How much flexibility does a dealer have in assigning priority codes? And do orders only get prioritized against the other orders from the same dealer (implied by the quoted post)? If anyone has additional insight I’d really appreciate it.

 

Priority 10-19 is for retail (custom) orders. Your dealer sets the priority code when you order, and has the ability to change it at any time without asking Ford permission. Most dealers default to 19, the lowest priority, and slowly upgrade you closer to 10 the longer you wait. This prevents a situation where the guy who ordered the same truck 6 months after you gets built first. The easiest way to look at priority codes is to see it as your dealer’s wish list to Ford on which order(s) they want built first.

As you suspected, these codes are only a ranking system for your own dealer. You could be a priority 10 at your dealer and get built after a priority 19 at another dealer. It all comes down to allocations. If your dealer only gets 10 allocations and they’ve got 11 orders sitting at priority 10, you may be waiting if you’re #11.

Your dealer may petition the zone manager (Ford regional rep) to force your order to a higher priority (typically 02 or 01) that may get you built sooner. Priority 02 is typically available for orders that have been waiting a while. Priority 01 is more for major incidents, such as a retail order that got totaled in transit and never made it to the customer. Be aware that if you change your order after you’ve been bumped to priority 01/02, your dealer needs to work with their zone manager to retain your upgraded priority.