Ford Focus Forum banner

Fordvehicles.com inventory search worthless...

723 views 12 replies 12 participants last post by  Peloton25 
#1 ·
Well, almost worthless anyway...

So I'm trying to track down the SVT of my dreams, and going dealer by dealer to see what their current inventory lists is quite tedious. It's also not extremely accurate, as I have already visited 3 dealerships in person and the website does not list all the cars that I saw at each of those dealerships.

Also, the only information they offer once you've chosen the model is the exterior color, interior color, engine & trans type and the MSRP. Outside of that, you'd have to call or visit the dealer to get more specific info on the exact options the car has. They don't even provide the VIN, so imagine what kind of info you might be able to get over the phone. Deciphering the options based on the MSRP is somewhat easy with the SVT because there are only 3 or 4, but my search for the ideal PZEV (as a fallback choice) isn't proving to be as simple.

What would be ideal in my opinion - and maybe someone who would care might be listening - is to be able to build the exact car you are looking for on the Ford website and then have it find every car in your local area that fits that build spec. If you're some kind of freak (like me) who's looking for an obscure stripped PZEV ZX3 5-speed with A/C and ABS as the only options, the website might not be able to locate a car like that in any dealer's inventory. In that case, it could give you the most similar cars that are out there or direct you to the internet sales group at your local dealer who would be able to arrange ordering the car you want.

That enhanced configuration sure sounds feasible to me. It would require that they store a lot more information, but its information that they already have somewhere so they would just need to find a way to link to it and draw from it.

Well - that's my soapbox rant for this evening.

>8^)
ER
 
See less See more
#2 ·
If you know somebody at a dealership see if they'll jump on the computer for you and do a search to see who's got what you're looking for. They'll maybe even do a dealer trade to get it for you.

I know when I was looking for my 2000 ZX3 in spring of 2000 the guy I was working with (fleet/internet sales manager) faxed me batches of car info a few times in an effort to find me something in-stock locally. Problem was, that was back when Ford was rolling out "late availibility" options to the ZX3 like power windows, tilt/telescope steering (I think) and mabye one or two others. The dealership didn't even have the codes for the options yet! I took the printouts from either here or maybe Edmunds or somewhere with codes and sure enough, they worked. Ultimately we just ordered my car and I paid invoice for it... Though I got "screwed" with 5.9% APR since Ford hadn't yet started giving away money.


Good luck finding "The One"(tm).
You have my premission to name your car that once you get it.
 
#4 ·
Hey Erik I was able to find my car using fordvehicles.com . I was even able to print the window sticker and they provided me with the dealers inventory number so I could verify it was available. Vince was telling me Palm Springs Motors had quite a few mooch model PZEVs if thats what you're looking for. I believe he got his bare bones with the only option being a/c.

>8^)
ER
 
#6 ·
When I was shopping for my SVTF I located it on fordvehicles.com and was able to print out the actual window stickers which had the VIN #,exterior and interior color,total MSRP,standard features and any optional equipment on it for each car and then went to the SVT dealership closest to me and they dealer traded for it since I wanted a black car only.You can broaden your search by using different zip codes other then just yours.I am sure it will work for the PZEV just the same.Other then that just contact a local dealership and ask to find the vehicle you desire.
 
#7 ·
What would be ideal in my opinion - and maybe someone who would care might be listening - is to be able to build the exact car you are looking for on the Ford website and then have it find every car in your local area that fits that build spec. If you're some kind of freak (like me) who's looking for an obscure stripped PZEV ZX3 5-speed with A/C and ABS as the only options, the website might not be able to locate a car like that in any dealer's inventory. In that case, it could give you the most similar cars that are out there or direct you to the internet sales group at your local dealer who would be able to arrange ordering the car you want.
GM Buy Power does that. Well at least the employee version does, never used the regular one, but I think it is the exact same thing just differant prices.
 
#8 ·
Way back when I worked on that database. It was my first IT job. The company I worked for, Digital Motorworks, would dial into car dealership mainframes, EDS, ADP, Reynolds & Reynolds, etc, and extract the inventory. After putting it though a SQL clean, we would then send the inventory to Ford, GM, Cars.com, Autonation.com, and anyone else we worked for.

My job was to script the inventory dumps, research the options codes, and keep the SQL databases up to date.

It was fun poking around the dealers systems, and I liked having the inventory of thousands of dealers in nice, clean, formatted text files. I could find any car I wanted. It was cool.

For the longest the the ZX3 was listed at Carfax (who we used for VIN decoding) as a 4 door. I got that changed


Sadly, DMI and I parted ways in May of 2K. Sad to see the people who are now doing my job suck!
 
#9 ·
Here's another option for you. It worked quite well for me. Every dealership these days has an internet department. Go to each of their websites and collect all the e-mail addresses you want. Write one e-mail to all of them describing the car you want and price you will pay (the more details you give them, the better). Let them do the work for you. They get paid to do it.

Bill G
 
#10 ·
As was already said your best bet is to find a dealership you are comfortable with and have them do a nationwide locate down to every specific option you want or don't want. They can even tell you incoming units at other dealerships too.

Last resort. Special order exactly what you want.
 
#11 ·
I've got another idea for you. Instead of using the "Ford" inventory search - which is substandard in accuracy - click on the "search for a local dealer" and you will get links to several dealers, starting with the closest.
Check each dealers' inventory separately by first going to their website, then do the inventory search.
You should be able to get a more detailed description of the cars - including a printable "window sticker" (with the VIN number).
 
#13 ·
Thanks to many of you who have replied, I have now realized that it's not as worthless as I once thought.

I had no idea that once you did the inventory search, that if you clicked on the word "FOCUS" next to the particular vehicle of interest, that it would take you one step further and show you the window sticker. That's basically all that I was looking for. It would serve them well to make that feature a little more prominent - or set it off to the side with a button that reads "More info on this vehicle" or something like that. I could tell that "Focus" was clickable, but I thought it would just take me to some kind of general Focus info page so I never clicked on it.

Thanks to those who pointed out there were more features then I had assumed.
I still think my suggestion of being able to build a car and then have the site direct you to a local dealer that hasit would be a great improvement.


To those who suggest working with a dealer - I have already been working with one - and I have an offer for help from another (slidemaster), but until I figure out exactly what I'm doing, I'd rather not waste someone's time. The dealership I started at is turning out to be a bunch of bumbling idiots, so it's almost easier to do it myself.


>8^)
ER
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top