MMK110464

I live in FL and am looking for a brand new 2012 997.2
As part of my nationwide search I contacted a certain dealer and this is the reply I got:

"I just received your email and understand you're interested in the*Porsche Carrera.*

At the current time, we are unable to service Porsche Carrera customers outside of our market area."

I never received a reply like this before when searching for cars out of state.

Have you? What does this mean?

Yet anothercrisis

The dealer arrogance grows.

Rocco07

They don't wish to be challenged on thier pricing from people who see different prices in other regions for a like car. I tried that here. That strategy didn't work for me since they know someone will eventually buy at their price considering current inventory.

What region are they in? Is it normally a higher priced area?

Graygoose997

Sounds like Capitalism and the free market at work.
You want the best price, and so do they.

Suns_PSD

Last 2 guys nailed it.

Being in sales myself, one I don't (can't really) ***** out product in someone else's territory. I am required to hold great margin. Now I do sell out of territory a lot actually, but they pay more for it as a rule.

Secondly, from a dealer perspective if you only have a limited number of cars to sell, ideally you want to deliver all of them locally because the chance for Service work, Parts sales, and trade-in goes up considerably. There is likely more margin in a lifetime of maintenance than the GP on the new car purchase.

Rocco07

^Good point. I hadn't considered that.
But I do find it hard to believe they wouldn't sell the car, at thier price, to someone not in their region.
A bird in the hand......

yemenmocha

Sounds like they're confident they'll sell their allocation and don't need to compete with regional dealers.

Graygoose997

I wonder if car dealers have a forum where they post and complain about customers ?

Macster

No knowledge of a web forum, but they do have a forum of sorts.

Courtesy of NADA (National Automobile Dealers Association) a yearly convention is held -- this year, err make that next year (2013 if anyone is counting) Feb. 8-11 in Orlando FL.

I'm pretty sure the majority of the time outside of the seminars, presentations the attendees spend exchanging customer stories.

Sincerely,

Macster.

utkinpol

you can call your local dealer and tell him you want that car from out of state dealer for this ____ price you ready to pay. then let them think about it and make arrangements.

MMK110464

Thanks for all the replies.

I've been visiting this forum for years and have red numerous threads about people buying a Porsche in a different state than where they live. For that reason, I don't believe that selling our of their territory is the reason for this email reply from the dealer. The guy didn't even quote me a price.

Please remember that this is not only a 2012 car and the year's end is rapidly approaching, it is also a 997 and not a 991. I am guessing every dealer wants to get rid of a last year, previous model car. The dealer is located in the midwest. Also, please note that I sent out several quote requests and this is the only one who replied without a quote.

I am a little bit surprised by the replies so far since most of them find a reasonable excuse for the reply I received from the dealer. I was expecting a little bit of disbelieved but I guess this proof how little I know about the Porsche market.

Graygoose997

If you are truly interested in the car, I'd make a phone call.

MMK110464

Good idea. If my direct emails do not produce results I will follow your suggestion.
Thank you.

Bob Rouleau

My local dealer tells me the 997.2 is still in high demand. The 991 and Boxster are still scarce so I can see why dealers are confident about selling the car locally - which is always better for them.

Macster

Whatever a car salesman tells you is intended to get you to buy the car as soon as possible and pay as much for it as possible.

That you got different replies/responses suggests to me there's some disagreement between the various people who responded as to what is the best approach with you. It may be some salesman's idea of seeing how serious you are about the car.

Generally salesmen like to deal with someone face to face. They are at some level salesmen -- obviously -- and believe they can sell you a car but they feel most comfortable talking face to face with a prospective buyer.

They are less inclined to deal with someone over the phone or via email. There are exceptions of course. But a large number of cars are still sold by some shopper showing up and kicking the tires and buying the car.

Also, a salesman can only say no to a sale. He might not even run your offer by his sales manager. (Even when I'm at a dealer I always make sure the salesman takes my offer to his sales manager.)

Anyhow, a salesman can't say yes. As a result a salesman might decline a feeler from a prospective buyer because he's afraid of a buyer coming in and buying the car below some price and affecting his commission.

The sales manager otoh can say no but he can also say yes.

My limited experience is with a MY 2012 still on the floor so close to the 2013 MYs arriving a sales manager would be willing to talk. He would rather pay a flooring cost for a new 2013 MY than a one year old 2012 MY.

Maybe.

It gets complicated. For instance my info is when the new models arrive the leftovers from the previous year become one year old. The factory (or PCNA in this case) can refund some of the dealer's cost of the car to the dealer to help the dealer offer the car at a lower price to help the dealer move the older car to make room for the newer cars.

But a dealer is AFIAK under no obligation to pass this savings on to the customer. Thus some dealers like to roll the dice and get the refund/rebate and yet hold out for a new car price even though the car is now one year old and has suffered some depreciation in spite of the car being new. Of course this depreciation will be downplayed, not even mentioned. The car is "new" and that's that.

You can always check again on the car later, assuming it is still available, of course. I would do so in such a way that your interest in the car is not signaled to the dealer. Thus check out online car selling ads for this car, or visit the dealer's web site.

The dealership might have a change of heart, you might get another salesman that is either better (or worse) at car sales and who takes your offer to the sales manager.

But the bottom line from a buyer's point of view is there is always another car.

Sincerely,

Macster.