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When I lived in Charlotte there was a motorcycle dealer I did a lot of business with. Especially parts and service. The more money I spent, the better the discounts and the faster my work would get done. Then I was invited to join them on Sunday rides and we had exchanged personal numbers, etc.
I decided to trade my GS for an S1000RR after I left Charlotte. I called them and asked for the salesperson I knew. I didn't message his personal phone. I didn't email him. I told him what I wanted, he ran the numbers, gave me a terrible trade value and so I did the deal here in Georgia.
Business is business. If you can't compartmentalize the relationship from the transactions, that's on you. I might take a service dept donuts to say thanks in the hopes they pay a little extra attention to where they park my car or don't leave it out in the rain. Not because I think it will get me a discount.
If anything, I would dig deep into the motivation of going to the dealership every week. Dropping off gifts. Etc. You had a one-sided expectation that this GM never agreed to support.
I may be callus, but I honestly don't think there is a 'relationship' anymore (at least with higher end dealers like Porsche, Range Rover, Lexus, etc). The people who think they have a 'relationship' are those with large suitcases of money as Mooty so eloquently stated, who are the first people that get calls from the GM when they have a 'hot' car on their showroom floor, that will write them a blank check and pay whatever ADM's they want.
As a result, the last time I bought a car locally was almost 20 years ago. I always go to the local dealership and offer them a chance to sell me a car, but they really don't care about small fry like me. The service department at all the local dealers treat me well, even though I have not bought a car from them.
At the end, the 'local' dealer is no longer really local. With internet sales departments, their market is really the entire country. Thus I buy cars from out of state, and they sell cars to out of state clients. The real person you want to have a 'relationship' with is your service advisors and possibly head tech in the service department.
These are face-to-face conversations, not email. I'm sure the GM is also thinking he doesn't have the relationship with you that he thought he did, if you were so quick to blast him in such a public way, and state flat-out that you'll never buy another car from them, based on a text message. Sorry, but I think there's more to this than what's being shared here.
Thanks for saying this!! I just don’t get why someone would pay ADM on a « normal production » car that will loose 10% of its value as soon as you walk out the door. In Europe, usually no ADM unless you’re buying something truly unique and special.
For my 718 Spyder, I got 15% discount and I live in the richest European country. My 991 GTS, 18% discount, my E63 AMG 35% discount, my future X5 30% discount. Buyers have lots of power if they want. And yes, dealers here also play games especially for cars like GT2 RS or 911R
Money is money, it's nothing personal...
Sure repeat customer and big spender gets earlier call.. showing up on last day of month/quarter/fiscal year...otherwise what do you think dealers are? charities? non-profits... seriously
ADM is purely how badly do you want it NOW or before the next person... needs to end
I've been troubled by a recent interaction with the GM of dealership that I purchased my touring from and wanted to get some feedback on whether my expectation are incongruent with reality.
Like many of you, I pride myself of building meaningful relationships with business vendors, retailers, et al. This bridges I build often come in the form of birthday well wishings, genuine conversations about family/life, bottles of wines dropped off during the holidays, referrals, etc. I genuinely care about the people I do business with.
That said, I recently reached out to the GM of the dealership where I purchased my touring from with the intention of "paying it forward". I am planning to spend the summer abroad and don't expect my toys to get any use Gerald R Dewes- that and the idea of grabbing an early allocation of a 992 touring were behind an email sent to the GM stating much the same. As in, hey, "I'd like to sell you my touring and learn what the allocations look like for 992's moving forward". I know I could get higher dollars if I went elsewhere but I want my guys (the dealership) to benefit.
So 10 days go by with no response. And then a get a call and text from the GM to the effect of "Hey, saw your email, I forgot to call you back - I can give you $150k for your car and I don't know anything about 992 allocations".
For context, my touring has 8K miles, full PPF, full service up to date, all the right options (chalk, pccb, buckets, etc), never tracked. I also paid a $15k ADM.
So, am I justified in questioning if I actually have a "relationship" with my dealer? $150k and there are currently fewer than 5 tourings listed on autotrader?
As it stands right now, I'll never a buy a car from these guys again - tell me I'm wrong.
At the end of the day, I was trying to do right by the relationship, but maybe through this experience I learned that maybe I simply don't have one...
Thoughts and similar experiences are welcome!
I have a weird situation that I wanna get everyone’s opinion on. Basically, I placed a build order with my local Porsche dealer. That didn’t pan out and they tried to get me in a used 4s, but I didn’t want that. I took it upon myself to cold call a few dealerships within a days drive, and found one that had the car that I ultimately bought. I will be getting the car serviced where I live, of course, and I’m a little worried that if the salesman sees that I backed out of a build and bought a car from a different Porsche dealer, he will be pissed and more or less unwilling to help me with any issues that might arise in the future. Do you guys think I’m over reacting? I was thinking about sending him a text explaining that I happened to luck in to one and sorry I didn’t get him a commission. Just want to handle it the best way so I can still count on getting great service at my local dealer!
I have a weird situation that I wanna get everyone’s opinion on. Basically, I placed a build order with my local Porsche dealer. That didn’t pan out and they tried to get me in a used 4s, but I didn’t want that. I took it upon myself to cold call a few dealerships within a days drive, and found one that had the car that I ultimately bought. I will be getting the car serviced where I live, of course, and I’m a little worried that if the salesman sees that I backed out of a build and bought a car from a different Porsche dealer, he will be pissed and more or less unwilling to help me with any issues that might arise in the future. Do you guys think I’m over reacting? I was thinking about sending him a text explaining that I happened to luck in to one and sorry I didn’t get him a commission. Just want to handle it the best way so I can still count on getting great service at my local dealer!
They won't care; if they did, then the deal that didn't pan out, would've.
Like others have said ..Porsche is no more. It’s greed plain and simple. Many with deep pockets that don’t care have created the Ferrari model and Porsche has adopted. Took matters into my own hands and did things on my own. Supply and demand creates this and clearly more demand than supply.
I have a weird situation that I wanna get everyone’s opinion on. Basically, I placed a build order with my local Porsche dealer. That didn’t pan out and they tried to get me in a used 4s, but I didn’t want that. I took it upon myself to cold call a few dealerships within a days drive, and found one that had the car that I ultimately bought. I will be getting the car serviced where I live, of course, and I’m a little worried that if the salesman sees that I backed out of a build and bought a car from a different Porsche dealer, he will be pissed and more or less unwilling to help me with any issues that might arise in the future. Do you guys think I’m over reacting? I was thinking about sending him a text explaining that I happened to luck in to one and sorry I didn’t get him a commission. Just want to handle it the best way so I can still count on getting great service at my local dealer!
IMO, whatever happened with your build that didnt pan out should have no consequence on getting service at that dealer. As for “getting great service”, I think it depends on whether thats even a “thing” at your dealer. Your service experience is unlikely to be better or worse than anyone elses…
Dont know if the same applies to your relationship with the sales department. If you “built” a touring and agreed to terms and then backed out- not sure you will get another opportunity for a GT product in the future-
I've been troubled by a recent interaction with the GM of dealership that I purchased my touring from and wanted to get some feedback on whether my expectation are incongruent with reality.
Like many of you, I pride myself of building meaningful relationships with business vendors, retailers, et al. This bridges I build often come in the form of birthday well wishings, genuine conversations about family / life, bottles of wines dropped off during the holidays, referrals, etc. I genuinely care about the people I do business with.
That said, I recently reached out to the GM of the dealership where I purchased my touring from with the intention of "paying it forward". I am planning to spend the summer abroad and don't expect my toys to get any use - that and the idea of grabbing an early allocation of a 992 touring were behind an email sent to the GM stating much the same. As in, hey, "I'd like to sell you my touring and learn what the allocations look like for 992's moving forward". I know I could get higher dollars if I went elsewhere but I want my guys (the dealership) to benefit.
The issue is that the typical company / business has competition and needs to demonstrate its worth to the customer who presumably can buy the product, software, widget, service from any number of providers / suppliers. Your Porsche dealer has only a small # of GT allocations with demand outstripping supply which leads to all the dealer shenanigans-
So 10 days go by with no response. And then a get a call and text from the GM to the effect of "Hey, saw your email, I forgot to call you back - I can give you $150k for your car and I don't know anything about 992 allocations".
For context, my touring has 8K miles, full PPF, full service up to date, all the right options (chalk, pccb, buckets, etc), never tracked. I also paid a $15k ADM.
So, am I justified in questioning if I actually have a "relationship" with my dealer? $150k and there are currently fewer than 5 tourings listed on autotrader?
As it stands right now, I'll never a buy a car from these guys again - tell me I'm wrong.
At the end of the day, I was trying to do right by the relationship, but maybe through this experience I learned that maybe I simply don't have one...
Thoughts and similar experiences are welcome!
We would all like a reality in which one could really have a mutually beneficial relationship with the dealer. I wholeheartedly agree your GM gave you a ridiculous offer for your touring in addition to ignoring your ask for a possible 992 allocation- this is clearly the behavior of someone who doesnt care what you think about him and doesnt value your business / relationship. I dont know how many cars you have bought from him, but my dealer (Napleton) is located in an affluent community and has many clients who buy / churn several cars a year- not just GT products, but harder-to-sell taycan turbo S, cayenne turbo, panny’s, etc…so I realized years ago that me buying 1 car every 1-2 yrs means very little to their bottom line and therefore it matters little how much wine / donuts / philosophical conversations I provide- it is unlikely to move the proverbial needle.
The difference is a typical business has to demonstrate the value of their product or service to the customer who can choose from multiple vendors. Porsche dealers sell a high demand, low supply product and often couldnt care less whether small fish like most of us buy from or "like" them which then leads to all the dealer shenanigans-
02-26-2021 | 02:47 PM
