f4 plt

Been dealing with Porsche of San Antonio for 20 plus years and have never had a reason not to trust them either sales or service.

John Mclane

+1
Are you in Chicago? Sounds just like my stealership. They only call after a car sits on the lot for a long time and even then just to offer it for whatever they have it online. That after purchasing several cars.

Spdrcrj

Only people im loyal to in the car biz is my local Ferrari service dept and my new found repair for the RS. Both operate under the same philosophy and are a pleasure to work with. Both have small staffs (about 7 and 4 personnel respectively) so I try to bring them lunch a couple times a year as a small token of my appreciation.

On the flipside, the boutique dealer in So Cal I bought my RS through is about to fail to comply with a "we owe" in 10 days. Will be filing a BBB complaint once that expires on 20 Feb.

Overall, it's my opinion that car dealers and ***** houses are operated under the same principles. Act like they are your best friends just so they can make money off of you. Once, you don't spend money with them, they want nothing to do with you. Which is fair enough. But before the sale, don't ask about my family or anything personal. I want a product, you want to sell a product, leave it at that and stop acting like a hooker. lol

96redLT4

Central coast CA

bcgreen

Definitely dislike my local dealership. If I want a new or used, I will first look to other dealers, and then probably buy a used pp. Terrible service where it seems that they take someone from any other make and put them to work in the service department.

ak432

I find that a big issue with loyalty is the amount of staff turnover at management levels in many of these places. You may have built up a great relationship with the general manager.....but they either leave or get promoted elsewhere and you are back at square one.

ipse dixit

That's why I am loyal to dealers (or service advisors), not dealerships.

There's simply too much movement amongst dealerships. But the positive is that most of the dealers move to another Porsche dealerships.

forhamilton

tasman

Have been as loyal to them as they have been to me. I really tried but didn't work out.

ohniner

I agree dealer relationships are short lived on the sales side due to constant mangement changes. Service departments are more stable but that doesn't get you any closer to that GT car.
You have a better chance of a relationship resulting in a coveted allocation at a small dealership as they need their small customer base, but you will wait for your car as they don't have the sales numbers to be first at the feeding trough. Larger market dealerships while not oblivious to their heavy hitters, have many new faces in the door each day making it less likely to foster a relationship.
Best answer is don't go steady, play the field and foster two or three relationships if you can.

mooty

manager/sales come and go
a smart principal knows customers
there are ppl who buy many cars and there are ppl who boy many cars for 20 years
if the principals do not know the customers, they wont be around long
any business consultant would know it's way more costly to obtain a new customer than to keep an exiting one
it's the long term value
it's the econ down cycle
it's the great depression
that define the business
today, any moron can be in business and make a buck. look at 2008, how many GIANTS crumbled
the dumb ones do not remember history

Nifty911

You are correct.
Local Porsche dealer seems to be the stepping stone for the parent company. I dont think anyone there today was there even six or seven years ago. Years ago, there was an older gentleman salesman who was also a Porsche enthusiast at my local dealer. He also knew Porsche cars, going back decades. He was like a Porsche encyclopedia and never BS'd anyone. They moved him to one of their other dealerships. I guess he was more valuable there than at Porsche. Unfortunately, the new staff they bring in all the time never seem to know much. They are more like pure, stereotypical sales people. I usually cut them off and explain I've bought cars from "them" going back 20 years. The tone changes, but that only briefly.

GT3

I have 3 dealers within a 40 minute drive. Service wise, they are all great. Allocation wise, all pretty much require previous purchase history to get one. All my GT purchases have been from the same one the past 9 years and I refer them new clients when it comes up.

richardbf

I am pretty loyal to my dealer. I am pretty new to Porsche and GT cars. One of my local dealers was pretty flippant when I approached them about interest in a GT4. I had a few other midwest dealers who weren't very polite or helpful either. However Suburban Porsche here in Farmington Hills Michigan was polite and gave me a no BS answer. I had no idea how hard these cars were to come by. They explained the process and said if they get one you'll be at a certain spot on the list. You can't buy your way up the list or anything like that with them (or so they claim). My time eventually came and it was a smooth experience. It was nice having someone who was willing to show me the time of day and explain the market to me. Also they sold me the car at MSRP and didn't take a deposit until I submitted the order. On the GT3 I bought later they didn't even take a deposit. Just went on my word. I'm not some big spender or famous person. Just some nerdy engineer who likes german toys. I've since purchased a GT3, Macan GTS, and 2 other cars from there stores. I intend on sending my business there for the foreseeable future.

Gh0st0