Dr. G7

I don't know if this scam or not. Yesterday I spoke to a Porsche dealership regarding a Taycan advertised on their website. Upon inquiring, I was told it is a preordered Taycan, waiting for the buyer to pick it up.

If it was a custom order, why advertise on their website as available to the general public?

StuM

I’ve seen this often. They just want you to do exactly what you did….called them! Really aggravating.

xstnte

A lot of these are generated through a backend, once a vehicle has a VIN. Some car dealers also have portal sites that have content managed through its manufacturer.

Also, as you know, it’s not officially sold until the customer signs the contract, vehicle paid for and delivered—even though Porsche invoices the dealer once it’s on the domestic transport truck.

super frustrating.

Dr. G7

“Bait and switch” is their motto. Salesman says “That car was a preorder, already sold, but we have another one in case you are interested”. The other one being “a jug of lemonade,” as in a 2020 buyback. Or they’ll try to up-sale a 2022 Turbo for $215k.

Notwithstanding the elegant buildings, eye candy secretaries, fancy “brand ambassador” titles, Porsche sales is no different to Babba’s Auto “we finance everybody”

Jonathan S.

The dealer might not have any control over that. I know that sister-brand Audi is that way: the inventory listings are populated by Audi of America, and build orders remain indistinguishable from vehicles that are actually available until the intended customer submits the full payment.

What is under the control of the dealer is responding in a timely and straightforward fashion to such inquiries.
So consider yourself fortunate to have received that response!

After numerous unsuccess attempts, I trimmed down my contact form submissions to:I would then be inundated with emails, texts, and calls of, "When can you come in for a test drive?" etc.
No, I don't want a test drive. I already know that I want an Audi A6 Allroad Prestige. But what I need to I know is whether you have one for sale.
This would sometimes take days of effort.

But much of that could be attributed to generalized incompetence, not sleaziness.
IIRC, three dealers confirmed -- after much effort -- that it was available, and at MSRP, upon which we proceeded to start the paperwork, only to learn that ... oh, actually, that has been another customer's build order all along, sorry!

The "best" dealer though had the sale manager all set to complete the sale to me, only to learn that some other manager had sold the car to another dealer.
Which must have been a below-MSRP sale, so the dealer probably lost money on that one.

Fortunately, I tracked down the VIN #, offered the other dealer MSRP, which was accepted within about 20 minutes, and everything proceeded as it should.

Now back to planning my mid-life crisis's next stage, i.e., http://www.porsche-code.com/PPBH8R80.
(Okay, just kidding about the mid-life crisis, but the CT does sound amazing as a second car, err, more like third car, and we currently have only two drivers, but hey, our daughter will have a learner's permit in three years, so, umm, yeah, sure this makes sense, right?)