Shorter delivery time with different dealership?

[Dan Richman]

There are two Porsche dealerships near me. One told me today delivery on a new Taycan would definitely take three months. What are the chances I might get a different answer from the other dealer?

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[marc]

ask the dealer.

 

[Tooney]

From the port of Emden, Germany, to the port of Benicia, California, is ocean transport via the Panama canal of 10,862 nautical miles. Benicia to Seattle is 781 miles over land. Considering shipping times, order processing, manufacturing scheduling, frequent 'unforeseen' delays at ports, stop sales, etc., as long as the dealer says "definitely", you have an <unreliable> answer about that Taycan delivery date.

 

[Crick]

It has to do with allocations. Porsche allocates vehicles to dealers based on dealer volume and location in the U.S. High-volume dealers get more allocations. Allocations are also broken down by vehicle class. Higher volume locations tend to be able to move the more esoteric models. Some dealers may get 4S but not Turbo S. When I ordered mine, I called dealers up and down the West Coast to find out which dealers received and had allocations for the model I wanted and how deep the wait list was for each dealer's allocation.

So, Yes. Different dealers will have different delivery times.

Be aware that different dealers give their sales teams different sales incentives. Some dealers are straight up and tell you about on-lot inventory, allocations, and wait lists. Others are incentivized to "source" vehicles from other dealers nationwide.

So a salesperson at a dealer (say in Seattle) may tell you a white Turbo S with your options is "available in a week" with a deposit, but that salesperson may simply be buying the car from a different dealer in the U.S. and having it shipped. This is not necessarily bad, but it is something to be aware of and whatever it suggests about the vehicle. It won't be the same as a shrink-wrapped car rolling off a transport at the port of Benicia, CA.

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