Help - Simplified Explanation of Dealership Allocations

[dusty1787]

Hello all, first time poster on here, please be gentle. I have been following this forum and the Maverick since day one when they started leaking news about the possibility of the Maverick. I recently joined when I placed my order (got a better job and could afford a new vehicle and Maverick fit all my needs). I am well aware of constraints and delays and things of that sort. One thing I keep getting stuck on is the dealership allocations and how that all works. So I am asking someone to explain it to me in simple terms. I have spent many of hours searching on here and haven't really found a simple explanation.

To my understanding (I could be horribly wrong) the dealership allocations are the number (insert Ford Formula here...lol) of vehicles that the dealership can get a month. If that seems correct I will keep the following information simple and without delays, constraints etc. Lets say Ford said we will open order banks for 100k vehicles then close them because that's all they can make in a year. I went to my dealership on the first day they opened and got my information in and got the Ford confirmation email. Then 5 days later Ford closes the order banks as they hit 100k orders.

Here's my main worry. I have been reaching out to my dealership since I placed the new 23 order about how many allocations they have been getting. They are a very reputable and larger volume dealer and I have been a long term happy customer. They told me last week, finally, that they have been getting roughly 0-5 a month. Here's the hypothetical. They didn't tell me how many orders they had, but lets say I was number 50 for orders placed at that dealership, and we all had same color, build, specs, etc. If they get lets say 3 allocations a month, that means at end of 1 year they would only have 36 of the orders filled, but I am "number 50"? Seeing I placed my order well before the order banks closed, shouldn't it be built before orders number 80,000, 85,000, 90,000...etc?

I have a Cactus Gray, Lariat, FX4, 4K, EB AWD, Moonroof, Lux, Full Spare, SIBL on order. I am aware being an EB means that it should be built by spring/summer (based on math of previous postings of members on here), but that's where my worry about dealership allocations come in. If they have little to none, how would that affect my order if Ford can easily build my vehicle, but my dealer has too many orders vs allocations?

Again I am aware of all the hypotheticals and assumptions in this post, but I am just trying to understand how the dealership allocations work or would affect my order.

Thanks all! and please be gentle..haha.

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[realshelby]

There really is no "simple" layman terms to describe Dealer allocation. Even in the business you don't always have hard facts.
Dealers get allocation for each model line ( that is a lot of different vehicles!).
Depending on what sales region Dealer is in will be a factor up front. Ford may want to target hybrid sales in California and not Kansas for instance.

Past vehicle Retail Sales reported are the single biggest factor in allocation.

Mavericks are an unknown factor, at least the 2022 models were. If Dealer got orders in early for 2022's and delivered all they had, they likely will have a larger allocation for 2023 models compared to Dealers that took the "let's wait and see if these will sell" attitude before ordering stock units that never got built.
Dealer customer satisfaction scores for sales and/or service are a factor. Meeting sales targets for other models are a factor. Kissing the Ford Reps butt by buying oddball production units are a factor.
There are other factors, but they are getting a little further from common sense.
Now that you are even more confused about allocation....

Then there are order constraints. In the case of the Maverick that is heavily discussed here. What that means is simple. Ford has to have the parts to build the order. If they don't, it becomes a "commodity hold" unit. Say the Dealer has 3 Mavericks allocated this month. First in line are 2 hybrids and one Ecoboost. Ford MAY build one hybrid and the ecoboost....then go down the line to the next priority number to build another ecoboost. This applies to Lariat vs XLT vs XL. Even the stuff like trailer hitches. Hope you get the idea. Dealer knows when there is a commodity hold on a vehicle that is already scheduled....and if something like an option package on hold they CAN drop that option and the vehicle will likely get built soon after that. If there is a broad commodity hold on an order in the order bank that is there before it is scheduled....it will never get scheduled until the hold is fixed.

The single biggest problem with the Maverick orders is that Dealers should have had an allocation number up front for the initial order bank. Ford should say to Dealer X that you can put 20 Maverick orders into the order bank, none beyond that will be accepted. They can ALWAYS reopen the order bank to fill out production capacity.

 

[anblatt]

Hello all, first time poster on here, please be gentle. I have been following this forum and the Maverick since day one when they started leaking news about the possibility of the Maverick. I recently joined when I placed my order (got a better job and could afford a new vehicle and Maverick fit all my needs). I am well aware of constraints and delays and things of that sort. One thing I keep getting stuck on is the dealership allocations and how that all works. So I am asking someone to explain it to me in simple terms. I have spent many of hours searching on here and haven't really found a simple explanation.

To my understanding (I could be horribly wrong) the dealership allocations are the number (insert Ford Formula here...lol) of vehicles that the dealership can get a month. If that seems correct I will keep the following information simple and without delays, constraints etc. Lets say Ford said we will open order banks for 100k vehicles then close them because that's all they can make in a year. I went to my dealership on the first day they opened and got my information in and got the Ford confirmation email. Then 5 days later Ford closes the order banks as they hit 100k orders.

Here's my main worry. I have been reaching out to my dealership since I placed the new 23 order about how many allocations they have been getting. They are a very reputable and larger volume dealer and I have been a long term happy customer. They told me last week, finally, that they have been getting roughly 0-5 a month. Here's the hypothetical. They didn't tell me how many orders they had, but lets say I was number 50 for orders placed at that dealership, and we all had same color, build, specs, etc. If they get lets say 3 allocations a month, that means at end of 1 year they would only have 36 of the orders filled, but I am "number 50"? Seeing I placed my order well before the order banks closed, shouldn't it be built before orders number 80,000, 85,000, 90,000...etc?

I have a Cactus Gray, Lariat, FX4, 4K, EB AWD, Moonroof, Lux, Full Spare, SIBL on order. I am aware being an EB means that it should be built by spring/summer (based on math of previous postings of members on here), but that's where my worry about dealership allocations come in. If they have little to none, how would that affect my order if Ford can easily build my vehicle, but my dealer has too many orders vs allocations?

Again I am aware of all the hypotheticals and assumptions in this post, but I am just trying to understand how the dealership allocations work or would affect my order.

Thanks all! and please be gentle..haha.

It seems as though there are two possibilities. First after Ford fills all the dealer allocations for EcoBoosts and still has capacity at Hermosillo they go back and give additional Ecoboost builds to fill customer orders even if dealers don't have allocations left. Second Ford starts building dealer stock EcoBoosts that are not customer orders. Either way at this rate it would seem like all the customer ordered EcoBoosts could be scheduled by the end of spring with build dates through the summer. However, it is Ford so their selection and scheduling process will continue to be a mystery and only time will truly tell. You have to feel good about your odds of getting a Maverick this year since it is an EcoBoost. Not so much for those of us waiting and hoping for hybrids with 50:50 odds at best.

 

[commadorebob]

Basically, allocations are like rounds of the NFL playoff. The more allocations you have, the more rounds you get to play in. Unlike the NFL, your placement in each round is completely random round to round.

Yes, it is 100% possible for a dealership to have more orders than allocations. But Ford has way more EB capacity than orders. So, for most dealerships, they will run out of EB orders before they run out of allocations.

If your tag is correct and you have an EB order, I would not worry too much unless we get to June and you still haven't been scheduled. At that point, it might indicate a problem with your dealership's allocations.

 

[TCPTX65]

Here's the simplest explanation I've seen.

 

[Old Ranchero]

#1 there is NO simple, easy, consistent explanation of allocations (it's a moving target).
#2 overanalyzing all the moving parts is not going to get you any stress relief on this.
#3 no matter your understanding of it- you can't control anything and need to just let it play out.
#4 allocations don't even come into play for individuals until way later in the process.

May be harsh, but that's the reality we've all faced, and it is what it is. The bottom line is, until you have been assigned a Priority 2 with "unscheduled clean" status by regional team you have no chance of getting selected. Doesn't help at all to contact your dealer or customer service because they can't move this along. Allocations still don't matter until you are "in the factory" and have a VIN and Window sticker viewable. It can still take weeks to go down the line...

The End Game: for me it was once I got the "In Production" update from Ford, I could sit with my salesman and look at his Vehicle Visibility report and see if my VIN was listed showing it was in the factory and able to go down the line. At that time- you also need to look if there is any Maverick order from you dealer showing ahead of you in the factory. Only THEN do you start talking with your dealer about allocations. You wait until you are at the top of the list on Visibility report meaning you are next up to build. If your dealer has an allocation for it- it gets built. If no allocation, you wait until there is one. My dealer got allocations information once per week. I was next in line for several weeks before it was selected by the factory to actually build because the dealer finally had an allocation to do so. I dropped in every week and heard "no allocations" for many weeks before I finally was told it was happening.

YMMV

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