I have a question and hope you folks in the forum can give us some advice.

I placed a deposit (well, 10K... turn out I pay more than others) to order for the 997 Turbo with the dealership in CA and it is going to deliver early next month. Due to personal reason, I have to postpone getting the car and decide to give my slot to my colleague in Las Vegas.

We informed the dealership today about our decision. An hour later, I got the email from the salesman as follow.....

"... committed to selling you this vehicle. If you want to sell the car to my friend or someone else after you pay for it including applicable taxes, and take delivery, Rector Motors has no objection. If you want to withdraw your deposit at this stage and substitute someone else and their deposit, this indicates to us you do not want the car.

Although you may withdraw your deposit, Rector Motors is not obligated to accept your proposal for another buyer and we will open the car to our other prospective buyers.

Please let us know whether you intend to perform your part of the bargain, ie., to pay for and take delivery of this 911 Turbo.

If you have not indicated to us with certainty your intent to perform your part of the bargain by responding to this e-mail within 48 hours, we will assume you do not want the car and choose to withdraw your deposit. We will prepare a refund...."

I am quite shock on how come the dealership can complicate such a simple transfer. When I made the deposit, the salesman said I can registered to anyone or even to a company as long as the car has to be registered in US for 6 months or so.

I review the paper that I signed and there is nothing there that prohibited me from transfering the order to someone else. Basically, my friend is just "replace" me and take the car. What's wrong with that?

Any suggestion will be appreciated.... Thanks for your help..

 

Tell your sales person that nothing changed and you are buying the car. It's not their f*cking business who is paying for it and who's name will be on the title.

I've never heard about anything like that. This is ridiculous. When you make a deposit you are not obligated to be the specific buyer of the vehicle.

What dealership is that?

 

I can't help but think, the reason the dealership is doing this is to prevent people from coming in, leaving a deposit, then selling their place on line to the highest bidder.

The dealership has good reason to only sell the car to the person who left the deposit. Otherwise, nothing would stop flippers from preventing enthusiasts like us from getting vehicles in a timely manner and at MSRP.

As many dealerships have a small allocation of these cars, I can understand why they might want to restrict who they sell them to (at least for now.)

-- I understand how frustrated you might be but in the end, it kind of benefits the Pcar community by having the dealership not allow you to give, sell, swap, away your allocation. Of course in this situation you do not plan to "sell" your place on line. But there is nothing from stopping you from doing just that either, other than the dealership saying that you must be the one to take delivery.

B

 

The dealership is Rector Motors in Burlingame (San Francisco area).

The reason why I postpone the delivery is because I think it would be better for me to get a tiptronic model instead since I want my gal to enjoy the vehicle also. Therefore, I decide to give my car to my friend instead.

 

i agree with b-line completely. the dealership is being reasonable, they are giving the gentleman his deposit back. if the dealers let everyone transfer the cars before sale to other people, ebay would be loaded with flippers who were buying cars at multiple dealers and were selling their positions to the highest dealers-serious buyers would be crowded out by flippers. it would be like getting a concert ticket at stub hub, while i sense this gentleman's frustratiuon, i also agree with the dealer.

 

Sorry, but I agree with B and Doc on this one. This prevents 'flippers', you're lucky you're getting your deposit back, most dealers allow a small deposit(refundable) to place you on the list, once you spec the car the deposit increases and becomes non-refundable in most cases.
If your friend wanted a TT, he should have put his name on a list, besides there are plenty of TT's out there unclaimed, probably the victims of 'flippers' who couldn't come with the cash when the time came.
Why would you want your wife driving it anyway, all the more reason to get a 6 speed?

 

I agree that the dealer is being 100% reasonable. They are trying to prevent speculation and trying to keep control of their allocation so they can run a fair process and keep their customers happy.

Slot-selling and flipping, especially if for profit, is a dangerous trend that we should all discourage.

Of course, if anyone here has or knows of an available early build slot or inbound Cobalt car, please PM me-- I'll make it worth your while.

 

Well, never underestimate the power of woman.....once you get settle and tend to be more "respect" to her ..... She does not want to drive a stick shift car. I feel a bit guilty when I get my new toy without her full blessing

 

I am in total agreement with most replies that the dealer is handling this very well.

If your friend really wants the car purchase it and resell it to him.

 

On the same token, would not the dealer's motivation for refusing to take a different person be that THEY want to sell it for a premium? That happens just as often as people flipping deposits....I know we all get after Ferrari for doing it, but Porsche dealers to it too.

 

Pull your $ out and have your buddy buy a car somewhere else.

 

Not only am I in agreement with the majority of the folks here about the dealership doing the right thing; I've also got some experience in this matter too. See, I was once in the same position as your friend because I wanted to take over a friend's spot in getting the 996TT years ago when it was still pretty new. I wanted to take over my friend's spot but they refused to do it for him and me because it wouldn't be fair as the dealership said to the others already on the waiting list. The only way at the time for me to get the Turbo would be if he was to buy the car and then sell it to me or we'd both co-buy the car. I didn't want to go through the hassle of dealing with that so I backed out. I ended up getting the M5 and now I'm finally getting a Turbo.

So, bottom line is, I say take the deposit back and let your friend find one elsewhere. Personally, I would've taken the 6 speed despite the fact that the gf is in the picture. But that's just me.

 

If your friend really wants the car maybe he should go and talk to the dealer himself and get on the list. The dealer is just trying to protect themselves from speculators, aka flippers, who always ruin it for the enthusiasts. Besides these cars are not hard to find at sticker.

 

I feel that is Bull and should let you give the car to whoever you choose. This is EXACTLY what me and Dario-Texas did with a 997TT white launch car that I bought from the Texas dealership with NO problems at all. I just sent them the money and it was NO problem at all!! Dario-Texas had a 10K deposit which I believe he got back. That dealership is a snake and is giving you a line of crap.

 

Why don't you send your friend to Brandywine. It sounds like they have two nice ones ready for delivery.