Deposit etiquette

[ssim]

I'm in the market for a Taycan GTS.

Is it acceptable to place orders with multiple local dealers (refundable deposits)?
Obviously just trying to see who can get an allocation the earliest.

Thanks for your opinions on this.

You're allowed to place multiple deposits, but I wouldn't place too many...maybe max 3? If you're okay working with a SA out-of-state (you can do PEC LA Delivery to save on shipping), PM me and I can put you in contact with my SA. He does order demands @ MSRP without a deposit.

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[whitex]

didn’t say you couldn’t. But if the national dealer doesn’t have a lonely allocation without a local customer right now, your deposit for their waitlist isn’t likely to help all that much without a relationship. You’re going to be at the bottom of the list compared to any local customer unless you up your adm bid.

plenty of folks have gotten allocations from across the country. It’s usually because the dealer did’t have a local customer interested or they paid more adm

I agree with everything you said above. Yes, putting the name down doesn't help you "that much" in the short term (unless you get lucky and hit contact the dealer with the open allocation), but IMO it still increases your chances - being on the bottom of many lists is still better than not be on any lists.

There are inventory cars popping up here and there for sale, often still in transit, some sell at MSRP, even out of state. Do you suppose the dealer intentionally ordered them to their own spec while leaving people waiting on their lists? Or do you think that perhaps those were allocations without customers, which if the dealer had an interested name before freeze date, would have gone to that customer? Or maybe are all those cancelled orders?

 

[RKZ]

I'm in the market for a Taycan GTS.

Is it acceptable to place orders with multiple local dealers (refundable deposits)?
Obviously just trying to see who can get an allocation the earliest.

Thanks for your opinions on this.

I suspect it depends upon your local market. I have a '23 4S on order with a (I'm told) 1st week in December delivery date. This car was ordered in St Louis, MO, a population center of ~2.8MM. There is one Porsche dealer and when I signed the contract in May, I was required to give a $5k deposit and the order specifically stated it was not refundable once the "freeze" date arrived. If you live in a larger market with multiple Porsche dealers, perhaps you have a bit more leverage. When there is only one game in town, you play by their rules or you don't play1

 

[Mats]

Never ever had to pay a deposit. Full payment at delivery and with no additional charges. Am on my 10+ Porsche since 1974, which although was a second hand 911E MY69.

 

[RKZ]

Never ever had to pay a deposit. Full payment at delivery and with no additional charges. Am on my 10+ Porsche since 1974, which although was a second hand 911E MY69.

Wow, no deposit. Almost like we live in different countries with different customs! Not criticizing at all, just having a little fun. Clearly commercial practices vary by country. However, what you didn't comment on, and what was the genesis of the original post, was is it acceptable to place orders with multiple dealers. How is that perceived in Sweden?

 

[Mats]

Never done that. However, checking with different dealers regarding delivery time - actually no difference what I can see. But also checking best possible offered discount before placing the actual order. In the end the Taycan was order from the closest dealership with whom I have very good relationship.

 

[taycanpath]

Your approach worked during the old times, when the cars didn't sell themselves and dealers used to trade allocations.

I started with one dealer but quickly got on a multiple waiting lists after realizing that. I didn't hide that from any of them. Ironically, over a year later, none of those panned out. I ended up finding an allocation cold calling, which I started doing every once in a while. I pulled out from all the waitlists of course once I got a confirmed allocation.

Had I followed your approach, I'd have built a good relationship with an SA who has since left the dealership, and be looking at an extrapolated 4+ more years wait time to get one (based on the abysmal rate of allocations they received over the last year and a bit).

In today's market your best bet of getting a car is to cast your net wide. No matter how good your relationship with an SA is, they cannot hatch you a Taycan they don't have an allocation for. They also cannot override owners who can, and sometimes do, prioritize the highest bidder. The worse part is that with no allocation traded, the dealers which get most allocations end up selling most cars, therefore earning most future allocations, even if they don't have the best SAs. Of course they might have the longest lists too, hence the need to get on a many lists to maximize your chances of getting a car.

Can you share more about your cold calling strategy that landed you the allocation?

 

[whitex]

Can you share more about your cold calling strategy that landed you the allocation?

About as tedious as it sounds - an exercise in patience. Calling different dealers, following leads from the internet, this forum (kind members offering to connect with their SA's) or in some cases from a dealer I reached out to, who would tell me which dealers might have allocations. All leads lead nowhere for well over a year (waiting lists, finding allocations already sold, or dealer wanting huge ADM sometimes up front even just to get on waiting list). Then one day I called and found an open allocation which I took.

I wasn't doing this 24/7, usually spent a few hours every few weeks (sometimes I knew from prior conversations when the next set of allocations is supposed to drop, so waited till then to call a few new dealers). I did get to have some interesting chats with some cool SA's along the way. They are just as frustrated with the lack of allocations as the customers are. I feel for them - for a good SA it sucks to be supply limited. It significantly reduces their advantage as a skilled SA, and of course limits their income potential.

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