Question for Henry-F
Discussion
Welcome Henry and thanks for your impressions of the Cayenne.
I noticed in your ad in the latest Top Marques that you're looking for cars at the moment. The list of models you're after includes the Boxster. Have you now decided that you're willing to take money from the poor misguided fashion conscious fools who might want to buy one ?
This link will explain.
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?p=1&f=48&t=26837&h=0
I noticed in your ad in the latest Top Marques that you're looking for cars at the moment. The list of models you're after includes the Boxster. Have you now decided that you're willing to take money from the poor misguided fashion conscious fools who might want to buy one ?
This link will explain.
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?p=1&f=48&t=26837&h=0
The after dinner speaker bookings for the Boxster register dried up almost overnight. My biggest complaint re: the article was that the photo they used made me look fat when in reality I have the athletic frame of one who spends his every waking hour in the gym - ask anyone who knows me !
I was a bit misquoted. What I actually said was that it frustrated me the way Boxster buyers went about their descision making. They pick a colour combination and random year then look for that exact car. When they find it they buy the vehicle almost regardless of price. This is why almost every Boxster I`ve bought to date involves my collecting both the car and a cheque from the aforementioned individual to cover the difference between their car`s value and the amount outstanding to Porsche financial services !
In fairness many newer 911 owners go about things in a similar way as well.
The whole Audi TT / BMW Z3 / Boxster thing is another shame. Most boxster owners have never had a Porsche before. When they made their descision to buy a Boxster I`ll bet they were also considering a Z3 or TT . They will have made the descision based on looks, spec, colour, availability, how close the dealers were to them, which famous pop / football stars were driving them at the time and so on. In fact everything other than the raw ability of the car.
One of those machines is well balanced, taught handling and can hold it`s own against most things on a track. The other two are made by Audi and BMW respectively. What I said was it`s a shame the vast majority of Boxster owners don`t realise quite what they`ve bought and how good it really is. Now I know I`m generalising. The number of Boxsters I see on track days for instance tells me there are some glimmers of hope out there and some individuals championing the cause. As the cars get older and the price comes down it is possible to have one and not blow £10k in a weekend. You also find the buyer - because his money is possibly a little harder earned (or because it really is his money rather than the bank`s), looks at the purchase from slightly further away. Although he really wanted a blue interior if there is a car for £3k less with a black interior he`ll buy it.
So yes We do sell Boxsters.
Re: the thread that ran after the article came out aren`t some people cruel !!
Just for the record we do spend a lot of time with Porsche Virgins but the core of our business is based on repeat and recommendation business. That has allowed us to grow steadily over the years rather than remain constant.
Hope that answers your question.
Henry
I was a bit misquoted. What I actually said was that it frustrated me the way Boxster buyers went about their descision making. They pick a colour combination and random year then look for that exact car. When they find it they buy the vehicle almost regardless of price. This is why almost every Boxster I`ve bought to date involves my collecting both the car and a cheque from the aforementioned individual to cover the difference between their car`s value and the amount outstanding to Porsche financial services !
In fairness many newer 911 owners go about things in a similar way as well.
The whole Audi TT / BMW Z3 / Boxster thing is another shame. Most boxster owners have never had a Porsche before. When they made their descision to buy a Boxster I`ll bet they were also considering a Z3 or TT . They will have made the descision based on looks, spec, colour, availability, how close the dealers were to them, which famous pop / football stars were driving them at the time and so on. In fact everything other than the raw ability of the car.
One of those machines is well balanced, taught handling and can hold it`s own against most things on a track. The other two are made by Audi and BMW respectively. What I said was it`s a shame the vast majority of Boxster owners don`t realise quite what they`ve bought and how good it really is. Now I know I`m generalising. The number of Boxsters I see on track days for instance tells me there are some glimmers of hope out there and some individuals championing the cause. As the cars get older and the price comes down it is possible to have one and not blow £10k in a weekend. You also find the buyer - because his money is possibly a little harder earned (or because it really is his money rather than the bank`s), looks at the purchase from slightly further away. Although he really wanted a blue interior if there is a car for £3k less with a black interior he`ll buy it.
So yes We do sell Boxsters.
Re: the thread that ran after the article came out aren`t some people cruel !!
Just for the record we do spend a lot of time with Porsche Virgins but the core of our business is based on repeat and recommendation business. That has allowed us to grow steadily over the years rather than remain constant.
Hope that answers your question.
Henry
If I was very cynical, I'd say "nicely backtracked". If they did misquote you, you really should have got them to print a retraction in the next issue. The article clearly stated you did not sell Boxsters and it explained why. You must have been very annoyed that anyone looking for a Boxster would not even have bothered going to your web site based on what they had read.
Anyway, at least you've taken the time to put your point of view across and for that, thanks.
If you knock £5K off the price of that black T4 for me, I promise to stop giving you a hard time
Anyway, at least you've taken the time to put your point of view across and for that, thanks.
If you knock £5K off the price of that black T4 for me, I promise to stop giving you a hard time
Hi Henry,
I too read your report on the Cayenne and found it very interesting and well written. If only I could fit one safely down my drive I think I'd possibly opt for one of the V6 models.
I've followed your ads in Top Marques with amusment for the last few years and when I was looking to buy a 911 about 4 years ago you were extremely helpful over the telephone and spent almost half an hour advising me. Unfortunately you didnt have anything suitable at the time which was a shame as I would have like to have given you my business.
However, I was rather put off when last year, on looking to part exchange my Ferrari 348GTS (a pretty much mint and quite rare car with only 14,000miles ) for one of your 993's you were fairly insulting over the telephone & I dont just mean regarding the price.
I don't want to turn this into a who loves/who hates Henry thread and I do realise that everyone can have a bad day. It does also seem that you have built yourself a solid and well regarded business so you must be doing something right. I was just a little disappointed and your " I dont care what people think of my comment "came as no surprise to me.
This may be one of the reasons that some of the chaps here have rather mixed feelings about you & your business.
>> Edited by craigw on Wednesday 5th November 11:46
Edited to say: Ignore what I said about your "I dont care what people think about me" comment, I'm not sure you ever said that, think I must have imagined it! Bad day!
>> Edited by craigw on Wednesday 5th November 11:56
I too read your report on the Cayenne and found it very interesting and well written. If only I could fit one safely down my drive I think I'd possibly opt for one of the V6 models.
I've followed your ads in Top Marques with amusment for the last few years and when I was looking to buy a 911 about 4 years ago you were extremely helpful over the telephone and spent almost half an hour advising me. Unfortunately you didnt have anything suitable at the time which was a shame as I would have like to have given you my business.
However, I was rather put off when last year, on looking to part exchange my Ferrari 348GTS (a pretty much mint and quite rare car with only 14,000miles ) for one of your 993's you were fairly insulting over the telephone & I dont just mean regarding the price.
I don't want to turn this into a who loves/who hates Henry thread and I do realise that everyone can have a bad day. It does also seem that you have built yourself a solid and well regarded business so you must be doing something right. I was just a little disappointed and your " I dont care what people think of my comment "came as no surprise to me.
This may be one of the reasons that some of the chaps here have rather mixed feelings about you & your business.
>> Edited by craigw on Wednesday 5th November 11:46
Edited to say: Ignore what I said about your "I dont care what people think about me" comment, I'm not sure you ever said that, think I must have imagined it! Bad day!
>> Edited by craigw on Wednesday 5th November 11:56
Must admit, I was 'weary' of the place... given the 'reputation'
But called non-the-less, to get a price on a chop in for my 996..
Was given a frank, but honest appraisel, but that was it...
There wasnt much 'love' happening... but I suppose its not a knocking shop.
Wouldnt stop me going to visit.. (tho the By Appointment only rule might) but i am sure If i were to recieve the same treatment in person, that I did on the fone... I might not be so 'accomodating'
But, I dont like to pre-judge...
Time to polish the car and wander over... without an appointment
But called non-the-less, to get a price on a chop in for my 996..
Was given a frank, but honest appraisel, but that was it...
There wasnt much 'love' happening... but I suppose its not a knocking shop.
Wouldnt stop me going to visit.. (tho the By Appointment only rule might) but i am sure If i were to recieve the same treatment in person, that I did on the fone... I might not be so 'accomodating'
But, I dont like to pre-judge...
Time to polish the car and wander over... without an appointment
There wasn`t really any need to have 911 & Porsche world print any retractions. In an article like that there are lots of times you feel quoted out of context or you think the writer has come away with the wrong impression. But that all adds to the spice of life. A bloke comes round for an hour one morning then writes a feature on you. He needs to live with us for a month or two, then he`ll see what it`s all about.
Re: back tracking. To be honest the number of Boxsters we sell in a year means that if we were to stop selling them all together it wouldn`t make any difference to us. I suppose we probably sold 6 to 12 Boxsters last year from a total of around 350 vehicles sold. That said every car and every sale counts. Certainly as the Boxster gets older we will start to see more of them. I think there are already some excellent Boxster Specialists around who cater for the nearly new market. That`s not our intended audience.
The Ferrari 348 GTS. Don`t remember the conversation but was there possibly some jovial Banter based around the fact that Ferraris are fragile peices of Italian metal with over priced and hard to get hold of mechanical internals, especially when compared to Porsches !! Either that or some debate over potential values and / or saleability of a car that has been superceeded more than once and according to the Ferrari affectionardos was one of the worst models produced (there words not mine - I love the 348, modern driving Ferrari for a lot less money than a 355). And whoa there fellow before you start unlocking the gun cupboard one of my current vehicles wears the prancing horse badge on it`s bonnet so I can`t hate them totally !
We get offered probably 10 or 20 cars a day either to p/x or purchase. Every single one is the best car in the world until you see it. Forgive us if we are a little synical over the phone, you imagine trying to value a car you`ve never seen before that`s being described by an IT consultant / accountant / plumber / doctor. It`s bad enough trying to buy on the description of "professional" motor dealer who should know better and be able to accurately describe a car. I can assure you we value on condition and when we see a lovely car pay a consumate thickness of folding.
All that said the private owner of a car looking to maximise his return and with a few months and lots of time to wait by the phone might get more for the car than we would even ask retail for it. I don`t always agree with the "there weren`t many built so by definition it must be worth a fortune" argument.
Re: the milages. No we don`t place any importance on them. You will appreciate most of our cars are over 5 or 6 years old. From that time you`ve got to buy on condition and condition alone. Take that Black T4. It`s a left hand drive car, imported from lands afar where the don`t speak the queen`s english. Hell they don`t even use the correct side of the road and probably stand up to do a poo. It is almost impossible to prove the provenance of any history the vehicle may have. Even if you could there is no way you know where every mile was driven. 500 miles round the centre of town or a race track puts the same wear on the car as 5,000 or 10,000 miles sitting doning a constant 80 on the motorway.
Remember this people - buy your cars on condition.
I don`t want to get into a long debate about it but there is someone on the forum looking to buy a 993 RS. Excellent choice, last one we sold made high £30k`s around 37k if memory serves me correctly (LHD). A good buy. The guy has used it, had fun, kept it serviced and will enjoy an easy resale. Our friend however is going to spend £50k on a car he daren`t use for fear of increasing the now tiny number on the speedo or damaging it in some way. Even if he does keep it wraped up in cotton wool he will find it much harder to sell on again to realise anything close to his 50k.
Williamp - We do indeed work purely by appointment. This allows us to try and structure our day to spend time with people. One thing you`ll never find us doing is trying to "close" you or clinch a deal. We don`t base the amount of time we spend with someone on their income / choice of car / vehicle they arrive in etc. Tom in particular spends hours with people sometimes knowing from the start they haven`t come to buy. That`s fine. Saturdays can be a triffle busy. We run a free for all between 10 and 3. We tried appointment times but you lot never kept to them. So now we just try and speak to people in the order they arrived. All the cars are generally locked unless we are showing it to someone. It helps stop people flicking switches, climing around inside, leaving them in gear, braking doorhandles on 911`s when the try to open a door they`ve locked by mistake etc. Not to mention (although thankfully no one on this site would stoop so low) nicking bits !
If people want to have a general chat with us we do warn them Saturday is not the best day to come. During the week we have much more time available.
And finally to Jamie. A big hug from me to you. You are indeed correct, the pressures of a busy office and telephone do sometimes mean the hugs and kisses are sometimes left out. But come round and I`ll get Jet to give you a big lick.
Henry
Re: back tracking. To be honest the number of Boxsters we sell in a year means that if we were to stop selling them all together it wouldn`t make any difference to us. I suppose we probably sold 6 to 12 Boxsters last year from a total of around 350 vehicles sold. That said every car and every sale counts. Certainly as the Boxster gets older we will start to see more of them. I think there are already some excellent Boxster Specialists around who cater for the nearly new market. That`s not our intended audience.
The Ferrari 348 GTS. Don`t remember the conversation but was there possibly some jovial Banter based around the fact that Ferraris are fragile peices of Italian metal with over priced and hard to get hold of mechanical internals, especially when compared to Porsches !! Either that or some debate over potential values and / or saleability of a car that has been superceeded more than once and according to the Ferrari affectionardos was one of the worst models produced (there words not mine - I love the 348, modern driving Ferrari for a lot less money than a 355). And whoa there fellow before you start unlocking the gun cupboard one of my current vehicles wears the prancing horse badge on it`s bonnet so I can`t hate them totally !
We get offered probably 10 or 20 cars a day either to p/x or purchase. Every single one is the best car in the world until you see it. Forgive us if we are a little synical over the phone, you imagine trying to value a car you`ve never seen before that`s being described by an IT consultant / accountant / plumber / doctor. It`s bad enough trying to buy on the description of "professional" motor dealer who should know better and be able to accurately describe a car. I can assure you we value on condition and when we see a lovely car pay a consumate thickness of folding.
All that said the private owner of a car looking to maximise his return and with a few months and lots of time to wait by the phone might get more for the car than we would even ask retail for it. I don`t always agree with the "there weren`t many built so by definition it must be worth a fortune" argument.
Re: the milages. No we don`t place any importance on them. You will appreciate most of our cars are over 5 or 6 years old. From that time you`ve got to buy on condition and condition alone. Take that Black T4. It`s a left hand drive car, imported from lands afar where the don`t speak the queen`s english. Hell they don`t even use the correct side of the road and probably stand up to do a poo. It is almost impossible to prove the provenance of any history the vehicle may have. Even if you could there is no way you know where every mile was driven. 500 miles round the centre of town or a race track puts the same wear on the car as 5,000 or 10,000 miles sitting doning a constant 80 on the motorway.
Remember this people - buy your cars on condition.
I don`t want to get into a long debate about it but there is someone on the forum looking to buy a 993 RS. Excellent choice, last one we sold made high £30k`s around 37k if memory serves me correctly (LHD). A good buy. The guy has used it, had fun, kept it serviced and will enjoy an easy resale. Our friend however is going to spend £50k on a car he daren`t use for fear of increasing the now tiny number on the speedo or damaging it in some way. Even if he does keep it wraped up in cotton wool he will find it much harder to sell on again to realise anything close to his 50k.
Williamp - We do indeed work purely by appointment. This allows us to try and structure our day to spend time with people. One thing you`ll never find us doing is trying to "close" you or clinch a deal. We don`t base the amount of time we spend with someone on their income / choice of car / vehicle they arrive in etc. Tom in particular spends hours with people sometimes knowing from the start they haven`t come to buy. That`s fine. Saturdays can be a triffle busy. We run a free for all between 10 and 3. We tried appointment times but you lot never kept to them. So now we just try and speak to people in the order they arrived. All the cars are generally locked unless we are showing it to someone. It helps stop people flicking switches, climing around inside, leaving them in gear, braking doorhandles on 911`s when the try to open a door they`ve locked by mistake etc. Not to mention (although thankfully no one on this site would stoop so low) nicking bits !
If people want to have a general chat with us we do warn them Saturday is not the best day to come. During the week we have much more time available.
And finally to Jamie. A big hug from me to you. You are indeed correct, the pressures of a busy office and telephone do sometimes mean the hugs and kisses are sometimes left out. But come round and I`ll get Jet to give you a big lick.
Henry
I think Henry is very brave. I know that a lot of dealers and smaller manufacturers lurk on this type of forum to try to pick up what's being said about them. To come on here and stick your head above the parapet like you've done is laudable behaviour 
It's also nice to see that you ticked the box for the carbon-Kevlar flameproof suit on the option list
Well done. And welcome to PH.
James
It's also nice to see that you ticked the box for the carbon-Kevlar flameproof suit on the option list
Well done. And welcome to PH.
James
Back to the original question on the thread regarding Boxsters, I totally agree with Henry on the strange decision making made by some Boxster buyers.
I've been trying to sell a Boxster all summer inspite of receiving endless calls. It always comes down to the car not having an option that happens to be down on their specific tick list. There is definately a different mind set going on here. People will buy an air cooled 911 in the wrong colour when the condition and price are right. Who cares about that specific electric seat back option?
I've been trying to sell a Boxster all summer inspite of receiving endless calls. It always comes down to the car not having an option that happens to be down on their specific tick list. There is definately a different mind set going on here. People will buy an air cooled 911 in the wrong colour when the condition and price are right. Who cares about that specific electric seat back option?
Greg, Buster & James: 
Never forget, this is the guy (not just you Henry, all dealers) that buys the car you could have bought yourself (if you could be bothered to get off your arse and go and see it), then sells it to you with his 30% tagged on just for keeping it locked up in a barn for a few weeks. If you want all the problems with it fixed you get to pay for that privelege too.
Henry,
You can only get away with all this free publicity if you start offering PH'ers discounts
Is it true that you don't allow test drives by the way ?
Never forget, this is the guy (not just you Henry, all dealers) that buys the car you could have bought yourself (if you could be bothered to get off your arse and go and see it), then sells it to you with his 30% tagged on just for keeping it locked up in a barn for a few weeks. If you want all the problems with it fixed you get to pay for that privelege too.
Henry,
You can only get away with all this free publicity if you start offering PH'ers discounts
Is it true that you don't allow test drives by the way ?
paulmc said:
Back to the original question on the thread regarding Boxsters, I totally agree with Henry on the strange decision making made by some Boxster buyers.
I've been trying to sell a Boxster all summer inspite of receiving endless calls. It always comes down to the car not having an option that happens to be down on their specific tick list. There is definately a different mind set going on here. People will buy an air cooled 911 in the wrong colour when the condition and price are right. Who cares about that specific electric seat back option?
Surely, as the Boxster is a fairly new car, everybody assumes the condition is gonna be damn near perfect. This makes colour and options more important to the buyer. There's so many Boxsters available at any one time, they can afford to be picky.
There's no doubt your average Boxster buyer is a different animal compared to your average 964/993 buyer but so what.
hermanthegerman said:
Henry,
You can only get away with all this free publicity if you start offering PH'ers discounts
Is it true that you don't allow test drives by the way ?
You can have a test drive, but not if you take Sharon out to 'bingo' and encourage nuns to attack Tom. So that was me fecked
C'mon Henry, what's the official line? Do they need a race licence or is your life assurance out of date?
hermanthegerman said:
Greg, Buster & James:
Never forget, this is the guy (not just you Henry, all dealers) that buys the car you could have bought yourself (if you could be bothered to get off your arse and go and see it), then sells it to you with his 30% tagged on just for keeping it locked up in a barn for a few weeks. If you want all the problems with it fixed you get to pay for that privelege too.
But then that's his job. You're paying him to go out and find that car for you, because he knows what he's looking at, and he takes the time to get off his bum and go looking all round the place for it.
Just like people pay me to write software. They don't have the time and/or skills to do it themselves, so they call me up and get me to do it for them. They don't expect me to do it for nothing (well, some do, but then they are soon disappointed).
I can never understand the attitude that people have that car dealers are somehow ripping them off by selling cars at a markup. It's their job. It's what they do all day while we're sitting in offices earning the money to go and buy the things on a Saturday morning. If the dealers prices are too high, go and find your car privately, or at an auction. Nobody is making you go to them.
James
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