Buying from OPC

[Greenman]

@718as please keep posting. To be honest it's been good having a bit more traffic in the 981 section.  I don't think anyone is particularly annoyed with your posts, some were a little confused though as you seem to be focusing on some very minor issues. I guess if you have just started researching then I could see how some seeming random queries could arrise over a couple of weeks.  It would be nice though if you tell us a few details on the type of car you are after: typical usage; likely mileage; base or S; have you test driven;  etc etc,  these details will then help us taylor responses occordingly.

[Andy Mac]

@718as the answer to your initial post is probably yes - as my car (from OPC) had issues (now diagnosed today ...) in my running report:

But as I posted / let the OPC guide you round the car & the warranty is there.

And to be fair to @718as he did PM about the customer service at OPC Cambridge - ie suggests genuine interest. Probably a worrier (read fussy pain) like me 

[r1flyguy]

15 minutes ago, Andy Mac said:

 

And to be fair to @718as he did PM about the customer service at OPC Cambridge - ie suggests genuine interest. Probably a warrior (read Awesome Warrior bloke) like me 

 

 

Nah!!!!! @Andy Mac Your awesome and can clean my car anytime, so your post edited for awesomeness..

 

[Andy Mac]

@r1flyguy too kind! 

[Malcolm E Box]

To answer the question.

Buy from an OPC by all means. Just don't buy from Leeds.

I was happy with the buying process.

Their aftersales leaves a lot to be desired..........

[r1flyguy]

14 minutes ago, Malcolm E Box said:

To answer the question.

Buy from an OPC by all means. Just don't buy from Leeds.

I was happy with the buying process.

Their aftersales leaves a lot to be desired..........

 

I think this is similar for a few, once they have your money & your driving off the forecourt the 'keeness' seems to vanish once they cant earn any commission from you.

Theres only been one OPC ive had continual decent service from and its not even the one i purchased my cars from!!!!

[Malcolm E Box]

3 minutes ago, r1flyguy said:

 

I think this is similar for a few, once they have your money & your driving off the forecourt the 'keeness' seems to vanish once they cant earn any commission from you.

Theres only been one OPC ive had continual decent service from and its not even the one i purchased my cars from!!!!

All main dealers irrespective of marque are like this. Most of them don't care if they burn a customer as there are plenty more behind them.

If it wasn't for the warranty a main dealer would never see any of my cars.

[Buzzfox]

On ‎04‎/‎01‎/‎2017 at 7:30 PM, Daniel Joseph said:

Interesting.  When I went to collect my car from OPC Cambridge, after it was trailered there for some warranty work (failed engine temperature sender) I was rather underwhelmed by the reception I got.  I had agreed to collect the car at 11.00am and arrived on time in the loan car.  I asked at reception for my service advisor, then waited for over 15 minutes for him to turn up, during which time nobody offered me a coffee and the sales guys ignored me as I wandered around the showroom.  When the service guy turned up, out of breath,  he whisked me outside to my still wet car, took a quick walk around the loan car, said a brief goodbye and disappeared indoors before I had even got in to drive off.  First impressions count, and my first impression was that they weren't particularly interested in courting me for my business.

It was different experience at OPC Colchester, where I subsequently took the car for its first service.  A charming receptionist offered my partner and me coffees while we waited.  The service guy was very pleasant and efficient, called me at the agreed time to say the car was ready, answered my questions and was happy to chat before we headed home.

Interestingly this is pretty much the exact opposite of my experience with these two OPCs!

I wont go into details but Colchester messed me about, ripped me off, very economical with the truth on occasions, never called back when they said they would etc, etc. I got fed up with them after all this and decided to give Cambridge a go and it was completely different experience.

Then several years later I test drove a GTS with Colchester but they couldn't give me a reasonable deal so I left it but saying if the exact spec I was after turned up call me as I was still in the market for the right specced GTS at the right price. A few months later I gave up on a used one as the spec I wanted just didn't seem to turn up so I went back into them and said I want to order a new GTS. I was bluntly told I wouldn't get one, the guy said he would speak to his sales manager to see if with a hefty deposit they could  potentially get a slot and would ring me back with an answer later that week. I never heard a peep from them ever again. Obviously my 65 grand was of no interest to them.

When I asked Cambridge the same question they said it would be almost impossible to get a GTS but if I could give a £3000 fully refundable deposit they would try every avenue to secure a build. It took about a 10 days with them ringing or e-mailing me every other day with an update before they finally confirmed they'd got me a slot about 12 weeks away!  Cambridge aren't perfect but I always feel welcome when I'm there, the sales guy, Michael, always says hi and remembers my name if he sees me so I'm happy with Cambridge but Colchester would have to work very hard to get my business back but it seems they couldn't give a stuff about that anyway!!

And the final nail in the coffin for Colchester as far as I was concerned was when I went to their 718 launch night. I found the sales guy who had sold me my first Porsche many years ago, had tried to do a deal with me on a GTS about 18months earlier including assessing my Black Edition for part-ex, and had spoken to me about a new GTS about 10 months earlier. After a couple of minutes chatting about the 718 he asked me "have you ever owned a Porsche before?"

[ooid]

Mixed feelings/experiences with OPC. Met and dealt with some really good sales/service men but also quite sloppy and careless ones as well. 50/50 so far for me, but I would not just generalize the whole brand depending on a few bad experiences.

One thing, I would argue though, VW and Audi has a much serious relationship with the customer, if you car has an unforeseen or serious problem. They would probably take care of it, as the reliability and customer care seems to be their main concern. Porsche seems to be a bit arrogant and suspicious if a customer faces a technical issue with their cars (especially if it's a serious one).

Summary would be, do your own research, make sure that car is right. Sales/service people would be good or bad, but if you do your research/homework, the experience would not be ruined for sure. At the end of the day, people will come and go but the right car( well in porsche cases most of them) will stay longer with you.

[Stuart21UK]

15 hours ago, mrbikerdood said:

Least I don't wear latex rubber pants on a Sunday!

corrected for accuracy...

[GTB981]

I would not buy from an OPC again following the issues I had with my car. Not worth the premium. Sharks in suits, I thought Mercedes were bad.........There is a local independent near me called Harbour Cars. Would probably go to them for a pre-owned as would not buy brand new. 

[Daniel Joseph]

9 hours ago, Buzzfox said:

Interestingly this is pretty much the exact opposite of my experience with these two OPCs!

I wont go into details but Colchester messed me about, ripped me off, very economical with the truth on occasions, never called back when they said they would etc, etc. I got fed up with them after all this and decided to give Cambridge a go and it was completely different experience.

Then several years later I test drove a GTS with Colchester but they couldn't give me a reasonable deal so I left it but saying if the exact spec I was after turned up call me as I was still in the market for the right specced GTS at the right price. A few months later I gave up on a used one as the spec I wanted just didn't seem to turn up so I went back into them and said I want to order a new GTS. I was bluntly told I wouldn't get one, the guy said he would speak to his sales manager to see if with a hefty deposit they could  potentially get a slot and would ring me back with an answer later that week. I never heard a peep from them ever again. Obviously my 65 grand was of no interest to them.

When I asked Cambridge the same question they said it would be almost impossible to get a GTS but if I could give a £3000 fully refundable deposit they would try every avenue to secure a build. It took about a 10 days with them ringing or e-mailing me every other day with an update before they finally confirmed they'd got me a slot about 12 weeks away!  Cambridge aren't perfect but I always feel welcome when I'm there, the sales guy, Michael, always says hi and remembers my name if he sees me so I'm happy with Cambridge but Colchester would have to work very hard to get my business back but it seems they couldn't give a stuff about that anyway!!

And the final nail in the coffin for Colchester as far as I was concerned was when I went to their 718 launch night. I found the sales guy who had sold me my first Porsche many years ago, had tried to do a deal with me on a GTS about 18months earlier including assessing my Black Edition for part-ex, and had spoken to me about a new GTS about 10 months earlier. After a couple of minutes chatting about the 718 he asked me "have you ever owned a Porsche before?"

On the basis of both our experiences, if they're representative,  the conclusion seems to be; buy your Porsche from Cambridge, but get it serviced at Colchester!  Joking aside, one's impression of the OPC is often down to the behaviour and attitude of individual sales and service guys (and whether they're having a good or bad day!)

[mneil]

14 hours ago, GTB981 said:

I would not buy from an OPC again following the issues I had with my car. Not worth the premium. Sharks in suits, I thought Mercedes were bad.........There is a local independent near me called Harbour Cars. Would probably go to them for a pre-owned as would not buy brand new. 

Dito West London OPC.

[Leonard]

I think the benefits of buying from an OPC are definitely there, checks, warranty, refinishing, car/service history etc, so if you can get them at not too much of a premium then great.

HOWEVER I think Porsche have this big halo about them (that they work hard to protect) that they are infallible and that step up from other so called 'normal' dealers. This really isnt the case a lot of the time, so you should make sure that you do the same checks and come to the same agreements that you would with any other car purchase prior to agreeing the sale.

My buying experience was great, but the prep wasnt. Car going back in 3 weeks as I expected the car to have all major paint blemishes rectifies as per the Porsche Approved scheme and they weren't. More worrying the service that was due was carried out incorrectly (Minor rather than Major service), if I hadnt spotted this then how hard would it have been to sell on the car in the future.. Porsche sports car having had a minor oil change service and inspection only in a 6 year period... OPC has been good about it, so Im putting it down to 'one of those things' but makes a bit of a mockery of the promises of exacting standards and pre sale checks.

Going back a while now but my mum had similar issues when buying from OPC new directional tyres not the right direction for the axles they were put on. Simple mechanical issues dealt with badly numerous times under warranty and in the end the car went back to Porsche GB to be fixed. This exposed deeper mechanical issues that they refused to rectify and it ended up pretty nastily with my mum having to threaten them with bad PR through a weekly auto magazine just to get it done. As I said earlier they work hard to protect their 'Halo' but they dont always do it with a smile.

So moral is CHECK everything and agree EVERYTHING that you feel should be done to the car before signing on the dotted line. I should have done that this time around but thought things may have changed. Live and learn

[topradio]

Interesting point about OPC's and selling cars. On the couple of occasions that have bought a new Porsche, I get contacted about other cars they have available for the next year and then they forget about me. Now I know that everybody's different but I won't be thinking about changing my car for at least 2 to 3 years and that's the sort of time where pestering me may yield results. Perhaps they think that after that length of time I have either lost interest or died?

I should think it's different if you have a car on finance because they know that after 2 - 3 years they can probably get you into a new car once the existing deal comes to an end.

[Malcolm E Box]

On 05/01/2017 at 8:33 PM, Malcolm E Box said:

To answer the question.

Buy from an OPC by all means. Just don't buy from Leeds.

I was happy with the buying process.

Their aftersales leaves a lot to be desired..........

I take back what I said about their aftersales.

They have been very good today.

 

[topradio]

1 hour ago, Malcolm E Box said:

I take back what I said about their aftersales.

They have been very good today.

 

Perhaps they are BoXa.netters

[Malcolm E Box]

On 09/01/2017 at 10:08 PM, topradio said:

Perhaps they are BoXa.netters

I did tell them that I know many other Porsche owners and that I would tell them about their actions and also report them to the PCGB and Porsche GB.

A little threat never did any harm

[r1flyguy]

13 minutes ago, Malcolm E Box said:

I did tell them that I know many other Porsche owners and that I would tell them about their actions and also report them to the PCGB and Porsche GB.

A little threat never did any harm

And sometimes its the ONLY to get through to them that their service is below that expected for the money!

[Jonttt]

I doubt all used approved go back to reading.