Let's see if I can make this helpful again.
Dear friends, when you place your order for your RS, you will have many tribulations before the point of delivery. I will try to generalize and provide my own experience in an effort to better inform you.
Step 1. The Order
When you place your order, the dealer will submit it into Ford's system. A DORA will be generated by the system as verification that the order has been accepted. Ask for a copy of your DORA and ask for the dealer to highlight the order number and dealer code. These two codes will be the key to getting status updates on your car.
Step 2. Unscheduled - Clean or "In Order Processing"
This is the first waiting room for orders. This is also the first period for regular updates. If you are getting updates from your dealer, try to limit bugging them to every two weeks or so. Most dealers will tell you your order is "unscheduled - clean" or it hasn't been picked up. Another method for receiving updates is by contacting Ford Service. @FordService on the forum or Ford Service on Facebook or Twitter will gladly provide updates by request. They will need your order number and dealer code. I have been told "In order processing" is their lingo for "unscheduled - clean". Try to limit bugging them to a biweekly schedule, as well. Historically, orders move out of this status on Thursday mornings so Thursday afternoon or Friday would be when new updates are available.
Step 3. Selected for Scheduling
At some point in the process, your order will progress to "selected for scheduling". This is what your dealer may call "scheduled". If your car is scheduled but does not have a scheduled build date, it is at this status. For those of us who ordered 16MY RS's, this was the first confirmation that ours were allocated orders. Breathe a sigh of relief and sit back for the next period of waiting. There is no telling how long or short your time here will be. Orders move out of this status on any day of the week so there is no better day to ask for an update. Again, keep it to every other week for the sake of the service rep's sanity.
Step 4. Scheduled to Day
Do you have your confetti and champagne? This is a milestone worth celebrating. Once your car receives a scheduled build day, your VIN should become available. The actual build date might not match the scheduled estimate but it should be close. At this point, you should start focusing your impatience on ETIS. Click on "Vehicle" and plug your VIN in. Vested forum members will tell you to watch for the little black car to turn yellow. The consensus is yellow means built. A few days after it turns yellow, you can request a status update from Ford Service and/or your dealer.
Steps 5. Produced and 6. Awaiting Shipment
Not much you can do here except buy all those mods you've been looking at for the past 1 to 10 months.
7. Shipped or "In Transit"
The shipping process for our cars is lengthy. For any US or Canadian orders, the cars will be loaded onto convoys and trucked to the port of Zeebrugge. A few forum sleuths posted pictures of cars on transports once the 16's were released into the wild. Once in Zeebrugge, your car will wait for the next RORO vessel headed your way. Cars shipping to Hueneme (orders from California, Arizona, and maybe some other states) have used 2W's site for tracking. If you plug your VIN into cargo ID, it will tell you what ship you are on and where it was last located.
Canadian and all other US orders use NYK lines. There are no current known methods to track these cars through NYK. You will have to wait on an update from F.S. or your dealer telling you what ship you have boarded.
Once you have the name of the RORO, Vessel Finder and other sites can be used to track the ship to the ports. The RORO thread is reporting port to port transit taking 10-20 days.
Depending on the port of disembarkation for your dealer, your car may be loaded onto a train or a car hauler after it clears customs. This will be one of the last steps before your RS arrives at your dealer. Some dealers have been providing daily updates. Other forum members have had to put in requests (weekly I think) to get an update.
8. Arrived
Hopefully this is self explanatory. Go pick up your car and enjoy it.
TBC
Dear friends, when you place your order for your RS, you will have many tribulations before the point of delivery. I will try to generalize and provide my own experience in an effort to better inform you.
Step 1. The Order
When you place your order, the dealer will submit it into Ford's system. A DORA will be generated by the system as verification that the order has been accepted. Ask for a copy of your DORA and ask for the dealer to highlight the order number and dealer code. These two codes will be the key to getting status updates on your car.
Step 2. Unscheduled - Clean or "In Order Processing"
This is the first waiting room for orders. This is also the first period for regular updates. If you are getting updates from your dealer, try to limit bugging them to every two weeks or so. Most dealers will tell you your order is "unscheduled - clean" or it hasn't been picked up. Another method for receiving updates is by contacting Ford Service. @FordService on the forum or Ford Service on Facebook or Twitter will gladly provide updates by request. They will need your order number and dealer code. I have been told "In order processing" is their lingo for "unscheduled - clean". Try to limit bugging them to a biweekly schedule, as well. Historically, orders move out of this status on Thursday mornings so Thursday afternoon or Friday would be when new updates are available.
Step 3. Selected for Scheduling
At some point in the process, your order will progress to "selected for scheduling". This is what your dealer may call "scheduled". If your car is scheduled but does not have a scheduled build date, it is at this status. For those of us who ordered 16MY RS's, this was the first confirmation that ours were allocated orders. Breathe a sigh of relief and sit back for the next period of waiting. There is no telling how long or short your time here will be. Orders move out of this status on any day of the week so there is no better day to ask for an update. Again, keep it to every other week for the sake of the service rep's sanity.
Step 4. Scheduled to Day
Do you have your confetti and champagne? This is a milestone worth celebrating. Once your car receives a scheduled build day, your VIN should become available. The actual build date might not match the scheduled estimate but it should be close. At this point, you should start focusing your impatience on ETIS. Click on "Vehicle" and plug your VIN in. Vested forum members will tell you to watch for the little black car to turn yellow. The consensus is yellow means built. A few days after it turns yellow, you can request a status update from Ford Service and/or your dealer.
Steps 5. Produced and 6. Awaiting Shipment
Not much you can do here except buy all those mods you've been looking at for the past 1 to 10 months.
7. Shipped or "In Transit"
The shipping process for our cars is lengthy. For any US or Canadian orders, the cars will be loaded onto convoys and trucked to the port of Zeebrugge. A few forum sleuths posted pictures of cars on transports once the 16's were released into the wild. Once in Zeebrugge, your car will wait for the next RORO vessel headed your way. Cars shipping to Hueneme (orders from California, Arizona, and maybe some other states) have used 2W's site for tracking. If you plug your VIN into cargo ID, it will tell you what ship you are on and where it was last located.
Canadian and all other US orders use NYK lines. There are no current known methods to track these cars through NYK. You will have to wait on an update from F.S. or your dealer telling you what ship you have boarded.
Once you have the name of the RORO, Vessel Finder and other sites can be used to track the ship to the ports. The RORO thread is reporting port to port transit taking 10-20 days.
Depending on the port of disembarkation for your dealer, your car may be loaded onto a train or a car hauler after it clears customs. This will be one of the last steps before your RS arrives at your dealer. Some dealers have been providing daily updates. Other forum members have had to put in requests (weekly I think) to get an update.
8. Arrived
Hopefully this is self explanatory. Go pick up your car and enjoy it.
TBC