Well looks like my wife may be set on an '08, since the '06 didn't seem to take. So now I get to go on terminal wait. From my experience with the Prius, the dealers that sell the most hybrids, get the most hybrids. Does this logic work with Ford?

Is there any way to tell how many hybrids a dealer moves? Is there any way to tell (aside from the dealers word) how long a FEH order will take to fill at that site?

Food for thought.

11011011

 

Look for a dealer that has at least one or two on their lot. That at least shows that the number of hybrids they receive in, more or less is in sync the number they sell. I know the Mercury dealer from which I bought my MMH, is in sync like that. They always have at least one or two on their lot, but they keep rotating thru them.

You might want to ask when they received in their last hybrid, and for how long it had been on order. Yea, you are at the mercy of their honesty, but I know of no other way to know (unless you run into the buyer of that hybrid and ask them).

 

Try calling Ford to see which dealers are hybrid friendly?

 

There was a TX dealer that had 7 or so if I remember correctly in one of these postings in the last week - 2 weeks, so that may be a start. When you start talking to the dealers, ask them how many hybrids they have sold this year.
Do they have any available allocations for your order?
Do they have any on order that are not spoken for yet?

For myself, not knowing it at the time, I guess I ordered through a higher volume Mercury dealer. At the time I started talking to them, they had 3 allocations. 1 was already being used, a 2nd was about to & I took the 3rd when I placed my order that Saturday. My order ended up taking 8 weeks.

I think this may be one of the biggest differences between my order and Say Pat in Indiana who I think is on week 14 and still no vin (not sure if he finally gave up, kind of sounds like that in his posts lately). He ordered through a smaller dealership that did not have any allocations (even though someone at Ford told him allocations are a myth, Terry here did confirm that allocations do exist when there are cars on short supply & high demand.) Not that the dealer I ordered through is huge, but I guess they move enough Hybrids and other vehicles through their inventory. Also not sure if it helped ordering a Mercury instead of a Ford as there are more FEH's being sold then MMH's I believe.


There is also searching using autotrader.com or cars.com.

I think there are a lot of other good suggestions in your thread "Suggestions on how to find a FEH".

Good luck!

 

Agreed, the vehicle you want may be out there already.

But to answer your question: (Generalizing here) Regions that sell the most get the most. Top hybrid dealers in those regions get the most units. Definitely try to determine which dealers historically have had them. It's tricky. Even in our large market there are a few dealers who always seem to have them and others who get one or two every few months. I've watched the market for a while so I know which is which, but if you haven't done that then you're kinda stuck asking the dealer. And of course they will all tell you THEY sell the most.

 

Which would be a better dealer to go to?

A dealer that gets in 100 hybrids a month, but sells/orders 110 a month?

Or a dealer that gets in 5 hybrids a month, but sells/orders 4 a month?