24Chromium

For the 1st time in my life, I'm custom ordering a car. I've read a lot of the posts on RL about the ins and outs of custom orders, european delivery, tracking your order, ships, ports, etc. Loads of great stuff, hats off to the community for sharing this valuable information to the world at large.

My query is in regards to the wait time. I place a deposit down on 22 Nov. I was told at that time the delivery to Norcal would be 3 to 4 months. In other words, end of March, worst case. At the time, I thought that was excessive, and crossed my fingers that it would actually be less. I was also told that my 'freeze' date was the 10th of Dec. Naturally, I changed my mind a few times after placing the deposit. I added a few more goodies along the way between then and now. When I gave my final blessing on 10 Dec, I found out my delivery date was now 25 Apr. That's an entire month that the date got moved out. I was really dumbfounded. I keep thinking that if it's that late, I should get European delivery, since the weather is probably pretty decent then.

I'm pretty irritated I got bumped 30 days from the original delivery date. I wish that the dealer would have explained that the delivery date moves with each change. My understanding was that I could change to my hearts content, until the 'freeze' date, without incurring any delay.

Can anyone shed any light as to:

1 - Changing an order prior to the freeze date will incur a delay.

2 - Why Porsche has such a long lead-time

3 - How many days sooner could I expect delivery, assuming I change to European delivery (in other words, how long is it for shipping, trucking, PDI, etc. once the car leaves the factory and is delivered in Norcal)

Gcracker07110

I placed my order November 30th with a freeze December 3rd and will take delivery around 14th March.

The timeline seems kinda long given your freeze date and I am on the East Coast not the West Coast so I don't know what that adds to the delivery.

The manager at my dealer said that Porsche system is generally conservative on the dates that it provides for the production process and they have seen swings of as much as 2 weeks earlier than plan.

You can call your sales guy on a regular basis and he can get updates from their system with usually a 24-48 hour lag

TTCarrera

Some of the more rare options, especially paint colors and leather options, like 2-tone or deviated stitching and grouped together and produced in a block. Some of your changes may have been like this.

Also, some options sometimes are back ordered from their supplier due to high demand.

Shipping is lengthy.

My 991S was completed on 1/21 and loaded onto a ship 7 days later, 1/28.

The ship reached the Panama Canal (there's webcams where you can watch it go through the locks) on 2/19 and finally docked in San Diego on 2/28. Customs inspection and pre-delivery inspection took until 3/7 and then it was trucked to Portland, OR dealer, arriving 3/11.

Altogether, 7 weeks from production to NW dealer.

24Chromium

Damn!!!

j080808

The way my salesman explained to me, was that each dealer has an allotment per month. They can use those allotments for custom or stock, its their choice. Depending on dealer sizes and area, many shoppers will consider allotment AND price. When I ordered my 981, they simply reconfigured a 'stock' car with my specs and I took delivery 10 weeks later because I was right on the edge of the freeze date and went to port and got on a ship very fast. I could have taken delivery earlier had it been delivered to the east coast and not Houston. Did they do this because I am a repeat customer? Potentially.

Stock cars are better because they usually sell at a higher margin, ordered cars are from enthusiasts and will wait longer. I go to a big dealer 700 miles from me, they sell more in one month than my dealer here sells in a year. The place I buy are neck and neck some months with the #1 guys in Florida.

When you order, you should ask what month you are slotted for so there are no surprises (like in your case). Each allotment closes (freezes) the month before, ie July allotments close in June. This give the manufacturer time to order needed parts. July cars are then built and shipped, in your case and as pointed out, it takes a month to the west coast.

Why were you bumped? Could be several reasons, they sold your car/slot at a higher margin, they messed up someones order and needed a replacement quicker and shifted everyone? Could be lots of reasons but ill bet its about $$$. Dealers can swap allotments as well.

IMO, the answer to question number 1 is no. Question number 2 is about profits and managing stock levels at both dealers and the factory (even with just-in-time). I would love to answer number 3 someday.

Hope this limited bit helps.

TTCarrera

Actually, if one of your changes, even before lock, is for something like Paint-to-Sample you will almost surely be delayed. They will wait until they have a bunch of cars ordered in that PTSand then paint them together. Too much trouble to paint just one car and the have to clean the paint booth equipment.

CaliforniaZombie

I honestly wouldn't worry about any of this - lead time, order time, etc etc. As others have already noted, there are many variables that go into how quickly you'll get your car. Rest assured Porsche is not playing games with artificially delaying people's orders. So even if you find out the exact truth as to what went into defining your expected delivery date - you have two choices, cancel your order if you're not happy with it, or live with it. Not trying to be offensive here - but you're ordering a rather amazing driving machine. And once it arrives, you're going to love it. Meanwhile, clear your mind, relax, and the time will pass.

I custom ordered my car too, and I know the wait is rough, but it'll go by faster than you think.

Now on the European delivery - I would have loved to have done that. Just didn't have the time.

j080808

That could be the case and makes sense. I have heard many theories about PTS, with the most common being that: a color not already on the 'approved' and/or 'tested' list can take months to get the green light. What I dont quite understand is why there would be a delay if you choose Mexico Blue, the fact is, they dont paint the cars in batches, they roll through the booth and get all different 'stock' colors. So, perhaps PTS is done in batches or only at certain times during production like you say.

In all, dealers know very quite a bit when it comes to delivery, down to a 2 week time frame (assuming no delays like weather, strikes) I would estimate. Orders freeze X days before production, boats leave port every X days and customs usually goes fast. Then its up to the truck to deliver. It may seem like a long time, but there are many moving parts. I was told dealers are invoiced when the car leaves port, but that seems a little strange considering they have no control over the delivery chain. Its been well reported that dealers receive and extra allotment when factory delivery is done, but the dealer picks up some of those costs, so its offset by an allotment.

cy456

First off congrats! Custom ordering is a unique experience in which you get the car you want specified to how you want it. The wait, while painful is what makes the car that much more special when it arrives.

Having recently done a custom PTS order I can hopefully answer some of the questions here:

Your dealer has a set number of slots or allotments per month. Some of these are used for ordering lot cars, others are traded with other dealers or used as customer orders. When you place your order with your dealer, Porsche will reply with a timetable like so, which your SA can easily access and email to you.

Changes can be made up to the vehicle fixed date, although Porsche can and does move up the timetable so it's important to bug your SA for updates.

As for PTS, according to my dealer Porsche does a limited number of PTS orders a month, so depending on when and where you are in the queue when you order, you could be in for a long or longer wait compared to a 'standard' color. As you can see my order was placed in July but given a nov (!) build. Thankfully Porsche moved it up and I am expecting delivery next week! Consensus seems to be that your official time of delivery is 2-3 weeks earlier, unless you ordered a GT3 lol then its delay delay delay.

As to why your situation changed so much, it depends like others said on what factors occurred: did you change the order to add a lot of Exclusive options? Maybe your dealer couldn't get an allotment until later? Or traded/sold your slot and reordered under a later one. These are questions better asked to the dealer itself for answers

stealthboy

I would recommend at this point that you do European Delivery. For me it was a once-in-a-lifetime dream come true and went beyond my wildest expectations. It's surprisingly easy to set up. The experience at the factory on delivery day alone is worth it - then it's just an additional bonus that you get to drive around Germany (or the rest of Europe) for a week or two (or three?).

I was able to order mine to take the place of a slot that the dealer already had, so I ordered on April 4 and my car was built April 24. I then took delivery at the factory on May 22. Overall not that long of a wait.

mtbscott

Every car company's procedures are different, but the order time for Porsche is way longer than what I've experienced with other brands. I custom ordered two MINI's and received one in five weeks, one in 6 weeks. Transit time from the UK to my dealer was just 7-8 days, all of their eastern cars arrive at port in South Carolina and then trucked.
My previous Audi TT-RS was ordered months before the car was even official for the US. Once the order could actually be placed, it was about 7 weeks from production to delivery. It arrived at the Port of Houston on on a Monday, was at my dealer the next day, and I took delivery on Wednesday.
It's almost like Porsche offers, but only grudgingly does custom orders.

John 996 TT Cab

When I started the order process on my 2013 991S Cab I was advised December/12 production. When they got the order it changed to 3rd week January (too many options I guess but included X51 and Sport Design front and rear). Before the freeze date I asked about getting deviated stitching and was told that would add a month. If I wanted to switch to C4S then all bets were off on timing. Some options take extra time over normal. In the end it took 5 1/2 months from order to delivery.

24Chromium

Thanks for all the feedback. I'm assuming it's the deviated stitching that did me in. The paint is a standard color.

Tacet-Conundrum

Just don't forget the infamous fellow who comes along and wants to add an extra $15K worth of options which add to the MSRP. Unfortunately its difficult to prove such thing but it does happen.

My local dealer said they were only getting one 50 anniversary edition so I had to hurry. Well I didn't get it. When they got the car in it came with two extra 50th editions. That's why I refuse to buy from them now. And it wasn't like Porsche was like "Here's two more", they knew they were getting three from the get go! That's what my Porsche Moles had to say when I asked them.

Explorer7

qq; was this tracking screen accessible by you? As in that you were able to track your own vehicle progress? I thought only the dealer could track it.