Reserved within first 15 minutes, but dealer just told me I won't get a Lightning until 2023.

[jefro]

The Rock, Arnold and Jay will be ahead of you other riffraffs. I'd guess King George and Willie will be ahead of me in Texas.

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[jb56]

My dealer just told me they got 4 total for the year and have 200 reservations. so i guess i'm screwed

I've been thinking a lot about this and I'm trying to be fair to Ford. Ford can certainly prioritize certain states and dealerships and do all that, but it really seems like Ford could have been more open about that up front. And everything I knew about allocations before today has come from leaks and places like this forum. Neither Ford nor my dealer gave me any hint about allocations, other than my dealership in November told me I was in line to get a 2022.

I think it was reasonable for me to expect that 5% of reservations at my dealership would convert to MY 2022 Lightnings. And that would have been around 35 trucks for 2022. But 6!? Ford could have given me a heads-up earlier. And honestly, had they done that, I would have probably ordered a different Ford Truck last fall.

 

[LightningShow]

Also, why in the holy hell would Ford give a dealership 25 prioritizations and then only allocate 6 trucks to them? Is Ford basically moving into Internet-Troll territory here?

Yeah, giving dealers 25 prioritizations likely means that a lot of people with reservations in the first few hours will get bumped to 2023.

 

[Lui]

Well see below the graph from ford to dealers. They basically saying they will prioritize Lariats and Platinum. And they also said they will prioritize fleet. Also they will produce around 20k for this year as they said at the beginning, they r promising bigger ramp up for 23 but let's see on that one. Honestly I dont think is even possible what they r saying because of the shortages anyways.... So if u thought to get a pro or even xlt 2022 then u were very optimistic. The best bet to get one is the following

1st .. that ur delear is a EV certified dealer and big one. And helps that is located in a EV friendly state. And u r priority
2nd .. ordering lartiat or platinum
3rd .. Order stamp very close to the opening
If u r missing any of those then 23 or 24 or 25 model

 

[Sam James]

Yeah, giving dealers 25 prioritizations likely means that a lot of people with reservations in the first few hours will get bumped to 2023.

Or even first few seconds. Code: 10803111 Created: 2021-05-20T01:30:36.981Z

 

[LightningShow]

Or even first few seconds. Code: 10803111 Created: 2021-05-20T01:30:36.981Z

Yup, they should have had a separate allocation process for VIPs instead of screwing the people who were most excited about the truck.

 

[jazzmanmonty]

The best bet to get one is the following

3rd .. Order stamp very close to the opening

Good list, but 3rd is not accurate. Me and many others had later timestamps and yet we ordered wave 1. My confirmation email was at 5/19, 8:54 PM CST -there were easily 10k reservations before me at this point. The real answer is where your timestamp places at the dealership you chose (disregarding later prioritization changes). So regardless of how quickly you reserved, if you were first reservation timestamp at your dealership and dealer didn't tweak your spot on prioritization list, you got wave 1.

 

[REDHORSECA]

WAVE 2 ORDERED

• Reservation Date 5/20/2021 1 AM
• Order Date 1/20/2022
• Order Number 1084XXXX
• Was not Prioritized
  • CALIFORNIA DEALER - I assume is not a high volume local Ford Dealership comparatively to other well known SOCAL Mega Ford Dealerships that had a high number of Lightning orders.
  • So, I was higher up at my local smallish Ford Dealership list (No ADM) to get in as a Wave 2 order vs. changing to one of the many Mega Ford Dealership in Southern California and compete with the other 100s of Lightning reservists for a top spot.

 

[EVBill]

WAVE 2 ORDERED

• Reservation Date 5/20/2021 1 AM
• Order Date 1/20/2022
• Order Number 1084XXXX
• Was not Prioritized
  • CALIFORNIA DEALER - I assume is not a high volume local Ford Dealership comparatively to other well known SOCAL Mega Ford Dealerships that had a high number of Lightning orders.
  • So, I was higher up at my local smallish Ford Dealership list (No ADM) to get in as a Wave 2 order vs. changing to one of the many Mega Ford Dealership in Southern California and compete with the other 100s of Lightning reservists for a top spot.

Above is exactly where Ford's system is broken for the customer. There are many like me out there that made a reservation within 5 minutes of the system opening (2nd at my dealership by 15 seconds in the time stamp). Why should someone that put in a reservation more than 4 hours after the system opened up be able to place an order before someone that put money down for a reservation in the first five minutes? If I was in your position I would do the same thing of placing an order, but not handling customers first come first serve is pretty crappy on Ford's part even aside from the program they rolled out allowing dealerships to provide priority for up to 25 buyers. I am glad that I also have put in a reservation for a Silverado EV as I might be able to get it before an F150 Lightning with it starting production over a year later.

 

[REDHORSECA]

Above is exactly where Ford's system is broken for the customer. There are many like me out there that made a reservation within 5 minutes of the system opening (2nd at my dealership by 15 seconds in the time stamp). Why should someone that put in a reservation more than 4 hours after the system opened up be able to place an order before someone that put money down for a reservation in the first five minutes? If I was in your position I would do the same thing of placing an order, but not handling customers first come first serve is pretty crappy on Ford's part even aside from the program they rolled out allowing dealerships to provide priority for up to 25 buyers. I am glad that I also have put in a reservation for a Silverado EV as I might be able to get it before an F150 Lightning with it starting production over a year later.

Why is it Broken? I took a gamble and selected a local smaller Ford Dealership that was EV rated to put my reservation at vs. a Super Mega Ford Dealership that probably had 100s or more reservations for the Lightning.

My theory of selecting maybe a lower volume Ford EV Dealership to be closer to the front of the line paid off in my case. I didn't ask for any special privillages at my selected Dealership and didn't jump in front of a line. I just wisely chose a EV Dealership that had a shorter reservation line that put me closer to the front of their list.

I went with selecting a smaller fish pond to be a bigger fish than going to a much bigger Lake to be a small fish to compete with a huge school of other small fishes. I played with the odds and it worked in my case.

 

[Lui]

Why is it Broken? I took a gamble and selected a local smaller Ford Dealership that was EV rated to put my reservation at vs. a Super Mega Ford Dealership that probably had 100s or more reservations for the Lightning.

My theory of selecting maybe a lower volume Ford EV Dealership to be closer to the front of the line paid off in my case. I didn't ask for any special privillages at my selected Dealership and didn't jump in front of a line. I just wisely chose a EV Dealership that had a shorter reservation line that put me closer to the front of their list.

I went with selecting a smaller fish pond to be a bigger fish than going to a much bigger Lake to be a small fish to compete with a huge school of other small fishes. I played with the odds and it worked in my case.

Great choice and good planning

 

[lowercontrol]

I don't think he's singling you out. I belive he's more calling attention to the outrage about how the system appears broken, when someone who reserved ahead of you is still empty handed based on variables outside the scope of "first come first serve".

 

[jb56]

I don't think he's singling you out. I belive he's more calling attention to the outrage about how the system appears broken, when someone who reserved ahead of you is still empty handed based on variables outside the scope of "first come first serve".

I agree with this. Plus, at the time of reservation, I honestly had no idea that it would make a difference which dealership I chose. I went with the dealership I had purchased vehicles from.
Props to people who recognized the way to get an advantage, but it’s really strange that the dealership I chose made such a difference because the dealership knows hardly anything and offers almost no assistance with my purchase. Had I been given the option, I would have been fine to basically pick up a lightning anywhere.

and I never thought there was a chance I would not get a 2022. I’m blown away that my dealership with 700+ reservations is only getting 6 allocations for this year. (Less than 1%)

that really seems like a broken system to me.

 

[GarageMahal]

I agree with this. Plus, at the time of reservation, I honestly had no idea that it would make a difference which dealership I chose. I went with the dealership I had purchased vehicles from.
Props to people who recognized the way to get an advantage, but it’s really strange that the dealership I chose made such a difference because the dealership knows hardly anything and offers almost no assistance with my purchase. Had I been given the option, I would have been fine to basically pick up a lightning anywhere.

and I never thought there was a chance I would not get a 2022. I’m blown away that my dealership with 700+ reservations is only getting 6 allocations for this year. (Less than 1%)

that really seems like a broken system to me.

It reminds me of the old days of Ticketmaster before the internet. I learned that I could call an outlet in Iowa or North Dakota and get right through to buy the hot tickets while I would be on hold or getting busy signals if I called a local number.

It really shows how this process was not designed for the consumer but to benefit @Ford Motor Company and certain dealers over others.

It is what it is at this point but as someone who also went through the Bronco ordeal I am really disillusioned with Ford and have started shopping other options.

 

[EVBill]

Why is it Broken? I took a gamble and selected a local smaller Ford Dealership that was EV rated to put my reservation at vs. a Super Mega Ford Dealership that probably had 100s or more reservations for the Lightning.

My theory of selecting maybe a lower volume Ford EV Dealership to be closer to the front of the line paid off in my case. I didn't ask for any special privillages at my selected Dealership and didn't jump in front of a line. I just wisely chose a EV Dealership that had a shorter reservation line that put me closer to the front of their list.

I went with selecting a smaller fish pond to be a bigger fish than going to a much bigger Lake to be a small fish to compete with a huge school of other small fishes. I played with the odds and it worked in my case.

It is broken due to your reservation made five hours after the opening has been allowed to convert into an order ahead of several thousand other customers. It works for you, but crappy to all those that reserved earlier. Ford never posted how they would honor reservations and that they were going to manipulate things by allowing priority adjustments at dealers and also shifting more allocations to ZEV states. My dealership has ~150 reservations and was provided zero allocations in the second wave. Hopefully I will be included in the third wave being second timestamp wise at their dealership, but it will take an allocation being provided.

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