Story so far:

Dealership (Dallas TX Area) ordered my Mystic Yellow 2015 Honda Fit Ex on 06-12-2014.

I was told my Fit was built on 09-02-2014 (VIN number is assigned and valid) and that it would arrive at the dealership between Sept 8-12 2014.

This information was from the internal Honda "Vehicle Status Report".

Needless to say I did not get my Fit on those dates (Sept 8-12).

On Sept 13th I again stopped by the Dealership for an update and was given another report (Interactive Network) that my Fit was being Rail Shipped to Alliance Airport area north of Fort Worth.

Sept 17th rolled around and still no Fit.

Contacted the dealership again and was told that it was on a car-carrier truck southwest of Houston.

What happened to the "Rail Ship" to Fort Worth???

So today Sept 19th and still my Fit is nowhere to be seen.

Once more contacted the sales manager at the dealership and got the reply that there is no more update on my Fit's location but that he has a "Good Feeling" that it would arrive soon.

Question(s):

Is it normal that dealerships really have no way of tracking where an ordered car with a valid VIN number is?

Why did "Rail Ship" drop my Fit off to a car-carrier truck 400 miles away from Dallas?

Why after two days has the car-carrier truck not delivered my Fit to the dealership?

Answers are appreciated.

 

I can't give you any answers other than to say that there is a huge disconnect between Honda manufacturing and the dealerships. Although I did not specifically order my Fit I did want a specific color/model (Blue-EX). As I was told - the Honda dealer I dealt with had actually already had this specific car on order and I was told it would be there at the end of the month (end of June)... The car didn't get to the dealership until 2.5 weeks later. The dealership did indicate that the tracking of the vehicles was extremely poor to non-existent. The Honda manufacturing data had actually shown on more than one occasion that there were Honda Fits on their lot - that they did not even have yet.... so needless to say there is a huge issue with Honda and the tracking of vehicles. I am not really sure where the blame on this belongs... but this has been happening on a regular basis as you will see based on other posts in this forum...

 

The tracking isn't great. I bought my car on September 1. It was in transit "delayed" at the time of purchase. VIN ending 22639. I was told it was 3 weeks out, but could arrive at any time. The dealership received it and several others last night, just shy of the 3 weeks I was originally told. The manufacture date on her is 8/14. I don't understand how OP's car built on 9/02/14 was expected to be anywhere in 10 days.

 

First Texas Honda in Austin where I got mine is expecting another yellow CVT. It wasn't spoken for earlier this week. Maybe you could get that one?

 

I'm in the same boat as you buddy! Mystic Yellow LX 6 Speed manual. I just went in yesterday to sign papers for it since the dealer didn't have it yet. It's on order but they don't know when it's going to come.

 

Same here in NJ. several dealers told me they have no idea when cars will arrive. I have requested and left a deposit for an LX manual in grey or white. They said average wait is about 4 weeks. Then salesperson called yesterday and told me they received a red one if I want it. I chose to wait.

 

Yes, there is a major problem with "what's in transit" and the scheduled delivery dates. If you go to cars.com, you can see what cars are "at the dealerships", but actually, these are cars in transit. In my experience, the dealership does not even know when shipments will arrive.

After I put down my $500 deposit, they told it me it would be 2 weeks for a EX-CVT in Aegean Blue. On the 14th day, it turned out that my VIN had not yet arrived, but I was able to get someone's VIN (she bought her car elsewhere in a different color because she could not wait that long). My real VIN was supposed to arrive in 2 or 3 days. I'm not sure if that ever happened. But there are generally waits of 3 to 4 weeks, depending on the trim model and color.

I had also called around to 6 different local dealerships to see if they had my model and trim in stock. I found out after the fact that another dealership actually had 2 blue ones, but they had never shown up on the cars.com list. (They had already sold them; they don't stay on the lot more than 3 days and people were on the waiting list.) So we all feel your pain waiting.

The dealerships are frustrated, the buyers are frustrated and Honda could be making a lot more money if they just straightened out their inventory shipment issues. Hang in there if you can. It will be worth the wait.

 

Have been waiting 11 weeks for a yellow EXL,and the dealer has no clue of the status.

 

Due to the issues that came up with manufacturing & quality control at the new plant, many fits were being sent back after having already been completed. That said, with any other car but the Fit...Honda's tracking is pretty good and accurate. the dates for Fits at this point are meaningless. as an example, we ordered to 6MT EX fits. one red, one yellow. the ETA on the yellow car was actually 2 days sooner then the red cars. However, the yellow car arrived 53 days later.

 

Still do not have my Mystic Yellow 2015 Honda Fit EX w/CVT but stopping by the dealership got me a new piece of paper.

The internal Interactive Network now shows "Truck Carrier Receipt" for my Fit dated 9/17/2014 (last Wednesday) with the location as Rosenburg TX (southwest of Houston about 400 miles away).

No updates have happened since 9/17.

My sales person will make some calls on Monday and try to find out where my Fit currently is and when it will be delivered to the dealership.

My salesman told me that only cars for their location will be on the truck carrier so I wonder if the driver is waiting to have a full load before taking off?

 

It may be in route. Many times, a carrier may have vehicles allocated for 2 or 3 different dealerships on the same truck. Your car may be the last stop. May arrive by Monday.

 

In the end its due to poor execution by the shipping company. A new company bid and won the transportation contract with Honda. They promised to be able to handle the logistics of shipping a hotly anticipated car from a brand new facility with no problems. Obviously they have not lived up to their assurances. It is to late in the shipping process for Honda to just up and fire them so we have a royal cluster fuck for now....

 

Finally, the journey ends.

My Mystic Yellow 2015 Honda Fit EX w/CVT has just arrived today around noon.

Dealer is prepping it right now and I will be driving it home tonight.

Picture is of it on the Truck Car Carrier arriving at the dealership.

 

Congrats you lucky sob!

 

Not sure why the Google Drive Pictures don't show but here are the direct links:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8m...it?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8m...it?usp=sharing

 

Thanks awesome. Share pics once you have it in your driveway.

Congrats!!

On a side note, the shipping on arrival of Fits has definitely improved. I had a bunch of updates today, when I arrived to Honda Geek headquarters in NJ.

Also saw a shipping truck pass us this Saturday with 7 Fits on it.

Things are looking up.

 

It has been a very long journey that started in 2011.

I had read good things about the Fit and saw that it was recommended by Consumer Reports so at the Dallas Auto Show in 2011 and after seeing it in person I decided that it would be my next vehicle.

I am a "Cradle to Grave" owner. Meaning that I buy new and keep the vehicle until its end-of-life. My trade in is a 1998 Ford Ranger which I have had for the last 16 years. My previous car was a 1987 Mazda 626 that I had for 11 years. I would have kept the Mazda longer but Ford had that 5% rebate card and I had earned $2800 of rebates on it plus there was an additional $1000 + 500 rebates I could add together. The Ford rebates would disappear over time so I had to jump in and buy in 1998 before that happened. No regrets as the Truck has been very reliable for me but it is time to move on now and get a fun, fuel efficient, reliable and safe Fit.

With that in mind ("Cradle to Grave") I wanted to buy at the next major iteration (Gen 3) so I talked to the Honda Reps at the show who told me that in 2012/13 it would be here. Well everyone here knows that was when the EV came and we had to wait until mid-late 2014 for it really to arrive.

But now it has and the journey that started in 2011 ends and the fun begins.

 

Pictures of my New Mystic Yellow 2015 Honda Fit EX w/CVT in front of my home before its first road trip.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8m...it?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8m...it?usp=sharing

The first road trip was from the Dallas area to Winstar Casino in Oklahoma which was a 62 mile trip each way.

The trip had some idle time (at ATM, at stop lights) and some stop and go traffic for about 6 miles and the rest was highway speeds of 65 for 46 miles and 75 for 20 miles. There were some steep hills north of Gainsville TX and the wind was against me on the return trip. The highway drive was on cruise control. The Eco Mode was off and the AC was on 100% (FAN Speed 1) because Texas is HOT.

With those settings and conditions I still got 39.0 MPG on the trip to Oklahoma and 38.3 MPG on the return trip.

I am very very happy with those numbers.

I have already installed the Honda cargo tray, the Honda wheel locks and will be installing the Honda rear bumper applique and the Honda splash guards in the next few days.

 

Congrats! Did you win at Winstar!

 

No one wins at Winstar . They really should change their name to Losestar.

That said, I go for the entertainment value and was given a free hotel stay, used the outdoor hot tub, had a free buffet dinner and a free breakfast the next morning.

I left a few bills but had a good time and I really wanted to go on a road trip as soon as I got my new Fit.