I'm wondering if my dealer or Honda is the one to blame?

My white LX CVT was scheduled to be delivered today. Sent the dealer an email at 10 am if they could confirm that my Fit would be delivered today.

No response, so at 11am I called and asked the sales person, who said she would speak to a manager and call me back.

At 12 noon I called again, and the same sales person claimed to be surprised that her manager had not called me back. She said she would talk to the manager and have him call me.

At 2pm I received an email that the dealer was waiting on delivery.

The US postal service, UPS, FedEx, etc. can track packages as they move all over the country, But Honda dealers haven't a clue about where their cars are or when they will be delivered.

Very sad!

 

The new shipping company that Honda hired for car shipping sucks. They flat out lied about their ability to deliver large quantities of cars, tracking updates and generally everything about delivery.

 

It is because Honda is not integrated with Union Pacific and its other freight carriers. The honda inventory system is maintained by the dealer sales and purchasing department. There is no live tracking. It does exist, but not connected to Honda.

Best to read this thread for more details.

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/showthread.php?t=84028

 

So, the US Postal Service is more sophisticated than the multi- billion dollar/ yen car maker!

Is this isolated to just the new Fit or are all honda models also effected?

Package tracking doesn't appear all that complicated. There aren't that many dealerships, or distribution depots.

Honda should ask Amazon for assistance. Amazon would probably offer next day delivery!

 

Honda's logistics in general for all models are affected. The Fit's logistics is exasperated by the delays at the Mexico plant.

My other thread has more details to the questions you are asking. Dealerships simply do not have visibility to the cars coming in. A purchase order is made to get cars to a dealership. The cars themselves travel by railroad to a distribution hub, then to a distribution warehouse. From there car carriers over the road move the cars to the dealerships. Where the disconnect happens is Honda's computer system is not tied into the logistics companies moving the cars. Honda also does not receive the VIN#'s of the cars they order until it becomes part of their inventory, regardless whether its physically at the dealership.

Now if someone at Honda America (cough, Dennis Manns, cough) were to come up with the bright idea of linking the VIN#, Purchase order#'s to the intermodal car rack flat car the vehicles are traveling on, now you got some teeth to see where it is in transit. The only other shortfall would be when the car is put on a car rack trailer over the road, thats where live tracking will be slightly outdated.

Such integration of tracking systems from start to debugged and operating 100% can take anywhere from 12-18 months roughly. I know this because I'm a Logistics Manager by trade, and having worked for a Fortune 300 consumer products company and logistics 3PL company in the past thats what typically the time it takes for a company the size of Honda to accomplish this.

Cheers.

 

Perhaps there is an advantage to keeping customers in the dark.

Someone who is told that their car will definitely arrive in six weeks will go buy a Toyota.

Someone who is told that their car will be in "real soon now" might be strung along until the car is available. Even if most eventually bail out a certain percentage will stay hooked.

I'm sure that Honda's marketing experts have optimized the amount of information released. They're good at things like that!

 

My dealer still has Not given me the courtesy of calling and telling me what they know.

Customer Service is DEAD at Honda. This is the worst buying experience and I have bought many motorcycles and autos in my first 50 years of driving.

 

I have been trying to buy a White LX CVT since August 1. I have been working with two dealership. The second dealership told my Credit Union that "My Fit" should arrive September 19-21.

I could not help but laugh, when I was told that delivery, of what will probably be the most popular color and model, will be two more weeks, if I'm lucky.

Both large Honda dealerships have VIN's with my name on them, they just don't have the cars with those VIN's.

The other dealership still hasn't contacted me, after saying the ETA of My Fit was 8/28

I'm still waiting...