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OPCs - Isn't it about time Porsche ran these?

991.2GTS

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2 Apr 2019
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The cars are brilliant, but from my limited experience with two OPC's, this franchise model is by far the weakest link in the chain.

Why do Porsche, who seem to have no room for compromise when it comes to the design and engineering, compromise so much when it comes to serving their customers?
 
I think they used to back in the day... AFN, which I think was owned by Porsche Cars Great Britain.

I guess they would rather just make cars rather than take on the risk of building retail networks in different countries.

I understand Porsche GB are keen to hear about bad experiences at OPCs and will intervene if customer satisfaction is regularly suffering... a Porsche franchise is presumably a licence to print money!
 
991.2GTS said:
The cars are brilliant, but from my limited experience with two OPC's, this franchise model is by far the weakest link in the chain.

Why do Porsche, who seem to have no room for compromise when it comes to the design and engineering, compromise so much when it comes to serving their customers?

Standards of service and presentation seem variable to say the least - I've visited 5 OPCs over the past 7 months:

Porsche Swindon (Dick Lovett) have been excellent so far: I will probably continue to use them even tho' they are 100 miles away but they're one of the oldest Porsche dealers in the country and maybe they just try a bit harder to uphold their reputation.

Porsche Wolverhampton have also been very good: I would be happy to buy from them, if I had not already done so from Swindon.

Porsche Leicester were good sales wise: The sales experience was positive but poor detailing (obvious paint chips) let things down and ultimately I decided against the colour/car.

Porsche Sutton Coldfield were simply OK: The sales experience was alright but the presentation of the car very was poor and there was no response to my comments from their sales manager, so that ended that relationship.

Porsche Nottingham were very poor: The attitude of the salesman was poor, they didn't listen to my wants and needs, clearly wanted to shoehorn me into whatever car they had and when I asked for specific service information on a car they were pitching, the salesman couldn't be bothered to find out and said "I could go and pull out the file but it will have had all it needed" - that's not what I asked!!

The salesman even told me, if I wanted a test drive I could "dump the missus" and he'd get the trade plates :x well the missus ensured we would never by a car from you and I agreed whole heartedly!!

Like I said - variable...

It would be very interesting to know which OPCs you experienced poor service from.
 
Magic919 said:
A few of the OPCs are Porsche owned.

:yeah:

Guildford, Hatfield, Mayfair, Reading and West London are the 5 'Porsche Retail Group' OPCs owned by Porsche GB which is itself owned by Porsche AG, Stuttgart.

I've heard/read mixed reviews on all of them.
 
Robertb said:
I understand Porsche GB are keen to hear about bad experiences at OPCs and will intervene if customer satisfaction is regularly suffering... a Porsche franchise is presumably a licence to print money!

Based on my experience this is complete BS, no disrespect to the OP. An OPC managed to cause significant cosmetic damage to my 911 requiring a week in a bodyshop and several £k to sort out.

All Porsche GB did was refer me back to the OPC next door, a shameful waste of space and oxygen.
 
they are all franchises, that's the business model

The Porsche Retail Group Ltd (with the dealer franchises) are owned by Porsche Cars GB Ltd (the importer) who in turn are owned by VW AG

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00861097/persons-with-significant-control

The Porsche Retail Group Ltd were originally A.F.N. LIMITED, who used that name from 11 Mar 1927 (!) to 21 Nov 2002

in 2018 the Porsche Retail Group Ltd has a Turn-over of £311m selling 4,079 cars, with PBT of £9.5m and a Return on Sales of 3.1% which puts them as one of the highest ranking franchises in the UK.


Porsche Cars GB Ltd had a turnover of £818 million in 2017
 
911Time said:
It would be very interesting to know which OPCs you experienced poor service from.

Wilmslow and Leeds.

The Wilmslow experience was just simply very murky, in that I actually found the car via PH classifieds advertised by a 'dealer', who turned out not to have any cars but wanted a £2k 'deposit' (Turned out to be some kind of finders fee, which I was expected to pay on top of the list price) before handing me over directly to the OPC.

I'm not sure what the relationship was, between said dealer and the OPC, but just from how the salesman at the OPC tried to disassociate himself from the whole thing once I started to kick up a fuss suggested something was amiss. I eventually got the £2k back after making it clear I was far from happy.

After that experience I decided to give Leeds a go when ordering a car. There wasn't anything murky, just a very lacklustre customer experience. I was spending, what to me was, a small fortune, and they didn't really care. Communication was poor when the car was delayed, which I had to complain about. And the tactics they employ to try and get you to buy GAP Insurance etc. I'd expect to see from a lesser marque, but not Porsche.

As a customer, my experience of the OPC's just doesn't do the product justice.
 
I can only base on my own experiences I have bought 2 used 911`s from Porsche Chester & found them to be fair & very straight forward, their service department is very good too!
The whole system is top notch & they seem open to a deal, didn't bull *****
cant fault them so far. I would say go there if they the other OPC`s treat you *****, Andrew Walker has been very fair to me & Hayley on the service dept.

& No I don't have any connection to them.
 
Hamster75 said:
I can only base on my own experiences I have bought 2 used 911`s from Porsche Chester & found them to be fair & very straight forward, their service department is very good too!
The whole system is top notch & they seem open to a deal, didn't bull *****
cant fault them so far. I would say go there if they the other OPC`s treat you *****, Andrew Walker has been very fair to me & Hayley on the service dept.

& No I don't have any connection to them.

I think I will try Chester or Swindon next time, as they seem to get the best reviews from what I've read so far.
 
Mid Sussex used to look after our Cayenne -- always had good service from them in both service and sales.
 
M&MD&D said:
Mid Sussex used to look after our Cayenne -- always had good service from them in both service and sales.

Another vote for them .. i used to work there .. 10 years in all .. i know the current guys .. some very fine mechanics there for sure .
 

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