Dealer allocation is a real practice. Of course, a dealer without a decent allocation might say otherwise.

Size is a more nebulous factor. While large dealers generally sell more of everything and thus have larger allocations, it's not always so. I know of at least one large dealer in my area who almost never has FEHs and doesn't seem to care about them. Regardless of the fact that they sell a lot of Fords, they can't get any FEHs right now because they've never made an effort to sell them in the past.

The bottom line: A dealer who has a history of moving a difficult product like the FEH gets priority in ordering. A small dealer like the one teperilloux mentions can get sometimes one quicker than a very large dealer IF they have their act together and have moved them in the past.

This is a regular industry practice among large manufacturers. When I wanted a Prius in late '03, I went to a dealer far from my home but which had two advantages: 1-They had sold a lot of Gen 1 Prius and 2-They were a "president's club" member or something like that. There were only two dealers in the state with that certification at the time. The General Manager is an old family friend and showed me the criteria Toyota uses to give the award, and the benefits his store received in exchange. One of the benefits was "first dibs" on product, up to a higher limit than other dealers. Result: When waiting lists appeared and the cars were hard to get, they got 6-10 from every bi-weekly allocation. Other dealers, even big ones, were lucky to get 3-4.

 

A manager @ Ford out of Dearborn promised me that dealer's do not get allocations. But what dealers do is put in orders for there lot, or for a fake person, they can then change the order completly up until the point the VIN number is bucked or something like that.

Now they do only allow so many allocations per district. So the midwest maybe only gets 5 out of every 100 built. Then it is all about who ordered first.

If a dealer had insight to put in a bunch of fake orders, then he has, in theory a greater chance to get an allocation. Dealers in my area are starting to take delivery of units, that are NOT sold and sitting on the lot. My prediction by Nov. there will be lots of them sitting around again, until gas goes up another $1.00 or so.

There are some huge discussions on this also at blueovalforums.com

I am just repeating what was told to me. Who knows.

 

Just thought I'd pop in and say hello!

I placed my order for a FWD '08 FEH on 5/26. As that was a weekend, the official "Receipt Date" on my order is Monday, 5/28.

On Monday, 8/20, I finally received a full VIN and was told my vehicle is scheduled to start production on 9/10. I was originally told to expect an 8-10 week wait time, so the longer wait without a VIN or any status updates was pretty frustrating.

So anyway, I'm still waiting but there's now a light at the end of the tunnel. I just hope now that a strike doesn't happen or something!

 

Looks like things are getting a little better:

Good Morning,

Okay, I've done some research and this is what I have found. There is a backlog of Hybrid Escape/Mariners and the orders are being processed as fast as possible. I've been told that your Mariner is set for manufacturing in October with delivery scheduled for November. This is on par with other pending hybrid orders. Your dealership will be apprised of your vehicle's status and they will be the best source for getting updates until delivery to you.

I will keep your information with me and I'll let you know if I become aware of any changes in your order.

We appreciate your loyalty and for taking the time to contact me.

 

I put my order in on 6/28 as well and It's being built this week. The dealer said that I was first on their list and that they had to pull some strings to get it in this soon. He also told me to expect it next week.

 

I bet he had a fake order in, then changed the order to meet what your specifications were. If you get a chance, maybe ask the dealer that.

Where do you live approximately? Maybe there are more orders filled daily.

Just curious.

By the way, if you have a VIN, go to blueovalforums.com, then employee forum, then order tracking, and someone will tell you the status.

 

I'm pretty sure he didn't have a fake order in. My mother just happened to call the day they got their first 08 in, so they brought it over for her to look at for me. Well, as they were pulling in, she loved the color so much that she bought it and told them to find another one for me. After a week with no luck, they said that they would put one on order for me.

It's a small dealership about a half of an hour south of Cedar Point in Ohio.

I actually put my VIN in and my window sticker said that it's "birthday" was the 31

 

Can you give me the contact email for this response? thanks.

It makes sense that lead times should get back to normal. My dealership said the worst time to order was June and July. He is the fleet manager and said the taxicabs and gov't fleet orders took precedance because July 1 is the start of a fiscal year.

 

Maybe you can get your dealer to call about mine! It would seem like we are in the same region within Ford, since I only live about 2 hrs from you.

 

plnorton@mchsi.com