Chasing Unicorns in 2023

[sprcoop]

Since there are 22 hybrids for sale in Phoenix (not likely) and no Mavericks at all for sale within 40 miles of Tucson I think Tucson dealers filtered out special orders that are sold and some Phoenix dealers did not.

https://shop.ford.com/inventory/maverick/results?zipcode=85714&Radius=40&Dealer=20337&Order=Distance

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[MostlySafeBear]

But, if some folks choose to believe it's all about luring people in, have at.

That's literally what bait and switch is. Dealers have been using unavailable but in-demand vehicles to draw customer attention and contact for many years, so that they can sell them something else.

 

[CTYankee]

That's literally what bait and switch is.

Who said it wasn't? I'm just saying I don't think most dealers are deliberately putting sold vehicles on the website specifically for that reason.

If you think they are, I'm not going to try to dissuade you. In any given case, either one of us could be right.

 

[NoVaJimmy]

I agree that a field could be added to the inventory database but that has to be accompanied by application code to use that field. Since every dealer website looks the same, I suspect they are using a central database and application code. Some dealers may mark special orders as sold as soon as they arrive, so they disappear from the website or never make it there. But it's probably a manual step that some dealers don't bother to perform.

Nowhere did I call it a "necessity". I described it as an automatic feed. If the system allows a dealer to control which arrivals go on the website, some may choose to do so, and others may just let the feed happen.

But, if some folks choose to believe it's all about luring people in, have at.

Some dealers have flat out said that they opt out of having special order inventory listed on their site but people are free to deduce what they want. How many times on these forums has someone posted saying they found an "available" Maverick on a dealer site only to be told that it was a special order when they got to the dealership. If you choose to believe this isn't a tactic for sales lead generation then I'm not sure what to say to try to convince you. Number one rule in sales, get them in the door.

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