jefnvk

Did he claim they told him to deposit the money in an account he setup and controlled as well? Guy was a thief, plain and simple. There is really nothing to look at, he falsified documents, falsified bank accounts, and spent all the money on his own.

I can blame the dealer for perhaps not doing enough oversight on their employees, but at least they stepped up and refunded customers out of their own pocket in exchange for them signing over claims against the salesman for the dealer to pursue.

TARANTULA

It wasn’t a Porsche dealer. The guy started a company called Champion Autosport to collect all the deposits.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/busines...918-story.html

sly1

The only problem would be if the sales guy lied, and told the customer that he had an allocation which he didn't have. I assume that the suit must be for a GT car since they are in short supply with obnoxious ADMs. But I would have to think buyers of cars like a GT3 and GT2 are knowledgeable buyers and understand that allocations for these cars are limited. 991.2 and 991.2 Ss are plentiful.

sly1

Thanks for the memory jogger. I am aware of this case, and the sales guy is a crook. I thought there was another case where some disgruntled customers were upset about not getting their Porsche in a timely manner.

Telepierre

All valid points. I'll admit do not know much of how the allocations for GT cars work but nonetheless I am not so sure that at the end this looks good. It seems to me one of the parties took advantage of the limited edition thing...

Will see.

jefnvk

Yeah, but another way to look at it? Lots of folks here seem to phone order Corvettes through high volume dealers, which as far as I understand is how he was successfully operating his scheme. If you think you are going through a reputable dealer, who generally has some allocation, and when you called he said they had what you wanted, how are you to really know he's told the last dozen people the same thing and his dealership doesn't have the aplocation?

sunsalem

I don't buy ANY car without seeing and driving it...PERIOD.

sunsalem

Update on the fraudster:
https://www.autoblog.com/2019/04/05/...d-of-stealing/

jefnvk

Yeah, but that also means you likely don't buy limited edition or highly sought after or first wave of a new release or even simply custom order either. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but many do want those things. If I ever buy a brand new Corvette, you can be sure it is going to be custom ordered to my exact specs.

Unless I get a really good deal on something sitting on the lot, which is what derailed that plan my last two generic car purchases...

sly1

About 20 year ago there was a Savings and Loan in my County that was offering 8.5% on regular savings, when every other bank was offering about 5%. The Savings and Loan advertised heavily. and I was momentarily tempted to move a significant amount of money into that bank, but I decided not to because it just didn't add up. How could they offer a 70% higher interest rate than their competition. So I. didn't make the move. The guy who ran the Savings and Loan was a crook, and ran what was essentially a Ponzi scheme.
I cited this because it has some similarity to the Porsche fraud case. Porsche GT2, GT2RS, and GT3RS are very limited production cars. They are so rare that virtually all the new ones are sold to customers who have a special relationship with the dealership, i.e., those who have spent well over a million dollars with the dealership. In many cases these owners keep the car for a few months and then flip them, often selling them for $50K over MSRP. So when a dealer has one of these cars for a buyer that has no or little relationship with the dealer, alarm bells should go off. I do appreciate your point about dealing with a reputable dealership, but caveat emptor should always prevail. If it seems too good to be true, buyer beware.

sunsalem

Truth be told, I did order a new Camaro customized to my spec 35 years ago (Sorry, I forgot about that).
What I do now is look on the internet for a car that fits my spec (or comes very close to it), travel to the dealer, drive it, and if I like it, write a check (after beating them down as far as I can on price).

Now IF I was buying a new Exotic (not likely at my age), I wouldn't hesitate on ordering one.
However, I would have to drive their test car first.

You were wise, sir.