RollingArt

Is someone else developing an attitude?

Phil

OCBen

gt68

i'm not angry at all, but i'll try to make this clear and simple, last time:

1. we treat every email inquiry seriously and respond quickly and politely. june was horrible, but we sold over 200 new and pre-owned porsches in the previous 3 months, so we know how to sell cars and how to treat people well.
2. we want to sell you a car, in good times or in bad, with high margins or low ones. not a single person in the world NEEDS to buy a porsche, but we porsche dealers NEED to sell them to pay our mortgages, send our kids to school, etc.
3. i probably would have sold you a car had you made a polite and reasonable inquiry at my store. we sell over 30% of our cars to out of state buyers who live in excess of 500 miles away from my store, sight unseen.

but this is how it usually goes down:

shopper: give me your best recession pricing

me: thank you for your inquiry. this car is in stock and we can deliver it today. msrp is $100k. i don't have a set price, so my "best price" is the one where you commit to buying the car and i gain another customer. what does it take to put a deal together? what's the best number to call you, or should we continue the discussion by email? if you'll make me a reasonable offer i will accept the deal and you can pick up your new porsche at your earliest convenience.

shopper: there are plenty of dealers hungry for my business. you obviously don't want to sell cars, and i would never buy a car from some one who won't give me a price and is just playing games. typical car salesman.

that's it. are there bad dealers? yes, clearly! and there are bad accountants, bad lawyers and bad presidents. i'm sorry if you have been burned in the past. but there are good dealers too. so when i reply to your email where you say "give me your best price" by asking you to call me or make me an offer, just reply with "i'll buy your car for $x." i'll probably take the deal if i'm making any money at all, and you'll be surprised how easy it becomes to buy a car.

rijowysock

amen!.. i hate shopping for cars, because the games the dealer plays and when i find a seller that doesnt play games that is when i love buying a new car.

i had a porsche dealer tell me "you know i you pay less, you get less because we know what you paid when you go to sell it" i told him.. you have no idea what i paid... so the less i pay the less i lose.. he said "i think you got that wrong" lol WTF is that?

Maxy

gt68, I appreciate your situation, but I think that you are missing the simple fact that there are many, many dealers, but a buyer can only purchase a car from just one of them. You simply can't possibly expect that a buyer is going to take the time to follow-up at length with all the dealers that he or she has sent emails to. You should seriously think about the most effective way to respond to initial enquiries. Speaking from my own experience, I take this approach as an alternative to direct one-on-one negotiation--gives me an idea of the spread of prices, because some dealers do, in fact, respond with a specific price. For my last purchase, I went with what I thought was the best initial offer (and then negotiated for a few extras before closing the deal).

BobbyB

[ i'll probably take the deal if i'm making any money at all, and you'll be surprised how easy it becomes to buy a car.[/QUOTE]

I guess I'm confused, I'm not in car sales but I sale a product to our clients -we quote our clients our best price. Why, because if it's a good project, we want the business. Is it really so difficult for you? You know how much you'd like to make and you know the minimum you will take. Quote your best and move on -if it's truly a good price the buyer will be back. Just like you I've received quotes from dealers over MSRP to just over cost. Guess who I brought from every time?

Jon996

Personally, I wish there was simply 1 price. I hate price discussions with dealers. I am much more likely to be interested if there is a good price posted--otherwise I typically will not even look or ask.

cmdrstask

If I were shopping for a car via email (my preferred method) and got a response back without a price, I wouldn't be making further contact with the dealer. At the very least a response of "MSRP is $90,XXX, we will sell you the car today at $86,500." (or whatever discounted price) lets me know the dealer is interested in earning my business. I obviously know what MSRP is on a given car I'm checking on, and I also know that cars right now aren't selling for MSRP, except in very limited examples.

I will say that if I were sending an email requesting a quote, I'd be specific with what I wanted, listing model and required options, or asking about a specific car that was posted on the dealer website. If those details weren't listed, I'd be ok with a response back to me asking exactly what it was I was looking for, with a firm price offer following after I replied.

It seems likely to me that some dealers don't want to make a written offer since that email could then be cross-shopped to any other number of dealers. But if a dealer was interested in making a quick sale, I don't see why they wouldn't just respond with a reasonable discounted offer toward the bottom end of what they were actually willing to accept. It still leaves some room for negotiation but makes the customer feel like they're getting a good deal. Assuming the sale is made, one reasonable email that took all of 2 minutes to send nets a quick and easy profit of a couple thousand dollars with the potential to gain both repeat business and service/part sales.

medtech

C'mon guys, give the OP a break. It's the beginning of the month, and obviously he's on his period...

He buddy, why don't you give me your name and business number so I can refer all my friends to you. Way to drum up business!

(what a puss, no wonder no one wants to buy car from him)

stevepow

That's a bummer experience.

This summer, I bought my 911 and also helped my mom and mother-in-law buy cars (no, they are not driving Porsches).

My approach to all the dealers I talked to was to be straightforward and honest and to earnestly ask them for their assistance and expertise. This is a tough year for any sales - cars or otherwise. I have some sympathy for people trying to do a tough job - I couldn't see going in to dealers and twisting the knife. But I did my research ahead of time and knew what I was willing to pay and was also forthcoming about that.

I never got hassled or badgered by any of the dealers I worked with and those who I didn't buy from, I explained why and thanked them for helping me.

There is so much more in a transaction than lowest price - I want to feel good about the relationship and for me that goes a long way toward where I purchase from.

However, I find the OP's post a bit odd - serious buyers - you'll know them when they drive away in their new car, but ideally long before. Serious sellers will be savvy enough to have been the one who made the sale. Supply and demand is one small part of what is going on as is price. In fact I wonder, is the guy who is trying to school us on how to be a proper buyer also the teenager in the basement? How would I make that determination? The post lacks the tone of professionalism I expect from someone successfully selling $100K cars, and there's a bit of a negative flavor as well, and an assumption that rennlist readers/members need a lesson. Not the best lead-in I have seen.

Jon996

Just a side note--you can't always tell who is serious. . . When my wife and I were looking for our first fun car, we went first to several local Chevy dealers. Not one would let us drive a Corvette. One even said no test drive without an approved purchase agreement! So we headed off to the Honda dealer to look at the S2000. We had to argue just to sit in the locked car in the show room. [By the way, we were appropriately dressed for this, etc.]

Next stop, the local Audi dealer. They tossed me the keys, we drove the brand new (at the time) Audi tt turbo quattro. And bought it.

Luckily, the local Porsche dealer is the same. Toss you the keys, try it out. (and it worked).

Edgy01

Perhaps the OP can learn from my salesman. I value Walt and his integrity. When a customer contacts him (or the dealership) they treat everyone as if they will be writing a check to them that afternoon. There is much gamesmanship going on when the OP discusses "give me a serious offer" and then we can continue. What's a "serious" offer? That's so subjective in this economic environment. I think that's where the disconnect lies. Some of the emailers may be absolutely serious about a low ball offer. Perhaps they know more about what you REALLY paid for a car than you give them credit for. Perhaps not everyone out there recognizes that you get a certain percentage markup on the car, and then another (higher) markup on the options,--but are you willing to share that with these folks?

I have to agree with stevepow that the OP lacks a degree of professionalism expected from a company in the routine sales of $100,000 plus automobiles.

dD/dt

The reality of dealing in Porsches (unless OCBen's right and the 90% of us that are offended by the OP are too stupid to get this) is that there are a whole bunch of 12-year old boys, and grown men, who like to shop them without any real intention of buying them. It's always been that way. Now it seems worse because there are so few buyers in between.

If I were selling p-cars in this economy, I would sell them at an amount that lets me make a razor thin profit. Try to keep the customers by selling the cars. Then maybe I can make money on parts and service, which should remain more profitable than sales in this economy (although not as good as when the owners are flush). This is based on the understanding that sales will get better, as the economy moves in cycles. An economy like this is going to to weed out the weak dealerships. Some of us are going to go out of business, and it's not going to be me. All a dealer needs to do in this economy is stay alive, and he will emerge in the next boom cycle with less competition. Hopefully he has enough retained earnings to allow more of his employees to keep their jobs, even though times are tough.

To me, this means that every $70k offer on a car with an MSRP of $98k is a potential sale at $81k, or whatever number makes ends meet. It's not a 12-year-old kid with sweaty palms and an iPhone. Sure would be smart to work those deals. Try to SELL THE CAR instead of trying to squeeze every last dollar out of a buyer. As a dealer, I realize that a good volume with bad margins is easier to recover than lousy volume with OK margins.

I'd realize that on this site, there are a good number of owners, and a fair number who used to own and will again, and some who just dream about it. But the concentration of actual owners on here is so high that I sure wouldn't come on here badmouthing a lot of the techniques my own prospective customers use. I also wouldn't bitch about the economy in general, or slow sales, because people sense the smell of failure, and will avoid me if they sense it there.

But I'm just a doctor, and I really don't understand business.

FlatSix911

GT68, you really need a reality check here ... the market has changed and the collective wisdom of this board is trying to help you make the adjustment so you can survive.
Listen to what has been offered and consider a new approach ... how about responding to a customer email with an attractive starting point for discussion, perhaps 5-7% off MSRP?
You might be surprised at the outcome and a lot less unhappy with your current situation ....

allegretto

"hostility". i think not.

i don't know you, but to this eye you appear to be under a little...pressure...

i'm just telling you that you're not alone,

and,

i have no idea why you chose here and now to go on a tirade.

oh, "...missing the point..."?

do you actually think that anyone here fails to get your point? it's more like suspended somewhere between;

"you got your troubles, i got mine"

and,

"in a New York Minute"

relax, my man. you're not making much better, really.