Why is Dealer Allocation even a thing?

[mmorgan]

Precisely, but Ford takes into the dealership's allocation situation. So, consider if Ford builds one of Grainger's customer's order before another customer's order whose reservation date precedes the customer who Bronco is getting built first. Is Grainger going to hold off accepting that build from Ford so that Grainger preserves the reservation date order of the customer whose reservation date came first?

No Grainger won't, it's going to take whatever customer builds Ford can produce and sell them to the order holder connected to the build. That is what the dealership I have my order with is doing. That is what every dealership is going to do. Grainger is not going to pass on the receipt of revenue from an order just to be righteous and preserve reservation timestamps. Yet everyone is bitching at Ford for doing the same thing.

Should not say this but you are completely confused over the Reservation/Allocation/can build issue that has so many of us upset.
Customers of Granger who ordered the first day find Bronco's that are IDENTICAL to the Bronco they ordered being built and delivered. And that the Bronco was reserved/ordered a few weeks or months ago!
How can that be acceptable.
Well, to anyone other that the Dealer making the sale and that customer. Perhaps you are that customer.

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[Wanted33]

Heres the problem with this model. Ford has not recently offered a vehicle that can compete with the Wrangler.

In the Northern Sierras where I am there are a TON of wranglers and 4runners/Tacoma's and not a lot of Fords on the road outside of F series. There is major demand for the Bronco here where people actually offroad but all of the Broncos are going to the cities where people don't buy nearly as many off road focused vehicles.

My dealer has over 400 orders and is only getting 2 allocated per month so far, not because they tried to game the system like Granger, but simply because this is the first big wrangler alternative in the middle of off-road country.

I've seen this wording used on several occassions now. Can you explain how Granger gamed the system?

 

[Wanted33]

Indicates that allocations trump reservations. It was reservations first up until about December 2020. At this point a couple of small dealers had eaten up a lot of reservations. Ford introduced allocations being a bigger factor.

What he said was small dealerships got screwed. He probably should have said some that offered the great deals got screwed.

His point stands and you are a good example. You reserved much later than me and most on here yet you get a Bronco. Why? Because your dealer had an allocation for you and your reservation time didn't mean a freaking thing.

Agreed, and it also depends on the amount of reservations at his dealer. If his dealer has only 20 reservations, because they charge MSRP plus a high doc fee he's good to go. If another small dealers has 400 reservation because he charged a fair price his customerws got screwed. And BTW, Ford didn't even kiss during the event.

 

[Ares]

How does ADM fit into this?

Legitimately curious.

enables it for sure.

compare to the debate over walmart or amazon undercutting other competitors and the eventual risk that after they have eliminated the competition, amazon would be free to raise prices.

its a balancing act to maintain competition but also protect it.

vast majority of the time, the system works. but when you get constrained supply it gets complicated.

 

[Wanted33]

So in hindsight:

1) Ford should have sent an interest level survey to dealerships to see 'how many' Broncos they wanted to order.

2) Announce the Bronco. Tell customers to go to their local dealerships and get on their lists.

3) Seeing numbers, decide if it is possible to increase any dealer's order number.

4) Build Broncos and send them to their dealerships for them to do with as they please.


It really was a massive mistake to tell "me" to reserve "my" Bronco from Ford. Tell me the time I reserved would matter. Tell me what the MSRP is. Tell me "my" Bronco is scheduled to be built. Tell me "my" Bronco is built. Tell me "my" Bronco is shipped. Tell me "my" Bronco has arrived.

Then say, "It is the dealer's Bronco to do with what they want. Why u mad, bro?"

OK brother, I'm giving you the "Post of the Day" award. It made sense, and made me laugh at the same time. Hell, even after the screwing Ford gave me with their new allocation formula, I'm feeling much better now.

 

[Ares]

Yea I’m not sure why people keep acting like it was some big scam. The Granger/Chapman/Steven’s type dealers didn’t game the system, they played by the rules and then had the rug pulled out from under them. Any other dealer could’ve done what they did, it wasn’t like they exploited some loophole

dealers were WELL aware of how allocations work... unless they thought that reservations would circumvent them.

 

[1975U15]

Yea I’m not sure why people keep acting like it was some big scam. The Granger/Chapman/Steven’s type dealers didn’t game the system, they played by the rules and then had the rug pulled out from under them. Any other dealer could’ve done what they did, it wasn’t like they exploited some loophole

It’s because we live in a post truth world now. People make up information to fit their narrative. We all know the truth. It’s well documented here. Some choose to omit or change facts to support this strange story Ford did nothing wrong.

 

[Wanted33]

It’s because we live in a post truth world now. People make up information to fit their narrative. We all know the truth. It’s well documented here. Some choose to omit or change facts to support this strange story Ford did nothing wrong.

Yep, as the old saying goes, "It's better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth, and remove all doubt".

 

[WCP-82]

Agreed, and it also depends on the amount of reservations at his dealer. If his dealer has only 20 reservations, because they charge MSRP plus a high doc fee he's good to go. If another small dealers has 400 reservation because he charged a fair price his customerws got screwed. And BTW, Ford didn't even kiss during the event.

I try to temper my anger whenever the allocation discussion comes up. I'm not sure why people don't get the reason I am pissed off about it.

Reserved 7/14/2020 and selected dealer suggested on web site.

Two months go by and haven't heard anything from my dealer. I decide to check the internet for information and come across this site.

I realize that there are pricing differences and some dealers are offering less than msrp. I also thought that my reservation time stamp was very important so I needed to pick a dealer that may have the best deal because mine would most likely be built sonner than others.

From this site I learned I could switch dealers. I decided to ask my dealer and other local dealers what pricing would be. The dealer I was with stated if they could get one it would be marked up. I had to explain I reserved it through them. Took several minutes to get to the right guy and was told "probably msrp". I explained the Stephens deal and they basically called me a liar. I offered the Stephens website as verification and response was, Nah I don't need that it won't happen.

So now I am definitely dealer shopping. Called locally and no one would commit to a price. So It is getting to be mid November and I think I need to choose a dealer before order banks open in January 2021. I selected Stephens. $1000 under invoice. About 3.5 hour drive away for me.

Then comes the December 2020 news that Ford has decided to make allocations a big part of the formula. For those on this site at that time it was a lot of fun. People had no idea what it all meant and how they would be impacted. I think it was right before order banks opened that the allocation numbers dropped. People started trying to move their reservations to get within dealer allocations. This drastically changed the dynamic. Early timestamps meant nothing if you weren't within allocations. Early holders no longer had the advantage of shopping their reservation. Dealers now had the advantage to shop their allocations.

For awhile all we knew was that the reservation timestamp would determine within reason your build. Right before we were to order they drop the allocations on us. Some chose to stay, some searched for available allocations. Some are sitting 100 deep because these early advertised deals were used by early reservation holders.

Now I have seen a 2 door WT ordered with no reservation in October 2021 and got a January 2022 build date. How in the hell is that possible if not 100% about dealer allocation. That was a constrained build for months with plenty of early reservation holders ordering the same rig.

 

[Ares]

Wow, that's pretty deliberate, and you seem quite educated on allocations. Can you explain to me the differences between the Broncos '21 allocation formula, and the '22 Bronco allocation formula so I can be educated also?

dont know that much about the specifics, but allocations have been a thing for a long long time, gt500, raptors, corvettes, hellcats. Technically everything has allocations, but its irrelevent for most cars since dealers are rarely begging for more than they can get.

 

[Wanted33]

I try to temper my anger whenever the allocation discussion comes up. I'm not sure why people don't get the reason I am pissed off about it.

Reserved 7/14/2020 and selected dealer suggested on web site.

Two months go by and haven't heard anything from my dealer. I decide to check the internet for information and come across this site.

I realize that there are pricing differences and some dealers are offering less than msrp. I also thought that my reservation time stamp was very important so I needed to pick a dealer that may have the best deal because mine would most likely be built sonner than others.

From this site I learned I could switch dealers. I decided to ask my dealer and other local dealers what pricing would be. The dealer I was with stated if they could get one it would be marked up. I had to explain I reserved it through them. Took several minutes to get to the right guy and was told "probably msrp". I explained the Stephens deal and they basically called me a liar. I offered the Stephens website as verification and response was, Nah I don't need that it won't happen.

So now I am definitely dealer shopping. Called locally and no one would commit to a price. So It is getting to be mid November and I think I need to choose a dealer before order banks open in January 2021. I selected Stephens. $1000 under invoice. About 3.5 hour drive away for me.

Then comes the December 2020 news that Ford has decided to make allocations a big part of the formula. For those on this site at that time it was a lot of fun. People had no idea what it all meant and how they would be impacted. I think it was right before order banks opened that the allocation numbers dropped. People started trying to move their reservations to get within dealer allocations. This drastically changed the dynamic. Early timestamps meant nothing if you weren't within allocations. Early holders no longer had the advantage of shopping their reservation. Dealers now had the advantage to shop their allocations.

For awhile all we knew was that the reservation timestamp would determine within reason your build. Right before we were to order they drop the allocations on us. Some chose to stay, some searched for available allocations. Some are sitting 100 deep because these early advertised deals were used by early reservation holders.

Now I have seen a 2 door WT ordered with no reservation in October 2021 and got a January 2022 build date. How in the hell is that possible if not 100% about dealer allocation. That was a constrained build for months with plenty of early reservation holders ordering the same rig.

I undersatnd completely, and feel your pain Bill. I sat back as I didn't want my Bronco built until mid/late '22. Then I saw Granger's October special, and I jumped knowing that the number of reservations a dealer had weighed heavily when it came to '21 Bronco allocation formula. An October res could possibly put me right where I wanted my delivery date to be. Then came the mega dealers than found out they were out manuvered by a few smaller dealers, and that they wouldn't get Broncos to sell at stupid high ADM's. They whined to Ford, Ford kisssed their asses, and now I'm at a possible '24 build date. Plus, now these numb nut newbies here wonder why I'm pissed. And of course that makes me even more pissed off.

 

[okbob]

dont know that much about the specifics, but allocations have been a thing for a long long time, gt500, raptors, corvettes, hellcats. Technically everything has allocations, but its irrelevent for most cars since dealers are rarely begging for more than they can get.

True, but have reservations along with allocations plus incredible demand ever been a combined factor before? This situation was unique, Ford handled it poorly along with terrible communication plus pumping out vip builds plus dealer demos using up early reservation parts.

 

[Ares]

True, but have reservations along with allocations plus incredible demand ever been a combined factor before? This situation was unique, Ford handled it poorly along with terrible communication plus pumping out vip builds plus dealer demos using up early reservation parts.

I cant recall another OEM (besides tesla) doing reservations before now, so this is new territory AFAIK.

Perhaps they thought to let reservations trump allocations, and then Im sure many dealers threatened legal action if they didnt do something about dealers selling cars outside of their territory.

 

[Wanted33]

dont know that much about the specifics, but allocations have been a thing for a long long time, gt500, raptors, corvettes, hellcats. Technically everything has allocations, but its irrelevent for most cars since dealers are rarely begging for more than they can get.

Yes sir they have, and I know them well as I've ordered many new cars. But, one thing you should know. When many of us ordered the amount of a dealers Bronco reservations was weighed into the '21 Bronco allocation formula. The mega dealers whined because a few small dealers out manuvered them with fair pricing, and would get more allocation than the big boys. So, Ford kissed the big boys rear ends, and changed the formula for '22 thereby screwing these small dealers and their customers. That's why many of us here are pissed. I understood the supply issues, and the MIC top probelam, but I will never understand why Ford chose to chit on many of their end customers.

I apoligise if I came off a bit rash. I didn't mean for it to sound that way.

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