Hi guys
I am a newbie trying to buy my first 911 Carrera 4, "configured online 2017 ", sent email to the GM's for all the Houston dealerships and few in Austin and san Antonia( live in Houston)
only got a response from one dealer in Houston, that too from the sales rep , rest of the GM's did not respond .
is it that there is no margin of discount or is the demand more than the supply.
How much discount should I expect on the price that pops on the online configuration price or may be there is no discount or may be I should order 911 Carrera 4s instead ,or maybe go to the dealer that has the best reputation and get whatever is the best deal they offer, please suggest the best course, is this happening because I am ordering via online configuration and there is the quote system, I thought with oil prices lower in Houston , it would be easier getting some discount
feedback appreciated

 

a) don't email the GM, they don't sell cars. Find a salesman.
b) new car = high demand = low discounts. That's just a fact of life.

If you walk into a dealer and they have a car that fits your needs and you are ready to buy it that day, then I suspect that you can get a discount. If you want to order something, then make an effort to find salespeople and talk to them and get them to give you a quote, but expect less of a discount right now.

Still, I always recommend ordering exactly what you want instead of settling.

Also, if you order, you don't need to stay in Texas. You may get a better deal from a big dealer in Ohio or PA, for example. It will be worth the plane ticket.

 

The farther away the better...Longer drive home to get to know her!...lol

 

Holy commas. Why no periods or question marks?

 

Start with #3). Before even talking to a dealer, you need to make up your mind what model you want and can afford. And know how your going to pay for it. Without that info in hand, your wasting his time...and he has better things to do with his time than try sorting out your confusion.

#2) Discount? It all depends on how your going to pay for it or how desperate the dealer is to sell the car.

If you pay cash then, today, you probably need to find a desperate dealer to get a discount. 8% is good. Probably going to have to wait for the car awhile because he'll be selling most of his allocations to that cash cow called a lease customer.
If you finance or lease you'll probably easily find a discount. Name it. That's because in a lease/finance there will be the fine print requirements in which the dealer will recoup the discount - and more. You'll likely get your car a lot quicker, too. Reason being, the sooner he starts the lease, the quicker he gets into your wallet. Be thorough when you do your lease calculations homework. Have a trade? sell it yourself. Anything you get will be better than what the dealer will give you for it - regardless of what he tells you.

#1) When you have your act together, it doesn't make any difference who you talk to. Call (or IM from those little pop up windows on their websites). When whoever asks when your looking to buy you say "today." When whoever asks how you plan to finance - have your answer ready. Trade? No. You'll quickly be talking to someone ready to deal and with access to the SM or GM.
Know what you want, stick to it and be ready to close the deal. Only then pick up the phone.

 

He put a couple of periods in there. Coulda used a few more.

Kids today... I'm surprised the OP had any punctuation at all.

typically they write with no regard to punctuation or capitalization and dont even get me started on speling especially when theyre on one of those phones that do the autocorrect and they dont even bother to even try to check to see if the word that they wanted to use is the word that was inseminated OMG its nearly impossible to read this stuff and really gets frustrating for those of us admittedly in smaller numbers who try to write cohesive and coherent posts on these internet forum board things

period

 

 

While my Dad prided himself on being able to buy cars by phone I've never tried that nor by fax or emails either. But I have bought a few cars in person and I've always ended up talking to the GM/sales manager (sometimes he's the same person).

In my experience a salesman can only say "no" to a deal and he'll say "no" if the deal is not to his liking. (Even if he says "yes" he still has to run the deal by his manager.)

Based on my research I always end up starting out low enough the salesman is not making anything on the deal so he'll say "no" because of that. And even if he says he'll run my offer by his manager I found in one case -- I followed the guy after his umpteenth run to put the my offer to his manager -- he instead went to the dealer's break lounge to smoke a cigarette. He was not taking my offer to his manager.

So I always end up sitting close to the sales/general manager's office to be sure my offer and counter offer is being passed on. (In the case of buying my Boxster I carried on a conversation with the GM over a cube wall while sitting in the salesman's cube. The salesman was a spectator.)

The sales/general manager will say "yes" to a deal a salesman will say "no" too because the sales/general manager wants to sell a car. While he won't sell the car at a loss, he'll often sell a car below the price the salesman makes much if any money.