[LilRhody18]

I'm beginning to believe the status of In Transit is BS. This status has been on my vehicle since before I purchased it Oct.1st. Port date at the time was Oct. 17th. It has now been pushed to Oct 29th. How does it take a month to go from Indiana to Rhode Island???? I'm beginning to think the status is placed before the vehicle even leaves the Subaru facility. Anyone have insider info on what this status really means?

 

[LilRhody18]

I should add that the Port of Davisville RI is a major drop off point for New England so it is definatly coming there weather brought via ship or truck. Dealer won't give me any further info other than the date.

 

[Robert.Mauro]

Hi! I've got some bad news for you...

You live in Rhode Island. Subaru has next to nothing to do with the delivery of your car, except for shipping it to Subaru New England (SNE). Your port is NOT a Subaru port, and your accessories are NOT installed by Subaru Indiana Automotive or Subaru of America.

Your car ships by rail, probably to Boston, (which could take weeks, sadly), at which point, it gets queued for Subaru New England to add the "port installed" accessories. They may or may not have a backlog. Last I checked, it seemed that SDC (Subaru Distributor Corporation) cars (NY and NJ) were also going to Boston for accessories. No idea why.

Your dealer would have the most information available for a customer, BUT, they too will be lacking some info, since it's not up to them how or when these things happen.

If you were not in New England or NY or NJ, your dealer would order the car from Subaru of America/Subaru Indiana Automotive, and the car would be shipped "directly" to them. SIA would build it, ship it to accessories install location, install the accessories and ship "directly" to your dealer (ship by rail to a rail yard, then onto a truck for direct delivery).

BUT, you are in one of those areas. Your dealership ordered a car from Subaru New England (a distributor, and not part of Subaru of America). SNE then ordered your car from Subaru, as well as ordered your accessories as parts (or will pull them from stock, depending on stock level). As mentioned, SIA ships the car to SNE and NOT to your dealership. Then, at some point, SNE installs the accessories and ships the car to your dealer.

I went through similar with my car (bought in NJ), because, like you, there's a middle man (in my case, SDC).

One happy note: when SDC notified my dealership that they had the car, they installed the accessories and had it at my dealership in about half a week.

 

[LilRhody18]

Hi Thanks for the reply. North Atlantic Distribution (NORAD) is based in Davisville RI and Ernie Boch owner/distributor of Subaru of New England has all NE Subaru's come to the Davisville Port. I did not order any accessories/options for my vehicle. They blame the weather for the delay. I just think it's bogus. My vehicle was in the stock of MetroWest Subaru dealership and they transferred it over to my dealer while status was In Transit. I realize I'm not the only one ordering a car but given the distance which isn't really far I feel the time frame is just ridiculous no matter whether it arrives by ship, rail or truck. I'm hoping the date gets moved up.

 

[Carl Abrams]

Hi Thanks for the reply. North Atlantic Distribution (NORAD) is based in Davisville RI and Ernie Boch owner/distributor of Subaru of New England has all NE Subaru's come to the Davisville Port. I did not order any accessories/options for my vehicle. They blame the weather for the delay. I just think it's bogus. My vehicle was in the stock of MetroWest Subaru dealership and they transferred it over to my dealer while status was In Transit. I realize I'm not the only one ordering a car but given the distance which isn't really far I feel the time frame is just ridiculous no matter whether it arrives by ship, rail or truck. I'm hoping the date gets moved up.

Well, keeping in mind that I DO order directly from SOA/SIA ... we just had a car get here today that was ordered on July 26th. We're getting a few of the base and premiums in that haven't been ordered, and I had a touring for inventory that almost made it here before it was pre-sold. Other than that, if you're wanting a limited or a touring, you're ordering for January delivery now. (I have half a dozen December cars on order from last month.)

 

[LilRhody18]

So is In Transit listed before a vehicle leaves the Subaru facility? My dealership won't tell me if it is coming via rail or ship or truck. I'm beginning to panic because I was never told the vehicle had not been produced yet/left the facility. If that were the case I would have never agreed to purchase and would have just went to a dealership next state over that had the car on the lot. I assumed In Transit meant the car left Subaru and was making it's way to a East Coast Port. My dealership said they worked with MetroWest to transfer the vehicle from their stock to my dealers stock. I see this has been done as it's no longer showing on Metro West's site. I also have a VIN number. My loan authorization period is up mid November and I don't want to loose out on my low rate. I'm just frustrated. If my Limited really isn't coming until January I will have to bag out of this one and find one on a lot.

 

[zulater]

If you have a VIN you can call SOA.

I don't know how the "in transit" on the dealers website works but I would only assume that means they have a VIN not that it is literally in transit from the plant. Jason/Carl?

 

[Carl Abrams]

If you have a VIN you can call SOA.

I don't know how the "in transit" on the dealers website works but I would only assume that means they have a VIN not that it is literally in transit from the plant. Jason/Carl?

For us - In Transit on a stock unit is when the vehicle gets a VIN assigned. Note that for Indiana cars, this is typically prior to the vehicle actually being built, but it DOES show up on our (internal) pipeline. We do not show In Transit or order units on our website. That's an individual dealer choice.

For example, I show a Crystal Black Touring as In Transit. Its actual status is released. By the same token, I have a White Limited Outback showing In Transit on my website. Pipeline shows the car is scheduled to be built Friday.

Again, these are STOCK units for us. We chose to NOT put order units on the website (especially since they're marked as reserved / sold / on order), because that would cause problems / issues with other people thinking a car was still available and calling about it. Where the REAL confusion comes in is those dealerships who aren't actually ordering units, just trying to fulfill their customer requests with their pipeline. They're taking orders and NOT marking those units as sold / on order in their systems, and just hoping that when the car gets there that the customers won't think too much about accessories.

 

[LilRhody18]

I found out yesterday that Subaru of New England was drafted for my vehicle. Does this mean the vehicle is at Port/at Dealership? A nice salesman from Texas looked up my VIN for me and gave me info my own dealership refused to give. This morning on my way to work I saw a red ascent on their lot. Prior to today there were no red ones. I wonder if that is my vehicle. The Texas salesman had said usually when a distributor is drafted that means the vehicle has been delivered. Can anyone confirm this statement? I'm really annoyed that my dealership/salesman refuses to give me any info other than a port date. The Texas salesman says some dealerships would rather not give that info and prefer to under promise and over deliver. Well, make it seem as such. Since I have no options added to the vehicle this should be a very quick turn around for the dealership. Wash it take a quick look for damages then tell me it's ready. I hate being strung along.

 

[RickPost]

... if you're wanting a limited or a touring, you're ordering for January delivery now. (I have half a dozen December cars on order from last month.)

I ordered a Limited on October 19th. The salesman said it should be here by Christmas. You are saying I shouldn't expect it until sometime in January? That's going to try my patience. It's only been a few days and I already want my car to show up.

 

[Robert.Mauro]

I found out yesterday that Subaru of New England was drafted for my vehicle. Does this mean the vehicle is at Port/at Dealership? A nice salesman from Texas looked up my VIN for me and gave me info my own dealership refused to give. This morning on my way to work I saw a red ascent on their lot. Prior to today there were no red ones. I wonder if that is my vehicle. The Texas salesman had said usually when a distributor is drafted that means the vehicle has been delivered. Can anyone confirm this statement? I'm really annoyed that my dealership/salesman refuses to give me any info other than a port date. The Texas salesman says some dealerships would rather not give that info and prefer to under promise and over deliver. Well, make it seem as such. Since I have no options added to the vehicle this should be a very quick turn around for the dealership. Wash it take a quick look for damages then tell me it's ready. I hate being strung along.

It doesn't quite work that way with SNE and SDC. In Texas, the "distributor" doesn't quite exist and is the dealer company/entity.

As for after SNE (or SDC) gets the car, accessories including packages need to be put on. Unless you ordered a trim with absolutely no "Package" attached (rarely ever happens, even when people think they have), then SNE has to install the "port" installed accessories. That only happens for SNE and SDC region - SIA installs accessories for the rest of the country. After that, it goes to the dealer and the dealer installs all dealer installed accessories (not a big list on the Ascent), which can include accessories in a "Package" that are not port installed.

Check out this page and you'll see some "packages" have zero accessories/options. If you picked one of them, then there's no accessories to install. If you picked any "Package" that has items listed with it, then you did order accessories, and they do need to be installed.

• 2019 Subaru Ascent 7 passenger research webpage

And finally, the dealer must do the PDI (pre-delivery inspection) which is more than just washing it and checking for damage. The car is delivered in limp mode, and there's a test protocol to be carried out, and a shipping jumper that needs to be switched out of limp mode. THEN, it's time for final prep, such as removing the protective coverings, detailing, filling with gas and calling you.

I know you're anxiously awaiting your car, but, as I said earlier, I went through the same, and, it is not like what happens in the rest of the country. A dealer from Texas has ZERO access to the SNE and SDC systems to look up the status of your car, so, unless he knows someone in SNE, he has no clue what's happening with your car other than (as you noted) SNE bought it from SIA, which is all he told you.

Sorry. :sad:

 

[LilRhody18]

I ordered a Limited on October 19th. The salesman said it should be here by Christmas. You are saying I shouldn't expect it until sometime in January? That's going to try my patience. It's only been a few days and I already want my car to show up.

My guess if ordered straight from Subaru by your dealer then probably it will take longer than a vehicle that already left the plant.

 

[Robert.Mauro]

My guess if ordered straight from Subaru by your dealer then probably it will take longer than a vehicle that already left the plant.

Absolutely every single Ascent ordered that is not dealer stock is built to order by SIA. Subaru doesn't build excess cars, like other car companies. Subaru of America picks and determines what dealer stock will be sent to each dealer, based on sales metrics and other criteria. If one picks one of those cars, they can get it pretty quickly (already prepped, so, it's just a matter of dealers installing any accessories). If one picks one that's at a nearby dealership that participates in vehicle swaps with their dealership, then it's pretty much what I just described, plus some transfer paperwork and transit between dealerships. Dealer stock is a tiny portion of production runs.

Otherwise, every other Ascent ordered is built to order by SIA, after an order is placed.

The order they are built is *not* based on when they were ordered. As nice as that would be, it's not possible. The assembly line is geared up for certain trims or even certain vehicles, and the paint shop does certain colors at a time, all to speed up overall production and efficiency. The lines swap pretty regularly, but, the point is, if I order a certain trim in a certain color today, and someone else orders a different trim and color four days from now, theirs may be produced before mine... or maybe after. :tango_face_wink:

 

[BxTony]

I'll share my experience: I ordered an 8 pass. Premium on 6/25/18. The salesman explained that the factory was producing cars for dealer inventory and pre-orders from way back when. He said it probably wouldn't be in until middle to end of August. Sounded reasonable since I had a similar experience when ordering a Toyota many years ago. I hadn't heard anything by the beginning of September so I called. They told me it was up at the port in New England and waiting for delivery to the dealership. I got a call in the middle of September and by the time we finalized all paperwork and the car was ready for pickup, it was 9/25/18. I picked it up 3 months to the day after ordering it. I've had it just shy of a month and 1,000 miles and nothing but good experience so far. To me, it was worth the wait. And it was a pleasure working with this dealership.

 

[Carl Abrams]

I ordered a Limited on October 19th. The salesman said it should be here by Christmas. You are saying I shouldn't expect it until sometime in January? That's going to try my patience. It's only been a few days and I already want my car to show up.

There were people ordered them in February and March that didn't get them until July or August.

Demand far exceeds supply right now. So they're making them as fast as they can, consistent with quality (!) production. Since there are four different configurations for the Limited model - KCD 21 and 23, and KCE 21 and 23 - they do run things in batches. I've a customer that ordered a Gray Touring on 09/08 that the car has been shipped and will be here on 10/30. I've another customer that ordered a Limited OP 21 in Abyss Blue on 09/03. It's scheduled for month of December.

So when your salesman placed the order - presuming he's out here in the regular world and not in SNE/SDC - and he placed the order directly and didn't have to go through the manager, he should have gotten a sheet with the VON (Vehicle Order Number) which told you an estimated month of delivery.

 

[RickPost]

So when your salesman placed the order - presuming he's out here in the regular world and not in SNE/SDC - and he placed the order directly and didn't have to go through the manager, he should have gotten a sheet with the VON (Vehicle Order Number) which told you an estimated month of delivery.

I wouldn't say he's out in the real world, he's in Silverthorne, CO, high in the Rocky Mountains.

I didn't get a VON and he hadn't yet ordered the vehicle when he said Christmastime. I'll check back with him and get more details. Thanks for the head's up!

 

[Carl Abrams]

I wouldn't say he's out in the real world, he's in Silverthorne, CO, high in the Rocky Mountains.

His dealership deals directly with SOA, though, and doesn't go through SNE/SDC. So he can order things on Subienet directly and see the status of things directly.

That's where the biggest issue people have comes into play - they live in SNE/SDC territory, have a problem, look on here and the forum advice is to call SOA ... and SOA has nothing to do with the sale of their car.

 

[John_Esq]

In the "SNE" area - Ours was ordered on August 17th, our anticipated date was stated cautiously as "up to two months". We got a status call that it would be sooner, but a couple of weeks later another call that it was pushed to October 25th.


Final call to say it was delivered was October 15th but I was out of town and couldn't pick it up until this past weekend.


Bottom line, it really was completed and delivered to the dealer within the two month timeframe.


(We ordered accessories that I would not want to have to install later - side dimming mirrors/accent lights, extra pair of USB ports in the back, trailer hitch.)


Just an FYI, the dealer accepted the coupon we received from our local Ambassador without any argument. Got an additional $500 off the price we had already negotiated after shopping around the area dealers.

 

[Sue Bea]

We ordered early September. We were told that the car would come in end of November. My current car was breaking down and another dealer had what we were looking for (minus the tow hitch). I went back to the original dealer and they said that my car would be in by 10/15. It did not come, new date is 10/23. Does anyone know what estimated delivery date means? Does that mean delivered to dealer r to dock?

Status Released
Current Location 200020
Estimated Arrival 10/23/2018
Scheduled Date 10/04/2018
Release Date 10/05/2018

 

[LilRhody18]

How did you get a coupon from an Ambassador? I've been waiting on my Ascent which has a port date of the 29th of Oct. I've already negotiated a price for the car and signed paperwork but if I could get an extra $500 of I'd love to!