After reading the message board on the superdutys, I realize I might have to wait longer than the 3 months since making my order. Since there seem to be more orders than trucks I am worried that my order could be canceled. Is it possible to do that? The dealer said that my order which was sent to the factory was "clean" whatever that means. I don't know what the dealer's allotment is, nor do I now what constitutes a "good" priority number. I don't want to ask the dealer these questions, he seems to have become upcool about the fact that I used the ford hotline to see where the truck was in production. I have only called him twice on the status so it's not like i'm bothering him. Any ideas how I can get more info? Can ford drop orders? Thanks

 

I look at it like this....the salesguy and the dealership is making money off of you...not the other way around. Be up front with he salesguy if he seems to get bothered. Tell him you want straight answers. Matter of fact, if he has E-mail capability...correspond with him via E-mail...thus eliminating the "I said", "You said" stuff. I think you have to be firm and up front with the dealership people. Get irrate with them and they go negative immediately and can screw with your order and delivery. Why, they don't want any negative comments from you on the survey you are supposed to fill out when they sell you a truck. Dealers have been known to refuse to sell a person a truck they have ordered for them and for that matter sell it out from under the them. Talk to them in a civil manner but tell them what you expect. Ask them directly about their allocations. Sure they can lie to you but hopefully they are an upfront dealership.

Can they cancel you order...well they can switch your order from a 2000 to a 2001 if it misses the cutoff. My truck took 3 months and 1 week to get to me. You would have to wait a little longer but in reality, getting a 2001 instead of 2000 would be to your advantage. Regardless of how you look at it...if you don't get your truck until sometime in late June or early July...which would be right at 3 months...it is going to be almost a year old (in terms of trade-in value or value against any loan you may take out against it) when you receive it.

Good luck

 

What is the Ford hotline #? What does it tell you? My dealer told me about 2-2 1/2 months til they expect the truck. They told me about 80-85% chance they can still get one. I ordered it 1 week ago. I know it is being built in Kentucy, but that's about it. THat hotline number would be nice to have.
F-350 crewcab, PSD, 3.73LS, Lariet, 4X2, shortbox (If it gets thru!!!).

 

The ford hotline number is on the official ford web site, and I don't have it right here but it easy to find. It is the hotline number for questions about your existing ford. The hotline told me that my order had been sent to the factory, and at this point the operator said that the order is waiting to be to be picked up which means that once the order is picked up they can tell you the stage your truck is in being built right down to the final inspection. It takes about 17 days from the order being "picked up" and the dealer taking delivery so I have heard. It is a handy number to call so you can find out that your truck is NOT ready. I don't have to annoy the dealer, but I get the info I need. I end up calling the dealer about once a month to let him know i'm alive but I check the hotline every week and a half. The operators are friendly but some are not very bright. Some know how to look up the date when the factory will update their info., so you can call on that date. Good luck
Eilyns

 

I just took delivery of my new Y2K F250 CC, 4x4 Lariat last Tues (4/25). I ordered it on 3/11/00. I really don't know what kind of allocation the dealer had, but I just tried not to think about it too much. Before I knew it, I got a call from the dealer on the ETA date. The truck actually arrived about 5 days early. By the way, I totally am glad I ordered this particular truck!

 

It's nice to hear about someone getting their truck early. Did you get the v-10 engine? I hear that is the one that has been held up and it is the one I ordered. What state did you purchase?, I'm in California and I have been hearing other nightmare stories out here. Maybe we are just UNlucky Eilyns

 

Eilyn's

I live in New Jersey and I ordered my 2000 SD, SC, longbed, V-10, lariat, 4x4, 3.73 limited slip on 4/12/00. My dealer called on 4/24 to tell me he got the truck into the May build and I will have it at the end of May. WOW that's fast. If you are having trouble, shop around for a Ford truck dealer and not a Ford car dealer. In Jersey, the Ford car dealers don't know what they are doing when it comes to trucks and they don't have the allotments for trucks. My dealer sells 90 SD's a month so he has all the allotments he wants including the V-10's. He knows all the options codes off the top of his head.

Howard

 

Hi Howard,
Thanks for the info. I didn't know there were just dealers who sold trucks. It's hard to walk away from my order at this point since it has already taken 3 plus months and i'm afraid that the truck would get a build date the moment I walked away from the deal. If anything happens with this dealer,( like they "lost" the order) I'm going to walk and I will then look for a dealer that only sells trucks. I have so much good info now. Thanks again. Do you know what a "good" priority number is on an order? People post messages about having them but what would that number be 1 or 10?
who knows?

 

Hi Howard,
Thanks for the info. I didn't know there were just dealers who sold trucks. It's hard to walk away from my order at this point since it has already taken 3 plus months and i'm afraid that the truck would get a build date the moment I walked away from the deal. If anything happens with this dealer,( like they "lost" the order) I'm going to walk and I will then look for a dealer that only sells trucks. I have so much good info now. Thanks again. Do you know what a "good" priority number is on an order? People post messages about having them but what would that number be 1 or 10?
who knows?

 

I ordered my truck, F-250 SD 4X4 V-10 Auto 4.30LS SC, on Feb 28 and took delivery April 25. About a week early. I don't know why some trucks take longer than others.

 

Thanks for the info. Wierden. I have been on jury duty unfortunatly, and I have elected to contact my dealer when I get off in a couple of weeks. I hate calling for bad news when I am in a bad mood if you get my drift. But I now have more info, and I appreciate it!
Eilyns

 

The best (lowest) priorty a dealer can normally set is 10..
Also, 'truck only' dealers aren't the only dealerships that have good allotments for SuperDutys, but it is likely that they'd have a decent allotment assigned.

I visited 3 fairly large dealership, one of which touts that it has the 'largest truck inventory' la la la.. When I inquired about their SD allotments for V10 or 5.4L, at that particular time, they were only alloted 3% V10, 3% 5.4L and 94% PSD, and they were only alloted 12 trucks per month.. They estimated at that time 16weeks to get a 5.4L SD.
Turns out, they do have great F150 allotments though.

I went to another dealer, and received my 5.4L in under 8 weeks.

Dealerships do know what their current allotments are, and they should have some recent history of how long its been taking for SD's of various types to be delivered to them. Ask them to take a guess, they won't put anything in writing though because there are some things that are not in their control.

Goto other dealers (usually bigger is better) and ask them the same questions about allotments, estimated times, and price..

 

I ordered a F-350 SD CC V10 4x4 LWB Lariat on January 12, 2000 and took delivery on March 31, 2000. It took the dealer over two weeks to get the order entered into the system correctly. Even after getting a copy of the final order the vehicle was delivered without the LS differential. I am still attempting to get that mess straightened out with the dealer since I paid for that option. So far the dealer has been very unresponsive. Overall, I was not very impressed with customer service on the order. I have no idea why Ford doesn't do something to keep customers better informed about special orders.

 

I think Ford Motor Company has a great system for special orders. Its your dealer thats the goof..

When an order is submitted, there is an official DORA (Dealer Order Receipt Acknowledgement) thats returned to the dealer. This specifies the exact configuration of the truck including all the options.. This is how you tell if the dealer ordered the right thing..

In your particular instance, there are several restrictions of when you can and can't get the LS diff. Also, I think some of the rules may have changed in the last few months..
Also, when the dealer is punching stuff in the computer, it often will automatically change one option to a default if he specifies other options that conflict with it..
Exmaples:
V10 + 5sp + 3.37LS is not a valid option.. In this case, the computer will turn it into a 3.73 normal diff.
V10 + auto + 3.73LS I'm pretty sure still is a valid option. I've heard recently folks can't get this now, so maybe its changed.
V10 + anytranny + 4.30LS is valid.
V10 + anytranny + 4.10, or 4.10LS is not valid.
etc..

I've also heard there are special California rules various V10 rear diff options.

Hopefully your dealer can get a clue and make things right for you.. (or at least give you $ back for the LS thats not there).