remington

I was just thinking about my 992 order experience having had the car now for about a month, and the thought occurred to me that I never paid any deposit for this order with my local Fresno dealer, and paid MSRP. Do I just have an honest face or is that normal. Seems everyone pays some amount of deposit. I have bought 1 car (Audi S6, they're a Porsche/Audi dealer) from them and sold them my 981, maybe that matters? Or maybe they were hoping I'd flake out so they could sell it for ADM.

detansinn

You're a regular customer and having a desirable trade goes a long way. I presume that your spec was fairly conventional as well -- makes it easy for them to sell to someone else if you flaked.

Dealers want regular lifetime local customers. They don't like dealing with transactional folks who aren't local.

tourenwagen

I didn't either despite offering twice. Dealer said they were happy settling up at pick up.

aggie57

You're in California, deposits are pretty meaningless anyway so maybe they thought it wasn't worth the paperwork.

X-PH.COM - MIKE

Is it possible to reclaim non-refundable deposits in California?

Icegrill

Very cool.

meyecul

No such thing as non refundable new car deposits in CA, it's a state law.

Denny Swift

I placed two $500 deposits back in 2018: one for a 718 Spyder and one for a 992 GTS. Shortly thereafter, the dealership changed hands, and the new owner refunded both my deposits (to "clean the books" after the ownership change he said), but confirmed that I still was 1st in line for both cars at MSRP. I was a bit nervous, but I had it in writing from the new owner. The Spyder allocation landed in Q1 2020, and the 992 GTS allocation, in Q1 2022. I bought both at MSRP without a deposit. So you're not alone!

I love my dealership! Everyone there knows me by name (and I know them all), and it's always a pleasant experience going there. They also tell me that the staff think that my two cars are their favorites. They may tell everyone that, but I like to believe it's true! :-)

X-PH.COM - MIKE

Ah nice

blk_c2s

I didn't pay any deposit and actually called to insist on giving one. I was promised MSRP and received MSRP.
The transaction was much more casual than I've read online which is what concerned me. In the end it all worked out much better than I expected!

PTSTurboS

I’ve also purchased a 22 PTS Turbo S and a new then 18 991.2 GT3 w/ no deposit at MSRP from Porsche Fresno both were a no stress or B.S. transactions!

ipse dixit

Every deposit I've ever been asked to put down by Porsche has never actually been "deposited."

They just asked for my CC info, filled in the CC slip, and never ran the card.

HappinessProcured

Same in every regard, but different state and no prior history. I was paranoid they were using me as a pawn of some sort, maybe like you said, hoping I'd walk so they could pick up my beautiful spec. But even that made no sense because it's easy to make someone walk - just ask for $100k ADM. Ended up writing a check at pick-up and that was it. Easiest purchase ever, although there were a few sleepless nights.

needmoregarage

This may be (in part) because they pay the CC % fee and if they have to refund the deposit, they lose money on deposits. So it makes more financial sense for them to go without a deposit or to insist on a check (or cash). I believe if they have to refund a CC deposit, they also get “dinged” on the fee for the refund, so it’s double processing costs for zero revenue if someone doesn’t buy the car.

My dealer sells at MSRP. In recent years they asked for a deposit only on an “unusual spec” (our Cayenne has Bordeaux/black interior - maybe they think it would be harder to sell, and my 718 GT4 is PTS and they asked for a small deposit when the build confirmed). Otherwise with all the cars we’ve spec’d from them over the years, no deposit is requested.

F8Driver

I paid a hefty deposit in May 2021. But money wasn't making interest and I wanted the dealer to know I was serious.