Rail yard to Dealer

[BLADErunner]

Almost 8 weeks for me. Shipped on 10/29/2022 and in rail yard since 11/21. Sucks.

 

[MattR]

I've posted this in other threads, but mine was built 10/28. Sat around waiting on something until shipped 11/19 and showed up at my dealer 12/19. Over three weeks of that shipping time were sitting in the Pearland railyard collecting rail dust and bird/bee poo.

My wife's Infiniti took less time to be built AND ship from Japan than mine took to be shipped after being built. We are paying $1800 for shipping, an amount that would cover a 2-3 day enclosed trailer shipment via private transport, and waiting a month (to 11+ weeks) shipment with zero clarity and made up ETAs. My dealer mentioned the fact that after released to the railyard, Ford essentially considers it sold and shipped in their books. The railyard has XY days to ship it to the end railyard until they lose a percentage of the shipping money. After that, it's in a limbo and there isn't anything to benefit the end-shipper to get it to the dealer quickly. They won't ship half-empty carrier trucks, and would rather transport 10 cars than 4 trucks or whatever the number.

All of that rant to say this- Ford should be contracting with small private carriers or even single drivers to ferry the truck if it's within an hour or whatever of the dealer. Yes, they would have to prep and PDI trucks at the railyard to get them driveable, but they already have body shops and prep shops at the lots.

 

[xlover]

I've posted this in other threads, but mine was built 10/28. Sat around waiting on something until shipped 11/19 and showed up at my dealer 12/19. Over three weeks of that shipping time were sitting in the Pearland railyard collecting rail dust and bird/bee poo.

My wife's Infiniti took less time to be built AND ship from Japan than mine took to be shipped after being built. We are paying $1800 for shipping, an amount that would cover a 2-3 day enclosed trailer shipment via private transport, and waiting a month (to 11+ weeks) shipment with zero clarity and made up ETAs. My dealer mentioned the fact that after released to the railyard, Ford essentially considers it sold and shipped in their books. The railyard has XY days to ship it to the end railyard until they lose a percentage of the shipping money. After that, it's in a limbo and there isn't anything to benefit the end-shipper to get it to the dealer quickly. They won't ship half-empty carrier trucks, and would rather transport 10 cars than 4 trucks or whatever the number.

All of that rant to say this- Ford should be contracting with small private carriers or even single drivers to ferry the truck if it's within an hour or whatever of the dealer. Yes, they would have to prep and PDI trucks at the railyard to get them driveable, but they already have body shops and prep shops at the lots.

Agree 1000% for $1800 fords shipping should be much faster, consistent, and transparent. I suspect someone is using it as a profit center rather than a pass through cost (which it is positioned like).

Or like other sourcing issues we have seen (cough… heated steering wheel) the team just has bad deals in place and got hosed in the negotiations so they can’t win any priority.

My wife’s X7 was built Tuesday 1/10 and is already on a truck to my dealer in MA. (Built in Spartanburg, SC) only 995 shipping. So ford can’t exactly claim no availability of transport

 

[MattR]

Agree 1000% for $1800 fords shipping should be much faster, consistent, and transparent. I suspect someone is using it as a profit center rather than a pass through cost (which it is positioned like).

Or like other sourcing issues we have seen (cough… heated steering wheel) the team just has bad deals in place and got hosed in the negotiations so they can’t win any priority.

My wife’s X7 was built Tuesday 1/10 and is already on a truck to my dealer in MA. (Built in Spartanburg, SC) only 995 shipping. So ford can’t exactly claim no availability of transport

Yep. Yes, we are talking about "luxury" brands but our trucks (and even decently equipped Super Duties or Expeditions) cost more than a lot of the luxury brand offerings. My wife wanted a Lincoln and I refused because of my experience with this truck. BMW promised us 3 weeks (we were between BMW and Infiniti) and Infiniti said 4-6 weeks. We received the car in less than 4. There just isn't an excuse on taking 11 weeks to deliver a truck less than a 2 day drive from the factory. On g14 forum, quite a few people either abandoned orders and bought off the Ford lot or went to another brand.

Ford CEO keeps talking about a direct to consumer model...meanwhile, their own CS agents have less info on status than the dealership, they are falling entire model years behind schedule, and I would bet customer satisfaction with the special order process is below 25%.

 

[xlover]

Yep. Yes, we are talking about "luxury" brands but our trucks (and even decently equipped Super Duties or Expeditions) cost more than a lot of the luxury brand offerings. My wife wanted a Lincoln and I refused because of my experience with this truck. BMW promised us 3 weeks (we were between BMW and Infiniti) and Infiniti said 4-6 weeks. We received the car in less than 4. There just isn't an excuse on taking 11 weeks to deliver a truck less than a 2 day drive from the factory. On g14 forum, quite a few people either abandoned orders and bought off the Ford lot or went to another brand.

Ford CEO keeps talking about a direct to consumer model...meanwhile, their own CS agents have less info on status than the dealership, they are falling entire model years behind schedule, and I would bet customer satisfaction with the special order process is below 25%.

As a consumer I definitely don’t feel the luxury distinction applies for shipping, especially when all OEMs have a destination charge are fords is nearly 2x the luxury brands. It’s not like it costs more to grab a bmw vs a ford and put it on a carrier.

Maybe if they wanted to argue trucks are big and cost more… fine then service should be on par for 2x the costs.

My guess is they picked the lowest cost provider, and have the lowest priority for that provider, and are using whatever the difference is between the actual cost to ship and the destination charge as an operating income stream rather than an investment in customer experience.

You point about going DTC is exactly right they have a long long way to go to be able to deliver on that experience (before even diving into the issues with having a 3rd party franchise dealer representing your brand)

 

[MattR]

As a consumer I definitely don’t feel the luxury distinction applies for shipping, especially when all OEMs have a destination charge are fords is nearly 2x the luxury brands. It’s not like it costs more to grab a bmw vs a ford and put it on a carrier.

Maybe if they wanted to argue trucks are big and cost more… fine then service should be on par for 2x the costs.

My guess is they picked the lowest cost provider, and have the lowest priority for that provider, and are using whatever the difference is between the actual cost to ship and the destination charge as an operating income stream rather than an investment in customer experience.

You point about going DTC is exactly right they have a long long way to go to be able to deliver on that experience (before even diving into the issues with having a 3rd party franchise dealer representing your brand)

I 100% believe that there is profit in the shipping cost and would love to see Ford's response to that. I'd bet there is a political involvement in it (or at least unions) with UAW, rail workers (multiple), and auto shippers (multiple)