What would ordering be like if Jeep actually cared?

[sportsguy]

Plenty of brands don't even let you custom order a vehicle. Be grateful for what we have instead of whining.

Which brands do you believe do not allow customers to order a car with the options they want? DEALERS I can see discouraging this in favor of on-lot inventory, but unless I'm missing something, I cannot think of a single auto manufacturer that won't let you order what you build online...

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[flot]

My point in this thread wasn't just to whine about my JL which "went missing" for 30 days, but to illustrate that Jeep is dropping the ball on a tremendous opportunity.

They have a unique brand, they DO offer customizations, and then still manage to leave many purchasers with a bad taste in their mouth due to issues that would be so easy to solve.

No skin off my back - but of the two custom orders I’ve placed for FCA products, neither went smoothly. Will I order a third? Maybe.

But I can tell you that you can buy a Mercedes, BMW, or Volvo for less $ than either of the two vehicles I ordered from Ram and Jeep - and not only will you be able to customize your order, but you can pick it up at the factory (in Europe), get a factory tour where they treat you like a celebrity, drive it around europe for 2 weeks with insurance paid for by the factory, and then have it delivered to your dealer of choice in the US. They even have port repair facilities that fix dings and dents you may have picked up.

Just a thought. If Jeep wanted to build a world-class experience around customizing the order and delivery process for Wranglers, they absolutely could, it wouldn't cause any new factory retooling - just a little bit of effort and customer empathy. But hey. Why would they want to offer that on a $50k Jeep just because you can do it on a $35k Mercedes.

 

[Strommen95]

Which brands do you believe do not allow customers to order a car with the options they want? DEALERS I can see discouraging this in favor of on-lot inventory, but unless I'm missing something, I cannot think of a single auto manufacturer that won't let you order what you build online...

Toyota doesn’t allow you to custom order. It’s not a matter of believing or not, it’s a fact you can’t custom order a Toyota.

 

[sportsguy]

Toyota doesn’t allow you to custom order. It’s not a matter of believing or not, it’s a fact you can’t custom order a Toyota.

Ummm...I'm in the build tool at Toyota right now - I can choose a manual or automatic trans. I have a choice. To me, that's customizing an order. Admittedly, it's nowhere near the degree to which Jeep lets us check boxes...

But again, to me - and just my POV here - that's still allowing me to choose. If the dealer doesn't have the manual, and i want it, and a color of my choice, that's a custom order. Full respect if you see this another way.

 

[DanW]

I don't think Mercedes has a single model with 250,000+ volume per year. Nobody with that scale of production will do those things. If you want an American car with that kind of attention, then get a Corvette and you can watch it go down the assembly lline and drive it off. You can also take delivery at the Corvette museum.

I was happy to pick my JL up at the dealership, but I do agree that it would be cool to pick it up in Toledo and see the plant.

 

[Pingbling23]

Lol, I couldn’t imagine flying to the factory and getting treated like royalty when ordering my 35k A class.

 

[melman8r]

Toyota doesn’t allow you to custom order. It’s not a matter of believing or not, it’s a fact you can’t custom order a Toyota.

Not true, I suggest you find another dealer. I ordered or should I say my dealer ordered my Tacoma exactly the way I wanted it, all the options and color choice.

 

[Dkretden]

Toyota doesn’t allow you to custom order. It’s not a matter of believing or not, it’s a fact you can’t custom order a Toyota.

Really? This is news to me.

 

[Chipe]

Plenty of brands don't even let you custom order a vehicle. Be grateful for what we have instead of whining.

Whining? Really??? Those are some pretty good ideas and I see no "whining" involved. Sheesh.

 

[manicslothpdx]

I think there's a difference between a dealer finding what you want and being able to place a factory order. I am about to order a diesel Wrangler after having diesel Jettas for most of the past 20 years, and at no time with VW was I able to factory order a car. I think the comment about Toyota is similar. These manufacturers limit the number of options they offer and package them regionally so that when you price one out on the web site, it's most likely that some dealer somewhere ordered that configuration. So, when a dealer "orders" it, what they're really doing is putting out a call to other dealers to see if your preferred configuration exists on another dealer's lot, and then if they find it they offer that other dealer a trade so that they can get your car. But, that is very different than being able to place a factory order so I do think it is accurate to state that the Fiat/Chrysler brands may offer an ordering option that not all other car companies offer.

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