The Waiting Game

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PREVIOUS: How To Get A Great Buy On A New Cargo Van – The Purchase

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Waiting on your factory ordered vehicle is not a time to sit still. Keep the dealer engaged and be sure to regularly verify the status of the car. VIN number, build date and actual delivery date will become available at specific intervals.

After the actual purchase of the 2016 Ford Transit, it is expected that delivery will take another 2-3 months. The retail production of the new 2016 model will begin on August 10th while orders have been accepted since May 11th. I don’t know the criteria for production, but a lot of vehicles must be ahead of mine.

Much can be accomplished during this waiting time, such as monitoring the vehicle status, pre-ordering conversion parts and further design of the new cargo van.

Vehicle Status

  1. Get CONFIRMED ORDER copy
    After the dealer ordered the vehicle, you should get a copy of the CONFIRMED ORDER with the DEALER CODE and ORDER NUMBER. This shows what was input at the dealership level. If there are errors to the order or delays in a particular options, this will be noted at time of order. Make sure that all options are available.
  2. Receive VIN Number And A Projected Build Date
    A few weeks or a month later, the dealer should be able to send you the VIN number that is assigned to your vehicle and give you a projected build date. The VIN is 17 digits long and is unique to each vehicle.
  3. Clean Vehicledealer sticker
    If you don’t want any of their advertising on the vehicle, you should have informed the dealer by this time. If you forget about it, they should still be able to remove their own logos before you pick it up.
  4. Car Loan
    By this time you should also have secured your car loan.
  5. Daily Status Report

    How to pull your window sticker? Go to Research Maniacs. If you can download your window sticker, the production start date is known.

    With a projected build date in hand, the dealer should start giving you weekly updates from their Daily Status Report. Once it is scheduled for build and your dealer is billed for the vehicle, you can get a printout of the window sticker, to stay up-to-date with your new Ford Transit. This sticker will confirm your projected build date (at the top of the window sticker).

  6. Actual Build Date

    Get the ACTUAL build date from an Etis report. Get the report with a vehicle lookup using your VIN number from Ford Etis.

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    Get the actual build date with an ETIS report from Ford. It may take another month after the build, before the vehicle arrives at the dealership.

  7. Delivery
    Before you accept the new van from the dealer, check the van’s VIN number and make sure all your options from your buyer’s order are included. Walk around the vehicle, look for damages and then take a test drive. When there are no complications, sign the papers and you can call yourself the new owner. Be sure, you received the current rebates.

Ordering Conversion Parts

As my primarily goal is to convert the new cargo van into a recreational vehicle, I can use the waiting period to start ordering the mods that are the first to be installed.
Some of the things I did not order as an option, such as reverse sensing and possibly additional cameras will come first. These are relatively easy to install and will make me more familiar with the vehicle.
If I can find the appropriate swivel for the passenger seat, it will be waiting when the transit comes home.
These next few months, I’ll sit back and make my wish list and order more parts as necessary.

Design Of The New Cargo Van

Finally, some decisions about the design and style of the van must be made. Including a bathroom (or not) and the interior style (classic, contemporary of modern) are some of the major choices to be made.

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2 comments

    1. Thanks!
      A three month or longer wait is really too much, but I’ll use the time to prepare for the conversion.
      Lots to buy, design choices and layout decisions.

      Van Williams

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