What ever came of this?

 

Hey bummedout- haven't heard from you in a while. Have you talked to the GM? Maybe they will refund or partially refund if they sell your car right away; maybe a credit toward future Porsche purchase there. Sorry to hear about your job, shoulder and deposit but sometimes life just happens that way. As cliche as it sounds, it could be worse. Another way to look at it- if you actually bought the car instead of ordered it a couple months ago and had to sell it, you would have lost way more than $5k. I promise, from experience. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

Hey there mtbscott; I am also from Texas and have never been asked to sign anything when ordering a car, have you? I have only special ordered 2, and requested a car be brought from anothr state to look at however. This most recent 991 I gave a deposit, signed nothing. I have in the past ordered a Chevy and changed my mind and got the deposit back no questions asked.

 

Thanks for asking. Appreciate the kind words.

Although disappointed, I am definitely very, very thankful for a great life--got a job, a healthy family, I live in the USA, food on the table every day, roof over my head, etc, etc, etc..... Feel very blessed indeed.

I have spoken with the GM and am hopeful for a full refund once they sell the car.

I will definitely let you folks know once the car is sold (hopefully sooner rather than later).

 

Thanks for the update. Hope all will go well.

 

I feel confident they will sell the car for more than my contract price given the large discount I received and the fact that prices are apparently (???) going up by 2.6% on Jan.1.

 

Great to hear!

ChuckJ

 

I have always gotten a signed "Buyer's Order" form when I special ordered anything here in Texas. It's a state standardized form that basically just says that the dealer is going to get you a unit at an agreed to price (unless that price is not known yet). It's really pretty full of loopholes for in the buyer's favor.
I have custom ordered 3 MINI's and was only asked for a credit card number on one of them (that was never charged.) I ordered an Audi TT-RS over a year before they were coming and the dealer asked for a $1000 check (that was never cashed), and most recently another charge card "hold" for a MINI GP2 which I cancelled when I got the 991. I ordered a Cayman back in 2006 with no deposit, and when I ended up picking up one of their lot cars instead of waiting, nothing was said.
I think the dealer's believe a "good faith" deposit even though they're not really charging you anything makes it more likely you'll follow through. They also know that in this state, there's no such thing as a non-refundable deposit.

 

Great attitude, great spirit, great life. Best wishes for a speedy recovery from a successful surgery.

Unless you just have to have a new car, you might be able to see who finally ends up with your special order and let them know you'd be interested in buying the car when they decide to sell. That way, you'd get the car you originally wanted, and they'd cover the depreciation. Just a thought.

JB

 

Good attitude, and having that attitude is your best chance of getting all or most of that 5K back. Some of the comments here are startling in a 991 forum. In a forum for less expensive cars, I'd write it off to the all-too-common childishness that pervades the internet. But kids rarely buy 991's and people who can buy one usually have shed those attitudes earlier in life.

All the nonsense about bringing public pressure on this dealer is surprising. Even in these weird times, most people are going to shrug about someone who can afford to special order a 100K car wanting to change his mind. If it was twenty dollars he'd given J.C. Penney to order a tablecloth for his suddenly deceased grandmother, then he might get sympathy, but buying a sports car isn't that warm and fuzzy an activity. And we Porsche buyers just don't have the image of victim in very many minds. If you do feel like a potential victim, if you feel that negotiating with a car dealer has you at a disadvantage, then see the comments about getting an attorney's help. It will be worth far more than it costs.

Casually changing his mind isn't the OP's position nor his attitude, but it is what the general perception would be. And honestly, it's mine in general. I don't mean the OP is being whimsical, but I do mean that any time I special order something, I put down a deposit even if one isn't requested. Much lower if it wasn't requested of course, but still a deposit. It motivates the firm to put my order higher on their priorities. And I do think of it as my risk of losing that deposit being my ante for the selling firm putting me high on their workload priority. It is a commitment I'm making absent unforeseen circumstances.

MtbScott's position is reasonable but based on perceptions I don't share.

• First, if I wanted a car like their usual lot orders, I wouldn't be ordering it. It won't necessarily be a popular, easily sold configuration. At most, if they just didn't happen to have a car that suited my taste, I would talk my way to the office of the guy who has access to the nationwide inventory on dealer lots or built cars coming over from Germany. I could do that for myself if motivated, but I'm giving him my cash so he will be motivated and I can return to doing the things I do profitably enough to buy Porsches. (Selling cars is work. That's why they have to pay people to do it.) If the car I want wasn't built for any dealer in a market the size of the United States, it will be a tough configuration to sell if I back out.
• Second, I don't believe a special order car comes out of the dealer's allocation. So if I fail to carry out my part of the bargain, then he does incur potential losses. He is obligated to mitigate those losses if he has ways, but just as that Georgia statute discusses, we often know damages exist without being able to quantify them. (Incidentally, I recognize the phrasing. I'm pretty sure the UCC has the same provisions.) But we all agree that a Porsche deposit is likely to be $5k or less. Mine was $3500 as I remember. And 5% is a pretty trivial fraction of the deal on items sold through negotiation, like cars. Business situations calling for cancellation-of-special-order damages around 40% are not outrageous. A dealer losing 5% in this situation isn't implausible. As one example, you know how most options lose their market value as soon as we drive home? Options a different person chose for their special taste are in that category. It's quite possible a dealer will shrug and accept those losses as a good will gesture, but that doesn't mean labor time and diversion of effort are not costs. They are.

Dealers spend a lot more than this sponsoring PCA events for good will, so I might hope to get back my deposit if my reasons for failing to perform are good ones. I wouldn't hesitate to ask, but I wouldn't expect to get it back. What kind of deposit is it, if I think I can withdraw it at my whim? (Actually, I know the answer, but that answer is a special case we're not discussing.)

As for having an attorney on our side, it's not even an issue. Of course we should. Now, at my age, I have 47 years experience working much more complex contracts, but for the first twenty years or so as an adult, I always sought advice. It only paid off visibly once, but that occasion saved a lot of heartache and made it worth the trouble in all the other cases, even without considering the 'invisible' benefit of negotiating with the knowledge you know your legal situation.

Gary

 

So here is the final update--

My car arrived on dec 31. Within one week it sold to another buyer. :-(

The dealer sold it for more than my contract price so they agreed to a full refund of my deposit. Just deposited the check at the bank.

All's well that ends well (except I didn't get my 911). Maybe one day in the future I will get to purchase a 911. For now, I will hope that my shoulders heal soon!

Thanks!

 

thats a fantastic result regarding your deposit - you will get your car, when the time is right. Glad to hear the news and best wishes!

 

Glad to hear it. I look forward to you posting your "build" for the car you will purchase!

 

+1. Very glad to hear the positive outcome.

 

Well, it's not a 911, but I decided to buy a new car this weekend. Shoulders would not tolerate getting in and out of a sports car, so I bought a beautiful BMW 550i. BMW is offering unbelievable lease deals. Got the 550 for 36 months with 15k miles per year for a single lease payment of $23400 ( I know the pluses and minuses of single pay leases, but I had very specific reasons for needing to do this). That works out to about $650 per month (excluding the loss of interest on the money I put down). Money factors are very low, residuals are high and there are rebate dollars as well.

Very happy with the new ride. Maybe a 911 in 36 months??