neurotic

Hey;

Over the past year, I've made some contacts with Porsche dealers down south as I will be moving there in the future. I connected with a "certified brand ambassador" at Porsche Cary to get an allocation for an 4RS earlier in the year. The "certified brand ambassador" was a super cool and genuine Porsche car guy. Every once in a while, he would send me info about cars he's getting or allocations. Recently, he texted me on August 23rd about a 992 Touring coming in for a trade in a week. I told him I'm interested and please let me know when it comes in. On Thursday 29th, car comes in. Checks all my boxes, even though a 992 was not on my radar, I told him if the CPO looks good and the price is in my budget, I'd bite.

Come Friday the 30th, car is CPO'ed and we agreed on a price that was lower than what they were going to list the car for on their site. I was happy. He asked me if I could close on the deal by Saturday 31st so they can get a bonus for the month. I told him I can not since I need to move the money from my brokerage account (as this was an unexpected purchase) and that will take a few days considering it is over Labor Day weekend but should get the deal closed by the end of the week (first week of Sept.). They suggested I give them a check that would bounce (since the money has not cleared into my checking account) so they can at least get the car "sold" on their books..............Hard no for me from an ethical stand point and keeping my credit history clean lol.

The certified brand ambassador contacted me later in the day and said it will be OK if we don't get the deal by end of August and September is fine. He emails sales agreement and deposit; and also requests DL and insurance. I sign everything and get back to him same day.

Then comes the morning of Saturday 31st. I get a call from one of the SA telling me if I can not close on the car today, he will list it for a higher price on their site. I was pi$$ed. Even after I sign the sales agreement, they basically ripped it up.

Would love to hear back from them here and try to disprove anything I have said, I will post the text conversations and the signed sales agreement. They have made no attempt to contact me since Saturday morning.

I've decided I file a complaint w/ PCNA even though we all know this means diddly squat.

Cheers

needmoregarage

That’s unethical and a huge disappointment. Very sorry for your experience. I would avoid them based on this info.

3-Pedals

Move on, no one cares unfortunately.

Falcon01

When you say you got a call from an SA (who is not the brand ambassador you were dealing with), are you referring to a sales associate or sales manager? Even though the car is listed online (for more $), doesn't mean it will sell. I would pretend nothing is wrong and that you are going to proceed as agreed upon with the your brand ambassador. If you left a deposit that they agreed to take, that's pretty clear that they are holding the car for you (even though it isn't binding). But if you are just moving money around and taking a few days, you should be fine.


Regarding the check idea, I don't see anything wrong with giving them a check with the agreement/expectation that they aren't going to deposit it until you give your ok (when the money transfers into you account). They just need payment/credit to punch the car as sold. You could've alternatively financed the car and just pay it off immediately. It would cost you a hard pull and a few bucks in interest, but who really cares if you pay it off within a month. I've given personal checks before that I've told dealers to hold until x day before depositing or it would bounce. They're typically ok with that as long as it's communicated up front. Never had one try to cash it early either. Some even finalized the transaction and released the car to me before I gave them payment (before the check would clear).

bucky56477

That is unfortunate...well, "****ty" might be a better word. Have you tried reaching out to any of the sales managers or GM? I can't speak for any of the SA's specifically, but I know the GM, and he is a very stand up guy. I imagine he would be very unhappy if he knew a customer had that kind of experience. Not to be a Karen, but might be worth a phone call if you are still interested in the car or want any "resolution" to the situation. Ironically, I know the specific car as it was a friend of mine that traded it in. It is a nice example, and he took very good care of it. Good luck.

ipse dixit

If that did happen.
And then they did that to you.


You basically have a basic breach of contract lawsuit. A slam dunk one at that.

Falcon01

Not really - vehicles are a weird thing - but basically the contracts aren't binding until the vehicle is taken delivery of/delivered/leaves the lot. Until then, either party can back out for any reason or no reason at all. Even if you fully sign all the documents as well. If you don't drive it off the lot, it can be unwound.

It's incredibly expensive, difficult and unlikely to win any lawsuit regarding breach of contract if no vehicle was delivered and all money is refunded.

AdamSanta85

A few years ago this happened to my parents, my father being the pain in the *** he is, took them to small claims court and won.

Butzi

...

DodoBrd

This car? ---> https://www.porschecary.com/certifie...e14c205468.htm

I'm surprised nobody there asked you to finance it and then pay it off once you get your funds.

Orca911

I would offer them $5k less than your original deal and wait. A Rubystar car with over 3k miles just might not fly off the shelf like they think in this market.
Plenty of cars out there for you!

neurotic

We agreed on a partial down payment that was sitting in my checking account already. The “deposit” I mentioned was a $2500 credit card deposit.

The ambassador wanted to fly up to me on Sunday the 1st to pick the check up (partial down payment) which was totally ok with me.

Even if I was to take this to court or the GM and win, I’m pretty sure they don’t want anything to do with me in the future. So the likelihood to get a 4RS allocation would not be zero, but pretty damn close.

At this point, I’m very turned off by the whole situation. I wanted to start a relationship with these guys since I am moving to the area. I also have a car coming off lease this month and wife wanted the new Cayenne and I wanted to order a Macan GTS to do an ED. So I would rather give someone else my business at this rate.

Ain’t going to cry about this. Just wanted to share my experience with this particular group.

pitt911

Sorry to hear about this. Certainly ****ty behavior from the dealer
few suggestions
always deal with a GSM or GM . They tend to be smarter and more straight forward than a SA . There are still bad ones , but the chance of that is less . I think you know I have had a lot of experience buying and selling cars
these people usually understand money . If you like the car, call GM and say this what happened and for me to honor my part , I need x, y and z . Be reasonable in your demands. May be extended maintenance , wheel and tire coverage will be two thing I might ask for
Building relationship with dealers in this environment , is becoming less and less productive in particular reference sales. For service is a different story
getting an allocation and building your own car is nice but not an essential factor for enjoying cars
I had 2 991.2 GT3RS , one I ordered and one I bought used . I enjoyed the second one a little more as it had the right exhaust and few options I missed on the first one
with all the flipping in the GT car market , I can bet you will have plenty of good used cars that will come to market and probably at better price than buying new in particular with ADM

Falcon01

I really don't understand your thought process. If you like the car and still want it - reach out to the sales guy you were dealing with it. Not sure who called you or why they tried to scare you, probably thinking you would finance (was it suggested) or give them money sooner so they can punch the car for August. But that ship has sailed - they will still sell you the car if you want it. I honestly wouldn't think much about that phone interaction you had with some random person from there.

I would bet that there was some sort of miscommunication somewhere and it can easily be resolved, so not sure why your writing off a whole dealership for what's likely no reason if they hold up their end and sell you the car for the agreed upon amount. I don't think at this point that you're in any position to negotiate any extras like some other's have suggested, you literally haven't been wronged yet.

Call your sales guy. Tell them what happened and ask them whats going on. The call could've come from a different sales guy trying to sell the car to one of his clients so he gets the commission for all we know. Might've been a miscommunication where a manager or someone thought you haven't committed and didn't realize you were put a deposit and were wiring money in a few days. Before freaking out and making a huge thing out of nothing, you should really find out what's going on.

Just my 2 cents.

Breen

the check thing doesn’t make sense.
Holding a post dated piece of paper doesn’t mean the car is sold and it would not equate to booking the revenue for the month. A Porsche dealer is a real business, typically run by experienced professionals and driving revenues north of $50m-$90m annually. It is 100% not possible any finance department or GM would even accept a check from a customer they don’t know.

its just not possible.