Why should a dealer refund a deposit if you back out of the deal? You are making a contact to order something not in stock, and the deposit is earnest money and binds the contract, otherwise there is no point in it. I side with the dealer (probably because I'm in the retail business myself) because you are in effect 'sticking' him with a $ 100K + car in inventory. The customer has to have some exposure to cancelling the deal, otherwise people could change their minds on a whim (and I'm sure they do). But if you have to get out of one, and its non-refundable - try getting a credit towards a future purchase. Ultimately they want to sell you a car - not keep your deposit money.

 

I don't think you're "sticking" them with anything unless you have a ridiculously unusual build. They can sell that car just like any other on the lot.

 

I had a $2,500 deposit on a 981 GTS I was going to order for EU delivery. We changed our minds and told the dealer to keep the deposit until he found the right 991 CPO. 6 weeks later he did. My point is that with the current returns available on $5K drcollie's suggestion is a sound one.

 

It does not. It remains up to state law and I can tell you categorically that all car deposits are refundable in MA. it is unethical to claim otherwise.

 

The dealership was in NH. To further clarify I bought a Cayenne the same day I ordered the Turbo. I was expected the refund due to past/present/future business I was doing with the dealership. It was a car that was very saleable. $5k is not much at a Porsche dealership.

 

Was it Stratham or Nashua? I know that the Stratham guys are incredibly professional and honest.


Have you challenged them on the legality of withholding the deposit? The reason I ask is that once, I had a junior sales guy in Boston threatened to withhold my deposit in a final negotiation. It did not end well for him.

 

I agree with Hinckley, deposits are supposed to be refundable. The dealership can choose to not accomadate a customer, but they are not supposed to tell customers that the deposit is non-refundable. It doesn't matter on how expensive the car is, Porsche would not be happy with dealerships telling customers the deposits are non refundable.

If deposits are non-refundable, the number of orders would decline dramatically, car corporations don't gain anything by making deposits non-refundable and that is why they don't support it.

 

It was actually 7 month as they weren't building my base model until June and that was November. I paid invoice plus $6K

ChuckJ

 

You may want to read up on basic contract law. Deposits are called 'Consideration' and legally binding in order to activate a written contract. What you think is right is not necessarily the legal interpretation of a contract deposit.

 

Well yes, you are. No business has unlimited funds, and maybe they can absorb a single unit without too much financial grief but what if 12 or 15 customers thought that every month and refused to honor their buy commit? That dealership would be killed on inventory. Most car dealerships floor plan their inventory and pay interest on the cars they hold in inventory in the beginning of every month. You assume that carrying a $ 100K car they didn't plan for in inventorying is no big deal. Interest rate for most all car dealerships is Prime + 1%. It adds up to the bottom line operating costs.

In my business (high end retail furniture) I own all my inventory. If I let customers come in and order, and cheerfully refund their deposits when they change their mind halfway through production I'd be out of business in short order. I have, on average, about 10 customers a month who want out of their order or change their minds on what they ordered. My stock orders are planned out 6 months in advance, I cannot absorb ten extra orders a month, I have no space for them on the showroom and no where to store them, nor the cash flow to inventory them. We have deposits to ensure they meet their obligation to order the items they requested. If they are not willing to make a non-refundable deposit, then they are more than welcome to purchase something off the floor and out of existing inventory. I think you will find most retail business operations operate like that. Of course there are exceptions handled on a case-by-case basis, but for the most part a deposit means you will take the order or forfeit it once production has begun on it.

 

I for one am VERY familiar with contract law and the concept of consideration. But I may suggest that you may want to read up on states' consumer protection statutes.

 

That does not apply in my state.(to automobiles)

 

The thing is I believe (based on conversations with my dealer) that most of the orders we place for our run of the mill C2/C4 builds come out of the dealers allocation. So the bottom line is the dealer is getting a car anyway it just happens to be to our personal specification instead of what the dealer would have otherwise ordered to fill out his lot.

So in general as long as what someone is specifying in their build is somewhat mainstream (i.e. sell-able to the general market) they don't tend to worry much about a customer backing out on them after the build is locked.

I think where the dealer may get more picky (and higher deposits) is when people build something that might have a little less general sell-ability.

For example I see a great many builds people show off here with interiors combinations that well..they are interesting but let's just say their taste is in their mouth. And lets face it many of us order because we couldn't find exactly what we wanted or what met our own individualized tastes. It is great to be able to order anything you want.. but it may be difficult to unload by a dealer if the original customer backed out.

 

FWIW, I put down $2K. The important thing to take from this thread (aside from DRCollie's excellent comments) is that laws vary between states. You guys really need to be more careful about making your blanket statements like "walk if you don't get a 15% discount" or "all deposits are refundable".

Neither is true. OK, the 15% discount thing is from Rennlist, but you get my point.

Me personally, I don't really get the idea of a refundable deposit. Why bother?

 

In which state , are deposits considered non-refundable on automobiles??