2024 Super Duty Orders & Discussion

[Smith]

I order a 2022 F350 King Ranch Tremor in July 2021. I am still waiting for it to be built and no VIN yet? Anyone else been waiting this long? I have to say at this point it is past laughable and just down right embarrassingly hard to stay a Ford fan. 

[Red250]

I ordered my 250 lariat crew cab 8 ft bed black it package on 1/13/24 and it is sitting in my garage! They told me 8 months but only took 2

[greg abercrombie]

Sounds like you are one of the fortunate few, congrats 

[Big_Daddy]

Depends

 

450? a while

high end 450? Quite a while 😂 

 

I’ve seen gassers in 250 moderate trim being scheduled less than 60 days from ordering recently.

 

my KR 450 took 2 years and it’s sitting in KY for the 3rd week awaiting shipment. 

Edited March 25, 2024 by Big_Daddy

[greg abercrombie]

Any reason given for the shipping delay 

[Big_Daddy]

9 hours ago, greg abercrombie said:

Any reason given for the shipping delay 

Nope

 

typical ford.  Ford ships it not the dealer, but it’s not surprising as it took them 2 years to build the truck.  I will be surprised if I receive it by the Fourth of July.

Edited March 26, 2024 by Big_Daddy

[greg abercrombie]

Can't quite wrap my head around Fords order and delivery system. If half of what is being posted is to be believed Ford is really letting the ball down. What if anything could the dealer you chose to go through effect the length of time from order to delivery.....is there any correlation?? I also keep hearing that trim level is a factor, what with reading that does seem to be the case. Money lost is the way I see it......no vehicle no sale especially when some have waited for months if not a couple of years for their ordered truck and finally they go to a competitors truck. Yeah I know the dealer will sell the vehicle when it finally comes in whether you go through with the purchase or not..... but from what I'm seeing on the dealers lots I've visited is trucks sitting on the lots that were there 5 weeks ago.......sorry about the rambling

[akirby]

33 minutes ago, greg abercrombie said:

Can't quite wrap my head around Fords order and delivery system. If half of what is being posted is to be believed Ford is really letting the ball down. What if anything could the dealer you chose to go through effect the length of time from order to delivery.....is there any correlation?? I also keep hearing that trim level is a factor, what with reading that does seem to be the case. 

Because Ford allocates vehicles to each dealer based on their sales history.  Let’s say each dealer gets 2 vehicles per week.  If the dealer has 10 people in line ahead of you you’ll have to wait 6 weeks to get yours scheduled.  If there is only one ahead of you you’ll only wait 1 week.   The trim levels are because of parts shortages which have always happened even before Covid.  Covid just made it 1000 times worse.

[ice-capades]

3 minutes ago, greg abercrombie said:

Can't quite wrap my head around Fords order and delivery system. If half of what is being posted is to be believed Ford is really letting the ball down. What if anything could the dealer you chose to go through effect the length of time from order to delivery.....is there any correlation?? I also keep hearing that trim level is a factor, what with reading that does seem to be the case. Money lost is the way I see it......no vehicle no sale especially when some have waited for months if not a couple of years for their ordered truck and finally they go to a competitors truck. Yeah I know the dealer will sell the vehicle when it finally comes in whether you go through with the purchase or not..... but from what I'm seeing on the dealers lots I've visited is trucks sitting on the lots that were there 5 weeks ago.......sorry about the rambling

 

The Ford ordering, scheduling and production process has been in place for decades, with some modifications to address specific market conditions such as the pandemic impact, customer retail orders that overwhelmed the USOB (Unscheduled Order Bank) during the COVID-19 impact and the related supply chain issues, etc. There have been a lot of complaints over the years along with a lot of suggestions that primarily served only the specific retail customer and most often didn't provide an improvement to the Ford ordering and scheduling process.

 

I managed the USOB for my former dealership for nearly 35 years and ordered every Stock, Demo, Retail and Fleet vehicle over those years. I'll try to give you an overview of the process without going into too much detail.  

 

Dealers place retail orders and assign a priority code which can range from 03-19. Stock orders priority codes are 20-80 and a 99 code flags the order as "do Not Schedule". The default priority code for customer retail orders is 10, requiring Dealers to manually assign a different code. 

 

Orders usually require allocation for scheduling which is generally earned based on the dealership's sales history for that vehicle line. Each dealership's USOB is totally independent from that of any other dealership. A larger dealership may earn more allocation based on higher sales, but also has more orders to manage effectively. Dealers earn allocation on a monthly basis which is then spread out evenly for the upcoming monthly scheduling period. 

 

All unscheduled orders are subject to applicable commodity and plant restraints that can change daily. Dealers have multiple resources regarding restraints, with specific retail order restraint information. In most cases, the biggest problem with retail orders not getting scheduled is the lack of proper order management at the dealership level, either through ignorance, lack of qualified personnel or other factors.

 

Yes, the biggest factor in retail orders not getting scheduled is Dealer mismanagement of their own USOB (Unscheduled Order Bank). Dealers have multiple resources available to provide commodity and plant constraint information, but many if not most don't know, bother to check or act on the information available. Unfortunately, many either make up excuses or simply tell the retail customer what they think the customer wants to hear. In addition, customers tend to communicate only with their sales representative not knowing that few are knowledgeable with the ordering and scheduling process or have access to the resources available.

 

If a Dealer is monitoring their USOB effectively, they should be changing the retail order priority code as their USOB changes and other factors. If a retail order is unscheduled for an extended time, they should be contacting their Ford Zone Manager to have it reassigned a priority code at either 01 or 02 to expedite scheduling. Ford will make every effort possible to make exceptions to commodity restraints with orders at 01 or 02 priority codes.

 

It appears that Ford is finally addressing quality issues and procedures that have existed for years and decades by holding vehicles at the plants to be repaired prior to a shipping release. 

 

Hope this information helps! 

 

   

[greg abercrombie]

It does thank you for the insight 

[waloud]

As of 2-3 weeks ago we had about 17,000 trucks sitting around Louisville.  They were waiting to be updated.  They are now working on bringing them back to ship out.

[MilesD]

1 hour ago, waloud said:

As of 2-3 weeks ago we had about 17,000 trucks sitting around Louisville.  They were waiting to be updated.  They are now working on bringing them back to ship out.

Interesting...new info for me.    Are these all flavors as in Ranger through F-450 or super duties specifically?  

[ValorTug]

4 hours ago, waloud said:

As of 2-3 weeks ago we had about 17,000 trucks sitting around Louisville.  They were waiting to be updated.  They are now working on bringing them back to ship out.

Maybe this explains why my F450 has been sitting in KY since 2/7/24 build date. Its expected delivery is any day now to So Cal.

[akirby]

4 hours ago, MilesD said:

Interesting...new info for me.    Are these all flavors as in Ranger through F-450 or super duties specifically?  

Ranger is built in Michigan.  Louisville (actually Kentucky Truck) only builds super duties, expeditions and navigators.

[ValorTug]

Does anyone know the shipping time from KY to CA? Is it shipped by train or transport? Truck was shipped 3/21 according to the Ford app.

[ice-capades]

8 hours ago, ValorTug said:

Does anyone know the shipping time from KY to CA? Is it shipped by train or transport? Truck was shipped 3/21 according to the Ford app.

 

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and related issues, the average shipping time was about 2 weeks within the 48 states. With what's become routine shipping delays, labor and equipment shortages, the delivery to dealerships can take longer. Your Dealer has access to the most recent status and location of your vehicle and can supply you with the rail carrier and rail car information if you wish to track your vehicle's progress. In addition, if your Dealer has a good relationship with the firm that will haul your vehicle from the final rail ramp destination, they can contact the firm's dispatch department and request expedited delivery to the dealership. 

[Dirty Old Farmer]

Are all cars loaded out on rail or do auto carrier semis load up at factory for delivery to dealers within a reasonably close distance.  

[ValorTug]

@ice-capades, thank you!

[ice-capades]

1 hour ago, Dirty Old Farmer said:

Are all cars loaded out on rail or do auto carrier semis load up at factory for delivery to dealers within a reasonably close distance.  

 

The vast majority of vehicles are shipped via rail, based on distance from the plant to the final rail destination. Vehicles within 300-400 miles of the dealership destination, on average, can ship either via rail or carrier depending on the contracts in place, type of vehicles, rail capacity and other factors at a plant. It's not unusual for the final rail destination to change to a location further away due to contract changes and other factors which sometimes don't make sense. FYI... Dealers are not allowed to pick up vehicles at either the plants or final rail destination. There was only one time a number of years ago when Dealers could make arrangements to pick up new Transits at the plant due to a huge shipping backlog and logistics involved with the Transit roof heights for many of them. 

[maginty]

55 minutes ago, ice-capades said:

 

The vast majority of vehicles are shipped via rail, based on distance from the plant to the final rail destination. Vehicles within 300-400 miles of the dealership destination, on average, can ship either via rail or carrier depending on the contracts in place, type of vehicles, rail capacity and other factors at a plant. It's not unusual for the final rail destination to change to a location further away due to contract changes and other factors which sometimes don't make sense. FYI... Dealers are not allowed to pick up vehicles at either the plants or final rail destination. There was only one time a number of years ago when Dealers could make arrangements to pick up new Transits at the plant due to a huge shipping backlog and logistics involved with the Transit roof heights for many of them. 

How times have changed. I ordered my first new vehicle in the fall of 1975, a 1976 F150 Ranger XLT. Base price was $4671.00, total options $4095.80, shipping $279.00 for a total $9045.80. Final assembly was San Jose and shipped by rail. My truck arrived at the rail yard January 6 1976. My dealer owner/salesman drove me in and I picked up my truck and drove back 50 miles to dealership for PDI. Was pretty exciting for a teenager back then.

Edited March 28, 2024 by maginty
Forgot a sentence.

[Dirty Old Farmer]

8 hours ago, ice-capades said:

 

The vast majority of vehicles are shipped via rail, based on distance from the plant to the final rail destination. Vehicles within 300-400 miles of the dealership destination, on average, can ship either via rail or carrier depending on the contracts in place, type of vehicles, rail capacity and other factors at a plant. It's not unusual for the final rail destination to change to a location further away due to contract changes and other factors which sometimes don't make sense. FYI... Dealers are not allowed to pick up vehicles at either the plants or final rail destination. There was only one time a number of years ago when Dealers could make arrangements to pick up new Transits at the plant due to a huge shipping backlog and logistics involved with the Transit roof heights for many of them. 

Thanks for the info.  I live 180 miles from the factory , but wouldn't be surprised to see mine sit at another railyard for three more weeks knowing my luck.

 

[ValorTug]

I'm getting frustrated now... my delivery date had been moved for the 3rd time! Now it says 4/2 to 4/15! This window is worse than the cable guy widow they give you!  Original delivery was 3/10 to 3/16. 🤬

[ice-capades]

8 hours ago, Dirty Old Farmer said:

Thanks for the info.  I live 180 miles from the factory, but wouldn't be surprised to see mine sit at another railyard for three more weeks knowing my luck.

 

 

Being so close to the plant it's most likely that your vehicle will be shipped carrier direct from the plant to your dealership. They need to be able to fill a complete carrier load going to the same general area before the vehicle is shipped. Your Dealer can advise you as to the shipping method and updated status.

[ValorTug]

Can the physical location of a vehicle in shipment be located? Is this possible from someone at the dealership? It would be nice know if it's close or still a long way away.

[ice-capades]

16 minutes ago, ValorTug said:

Can the physical location of a vehicle in shipment be located? Is this possible from someone at the dealership? It would be nice know if it's close or still a long way away.

 

Your Dealer has 24/7 access to your vehicle's latest status information including shipping method, rail carrier and rail car number, location, dispatch from the final rail ramp destination and updated ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) at the dealership.