Important Service Notice

ATTENTION STIVERS FORD AND LINCOLN CUSTOMERS DUE TO COVID RELATED PRODUCTION SHORTAGES, THE GLOBAL MICROPROCESSOR CHIP SHORTAGE, AND THE LACK OF WAREHOUSE LABOR AND TRUCKING CAUSED BY FEDERAL UNEMPLOYMENT BONUSES:

The production of globally sourced parts has been severely restricted by international COVID manufacturing facility capacity rules. The shipping and offloading of these parts at ports and rail heads and the packaging of the limited parts that are being produced is being severely delayed by lack of workers. Similarly, the transportation industry is over 100,000 truckers short of pre-pandemic levels due to Federal Unemployment Bonus payments.

THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT MANY PARTS ARE ON NATIONAL BACK ORDER WITH NO ETA.

Making matters far more difficult, the global microprocessor chip shortage is decimating the automobile industry. Globally, the impact this year will result in the loss of production of an estimated 12 Million vehicles and cost manufacturers and dealers an estimated 110 Billion Dollars.

STIVERS EXPECTS IT’S NEW VEHICLE INVENTORY TO BOTTOM OUT AT LESS THAN 10% OF THE PRE-PANDEMIC INVENTORY STOCKING LEVEL.

As a result, major manufacturers are not producing vehicles for rental car companies and are also not producing vehicles sufficient to maintain Service Loaner Vehicle pools. Pre-pandemic, Stivers carried over 160 loaner vehicles at a cost of over $5 Million dollars. Stivers simply will not be provided replacement vehicles as these loaners time out of Ford’s program. Stivers is being forced to reduce its loaner fleet as vehicles time out.

BASED ON NEW VEHICLE ALLOCATION AND MANUFACTURING PRODUCTION SCHEDULES, STIVERS WILL NOT LONGER HAVE LOANER VEHICLES AVAILABLE BY SOME TIME IN JULY.

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THE VEHICLE SHORTAGE WILL AFFECT THE RENTAL CAR COMPANIES IN THE SAME MANNER AND WE WILL VERY LIKELY NOT BE ABLE TO ASSIST IN THE SCEDULING OF ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORTATION FOR OUR CLIENTS.

As soon as Stivers is provided vehicle allocation for its Courtesy Transportation Program, you have our commitment that we will immediately fill those orders and purchase Courtesy Transportation vehicles returning our inventory to pre-pandemic levels.

It breaks our heart to not be able to provide the courtesy of a loaner vehicle to our valued customers. Please know that if there were any way to solve this issue, Stivers would spare no expense to do so.

WE KNOW THIS IS A MAJOR INCONVINIENCE AND WE HUMBLY APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE FOR THE SITUATION, DESPITE IT BEING ENTIRELY OUT OF OUR CONTROL.