When searching on Ford.com and you look at extended inventory.

Some trucks say "Dealer Ordered". Is that a custom order for someone or is that just an order for normal stock inventory?

Thanks!

 

Yes... the ol' Dearler Ordered' ploy. Here in So. Cal, a certain dealer was the referred to place to look at new F150 trucks. Through Jan 2015 they had "0" on their lot. Dealer ordered means they have ordered trucks and waiting for them to arrive.

 

The old bait and switch. Some dealers will even advertise vehicles that have been custom ordered in hopes they will draw prospects into the store.

 

Negative.

Custom orders are not shown in the public "Inventory" screen unless the customer decides s/he doesn't want them and they are still on the lot 30 days after arrival.

My dealership is one of the most prominent F150 dealers in the state. I asked the Sales MANAGER what the difference between those listed online as "Dealer Ordered" and those not having that designation was. He said, "Nothing, really". Current inventory there shows a bunch of vehicles "dealer ordered" and a bunch NOT, and ALL of them are on the lot for sale, and NONE of them were ordered by/for a potential customer.

 

Well the extended inventory is driven by initially by Corporate. If a Truck is order with priority 10-19 it should have a customer name and will never appear in the inventory unless it is turn down by the customer (Manually process). Truck order as priority 20 - xxx are in theory for Dealer inventory, I am not sure of the timing but they show up on the inventory as dealer order until a few days of actually delivery, at the time the dealer order tag is removed and the truck is considered in inventory... Once sold the seller dealer has update the inventory.... Not sure what happen if the truck is "sold (somebody puts a deposit down)" prior to the truck arrival to the dealer if the truck will be removed from the dealer order list or not.

 

Re: Bait and switch

OK. I was generalizing from a personal experience with a Mercedes dealership. I'm confident a Ford dealer would never, ever do such a thing.

 

Thanks for all the input.

Reason I asked is because I was looking at the extended inventory around the state and beyond (trying to find what I am looking for so I don't have to wait 3 months) and found a potential. Called the dealership and they said it was coming in a few weeks, but it was someone's order.

I have to go back and see if it was a "dealer ordered" or not.

Side question: Is there a way to search inventory in a large area (like over a few states)? I tried cars.com and autotrader, but it seems it is only partial inventory. Tried Ford.com, but that is alot of working change geographic areas every 50 miles or so.

Thanks again

 

Well what I had described earlier was what is suppose to happen. However there is some game playing by some dealers that made the system less accurate.


When the new 2015 F150 started production, Ford decided to not accept any customer orders until they validated that the trucks coming off the line were approved for shipment... this was done as some previous launches resulted in cars / trucks that were held for "rework" which in some cases took months. .


So dealers / customer in a attempt to get sold orders early dealer coded some customer orders as stock orders... This help a limited number of customers and hurt others. in addition, a larger number of "stock / dealer ordered " than normal were really sold (customer) orders... which might account for your response.

 

Thanks.

I have found a few more on the eastern side of the US.

So I will see if those are the same situation.

It would be much easier to just order one, but the timeline people on here is scaring the out of me.

 

I have two identical trucks in the order system. The 10/1 "Stock Order" that I got tired of waiting for a VIN, and my 12/2 "Special Order" that the dealer added. Both trucks have stickers and are scheduled to be delivered about a week apart.
The stock order shows on the Ford extended inventory list and the dealers website, the special order truck does not.
Interestingly, the cars.com website lists both trucks at the dealers two locations for a total of four vehicles.