Yes, this is a "Rant" or a bitch session, whatever you want to call it, but it has turned me off toward Porsche and toward the way I will always buy Porsches if not all cars.

I am not a big fan of car dealerships and this experience just reinforces it again. I have dealt with Pcar dealers from Minnesota/Florida/Kentucky to California, but Colorado wins the prize!

I am sure we can all agree that all dealerships are not equal. But, in my opinion, Porsche should hold them to a certain standard of service and should have required guidelines for which them to operate under. I was not impressed to hear Porsche Care tell me that dealerships are independently owned and can do as they please. Oh, but they give certain dealerships Premier, guess that is the only Pcar dealers you should buy from?!?!

Briefly, I placed an order for a May build 2011 Panamera, traded in my 997, let them hold the 55k+ in escrow for a small tax advantage. After rumors on this board and 3 requests from me to the dealership, they call the regional rep who calls Germany and finds out it was PAG's misinformation: no such thing a May build P4S 2011. Dealership says tough luck, it is Porsche's fault, wait till Sept/Oct. No refund on 5k deposit. I didn't want to wait that long so decide to find a car stateside. So, with a half-hearted attempt from the dealership to find me a similiarly spec'd car, I basically have to use Porscheusa.com site to find a dealership and car in this country that will suffice. I settle on one and now have to pay 1500 dollars to have it shipped to the dealership in CO. The guys at this dealership were just not nice! The only moment I actually laughed was when I drove off in my new Panamera and had to stop two miles down the road to fill up the empty gas tank, Priceless!

If I buy another Porsche in my lifetime, I will find one from a private owner and have it service at an independent shop. It is just not worth it in my opinion to spend this kind of money for constant bad buying experiences and to have to work this hard as a buyer in giving my money away!

Enough bitching!

May I say, the Panamera is different from the 997 I left behind, but it is a great car and yes it does look better in person! Here are some mandatory pics.

 

Sorry you had a poor experience. None of this is surprising. Except the empty gas tank. That's part of dealer prep, you and PAG paid for it, but you did not get it. The absolute worst part of the Porsche ownership and buying experience, is dealing with the actual dealerships.

Enjoy the new car. I saw one being tracked at Road America two weeks ago. Looked very fast. Stereo sounded great too.

Colorado is a beautiful State. I'd love to drive those roads some day in a Porsche.

 

I can't believe Porsche North America and other car maker alike don't spend more time hitting their dealer on the head when they receive customer complaints like yours ! I think only Lexus is doing it right. The cars are boring to drive but going to a Lexus dealership is always a good experience so far, loaner cars, warranty work... I still have to drive Lexus but I was impressed by their dealerships.

 

Sad to hear about any business that seemingly doesn't treat a buying customer better than you were treated...vote with your $ next time and buy elsewhere, or another brand.

 

Not always. I had my worst car buying experience at a Lexus dealership (Lexus of Cherry Hill, NJ - avoid them - and the whole Holman group which has all dealerships in this area - Monopoly is never good for customer service!). To the point that I wrote a letter to Lexus corp - I have done this only 2-3 times in my life. All I got back was a "we are sorry...blah, blah" email.
Lexus is off my list for a very long time because of this and I tell anyone who will listen. Had good and OK experiences with Porsche and BMW. Infiniti was the best so far.

To OP: glad you got your car. Looks very nice. Enjoy and forget about these idiots. Most of the time they have no knowledge or passion for the product they sell. Nor for customer service. Tomorrow, they will sell Kias or soap, they don't care.

FM

 

Ehhh..., dealerships are a PITA no matter what. Glad we're not married to them. Be thankful that in a few weeks the vividness of your memory will fade but they will still be there in their Private Hell.

Meanwhile enjoy the car!

 

I agree with the lexus dealer issues- had similar problem here in NY , additionally never was really happy with local Mercedes even after 4 cars, but really no issues at all with Roslyn my local Pcar dealer and Im 5 cars into them!

 

I certainly understand OP's frustration because these bad apples do out number the good ones. The reason I never did buy a RS4 few years ago was because of the handful of Audi dealerships I couldn't get pass so I ended up with a Cayenne. That said, there are some good ones out there so for those that have more than one dealership in the area, I wouldn't give up on a brand just because of a bad dealership or few bad individuals.

Since you mentioned service down the road, keep in mind independent can't do much if you ever need something done under warranty or updated. Besides, service dept is almost always completely independent of the sales dept. For me, I have had one good and one bad experience with BH Porsche sales but nothing but good thing to say about BH Porsche service...

Just my 2 cents of course

 

Both our Lexus and Porsche dealerships are owned by the same - and they have both been great. Maybe it is an Atlanta thing - I always had great service and treatment from my BMW guys as well in the past, so much so that I felt a bad switching to Porsche. Now I go knock on some wood...

 

I bought my 06 C2 from them a couple of weeks ago. I can't say my experience was that bad, but I was left with a few questions and some lingering issues. It's my second car from that dealership and I always get the sales guy that's been there for 6 minutes. I end up working the deal with the used car manager. I've bought a ton of cars over the years from $5k used Volkswagons to 911s. I'm not sure what I was expecting from the P-dealer, but the experience really wasn't anything different from the other deals I've done.

I will say this particular dealership has taken good care of me from a service perspective.

 

What a terrible buying experience. I hope that your P4S lives up to expectations....I'm sure it will.

The LAST time I had my car serviced at Ira, they gave me a loaner for the day. I came back at the end of the day and picked up my car. The fuel light was on, the gauge was on empty, and the computer said 2 miles til empty. When I dropped off the car, it had about 1/8 of a tank. I then looked at the trip computer and realized the car had been running for 5 hours and had only gone the distance of my house to the dealership (about 30 mins). Yes, they had left my car running most of the day. I went and got gas and called the service manager who basically told me that it wasn't possible.

In your case, I can't believe they wouldn't fill the tank for you after your ordeal. Simply terrible.

 

To the OP: it does not surprise me if your order was changed by PAG without the dealer knowing it. A lot like this has been happening for about a year. My order last year was also delayed and changed by the factory. PAG has been adjusting production and these things happen.

At least... the dealer gave you deviating color dealer-branded mats.

 

tkids, which dealer are you referring to? There are 4 in CO.

 

Please post the name of the dealership. Or... the name of the location, if you don't want to be "specific". The web is a powerful tool. I'll leave it at that.

 

ADias said: ...
At least... the dealer gave you deviating color dealer-branded mats.