How to track shipped RAM Truck on train from Mexico?

Hello

My truck shipped yesterday from Mexico according to my dealer and should be in Lawrenceville GA at the train drop off location on 7/30. However, the dealer or Ram customer care can’t provide the rail company/car tracking information- why can’t they and how do I obtain to track my truck and it’s progress?

Thanks,

Mark

Good question and I'm interested in the answer. When did you order you truck? I ordered my 2018 2500 Tradesman 22 May and all I know is it is classified D1. Thanks.

Hd74ica said:

Good question and I'm interested in the answer. When did you order you truck? I ordered my 2018 2500 Tradesman 22 May and all I know is it is classified D1. Thanks.

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MAY?!?!?! I had some friends order a brand new Honda CRV several years back and not only could Honda track it... it only took 3 weeks to get here from Asia. They must have some serious back orders happening

I ordered on May 21st

There use to be a member over of the Challenger forum that could track cars but he quit **** it cuz there where too many idiots that bugged him EVERY day....

My truck came by rail from Mexico and it took 3 weeks to get to Minnesota, if that helps. I didn't track it.

OP, it may be due to bureaucratic layers at Ram and FCA; the right hand (the customer service side) simply may not know what the left hand (the transportation side) is doing. It also could be company policy not to tell customers even if the manufacturer knows; I've never ordered a vehicle but maybe someone here who has can tell us.

As a rail buff myself, I can tell you it'll be on at least two different carriers between origin and destination and at least that many trains. Heck, you may not want to track it...I remember when I worked at BNSF here in Fort Worth, an auto rack (as the rail cars that carry vehicles are known) was shoved hard into some other rail cars and every truck on that auto rack was damaged. BNSF had to purchase all those trucks and they were scrapped. If I found that out, I'd probably cry like a little girl!

Good luck; I hope you can track it...that'd be pretty cool.

TXCOMT

Can't track it once it is loaded on the train. Migrants riding on train interfere with GPS.

lobsterbake said:

I ordered on May 21st

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Well hope mine is not far from being built. Thanks.

I hate to say it, but the tracking your order once it goes on the train sucks. You can't really track it. At least I couldn't. There was an individual on another forum that I think worked with RAM that could keep track to some extent. I didn't send him my info, but I watched the thread quite a while and i knew who placed their order at approximately the same time I did, so I figured their status would be similar to mine. Plus I was able to see how long everyone else orders were taking. Every once in a while, I'd get a call from the dealer starting; "it left on the train but we don't know where it is"; "it will be at the transfer point in Louisiana on X day"; "it will make it to Shreveport on this other day, and it usually about a week to make it over to Longview". So I'm like "YOU'RE KILLING ME!". In the end, mine arrived unexpectantly (about 4 days earlier than they were telling me) because I think the in transit tracking system is crummy.

In the end, actually getting my truck that was built specifically for me and the fact that my window sticker has my name on it was really cool. It was well worth the wait.

Seems to be getting tougher to get things across the border these days

My understanding is FCA can track in real time, just they no longer provide that info to customers from being bugged to many times on why there vehicle was not making the progress they think it should have.

I know coming from Mexico and it happens sometime with domestic shipment by rail, they can languish for weeks at times at rail yard choke points waiting for their turn to queue and move on the rail.

Hootbro said:

My understanding is FCA can track in real time, just they no longer provide that info to customers from being bugged to many times on why there vehicle was not making the progress they think it should have.

I know coming from Mexico and it happens sometime with domestic shipment by rail, they can languish for weeks at times at rail yard choke points waiting for their turn to queue and move on the rail.

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Well, it really depends on the service level the rail customer is paying the railroad...UPS shipments, autos, reefers (fruits and veggies, not cannabis) and Boeing 737 fuselages do NOT linger in yards for weeks at a time. Come to think of it, the entire U.S. rail systems is fairly fluid since the carriers don't make money from cars just sitting around (unless they're getting paid to store cars, but that's a small part of the business).

Regardless, I think your first point is probably the correct answer to the OP's question: FCA just doesn't want to give that info to the customer. It's kind of sad, as tracking such things is kind of cool!

TXCOMT

As nice as it would be to see where the truck is real time FCA will not give out that info because everyone and their grandma who bought a Ram, Jeep, Dodge or Chrysler would be calling 3 times a day for status. Not to mention possibility of security issues of people knowing exactly where vehicles on a train are. If the truck is in rail transit right now you can expect it to “generally” be another week or two. It is the luck of the draw at this step. You may get held over in a yard waiting for another train to be built. I got lucky and mine had a fast transit of 1 week to get all the way up to Michigan.

TXCOMT said:

Well, it really depends on the service level the rail customer is paying the railroad...UPS shipments, autos, reefers (fruits and veggies, not cannabis) and Boeing 737 fuselages do NOT linger in yards for weeks at a time. Come to think of it, the entire U.S. rail systems is fairly fluid since the carriers don't make money from cars just sitting around (unless they're getting paid to store cars, but that's a small part of the business).

Regardless, I think your first point is probably the correct answer to the OP's question: FCA just doesn't want to give that info to the customer. It's kind of sad, as tracking such things is kind of cool!

TXCOMT

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Maybe not so much once on the rail cars but I drive by rail yard auto staging area just outside Philly every day. I have seen the same vehicles parked and not moved from the same spot for weeks at times waiting on truck pickup and transport.

I guess the detail point I am trying to make is FCA does not want the average order buyer bugging them when they see their vehicle sitting in such places and why they are not moving in a timely matter.

Hootbro said:

Maybe not so much once on the rail cars but I drive by rail yard auto staging area just outside Philly every day. I have seen the same vehicles parked and not moved from the same spot for weeks at times waiting on truck pickup and transport.

I guess the detail point I am trying to make is FCA does not want the average order buyer bugging them when they see their vehicle sitting in such places and why they are not moving in a timely matter.

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Oh, I see what you mean...yep, I'm sure about both points; the land side of those yards is probably used as storage-in-transit as many dealers don't have lots of space for inventory. In Southern California, auto dealers lease transmission line ROW for storage since land is so valuable there! I bet things are similar up in the Northeast, too.

I'll also bet only Demon buyers were kept appraised of where their cars were...of course, IIRC, they were all transported by truck, not rail!

TXCOMT

I'm 7 weeks away from my order and got the news today that the status has not changed since week 2. "Waiting for the parts to build it" is how it was explained to me. Sux, wish mine was on a train!! I got the Rambox.... This must be the problem.

I heard a news story not too long ago that a bunch of Ram trucks are sitting in Mexico because of a rail car shortage.