bwhale

After having a deposit down and waiting for an allocation for nearly 2 years, I have….given up. Maybe I’ll revisit my decision in the future, but for now it’s no longer worth the bother. I won’t bore you with all the reasons, but the primary reason is that I have driven some incredible mountain roads in crappy cars in the past year, and it was much more fun than I ever had in any Porsche. And I spend the majority of my time in Miami, where the roads are flat, straight, and clogged with traffic. I’ve realized that the road is far more important than the car.

FWIW, this was the build I wanted: https://configurator.porsche.com/porsche-code/PRE721M1

As a parting gift to Rennlisters: I’ve read a lot of chat on this board over the past 2 years about dealers, but it seems rare to hear any poster call out dealers by name. I guess dealers still wield enough power over 911 allocations and pricing for now that no one wants to cross a dealer. However, I have basically given up on getting a 911 allocation so I’ve nothing to lose, and here is my assessment of the four southeast Florida dealerships after multiple experiences with each one over the past 5 years.

Disclaimer: there are my experiences. Yours may have been different. As always, YMMV

The Collection: I live about a mile away, and have visited many times. The Ferrari people are surprisingly lovely and always greet every visitor. The Porsche people are standoffish if they don’t immediately recognize you, kinda like frat boys in suits. They never will have allocations, those are strictly reserved for preferred clients (fair enough), celebrities, or friendly flippers and you won’t even be offered to be placed on a list. Prices are also higher than other P dealers; it feels like they rely on impulse purchases (i.e. idiots with money). I would advise you to avoid them, but they probably don’t want to sell you a car anyways. The service department is awful – long lead times on appointments and uncommunicative. PCNA desperately needs another dealership in Dade County with a different ownership group - I sympathize with them in their ongoing lawsuit with The Collection

Champion: The enthusiast’s dealership. These people clearly love driving and tuning their cars. They take racing seriously, and it’s always great to see a late-model race car or a Pikes Peak car in the showroom. I wish I had a long-standing relationship with them. But also very popular, so difficult to get allocations, but at least they’ll put you on a list. That said, they will deal on allocations, so at least there is a price to play. And they did have the SA that ran off with several million in GT3 deposits (to their credit, management made the clients whole), so there may still be some scummy people lurking. No experience with service department, but saw a new facility under construction that looked very legit.

West Broward: Penske-owned shop, so no ADMs, but opaque allocations and some dealer add-ons required. Had a deposit here for a very long time that didn’t result in an allocation. My initial sales advisor was an absolute dud and made spending nearly $200k there unpalatable. That guy eventually got fired and I dealt directly with an SM who was phenomenal (PM me if you want contact info). He offered me more-difficult-to-get allocations than what I wanted, but I had my heart set on something specific and that allocation never came up. Also get my Cayenne regularly serviced here. The service department is great, best dealer service shop I've ever dealt with. Large, well-equipped and clean new repair shop. Saw a Carrera GT getting a thorough service there recently, and there’s usually some interesting RS metal in the shop.

Braman Palm Beach: Bought my CPO Cayenne here. They claim they are the biggest used Porsche dealer in Florida and I don’t doubt it. Was pretty straightforward to deal with, but on new cars this works against you. They basically have every Porsche enthusiast and wealthy snowbird from Boca to Palm Beach to Jupiter in their pocket, and price their new cars accordingly. ADM is a way of life at this shop, and they are not shy about it. I highly recommend them if you are OK with cost-is-no-object, mostly because you are likely only in South Florida for the winter season, it is conveniently located, and they will cater to you. Otherwise go to the Broward dealerships. Service dept is good enough that you won’t have any worries going there.

Note that they all will have the latest unobtanium available as a CPO car with a few hundred miles on it and a price that will be nearly double MSRP. I saw GT4RS’s for sale within a month of release at each of them, which is all you need to know about whether or not they deal with flippers or have dodgy sale/buyback agreements with favored clients.

Anyways, congrats to those of you who got a great 911 and are driving it hard on fantastic roads.

Staffie Guy

I guess the question is--how much of an ADM are you willing to pay to jump up the list? Sad that it has to come down to that in your area.

shrimp money

I would reach out to one of the many posters on here that have dealers calling them with allocations they can’t move.


Ironically, they never post the dealer name either.

malba2366

Florida in general has always been a bad place for car shoppers in terms of getting a good deal, and South Florida is even tougher than the rest of the state.

Brumos in Jacksonville was always great when I lived in Florida. I hear things have changed there too since Fields took over.

mikey94025

Thank you for sharing. Sorry you weren't able to find and get the car you wanted. And this is why (for those who can afford and are willing) people pay ADMs -- Time and happiness is more important (to them) than the differential money.

Carlo_Carrera

That is a nice GTS you built.

If it is any consolation I have owed nearly every generation of 911 and I've never bought one new from a dealership. Every time I think I'm going to bite the bullet and pay the premium to get a new one I realize how financially stupid I am being and wait a few years to buy the one I want on the used market. Granted it's not a new car built to my exact specifications but I find often when I buy a used model there are options that I learn to love that I would've never considered ordering myself. Think about doing that. It's the smart move.

rm4enjoyit

I agree with Carlo_Carrera. I'll never buy or spec a new one again. Just not worth the frustration, when I can compromise a bit to get something close enough. For a while the price of a used one was outrageous but it seems availability is more reasonable now.

Porsche992

I have been to all the dealerships the OP has mentioned and I can attest he is spot on his assessment. I have also worked with Champion Porsche, their sales side is nice but their service people are so stressed out with work so many cars that I always felt like they are making me a favor to go to them. I would try Porsche of West Broward , like OP said their service people are super nice

nyca

I am getting near the end after being on the "list" (NY) for 9 months, without even a call back. I know the game, its an MSRP deal and they are selling the allocations to people paying over, I understand that. I'll give it a few more months until the 992.2 is formally announced, then I think I will bail out and look at different cars in the pre-owned market - lately I've been considering a pre-owned Continental GT. Its just too much stress to purchase a car at this price point, takes all the enjoyment out of it.

yrralis1

I live in Miami and my GTS is my 20th Porsche . I have bought cars from three out the four and will also include Ft Myers but thats west coast. By the way cars , deals , and customer satisfaction may not be the same in the 1990's compared to present . That is what led me to drive an hour or two in the earlier days of Porsche ownership.

1) The Collection -- Have become like family to me . They had a hard sales manager in the 1990's that led me to Champion . The turning point was that it flipped . I remember the night in the 1990's that my 993 that I bought at Champion died right in front of the collection , Service was gone , Only one person was there and he was the salesman who I didn't buy the car from . I had just finished lap swimming and had no money. I knocked on the door and he came out , helped me push my car to service , and paid for my cab (days before Uber ) home.
The demand in Miami is tremendous !! They have to turn away local buyers because they dint have enough allocations . Even at the height of the market new cars were sold at MSRP , No ADM !!
Used cars however are sold at "market price " .

Rarely on car forums does one hear about buying a CPO in Miami . Their used prices ARE higher . The cars however are impeccable . They will NOT keep a car in inventory that has any doubts . When I traded in a rear ended car it went straight to auction . Any modified car went to auction. All cars that I pampered stayed. If one buys a CPO he may pay more but its wont have any stories .


2) Champion -- They are also a solid dealership . In the early days they catered to Turbo shoppers with huge inventory . I bought two turbos there . They were always fair to me but I felt more at ease negotiating with the GM at the collection . If Champion had the car that I wanted I would have no problem talking to them about it but the Collection gets my first bid ,

3) Porsche West Broward - They are a new dealership . They were non existent when I bough my first Porsches . I have never stepped foot in the place even though the pictures look impressive .
There is a reason why I never went . A member on the Macan Forum wrote a post that talked of a. high dealer prep fee (for 2016 standards ) and a mandatory LoJack on a car. That bothered me !!! LoJack tis not even an OEM part. https://www.macanforum.com/threads/p...roward.114465/

4) Palm Beach - I bought one car from them. The guy who sold it to me was outstanding but he did say he was moving . The drive is far enough to stay in Miami but my one time was favorable .

5) Ft Myers ,,, I know its west coast . I had been posting at the onset of supply issues on the Macan Forum .. A sales person from Ft Myers read my post , had a car in inventory, contacted me , gave a discount and delivered the car to my house in 3 days !!! It was a totally positive experience.

I like Florida dealerships !! The Collection is near and dear to me though.

Shr

It is going to take from the date I was put on the "list" to the day I will actually receive the car about 3 years. Being on the list doesn't means much.
I am also in NY and honestly it might take longer or not for you to actually get an allocation. Tbf, I have no prior relationship with the dealer, I went to only one dealer (the closest to me) and this would be my second 911 so I am pretty sure that some people will get way better treatment than me. I also didn't pay ADM or anything.
Or you might get lucky. Just drop by from time to time and talk face to face with them. They sometimes have cancellations or extra allocations and you might get lucky.

division

After waiting for two years on one of the aforementioned dealers in South Florida, I finally received my allocation for an S at MSRP at one of the other dealers down here that I was on a list for 1.5 years. Locks in February, TYD delivery date in late May. Didn't think I'd ever get the call, either.

22992

There aren’t many things that make me happy to live in Ohio, but I guess I’ll add much better Porsche dealerships to the list. Out of the 4 I contacted seeking an allocation only 1 was slightly standoffish. The other 3 were delightful to work with.

GT3

South Florida allocation game is silly. And I live there lol. Good history with one of those dealerships, bought multiple new GT3s, Macans, and Cayennes from one of them over the last 13 years. Same SA. Still nothing and luckily ended up getting my Dakar and GT3RS allocations from New York 🙃

detansinn

Yeah, Florida blows goats for car enthusiasts. There are no good roads there. In many places, the only way that you’re going to enjoy curves are the highway interchanges. That’s not even addressing how it is miserably hot in the warm months. I spent a few years in Miami and the only reason to bother with something nice is for the flex, which has never been a motivator for me. I’m sure that someone is going to weigh in about that one road that they know somewhere, but even places like Ohio are the land of twisties compared to Florida.

There are so many threads whining about allocations…

• If you want a new 911 in your spec, paying a modest ADM like $5k isn’t a big deal and it’s the current market.
• If you have a modern 911 to trade in, that’s likely going to bump you up in line and right now, you will be paying no ADM in most markets.
• Your “place in line” without an allocation means nothing. Everyone gets to cut ahead of you… existing customers, people willing to throw down ADM, VIPs, and heck, even new clients with clear long term potential.
• If you want to further marginalize your position in line and move all the way to the back, insist on “not a dime” over MSRP. That position, completely ignoring the market and who you’re competing with, is the equivalent of being number 42 on the first class standby list, ie not happening. Paying a mere $5k ADM can get you a car. Waiting for MSRP or discounting will cost you years.
• The GTS is the sweet spot… and by sweet spot, I mean the intersection of crushed hopes and disillusionment. There are more people fighting for GTS allocations than anything else. Stop to trying to buy the new 911 that everyone else wants to buy. Sure, it’s a nice trim level, but at the end of the day, it’s still just a Carrera. It’s hilarious to see you all fight over them. It’s much easier to get an allocation for a T (and nearly every other Carrera) than the GTS.
• Build a relationship with a local/local-ish dealer and SA. Be a customer with service potential and a long-tail of current/future business. I know that some people scoff at this and maybe it’s a generational thing, but it has served me well and I like spending money with people who I know and like.