How long do dealers hold stock?
Discussion
I viewed a Boxster (981) over a year ago. Placed a deposit and agreed to buy subject to Porsche main dealer check for a warranty. It failed the check and as agreed the dealer (not a main dealer) refunded my deposit (the dealer was great). I get alerts from the dealer and they still have the car on their site. Would a dealer really keep a car of modest value for a year?
Shinyfings said:
I viewed a Boxster (981) over a year ago. Placed a deposit and agreed to buy subject to Porsche main dealer check for a warranty. It failed the check and as agreed the dealer (not a main dealer) refunded my deposit (the dealer was great). I get alerts from the dealer and they still have the car on their site. Would a dealer really keep a car of modest value for a year?
With some trade experience I must say that the dealer would . Instead of “ moving on” after 6 weeks some would hold on until the car (trade speak) “got a candle” ie one year on sale. Not sure why they did this as it must be a poor business model .No doubt some of the cars were in weird colours but otherwise sound and the dealers resented “ giving them away” In some cases cars of this ilk were moved between sites of local independents, who mostly seemed to support each other like a brotherhood. Occasionally a “long termer” would sell the next day when moved to a less plush but main road car lot. At the posh (maybe) end of the market with some classics, it would appear that some of them have been there for an eternity and there are some fascinating threads on here supporting this, mostly at rural locations with a name redolent of bucolic charm or suggesting long ownership in the manner of Smythe and Stepdaughters etc.Even if garaged, which many aren’t, the stock could hardly have been improved by long lack of use, the one thing cars dislike above all. Sometimes a dealer would pass on a car to another and would resent the latter selling it within days !I recall going to view a Boxter incidentally with a mate and it was in what was little more than a decrepit shed of an obscure village garage .The seller claimed that it was the proverbial bosses wife’s car, and it was clean and tidy, but he wouldn’t budge on price so he lost that sale: they were a similar price at main dealers, Parker and Parker. Edited by Lester H on Saturday 25th February 19:12
Edited by Lester H on Saturday 25th February 19:39
Years ago I looked at a nearly new SAAB 900
Turbo coupe in blue at Ballards of Finchley a SAAB main dealer.
The car was on a 99T and was about 4/5 months old and only had a couple of thousand miles on it, so it would have been late 99 .. they were asking too much for me and I didn’t think it was worth it
I used to drive past every day to/from work and it sat in the showroom, then at the front of their used car display and then at the back of the open car park across the road .. still with the £25995 sticker in the window of the increasingly neglected looking car
When I left London at the end of 2004 it was still there, must have been sat out in the open 4.5 to 5 years
Very odd
Turbo coupe in blue at Ballards of Finchley a SAAB main dealer.
The car was on a 99T and was about 4/5 months old and only had a couple of thousand miles on it, so it would have been late 99 .. they were asking too much for me and I didn’t think it was worth it
I used to drive past every day to/from work and it sat in the showroom, then at the front of their used car display and then at the back of the open car park across the road .. still with the £25995 sticker in the window of the increasingly neglected looking car
When I left London at the end of 2004 it was still there, must have been sat out in the open 4.5 to 5 years
Very odd
Shinyfings said:
I viewed a Boxster (981) over a year ago. Placed a deposit and agreed to buy subject to Porsche main dealer check for a warranty. It failed the check and as agreed the dealer (not a main dealer) refunded my deposit (the dealer was great). I get alerts from the dealer and they still have the car on their site. Would a dealer really keep a car of modest value for a year?
In a word, yes. But it depends on the scale of the dealer. A large dealership could potentially move things down the trade if something wasn’t shifting and wasn’t worth the time/space etc but a large dealership isn’t something I have experience with and it depends what you consider modest value.Some dealers will knock down the price every week after say 6 weeks until it sells (if margins would allow this).
I know many many dealers that have had cars in stock for literally years. Sometimes there really isn’t no rhythm or reason to it. You could have pretty much identical cars and one could sell quickly and the other could take months etc (seen this myself). If a car has been in stock a long time it doesn’t mean it’s a bad example.
It’s just about the right person at the right time.
Plus if you’ve paid out a lot for repairs and all that jazz you’re even more financially invested in it. Everything goes eventually.
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