Order Info / COTUS / ETIS: Explained
03-03-2015, 09:15 PM
#11
Can any of you guys tell me when looking at Cotus and the Order date that is listed at the top left: How close is that date to the day you actually talked to and made the deal at the dealer? Trying to figure out if my dealer was playing games with allotments by holding my truck off for a bit. I made the deal on 12/23/14, and would have expected the order date to be within a few days of that. My order date shows 1/7/15, 15 days after I actually signed papers. Blend # shows my truck should be built Friday. Expected delivery date moved out a week to 3/29.
03-03-2015, 09:18 PM
#12
Disclaimer: I am not an expert at any of this. My knowledge comes from staring at COTUS and reading these forums for the past month. There wasn’t even a Holiday Inn Express involved. If edits or updates are needed, let me know.
*****************
The 2 pieces of information you need to start tracking your order are the Order# and Dealer Code#. They should be at the top of the paperwork you received from the dealer.
Depending on the type of order you placed (A/Z/X or Retail) and what system your dealer is using, you could have one of 3 different pieces of paperwork (that I know of).
Order Summary:
Order# is top left
Dealer Code is top right, labeled “Sales Code”
Order# top left
Dealer Code top right
DORA (Dealer Order Receipt Acknowledgement):
Order# is after the phrase “BEGIN ORD”
Dealer# is just above that, before dealer name.
US Orders: http://www.fleet.ford.com/fleetdealers/
Canadian Orders: http://www.ford.ca/dealerships/locate/results/
VIN# - This will show up in COTUS and can also be obtained from your dealer, usually within a couple of weeks of ordering. When a VIN is assigned, the dealer should also be able to give you a BUILD WEEK
BUILD DATE: At a minimum this should be available a few weeks before build week. Get this from your dealer or by sending a Private Message (PM) to FordService on this Forum (US Customers). Canadian Orders try FordServiceCA for the PM.
COTUS http://wwwqa.cotus.ford.com/
IN ORDER PROCESSING : This is often referred to as the First Ring of Hell because of the wait. It’s basically Ford’s time to make certain they have the necessary components and herd your order and parts to the starting line. This step could take several weeks, or if a component you ordered isn’t available, maybe longer.
IN PRODUCTION: COTUS will make this change 6-10 days before your build date. A link will show up in COTUS that lets you view your window sticker, the sticker might take a day or two to fill in properly. For a window sticker explanation see: https://www.f150forum.com/f118/answered-window-sticker-explained-291213/
After production COTUS sometimes jumps to DELIVERED for a few days before it moves back to AWAITING SHIPMENT or IN TRANSIT. Don’t freak out,it just does that to boost sales of Xanex.
IN TRANSIT: When it moves to ‘IN TRANSIT’, the ETA will disappear.
If your truck is being shipped by rail, you may be able to track it using this information: https://www.f150forum.com/f118/tracking-thread-vins-build-dates-275592/index87/#post4004703
If your truck is being shipped over the road, you’re flying blind and there’s not any way for you or your dealer to locate it.
DELIVERED: This means check your voice mail and break out the cocktails!!!
ETIS: Electronic Technical Information System
ETIS contains lots of useful information about your truck AFTER it’s built. You’ll need your VIN# to access ETIS. Before your truck is built, the ETIS build date is only a placeholder, something like 30.11.0002. It means nothing so don’t waste time trying to decipher it.
*****************
The 2 pieces of information you need to start tracking your order are the Order# and Dealer Code#. They should be at the top of the paperwork you received from the dealer.
Depending on the type of order you placed (A/Z/X or Retail) and what system your dealer is using, you could have one of 3 different pieces of paperwork (that I know of).
Order Summary:
Order# is top left
Dealer Code is top right, labeled “Sales Code”
If the Sales Code has a letter in the middle or at the end, remove it before using in COTUS. Example: Sales Code - F48419H would be a COTUS Dealer Code of F48419
Vehicle Order Confirmation: This is the old system (and the easiest)Order# top left
Dealer Code top right
DORA (Dealer Order Receipt Acknowledgement):
Order# is after the phrase “BEGIN ORD”
Dealer# is just above that, before dealer name.
If the dealer number has a letter in the middle or at the end, remove it before using in COTUS and place an ‘F’ before it. Example: 48H419 would be a COTUS Dealer Code of F48419
More on DORA: If you are purchasing A/Z/Xplan the dealer HAS to give you the DORA. This shows that not only did your dealer place the order, but they had allotments and Ford has agreed to build the truck. It will also show you your exact A/Z/X price. If you are purchasing retail,some dealers don’t like to share this because it has invoice prices listed.(just go to Edmunds.com and it will show you invoice prices)
DEALER # can also befound at:More on DORA: If you are purchasing A/Z/Xplan the dealer HAS to give you the DORA. This shows that not only did your dealer place the order, but they had allotments and Ford has agreed to build the truck. It will also show you your exact A/Z/X price. If you are purchasing retail,some dealers don’t like to share this because it has invoice prices listed.(just go to Edmunds.com and it will show you invoice prices)
US Orders: http://www.fleet.ford.com/fleetdealers/
Canadian Orders: http://www.ford.ca/dealerships/locate/results/
VIN# - This will show up in COTUS and can also be obtained from your dealer, usually within a couple of weeks of ordering. When a VIN is assigned, the dealer should also be able to give you a BUILD WEEK
BUILD DATE: At a minimum this should be available a few weeks before build week. Get this from your dealer or by sending a Private Message (PM) to FordService on this Forum (US Customers). Canadian Orders try FordServiceCA for the PM.
COTUS http://wwwqa.cotus.ford.com/
NOTE: At this time COTUS is still in testing and development (beta). It’s not perfect and you will wear out your keyboard/mouse hitting refresh hoping for a change. Sometimes not all of the options you ordered show up in COTUS, relax, it’s normal.
After you have your Order# and Dealer#, you can track your order in COTUS. Sometimes it takes several days for a new order to show up. The ETA is only an estimate, read the footnote.IN ORDER PROCESSING : This is often referred to as the First Ring of Hell because of the wait. It’s basically Ford’s time to make certain they have the necessary components and herd your order and parts to the starting line. This step could take several weeks, or if a component you ordered isn’t available, maybe longer.
IN PRODUCTION: COTUS will make this change 6-10 days before your build date. A link will show up in COTUS that lets you view your window sticker, the sticker might take a day or two to fill in properly. For a window sticker explanation see: https://www.f150forum.com/f118/answered-window-sticker-explained-291213/
After production COTUS sometimes jumps to DELIVERED for a few days before it moves back to AWAITING SHIPMENT or IN TRANSIT. Don’t freak out,it just does that to boost sales of Xanex.
IN TRANSIT: When it moves to ‘IN TRANSIT’, the ETA will disappear.
If your truck is being shipped by rail, you may be able to track it using this information: https://www.f150forum.com/f118/tracking-thread-vins-build-dates-275592/index87/#post4004703
If your truck is being shipped over the road, you’re flying blind and there’s not any way for you or your dealer to locate it.
DELIVERED: This means check your voice mail and break out the cocktails!!!
ETIS: Electronic Technical Information System
ETIS contains lots of useful information about your truck AFTER it’s built. You’ll need your VIN# to access ETIS. Before your truck is built, the ETIS build date is only a placeholder, something like 30.11.0002. It means nothing so don’t waste time trying to decipher it.
I learned today that delivered doesn't necessarily mean delivered to the dealership. My COTUS status changed to delivered on Monday so I called my dealer to ask when I could pick it up. He told me that the truck wasn't delivered and was sitting in a Railyard here in town (KC) waiting to be loaded onto a transport semi for transfer to the dealership. COTUS was wrong.
On a side note, my sticker says convoy. I was surprised when my dealer told me it was sitting at the rail yard waiting for it to be picked up. I thought convoy meant it would be on a semi all the way from Dearborn to here. Guess not.
03-03-2015, 09:18 PM
#13
Senior Member
Can any of you guys tell me when looking at Cotus and the Order date that is listed at the top left: How close is that date to the day you actually talked to and made the deal at the dealer? Trying to figure out if my dealer was playing games with allotments by holding my truck off for a bit. I made the deal on 12/23/14, and would have expected the order date to be within a few days of that. My order date shows 1/7/15, 15 days after I actually signed papers. Blend # shows my truck should be built Friday. Expected delivery date moved out a week to 3/29.
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rkboulton (03-03-2015)
03-03-2015, 09:29 PM
#14
How close is that date to the day you actually talked to and made the deal at the dealer?
Seems to me your dealer is playing games. Perhaps they ran out of allocations for December? I can see no other reason for the delay, as it would be to the dealer's benefit to put through the order ASAP and thus get the revenue ASAP.
On edit: Wasn't there a factory shutdown over Christmas? Maybe this froze the order entry system.
Last edited by Shrdlu; 03-03-2015 at 09:37 PM.
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rkboulton (03-03-2015)
03-03-2015, 10:40 PM
#15
Thanks Shrdlu. I've seen guys on this forum with order dates in late December, so I'm not sure if they had a shutdown, but at this point I'm figuring the dealer held it back to not interfere with his December allotments. When I decided to go look at a truck, this dealer had 2 2015 F150s. ALL the dealers in the area told me they wouldn't have any until sometime in January. So, had to be some game they were playing.
03-04-2015, 07:37 AM
#16
Senior Member
Thread Starter
The Canadian dealer website you list does not provide the Dealer Code. Dealer codes in Canada seem very difficult to obtain if your dealer doesn't want to give it to you.
Thanks, Rich
03-04-2015, 10:18 AM
#17
Senior Member
Seems to me your dealer is playing games. Perhaps they ran out of allocations for December? I can see no other reason for the delay, as it would be to the dealer's benefit to put through the order ASAP and thus get the revenue ASAP.
On edit: Wasn't there a factory shutdown over Christmas? Maybe this froze the order entry system.
On edit: Wasn't there a factory shutdown over Christmas? Maybe this froze the order entry system.
If you walk out of the dealership after "ordering" a vehicle on the 1st but your order date (e.g., in COTUS) is the 7th, your dealer did one of two things:
1. They didn't enter the order until the 7th.
2. They entered the order on the 1st, but realized something was wrong with it (e.g., didn't order the correct packages or options), so they cancelled the order and re-entered it on the 7th. As long as someone else doesn't enter another order between the time the first order is cancelled and the second one is entered, you'll even end up with the same dealer order number.
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rkboulton (03-04-2015)
-up today, or maybe I've just ran my VIN too many times and it's sick of telling me I'm still in Order Processing hell 
03-04-2015, 12:47 PM
#19
Senior Member
Sorry, no idea there.
The DORA has what looks like the dealer code just before the dealer name. Mine was A6 035. I don't know if that was the actual dealer code (less the space) because I was never able to see my truck in COTUS until I got the VIN.
The DORA has what looks like the dealer code just before the dealer name. Mine was A6 035. I don't know if that was the actual dealer code (less the space) because I was never able to see my truck in COTUS until I got the VIN.
