New warranty problem on US cars from PCNA........
04-06-2007, 01:50 PM
#31
Three Wheelin'
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I took a $100K haircut on inventory in March/April of 2006 when the dollar went up dramatically and the consumer mindset changed due to the forex situation. It is not all roses and chocolates when this happens....but I reacted accordingly to it and all is well. PCNA refuses to react properly and instead decides to punish those they rely upon to exist, namely, their customers and the independant dealers who do more to support the brand than some franchised dealers who merely view these cars as commodities and a route to wealth.
Brilliant strategy guys.........
Brilliant strategy guys.........
04-06-2007, 02:18 PM
#33
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Originally Posted by YYC930
I took a $100K haircut on inventory in March/April of 2006 when the dollar went up dramatically and the consumer mindset changed due to the forex situation. It is not all roses and chocolates when this happens....but I reacted accordingly to it and all is well. PCNA refuses to react properly and instead decides to punish those they rely upon to exist, namely, their customers and the independant dealers who do more to support the brand than some franchised dealers who merely view these cars as commodities and a route to wealth.
Brilliant strategy guys.........
Brilliant strategy guys.........
As for the $400 fee, I'm not happy about being asked to pay it if I want a couple rattles fixed under warranty. Especially since one of the best (if not the best) P-car mechanic in Vancouver already looked over my car on a hoist and road tested it. Rattles aside, my car is running great. My warranty expires this Feb and my plan was to get the car fully inspected this fall and deal with any warranty issues before they expire. I'll simply wait to fix the rattles until the fall now that I'm forced to pay $400 to fix them.
04-06-2007, 03:01 PM
#34
Race Car
Originally Posted by Bob Rouleau
Clearly the objective is to prevent non Porche dealers from stealing sales from legit dealers.
It's beyond my understanding of international finances, but I've heard people discuss how various international corporations deal with currency fluctuations between markets such that their product pricing remains competitive despite drastic changes in exchage rates, such as what we experienced with the US over the last couple years. Apparently some companies work with this and allow their prices to adjust with currencies, while others don't and keep their prices fixed. Again, I'm pushing my understanding of this, but it perhaps either Porsche AG or PCNA hedged their bets on the currency values in Canada vs. the US and when it changed and they lost, they decided to pass their losses on to the customer. Are we to pay for their poor decision making?
04-06-2007, 03:12 PM
#35
Rennlist Member
As I said earlier in my post, the $400 is just a money thing. As someone said earlier, it will only take 20 minutes to check the "paperworks".
I am waiting to order a new CTT in Canada. When I compared the US vs Canadian MSRP, I was delighted to find that the Canadian price did come down a little bit. For Cayenne V6 and S, PCNA used 1.36 as their exchange rate for US vs Canadian dollars. For the CTT, the exchange rate was 1.326. From what I remember, the last gen. Cayenne exchange rate was around 1.40.
So it appears that PCNA is attempting to slowly adapt to the realistic exchange rate, which is good news for Canadian consumers. The only problem is that with the influx of US cars over the last couple of years, they had knocked down the resale value of Canadian used cars. When I eventually trade in my Canadian CS, I expect a big loss unfortunately.
I am waiting to order a new CTT in Canada. When I compared the US vs Canadian MSRP, I was delighted to find that the Canadian price did come down a little bit. For Cayenne V6 and S, PCNA used 1.36 as their exchange rate for US vs Canadian dollars. For the CTT, the exchange rate was 1.326. From what I remember, the last gen. Cayenne exchange rate was around 1.40.
So it appears that PCNA is attempting to slowly adapt to the realistic exchange rate, which is good news for Canadian consumers. The only problem is that with the influx of US cars over the last couple of years, they had knocked down the resale value of Canadian used cars. When I eventually trade in my Canadian CS, I expect a big loss unfortunately.
04-06-2007, 04:17 PM
#36
Burning Brakes
Originally Posted by pongobaz
There is a problem with your argument Jake Ok:
what happens then when someone from the US moves with his car to Canada? Should he be denied warranty because he's now unwittingly become an importer or would the argument then be that this is an exception because of his personal circumstances? What if the same individual decides after a year to sell his legally imported car in Canada while it's still under OEM warranty, would it no longer be transferable because now he's potentially taking a sale away from CDN dealers? Where exactly do you draw the line?...
BTW, it is not a flaw in the PCNA warranty agreement but rather policy. I called them numerous times about this issue and they have categorically stated that my US warranty HAD to be honoured by every authorized P-car dealer in the US or Canada. The company's motto is that a Porsche owner is a Porsche owner anywhere in the world. Now obviously the PCNA warranty wouldn't help you in Europe, Asia or anywhere else, simply because the warranty terms, conditions and duration are nowhere as generous as those offered in NA.
As far as Pfaff is concerned, while they never denied me warranty coverage they sure made it as unpleasant as possible. But Pfaff treats any customer who did not purchase from them like sh*t; yes even those individuals who bought from the other CANADIAN dealer in town and if their revenue is down it has as much to do with this sort of arrogance as it has to do with cheaper US cars coming into the country. On the other hand, Downtown Porsche has welcomed me and treated me with the utmost respect when it comes to service and warranty work. They've made me feel as if I bought from them with special invitations to launches and events.
what happens then when someone from the US moves with his car to Canada? Should he be denied warranty because he's now unwittingly become an importer or would the argument then be that this is an exception because of his personal circumstances? What if the same individual decides after a year to sell his legally imported car in Canada while it's still under OEM warranty, would it no longer be transferable because now he's potentially taking a sale away from CDN dealers? Where exactly do you draw the line?...
BTW, it is not a flaw in the PCNA warranty agreement but rather policy. I called them numerous times about this issue and they have categorically stated that my US warranty HAD to be honoured by every authorized P-car dealer in the US or Canada. The company's motto is that a Porsche owner is a Porsche owner anywhere in the world. Now obviously the PCNA warranty wouldn't help you in Europe, Asia or anywhere else, simply because the warranty terms, conditions and duration are nowhere as generous as those offered in NA.
As far as Pfaff is concerned, while they never denied me warranty coverage they sure made it as unpleasant as possible. But Pfaff treats any customer who did not purchase from them like sh*t; yes even those individuals who bought from the other CANADIAN dealer in town and if their revenue is down it has as much to do with this sort of arrogance as it has to do with cheaper US cars coming into the country. On the other hand, Downtown Porsche has welcomed me and treated me with the utmost respect when it comes to service and warranty work. They've made me feel as if I bought from them with special invitations to launches and events.
I was in Pfaff not too long ago to pick some bulbs up and I was in the show room for about 10mins looking at the new GT3 RS and there were about 4 sales guys hanging around and not one approached me. I guess my torn jeans and sweat shirt wasn't wort their time. LOL
The snob appeal in this case is definitely a deal breaker, I believe you don't have to be rich to drive a P car, you just have to love to drive one. It took me about 6 months to fine one that I could afford and in great condition.
Back to my point...how would you feel if I bought a car from a US dealer, they made $$ from the sale and I take the car to your shop for all the free warranty work. Leaves a bad taste huh!
04-06-2007, 04:20 PM
#37
Race Car
Jake, I disagree. If I owned the shop and you came in to have warranty work done on a car you bought elsewhere, I'd be happy to do it. Like I said in an earlier post, it's easy money - no question about what needs to be done, bill full time and parts costs to the parent company, not the customer, so everyone's happy. Sure, it would've been nice if you'd bought your car at my dealership, but hey, I can't do 100% of the sales of these cars, so I'll be happy to at least make a couple bucks off doing some service work for you. After all, 80% (or whatever portion) of my annual profits come from the service bays, not the sales floor.
04-06-2007, 04:22 PM
#38
Race Car
Oh and BTW, I'd never take my 72 911 to a dealership for service, even if I didn't dislike them so much. There are much better qualified people to work on such an old car, guys that probably worked at the dealership 20 years ago, but still prefer the old cars.
04-06-2007, 04:28 PM
#39
Burning Brakes
Yes, but we don't know if the dealers have their own problems billing the parent company on too many US cars. Not to mention delaers would be compromising their time and service quality for their own custmers. If you were a legit customer of a local dealer, you don't want to be waiting for work done on your car while the mechanics are busy working & servicing other US cars... right.
Its all about economy of scales I guess.
Its all about economy of scales I guess.
04-06-2007, 04:41 PM
#40
Race Car
Originally Posted by Jake Ok
Yes, but we don't know if the dealers have their own problems billing the parent company on too many US cars. Not to mention delaers would be compromising their time and service quality for their own custmers. If you were a legit customer of a local dealer, you don't want to be waiting for work done on your car while the mechanics are busy working & servicing other US cars... right.
Its all about economy of scales I guess.
Its all about economy of scales I guess.
I'd think if the dealership were swamped with cars in for service, they'd be overjoyed! The solution is to build another service bay (or 10) and hire more staff. Happy customers = repeat customers. Get 'em in and out fast, without sacrificing quality, and all warranty work, that would be a dealership's dream!
04-06-2007, 04:58 PM
#41
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That's fine with me... warranty work = $$ too. Besides, having PFAFF refuse my warranty work on a simple tightening of a nut on my driver's side door cost them sales of 5 cars and counting. I've been referring all my friends and co-workers to go to downtown Porsche instead, and they've all obliged. Before this incident, I've always referred people to PFAFF, and I regret doing so now.
Downtown Fine Cars just took the 2 minutes necessary to tighten up my bolt and they received a lot of money based on my referrals, more than my one car sale could had gotten them.
As to the question of how PCNA would react on US cars being serviced at Canadian dealers, when I called PCNA re: the PFAFF incident, they were really mad at PFAFF, and they forced PFAFF to make an immediate appointment with me, but by then, I already had my problem addressed.
Look through all the documentation on Warranty, it says honoured throughout US and Canada. Says it on extended warranty as well.
I'll phone PCNA on Monday to see if they will reimburse if we are forced to make the $400 payment and will get back to you guys on that.
Downtown Fine Cars just took the 2 minutes necessary to tighten up my bolt and they received a lot of money based on my referrals, more than my one car sale could had gotten them.
As to the question of how PCNA would react on US cars being serviced at Canadian dealers, when I called PCNA re: the PFAFF incident, they were really mad at PFAFF, and they forced PFAFF to make an immediate appointment with me, but by then, I already had my problem addressed.
Look through all the documentation on Warranty, it says honoured throughout US and Canada. Says it on extended warranty as well.
I'll phone PCNA on Monday to see if they will reimburse if we are forced to make the $400 payment and will get back to you guys on that.
Originally Posted by Jake Ok
Back to my point...how would you feel if I bought a car from a US dealer, they made $$ from the sale and I take the car to your shop for all the free warranty work. Leaves a bad taste huh!
04-06-2007, 06:24 PM
#42
Rennlist Member
Originally Posted by YYC930
Bob Rouleau.......
True.......it is an annoyance, but not a hinderance.......and I am with the Canadian dealers here as well, as I have an excellent rapport with several of them including my local one that I used to manage.......I want them to be profitable as it is good for me that they are......it's not their problem.......it is PCNA's. And they are as arrogant an organization as you possibly imagine.....perhaps with the exception of FNA.
I hope they are reading this........hello Nick and Tracey at PCNA !! Your dealer's may not fight over this issue like they did in 1986 over the plan to close all the independant Porsche stores........but there is nothing stopping a guy like me from doing so on several seperate restraint of trade issues.......I figure the $3K we are spending for our lawyer to draft and file the claims with the competition board is peanuts compared to the potential 5-6 figures of legal time PCNA may have to spend to defend it.
My local dealer is now importing US cars for inventory BTW..........and the reason they are not dropping prices is not because it will potentially devalue all the cars sold........which has already happened due to forex, therefore the horse has already left the barn.......etc........which is why these issues are arising now. Why they won't correct things is totally beyond me....BMW and MB already have lowered prices here by as much as 7-10%.....
True.......it is an annoyance, but not a hinderance.......and I am with the Canadian dealers here as well, as I have an excellent rapport with several of them including my local one that I used to manage.......I want them to be profitable as it is good for me that they are......it's not their problem.......it is PCNA's. And they are as arrogant an organization as you possibly imagine.....perhaps with the exception of FNA.
I hope they are reading this........hello Nick and Tracey at PCNA !! Your dealer's may not fight over this issue like they did in 1986 over the plan to close all the independant Porsche stores........but there is nothing stopping a guy like me from doing so on several seperate restraint of trade issues.......I figure the $3K we are spending for our lawyer to draft and file the claims with the competition board is peanuts compared to the potential 5-6 figures of legal time PCNA may have to spend to defend it.
My local dealer is now importing US cars for inventory BTW..........and the reason they are not dropping prices is not because it will potentially devalue all the cars sold........which has already happened due to forex, therefore the horse has already left the barn.......etc........which is why these issues are arising now. Why they won't correct things is totally beyond me....BMW and MB already have lowered prices here by as much as 7-10%.....
Your note about the PCNA folks reading this post made me laugh a bit but what really made me laugh is when you made this statement:" PCNA's. And they are as arrogant an organization as you possibly imagine.....perhaps with the exception of FNA." I can completely relate with that one and you know why.
