tomc_mets

I did likewise. Porsche at 50. If it were me, I'd call ahead in the A.M., to let them know that you'll be there, make an appointment, and then drive. Remember, you're not just test driving the Porsche, you're test driving the dealership...T

subshooter

100%. You are 50, probably white. You fit the stereotype of a new 911 buyer.


I'm in the market for a new 911 next year. I called around to dealers to understand Targa allocation availability. Next thing I know I am getting invited to free PCNA sponsored autocross events to test drive the 991.2.

kayjh

Thats the thing - a Porsche isn't a commodity. It is a brand, like other brands. Not every car looks and drives like a British Ambassador found in India from before 1948 and still sold there. At one time that was one of the only brands in India. Ib that sense a car might a commodity, but that term connotes that it is in abundant supply and any number of sources can supply the same thing.

Today, 911's are in short supply. Dealers don't aways have access to allocations and many dealers in Canada refuse to discount saying they can sell every car they can get and could sell more if they could get more.

I think this is where the dealer's attitude is coming from. Its a bit of a short term situation though as things tend to go in cycles. In 2008 -10 dealers couldn't find people to buy cars and were discounting and offering other incentives. I'm sure they were much more pleasant to deal with in those days.

In the end, I don't have to be friends with the dealer. I just want the best deal I can get and am prepared to travel some distance to get it. My home dealer will just get the service if they don't want to compete.

systemr

in the SF Bay Area there are 7 dealerships (8 if you count monterey), there are a lot of cars on the lots. PCNA sold >10K in the US last year, the regular 991 it is not what I would describe as in short supply

STG

Porsche lately likes to play the Birkin Bag game it seems

budrichard

Auto sales people encounter individuals asking questions and "might be PTS" a LOT.
Do your honework, know what you want, how your going to finance/pay cash and when. Go in with the attitude, I'm going to order a Porsche today and both you and the Sales Advisor will have a better encounter.
As to test drive, if it's on the lot, should be no problem but many models, some seats and some options are just not readily available.
Good luck!-Richard

DerekS

I don't want to overpay, but I also don't want to play "Dealership Wars" to nickel and dime them over a couple hundred bucks.

I feel good when both sides have a fair deal.

Establishing a long-term relationship and coming back for repeat business is good for everyone.

Fred R. C4S

I used to sell and market mining equipment. Each truck would run from $1M to $4M. Sales were generally for a fleet of 5 or more per purchase. Large deals could total over $100M. My boss gave three pieces of advice,

1. The customer doesn't get a discount unles he asks for it.
2. The seller doesn't get his price unless he asks for it.
3. A good deal is when the buyer and seller agree on a price they both can live with.

The seller needs a profit to support the product after the sale. He is after all running a business, not a philanthropic organization. The customer needs to feel he was treated with respect and fairly. A good seller must keep in mind that it's not just this sale with the customer, it's the business relationship that generates all future sales. If the customer sees the product merely as a commodity, he will likely be treated as a commodity by the seller.

kayjh

Different story in Canada I guess. Something like 15 dealer in the country and at present about 8 cars on dealer's lots, most of which are highly optioned cars (eg C2S for $158,000). I wouldn't call the cars commodities up here.

My point was it's a short term game plan to act like God when you are selling these cars because things won't always be this way for the brand. Things change.

Parnelli

[QUOTE=subshooter;13646689]




best picture EVER !!!!!!

Archimedes

And they sell every single one of them, every year. Porsche doesn't need to kiss anyone's *** to sell their cars. And there aren't a ton of 911's out there. Macans and Cayennes, yes, 911's not so much.

There might be 40-50 911s in inventory in the entire Bay Area, more than half of which are builds only a mother could love.

stealthpilot

I found a lot of the experiences on that thread to be quite relevant. A very small percentage of consumers have bad attitudes. Most just want a simple easy sales experience.

If you look at almost any independent market research the automotive retail industry has lower customer satisfaction than almost any other industry. So there is a problem at the industry level. The problems relate mostly to bak of pricing transparency and the fact that sales people incentives are at conflict with the objective of a customer which is to get a fair deal.

Now if you look within the automotive industry (accepting for a second that this is a discussion of the tallest of the midgets), you will find that Porsche isn't doing so well.



My own experience with Porsche has been very positive. The only thing I found a bit odd was that when negotiating to buy the car I currently own, the dealer first started with a price $12k above what I paid, and told me that their pricing is very fair, they can't go any longer and they would be happy too suggest an alternative car for the price I offered. They stuck with this line for 4 days, and then all of a sudden took my offer. It made all their previous communications seem disingenuous. Nonetheless, the experience after that in terms of efficient paperwork, shipping the car, post sales follow-up was excellent. And I wouldn't hesitate to make that dealer my first call for my next car. Nonetheless I only have this view because I view them lying to me as part of the game.

I think the Tesla model is the way forward.

The Fat Kid

I can't imagine why they would not allow you to take a test drive.

You should check out the HFS thread if you are a "normal person"; let the "rich person" take the huge depreciation hit

Regarding Porsche-dealership experience: My salesman was great, and I was just buying an "inexpensive" CPO C2S. He offered to take me out in a manual 996 Turbo when I mentioned seeing it during the C2S test drive, but I was short on time. He was in constant contact with updates until I picked the car up, and even emailed me after the sale to see if I was enjoying the car.

Good luck, and have fun tomorrow!

systemr

there no doubt a lot of money around here, it takes longer for them to discount with all the tech money sloshing around

a quick look shows there are 81 on the lot at the moment, didn't check but i agree with you that many of the cars are dealer spec that I personally wouldn't buy

Stevens Creek: 15
Sonnen: 4
Carlsen: 15
michael stead: 15
bulingame: 3
fremont: 15
livermore: 7
monterey: 7

NoGaBiker

Hmmm... I get where you're coming from, but I would offer that things change. It's entirely possible that they had a very good reason on Days 1-3 that they wouldn't even consider the price you offered; in fact, I'd suggest that by definition that was the case (or else... they'd have sold you the car for your price on Days 1-3).

And then, something changed on Day 4. Could have been nothing more than they have a policy of "wait-em-out-for-4-days-then-cave." Could have been another customer very interested in "your" car and then that customer either walked or bought another car from them, leaving your car without any competition from another buyer. Etc.

So I'd cut them slack on the statement that they can't go as low as you want at that time.