Gaming the system is causing the back log.

[gryphon1231]

w $100 reservations Ford made it a circus - should have been $1000 minimum

and dealers see reservations as threat to their business - Ford moving to direct sales - so many of the dealers try their best to screw up the reservation holders

There are 2 problems here 1) Ford took too many reservations and they knew it 2) they allowed dealerships to place orders for people with out reservations ahead reservation holders

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[niterider006]

Stellantis saw this occurring on their side with many of their premium vehicles as well, primarily on the Jeep 392 and Ram TRX. They began blocking all builds that had multiple orders tied to the same customer address. They recognized that the flippers were consuming dealer allotments at a rapid rate and thus saw the market being driven up artificially. Most dealers would notify customers at order that their order would be automatically cancelled if record checks indicated this was the case. I've often wondered if Ford was doing something similarly but not advertising the fact it was occurring.

This is a little bit of an exaggeration. Stellantis would only cancel if you had like four or more orders within the same year. But I do have to give them credit, they prioritized customer orders before dealers and have pretty much kept up with demand.

 

[equitasforall]

This is a little bit of an exaggeration. Stellantis would only cancel if you had like four or more orders within the same year. But I do have to give them credit, they prioritized customer orders before dealers and have pretty much kept up with demand.

Just went based on what I was told and provided in writing when I went to order a TRX. The note from my sales rep is attached in another post and he and the management at the dealership emphasized that more than one order to the same customer got all orders for that customer cancelled. That was also consistent with other customer reports from dealerships nationwide. Mine was as recent as mid February 2022. Maybe the dealership reps were exaggerating, but not sure why they would have done so.

 

[MayhemMike]

Everyone could deal with the commodity issues. We wouldn’t like it, but we could understand. The major failure was the dealership allotment. I admit I do not posses the knowledge or understand the corporate inner workings of the manufacturer and dealership business agreement , but installing this allotment system is what has caused the greatest issue to the consumer. Was it created to keep the assembly line as operational as possible? Was it created to ensure dealership and manufacturer contractual agreements were met? No idea, but it has caused absolute grief and frustration with reservation holders. During my reservation/ order wait I visited multiple dealers to test drive different Bronco models. One rep impressed me with her Bronco knowledge. During a conversation with her concerning the Bronco allotment plan, she explained how the small dealership she worked at could NOT place an order for a customer seeking a Mach 1 as well, because Ford did not allot them any. So I could literally live next door to this dealership, but would have to drive across town to locate a dealer with a Mach 1 allotment so I could place an order. How insane is that?

 

[flip]

Wasn't everyone originally maxed out at 2 reservations? Most of the non serious people should've been sorted out by now because there were several cutoffs. One, to convert reservation to an order either a 19 or 99 and dealers should be actively making sure through the whole process orders were getting converted or cancelled. There should NOT be any customer canceled reservations in the system unless a VIN has already been assigned. The people still 99'd aren't a problem as most are likely waiting for a MOD top (at least that is true in the case of our 99 folks).

I don't believe the 99 folks will have any advantage when MOD comes out even with an early time stamp unless the commodity thing in no longer an issue across the board. Webasto still can't produce enough MIC tops and I don't see any reason to believe MOD won't suffer the same fate.

Big thing is dealer need to keep working their reservations/orders and making sure they are buildable, cancel if it doesn't have a VIN and customer no longer wants. If a current reservation holder takes an abandoned order, the understanding should be they cancel theirs. The last one is the biggest, IMO.

 

[BOLD Renegade93]

Absolutely true. Here is a note from back in February when I was considering an order for a TRX. Plenty of other threads about this on the Jeep and TRX forums as well.


On Fri, Feb 11, 2022 at 6:38 PM Koons Jeep <[email protected]> wrote:

I don’t care which manufacturer you work for, this dude’s response is the case study for how salesmen should act and treat customers. He comes across as someone who is knowledgeable, professional, and honest. Finding a salesman with two of these qualities is hard enough, but the trifecta is dang near impossible. He’d earn my business.

 

[Beach_Bum]

Don't blame the genuine buyer (leaving out those who are only looking to resell). Ford has not kept their word and changed the rules. I could be viewed as one of those who "gamed the system". But I only did what was in my best interest.

Back in the summer of 2020, Ford had stated that they were going to build reservations first. Ford tried to control the volume of reservations by limiting them to 2 per name/address. The $100 was not enough of a barrier to stem the volume of reservations by friends, family, and employees of dealerships who had no intent of buying the Bronco for their own use. Ford should have closed reservations at the end of 2020 if not sooner. But they continued to allow reservations to be made through 2021.

When MY'21 production began, Ford reneged on their "Reservations First" policy by introducing dealer stock under the guise that lower spec'd Broncos were not ordered, but could be produced and they had to keep MAP running. Then in the fall, the allocation rules were changed for MY'22 and many of us realized that we had drew the short stick as we would be waiting for years to get our Bronco. Fine. Some of us continued to want to adhere to our original reservation, but wanted the chance to get it sooner than MY'25. Levine proclaimed in October of 2021, "You can move your reservation". There is a thread with his exact words in the thread title, yet we found out that it was another falsehood. Many individuals attempted to abide by Ford's process only to find out there was no process. Only after coming to the realization (for some it took longer than others) that the reservation couldn't be transferred, we were left with waiting in line at our dealership or creating a new order with another dealer.

Waiting for 5 years from original reservation date was untenable. I found a dealer that had plenty of allocation (the only true constraint). In fact, I found 3 that indicated that there was no concern that I wouldn't receive a MY'22 Bronco. I ordered the exact same build at all 3 dealers. My Bronco is built (3/14) and is awaiting delivery. I cancelled the one order. And I have the other, along with my original reservation, set to a priority code '99.

What I did, anyone else could have done. I was content to play Ford's game with the original rules in place even if that meant waiting. But Ford changed the rules after the game started, I only adapted to the rule changes to suit my interest.

 

[DogHauler]

Dealing with the manufacturer for a purchase will be far worse than a dealership.

 

[Pootypoot]

Where’s the option for both?

 

[Carolina Jim]

Someone had Ford in mind when they invented the term "Clusterfuck"

 

[flip]

Someone had Ford in mind when they invented the term "Clusterfuck"

The bad part is they aren't able to adapt very well when stuff goes sideways. Decisions have to go through so many people before changes are made, by the time a pivot needs to happen, things have already imploded. Ford is very much set on staying on their cadence when they have a marketing plan approved. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

I'm not saying dealers should be steering the ship but when the entire dealer body is screaming, "iceberg, dead ahead", you would think someone in the wheelhouse would paying attention. Believe it or not, there's a huge disconnect between what Ford thinks is going on and what's actually happening at the consumer level.

 

[Dads_bronze_bronco]

I said yes, but I am guessing we on 6g are a unique obsessive crowd, and the vast majority of Bronco orders have no clue what’s happening, or at least not enough to game the system with multiple orders, or changing their order multiple times. Now buying something else and leaving their order in the system and walking away is another thing, so that is the reason for my yes vote.

 

[DD214]

I am not sure how pertinent it is it a dealer in CT told me the take rate of the. Ron o is about 50% when they arrive. ADM could be a factor, but I am not sure.

 

[Kameronatm]

It's not gaming the system if it works and is allowed. There is no shady business there. One question is why would one not order multiple? Even from multiple dealers if yours has many orders? Seems wise to have done it this way. "Gaming the system" seems to imply a bitter stance out of envy. Which, I would be in the same boat if I had not been scheduled yet.

 

[niterider006]

Ford created this environment we are living in. Had they honored the first come first serve policy, we wouldn't be in this mess. Instead you have people like me who ordered from 3 different dealers with the mindset that the first one to deliver wins.

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