seems that Ford is prioritizing dealer stock over ordered vehicles. It makes no sense and as a first time Ford buyer doesn't sit well with me. 

[Rangers09]

1 hour ago, slingha said:

I ordered a Lincoln product on 10/19(day after the order books opened) for the product. I am a May build. My dealer has 6 for sale on the lot(all asking over sticker) while mine keeps getting pushed back. I just dont get it. They have both my interor and exterior colors on the lot, all of the options I've requested are represented on the lot as well. It seems that Ford is prioritizing dealer stock over ordered vehicles. It makes no sense and as a first time Ford buyer doesn't sit well with me. 

 

Best guess is that all the dealers submitted all their stock orders and pre-sales the day the order books opened, so by day 2 you were well down the queue. Another question for your dealer is how many orders they had in the USOB before yours.

 

Ford may do the scheduling, but it is the dealers who assign priority codes, to instruct Ford which orders they want built first. Although you are now scheduled, what priority code did your dealer assign upon order, and how did it change before you were scheduled.

 

The other issue is commodity restraints, which change daily, as Ford is experiencing supply issues with over 35 vendors. Since I ordered in August, I have monitored the scheduling issues since then and the commodity restraints are significantly worse since December.

[TxTom]

Do dealer Stock Orders have the same priority codes as Sold Orders? Or do Stock Orders have distinct priority codes that apply vs. distinct Sold Orders? In other words, does a Sold Order Priority 10 have any priority over a Stock Order (if a 10 is the same for either)? I can imagine that Ford/Lincoln may consider a sold order lower priority vs. a stock order...give the dealers inventory to sell vs. making a sold order that is a done deal from the dealer perspective.

[jflottawa]

Customer orders are priority 10-19 whereas stock orders are somewhere below 20 (I forget which #)

[Rangers09]

3 hours ago, TxTom said:

Do dealer Stock Orders have the same priority codes as Sold Orders? Or do Stock Orders have distinct priority codes that apply vs. distinct Sold Orders? In other words, does a Sold Order Priority 10 have any priority over a Stock Order (if a 10 is the same for either)? I can imagine that Ford/Lincoln may consider a sold order lower priority vs. a stock order...give the dealers inventory to sell vs. making a sold order that is a done deal from the dealer perspective.

 

The quick answer is No, stock & retail can't have the same dealer assigned priority code.

 

Dealer assigned priority codes for "Retail" orders are 10 - 19, while stock orders are 20 - 80, so stock orders cannot have a priority of 10. The lower the number the better. However, commodity restraints have an ever-increasing impact on what gets scheduled for build.

 

Most stock orders are basic builds, while many retail orders have numerous options. If orders with a lower priority number (higher priority) can't be built, due to commodity restraints, they select more basic builds with a higher priority number (lower priority), which can be why stock orders are built before a retail order. If a single commodity on a retail order is not available, it won't be scheduled, and the other parts that are available, will be used on other orders, which is why you see vehicles scheduled ahead of yours that have similar parts. 

[Xraymd]

22 hours ago, slingha said:

I ordered a Lincoln product on 10/19(day after the order books opened) for the product. I am a May build. My dealer has 6 for sale on the lot(all asking over sticker) while mine keeps getting pushed back. I just dont get it. They have both my interor and exterior colors on the lot, all of the options I've requested are represented on the lot as well. It seems that Ford is prioritizing dealer stock over ordered vehicles. It makes no sense and as a first time Ford buyer doesn't sit well with me. 

I ordered a Lincoln product same day. Was it a Navigator by chance?

 

While dealer stock in general would come after retail orders, the first batch of 2022 Navigators produced seem to have all been dealer stock orders.  These orders were placed after 10/19/21, sometimes well after.
 

But these were built before the OK to sell date.  If it makes you feel any better, think of the dealer vehicles as “practice”.  They didn’t build any retail orders until they were sure they had the process right. 

[akirby]

20 minutes ago, Xraymd said:

I ordered a Lincoln product same day. Was it a Navigator by chance?

 

While dealer stock in general would come after retail orders, the first batch of 2022 Navigators produced seem to have all been dealer stock orders.  These orders were placed after 10/19/21, sometimes well after.
 

But these were built before the OK to sell date.  If it makes you feel any better, think of the dealer vehicles as “practice”.  They didn’t build any retail orders until they were sure they had the process right. 

Yes, they build stock orders before OKTB and would have been held at the factory for inspection until the factory produces error free builds for 5 consecutive days.  After that retail orders are scheduled and built and the held vehicles are inspected and repaired if necessary then shipped.  
 

So stock vehicles are either before OKTB or retail orders where the buyer backed out or there was some part or feature not available for the pending retail orders in that particular round of scheduling so a stock order was selected,  

[slingha]

22 hours ago, Xraymd said:

I ordered a Lincoln product same day. Was it a Navigator by chance?

 

While dealer stock in general would come after retail orders, the first batch of 2022 Navigators produced seem to have all been dealer stock orders.  These orders were placed after 10/19/21, sometimes well after.
 

But these were built before the OK to sell date.  If it makes you feel any better, think of the dealer vehicles as “practice”.  They didn’t build any retail orders until they were sure they had the process right. 

Yes. It was a navigator. 

Edited April 11, 2022 by slingha

[Xraymd]

9 hours ago, slingha said:

Yes. It was a navigator. I’m getting features delivered even though my order number is in the low 3 digit. What is your build week?

I was built 3/30. Still waiting on shipping 

[slingha]

On 4/10/2022 at 10:47 AM, akirby said:

Yes, they build stock orders before OKTB and would have been held at the factory for inspection until the factory produces error free builds for 5 consecutive days.  After that retail orders are scheduled and built and the held vehicles are inspected and repaired if necessary then shipped.  
 

So stock vehicles are either before OKTB or retail orders where the buyer backed out or there was some part or feature not available for the pending retail orders in that particular round of scheduling so a stock order was selected,  

Well that's even scarier then because they are just now building customer orders and they've been building Navigators since late January........ Better buy that extended warranty!

Edited April 11, 2022 by slingha