But, why? Why do you have to take the hits? Why do I have to take the hits? If someone is going to take the hit, why can't it be the dealer who gives up 5K he won't even remember he gave up to keep us as customers. Am I missing something?
Because he will sell every allocation he gets, with or without you. Thus, he doesn't need you. Supply and demand ... Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Right you are. I think they are telling you what value they put on friendship. Zero. This is a business relationship. Sure its better when you can enjoy interacting with the people involved. But for the product you wouldn't be involved with the dealer. But for the money, the dealer wouldn't be involved. Plain and simple. And you're right this is not how it should be but as the others have said- this is just how it is. Its the price of being in this game. You are hardly alone in this experience, you aren't the first nor will you be the last. We've all been there. Its just a question of how you want to go forward. There's no right or wrong answer. Its just a question of what's the right choice for you. Whatever you choose to do, I wish you well because you seem like a good hearted person.
Douglas , how keen are you on new cars? Only 10% of the 30 or so cars I have owned have been new, though i come more from the classic side so maybe i'm different. I do understand the joy of configuring a new Ferrari but if you are pretty mainstream in your tastes (red/black/grey) and want to dispense with the whole "does my dealer value me, will he get me the latest thing before anybody else" thing, may i suggest the following? 1) Put the Cali up for sale, price it below what a dealer would sell for and above what a dealer would pay you. Wait until it sells. 2) Take that cash put it with some more cash (not my place to know if you have that already or borrow it or whatever) 3) look at all the F12's being sold by Ferrari North America, pick say 5 and rank them in order of preference. Ring the dealer with car number 1, bid him 10-15% less than sticker. Give him an hour to think about it, if rejected ring the guy with car number 2 and so on. Interaction can then be limited to "Hi, I'm a cash buyer for your F12, I'll pay you X basis delivery to my house." "I am looking at various cars what do you say" ? The dealer will do one of three things; waffle, counter or say "done!" You will say one of two things; "goodbye" or "done!" I'm not in North america so maybe you want to seek advice on what the delta to sticker should be but that's how I buy and it usually works. As Caeruleus above says, you seem like a nice chap and I wish you luck
The hit you would eventually take on the F12 will make the hit you take on the California look small. Unless you can buy early or cheap and sell quickly you will almost always lose money on a Ferrari. There are some exceptions but not in the cars produced in any volume. Ferrari dealers get so few new cars they aren't going to discount one to make you happy unless it's an unpopular model. Buying an F12 at the end of the production cycle will maximize your depreciation. They did you a favor.
It goes both ways. You're saying for $5,000 he would have kept your friendship and loyalty. Aren't you putting the same price on your friendship and loyalty? $5,000 is less than 1% of the total transaction. Unless you get early and/or limited edition cars, you're going to pay to play at this level. And to get early and/or limited edition cars, you're going to pay your dues. Seems like you were off to a good start, hopefully you can patch up your differences.
Look, clearly you live near the dealer and have done a TON of business with them, so I can sort of understand your vehemence in defense of them. But, I feel the need to point out that what $5000 means to a customer and what it means to a dealer are two separate things. 5K to a dealer who sells 80 cars a year is virtually nothing and would be forgotten about before the end of business. $5000 to a customer, and one who is not super wealthy, but has the means to lease a Ferrari, the fulfillment of a lifelong dream (not the leasing part), is a substantial amount of money. PLUS, it's not his money. He may get a small percentage commission on that money, but it's the company's money. I'm not sure what you really think about this because as you said, they've sold 5 cars for you. But, for me, despite the fact that everyone on this board says we who buy Ferraris must bow down and suckle the prancing teet just for the honor of giving these guys 375K of our hard earned money and wait two years to enjoy our car. But, I cannot for the life of me believe that anyone who owns a business that they have built from nothing would be happy with a customer leaving and walking over to a competitor over 5 grand.
Graham. This is the best advice I've gotten since this whole thing began. I truly appreciate you taking the time to write this to me and will absolutely give it a go. Cheers!
It's a new dealership under a lot of scrutiny. The amount of rules they have to follow and the metrics by which they are measured is mind boggling. What may not seem like a big deal to you is a bigger deal than you think to them. I bought 8 cars in 8 years from The Auto Gallery. After they "sold" their franchise to Ferrari of Beverly Hills, I went over to see about ordering a Speciale. While they were able to verify my ownership history, I still couldn't get on the list to get on "the list". I didn't take it personally, I bet on the wrong horse (Auto Gallery) and lost. They weren't going to put me in front of their long term customers, so I put on my "big boy" pants and went back to Porsche. Fast forward to the opening of the South Bay location. I still had my 458 so I put it on consignment and ordered a GT3, thinking I was done with Ferrari. They sold my 458 and a few months later they gave me a Speciale allocation. The GT3 came in and I put it on consignment when the Speciale arrived. The relationship just snowballed from there. I can assure you that every deal is scrutinized by ownership. You can move to another dealership but you will have lost the goodwill you've built and compete with an established customer base. I'm more than happy to meet for lunch if you'd like to discuss further. Good luck either way.
That's very kind of you to offer, George. I truly appreciate it. And, my apologies if my frustration has gotten the best of me at times. I suppose at the heart of this all is the friendship aspect and believing that my friend would take care of me. What's done is done. My job now is to get my 1989 Speedster sold, get my California sold and find a few cars that will bring me the joy in driving that I am looking for. Again, thank you very much and enjoy your multiple cars. Looks like quite the awesome line up.
Douglas , just one thing, I used the English term "cash buyer". Please note I don't mean that you buy using actual cash but that you let the salesman know that you have money in hand ready to wire. Cheers
I understand your frustration and I do see your points. It's just a reality that I have accepted over time in my case ( perhaps mistakenly so as you argue) as my F12 will be my 11th Ferrari. They probably see me coming a mile away given my slobbering love affair with the marque. The sticker on my F12 is going to approach $500K. Should I decide to part with ( I swore to my wife I'll keep this one for life�� I can only imagine the hit I would take. As far as friendship with the salesman, sure I have had good relationships with one or two salesmen over the years ( purchased cars from 3 separate dealers) but the salesman is clearly at the behest of his/her dealer, so that only goes so far. Agree with others that the fiscally smart play would be to find a gently used, mint F12 and buy it knowing someone else took the initial depreciation. Cheers, Mark
