Is an old Build Date on 2014 HyTi a bad thing?

[DirectorMan]

I ran a query on a HyTi I'm thinking about buying and I noticed that the Build Date was 9/21/13. Does this raise any red flags for anyone? Can I use it as a negotiating tactic?

[hybridbear]

I ran a query on a HyTi I'm thinking about buying and I noticed that the Build Date was 9/21/13. Does this raise any red flags for anyone? Can I use it as a negotiating tactic?

How many miles on the car? The car probsbly reached the dealer lot about 2 weeks to 1 month after the build date. If it has a lot of miles then it probably came to your dealer via dealer trade versus having sat on their lot since last July.

 

You can attempt to negotiate based on its age, don't know how well it will work. Please let us know how it works.

Edited June 16, 2014 by hybridbear

[Hybrider]

On a car that has been possibly sitting that long, the components I would be most worried about would be the 12V battery, the tires, and the wipers. So I would probably bring that up as a bargaining tactic. And the fact that they haven't been able to sell it for that long should make them more "motivated" sellers too. ;)

[DirectorMan]

How many miles on the car?

 

I don't know. I haven't been to the dealership yet, and I haven't asked them about the mileage. I'm in research and negotiation mode right now. I've already test driven a HyTi, so I know it's the car for me. When I make my choice on which specific car to purchase, I'll double check the mileage, etc.

 

On a car that has been possibly sitting that long, the components I would be most worried about would be the 12V battery, the tires, and the wipers.

 

Thanks, Hybrider. I had thought about mileage, but I hadn't considered the battery, tires and wipers.

 

I'm probably not going to purchase this car. There are other cars like it at other dealerships that are more to my liking, but I've been honing my negotiating skills on this car.

 

Most of the cars I've researched have Build Dates within the last few months, but some go back to late last year and early this year. For a car that I'm most likely to purchase in June or July, what Build Date would start to give you cause for concern?

[gf2020]

I don't think the build date on a 2014 would matter at all. If you were considering a new leftover or used 2013 you might want one with a later build date.

[acdii]

That car is nearly a year old. Maybe it just doesn't have what people want in the area that the car is in. Sometimes you run across a car or truck that has been sitting for a year unsold because it is either stripped down, or loaded to the gills and is in the wrong market area. As mentioned previously, check the miles on it, it could have been a dealer Demo, a lot queen, or one of those "special" units that got side tracked off to another factory for a refitting, or just got lost in the system. There were a few of the 13's that wound up getting lost too.

[DirectorMan]

I must confess ignorance as to how Ford determines which dealership gets which car. A salesperson told me in an email that Ford assigns the vehicle to the dealership, and the dealership does not get to choose how they'll be configured. I've also read online that allocations are determined by floor space and sales figures from prior years. If Ford decides to assign a vehicle with lots of options to a dealership that is in an area where it won't sell, it seems to me that the dealership is screwed if they can't trade it to another dealership, because this will affect their sales figures. Hopefully this mismatch doesn't occur often.

[Waldo]

Allocation just means a spot on the production line. It has nothing to do with options. The dealer can always choose any options they want.

[DirectorMan]

Allocation just means a spot on the production line. It has nothing to do with options. The dealer can always choose any options they want.

 

That's interesting, because as I said the salesperson said that the dealership does not get to choose the options. Hmmm...

[murphy]

I don't think that I have ever talked to a sales person that actually knew all about the product that they were selling. They have no problem telling you a story whether or not it has any basis in fact.

[DirectorMan]

I don't think that I have ever talked to a sales person that actually knew all about the product that they were selling. They have no problem telling you a story whether or not it has any basis in fact.

 

True. Thank goodness for Mark McDonald's and Earl Stewart's blogs for shining some light on these practices, although I did learn a lot about this when I bought my previous car eighteen years ago.

 

One salesperson from whom I solicited a quote told me that the fact that I was getting quotes from a number of dealerships for a particular VIN would make it harder for me to buy it, because the dealership that had it would try to keep it and jack the price up. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see how looking up a VIN on a computer would alert the dealership that had the car as to another dealership's interest, and I haven't asked any of them to perform a DX.

Edited June 16, 2014 by DirectorMan

[acdii]

Dealerships place their own orders based on what they feel will sell off their lots to the customers that frequent their showroom. Ford might send a few vehicles their way based on what is out there. Perhaps a couple cars were ordered, built and canceled, so these cars are in limbo. So if a dealer is looking for some stock, Ford can quickly ship them these Limbo cars. As far as searching a single VIN, the only time the holder of that VIN would know is if a stock check was made from competing dealers. Usually they just look the car up on their search engine by the VIN to get the details on the car. Only when a firm commitment is made would they then contact the holder of that car.

 

 

I have bought a lot of cars recently, can you tell?

[DirectorMan]

Dealerships place their own orders based on what they feel will sell off their lots to the customers that frequent their showroom.

 

That's what I thought.

 

 

As far as searching a single VIN, the only time the holder of that VIN would know is if a stock check was made from competing dealers. Usually they just look the car up on their search engine by the VIN to get the details on the car. Only when a firm commitment is made would they then contact the holder of that car.

 

 

If I tell a dealership that I want a HyTi of a certain color with certain options, do they first perform a stock check of other dealerships, since they don't have a VIN yet?

[acdii]

 

 

 

 

If I tell a dealership that I want a HyTi of a certain color with certain options, do they first perform a stock check of other dealerships, since they don't have a VIN yet?

Yep, a good one will. There are dealers who wont because all they care about is moving whats on their lot.

[DirectorMan]

Yep, a good one will. There are dealers who wont because all they care about is moving whats on their lot.

 

So, in this example, would the holder be alerted as to the fact that another dealership is looking at their stock? Would they be able to see what the other dealer was looking for?

[acdii]

So, in this example, would the holder be alerted as to the fact that another dealership is looking at their stock? Would they be able to see what the other dealer was looking for?

No, There is a Ford search tool. You put in what you are looking for in options, and distance and it spits out a list of vehicles that match that criteria. Its similar to Autotrader and cars.com, but is more exact in its search. You specify a Tuxedo Black HyTi, with ACC, and Sunroof, and it will only list those specific cars with those options. The only time the holding dealer would know is if the searching dealer calls them about it. The search tool is only available to dealers. I do believe its web based but you have to have a dealer log in to access it.

[DirectorMan]

No

 

Thanks for the clarification. I've got about a dozen dealerships that are bidding on the car I want. Interestingly enough, the dealership that is holding the car has the lowest bid so far. For a moment there I was worried that they would see a flurry of interest in "my" car.

[hybridbear]

Allocation just means a spot on the production line. It has nothing to do with options. The dealer can always choose any options they want.

I must confess ignorance as to how Ford determines which dealership gets which car. A salesperson told me in an email that Ford assigns the vehicle to the dealership, and the dealership does not get to choose how they'll be configured. I've also read online that allocations are determined by floor space and sales figures from prior years. If Ford decides to assign a vehicle with lots of options to a dealership that is in an area where it won't sell, it seems to me that the dealership is screwed if they can't trade it to another dealership, because this will affect their sales figures. Hopefully this mismatch doesn't occur often.

I don't think all the companies operate this way though. When we were deciding between the FFH & the TCH we asked the Toyota dealer about ordering a TCH with the exact options we wanted since they didn't have one in stock in the color we wanted. We were told that Toyota does not allow special orders for consumers. We asked if the dealer could order the car for their stock then for us. We were told that Toyota assigns the cars to the dealers and the dealers get no say in what vehicles they receive. They said that they do not get to chose how many of each model they receive, the colors or the option packages; all of that is determined by Toyota. Multiple dealers told us the exact same story which leads me to trust it. On the other hand, every Ford dealer will tell you that they can special order any car for you at any time as long as they have allocation for that model. Allocation is exactly what Waldo says above. If Ford plans to build 25,000 Fusions in June they will assign those cars to different dealers. If a dealer is allocated 15 Fusions they cannot order 16, the system won't allow it. It's part of how Ford manages their production schedule.

[machoman1337]

I purchased a used 2013 that actually hit the road in August 2012. It was a former demo car with just over 2000 km on it. In the 3 weeks I drove it before putting it on a train, I had no problems. Fingers crossed that the car will continue to be problem-free when I pick it up on Thursday.

 

The car had an asking price of $29,998 CAD before taxes. I used the age of the car as a negotiating tactic - haggled the price down such that after trading in my old car and paying 13% tax, my total purchase price came to $25,500, a little over my goal of $25k :P

 

As long as the car was properly serviced before it was sold (confirmed this through records that the dealer gave me), you should be fine. If the car just sat totally untouched for months, I would be wary.

Edited June 17, 2014 by machoman1337