If you have ever ordered a vehicle with an upfitted box, body, or hoist of some configuration or another, you realize what a unique situation you are in. All of a sudden you're in another world and seemingly have little or no control over your destiny.

You have stepped into the realm of the upfitter, a world where statements like "You want it when?" and "Not to worry" are commonplace. But it doesn't have to be that way. With the help of some of the experts in the field of boxes, bodies, and other goodies, we're going to show you ways to avoid some of the pitfalls of ordering truck bodies and related equipment.

Earl Maag, national leasing and fleet manager for Adrian Steel in Adrian, MI, said, "Fleet managers have more options than before; however, circumstances usually dictate the right way to go. Vehicle availability, how the vehicle is procured, the time of the model-year, and your own sense of urgency dictate how you should proceed, and in some instances, what you should realistically expect with reference to delivery time." The body upfitter is not trying to test your resolve by seeing how long you can wait to receive your completed vehicle, but consider these points:

Did you plan on securing the chassis for your upfitted unit from a body company's bailment pool? If you did order under that premise, you should get your completed vehicle much sooner than poor old Joe who ordered his through a fleet management company, directly from the manufacturer. One kicker, though, Joe may have received a different fleet incentive than you and probably ordered the chassis exactly as he wanted it, instead of having to accept whatever the bailment pool had to offer at that time.

You might also want to consider the time of year you're placing your order. Placing your orders early in the model-year can really help, but if you slip up and wait until later in the model-year to place your orders, you face the possibility of delays in build due to large numbers of orders ahead of you, depleted vehicle inventory, and component shortages such as engines, transmissions, or accessories. "Timing can be everything," Maag said.

There is another area that can definitely affect when, where, and with whom you place your order. That is the priority you place on the quality of the product and workmanship, turnaround time, and of course, cost. All of these must be considered and, practically speaking, it's not likely you can have the best of all three.

Roger Hess, president of Marathon Industries Inc. of Santa Clarita, CA, said, "Customers that are not really sure of what they want and don't take the time and opportunity to have a salesperson assist them will usually experience delays in production. This can be due to incorrect measurements, improper designation of exactly what product the customer wants, and last-minute dickering over pricing.

"Proper planning in advance can alleviate the majority of problems and make the purchase and delivery process as painless as possible," added Hess.

Hess feels that, as far as problems from the manufacturers' perspective are concerned, next to customer satisfaction and aftermarket service, the primary challenge seems to be how to offer low and competitive pricing and still provide a quality product.

Another problem that can affect virtually all upfit vendors is the delayed or canceled delivery of chassis that are required for the upfit. As mentioned earlier, timely ordering of required chassis can eliminate the majority of your upfit problems. Vehicle manufacturers are not always able to predict the reception their products will receive on the open market and, in some cases, greatly underestimate sales, thus directly affecting the delivery of ordered vehicles. Early and planned ordering is the fleet manager's best defense.

In some instances, bodies and other upfitted equipment such as hoists, high lift beds, or bucket lifts can be refurbished and re-used, eliminating the need for a completely new unit. This is a sound business practice, but as with everything else involved with vehicle order and upfit, it should be completely thought through. You must ensure that a replacement chassis ordered to replace the one for a refurbished/rebuilt box, body, or hoist, is the proper one for that application. You can make as many, if not more, mistakes when retrofitting and refurbishing equipment as you can when ordering new.