US Dealers

[PandM_2013]

By way of an introduction, I relocated to the US in the early 2000's and have since been mainly working in the US, Central and South America.
After completing a large project in Chile we (the wife & I) will be relocating back to the US although the exact location as yet is not finalised. As of now it looks like Indianapolis (we do have a house about an hour south of Indy), Denver, Salt Lake or DC but that may change.

Is there anybody on here based in the US or has experience with the dealers in the US?

The reason being that the wife has relented and said yes to the purchase of a late DB9 or V12VS, as this will be our first Aston all help/advice on what to look/watch for with the vehicles and dealers would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[AstonV]

Every dealer is different. Depends on the owner. Some are great, others not so much. Many dealers also sell higher end brands, Lamborghini, Maclaren etc. And treat AM buyers as such, with much less importance. Take LA, Galpin will treat you much better than Ogara.

Edited by AstonV on Tuesday 6th September 06:40

[Hedged]

Try 6SpeedOnline for a US-centric view. As noted, experience varies quite a bit. When you get closer to knowing your destination it would help to also ask about independent Aston shops. They exist although nothing like the selection across the UK.

[PandM_2013]

Thanks for the quick advice, hadn’t thought about the mixed marque retailers.
Will take a look at 6speed to see how active they are in the US.

Thanks for taking the time to post advice

[telum01]

Dealers in the US vary quite a bit since they're all franchises. AML have overall guidelines that the dealerships have to abide by, but ultimately how each dealership actually is depends on how they do things. Some are much better than others with service (depends on the technicians, etc, that are there), and some are much more expensive than others.

There are also quite a few indie shops as well throughout the US, and more and more are getting experience with these cars. it'd be worth looking around for those as well if you're not strictly beholden to a dealership.

[Davil]

AstonV said:

Every dealer is different. Depends on the owner. Some are great, others not so much. Many dealers also sell higher end brands, Lamborghini, Maclaren etc. And treat AM buyers as such, with much less importance. Take LA, Galpin will treat you much better than Ogara.

Edited by AstonV on Tuesday 6th September 06:40

“Higher end brands”? Things must be very different in the US.

[Minglar]

This isn’t directly related to the thread title but it was the best place I could find to post without starting a new topic. I’ve just returned to the UK from Miami and during my stay I made a note of “interesting” cars I saw whilst out and about. By that I generally mean the sort of stuff most of us in this forum would probably like and possibly already own in addition to our Aston Martins. There is clearly a lot of affluence and wealth in this part of the US, and of course plenty of deprivation too, but some of the boats and properties would suggest “ultra ultra luxury” ie exactly the type of customers AML/LS is targeting. Here is my list excluding the Aston Martin number.

Porsche, various models but mainly 911 including a rather splendid 992 GT3 touring - 35
Range Rover - 21
Lamborghini, various sports models, no Urus - 18
Chevrolet Corvette Stingray - 16
Bentley, GT and Bentayga - 15
Ferrari, various sports models, no Purosangue - 11
Rolls Royce, various models - 11
McLaren, various models - 9
Tesla Cybertruck - 7
BMW M cars, various models - 5
Audi R8 - 2
Jaguar F Type - 1

Anyone want to take a guess at how many Aston Martins (any model any year) I saw during my visit? Fellow PH forum members based in this area of the US may have a better idea than some of course. BRM.

[skhannes]

Minglar said:

This isn’t directly related to the thread title but it was the best place I could find to post without starting a new topic. I’ve just returned to the UK from Miami and during my stay I made a note of “interesting” cars I saw whilst out and about. By that I generally mean the sort of stuff most of us in this forum would probably like and possibly already own in addition to our Aston Martins. There is clearly a lot of affluence and wealth in this part of the US, and of course plenty of deprivation too, but some of the boats and properties would suggest “ultra ultra luxury” ie exactly the type of customers AML/LS is targeting. Here is my list excluding the Aston Martin number.

Porsche, various models but mainly 911 including a rather splendid 992 GT3 touring - 35
Range Rover - 21
Lamborghini, various sports models, no Urus - 18
Chevrolet Corvette Stingray - 16
Bentley, GT and Bentayga - 15
Ferrari, various sports models, no Purosangue - 11
Rolls Royce, various models - 11
McLaren, various models - 9
Tesla Cybertruck - 7
BMW M cars, various models - 5
Audi R8 - 2
Jaguar F Type - 1

Anyone want to take a guess at how many Aston Martins (any model any year) I saw during my visit? Fellow PH forum members based in this area of the US may have a better idea than some of course. BRM.

I live in Florida, the "other side" around Tampa.

I've owned my DB11 V12 for almost two years now. In ALL that time, I've never seen another DB11 on the local roads, only recall seeing two Vantages.

I agree with your list of sightings with one glaring exception; the Corvette C8. Here they are EVERYWHERE. I see at least one every time I am out on the roads, even for local errands. At about 150,000 built since their introduction, they have become rather common. In fact, in my neighborhood of approx 350 homes, there are 4 owners of C8s.

[Doggleg]

I live in Miami Beach, got a 2010 DBS Volante and I've never seen another one. Lost count of the number of times it's been called an Austin Martin.

We have so many exotic car rental places on MB and downtown Huracan's are as common as Teslas. Ferraris and other 'regular' exotics are pretty common as well. If you go to the likes of Bal Harbor Shops you will see Koenigseggs, Chirons, 918 Spyders, the odd Pagani, etc. The concours in the Design District in a couple of weeks will be a sea of Paganis and other very exotics. It's usually a great show with some real rarities. A Miura and a turbo'd Countach were two that stood out to me the last time I went.

As for Astons, I see at least one every day I'm out and about, even just walking across the street to Publix. There are a lot of DBX's and Vantages around. So I would guess you saw quite a few. The Aston Martin tower has increased the presence of the brand quite significantly. It's a beautiful building, just in an poor location. The penthouse, including free Vulcan, is still for sale.

[roughrider]

Newport Beach. Dedicated Aston Martin only dealership. They will ship. Very knowledgeable sales specialists. Nice inventory.

[Dewi 2]

I was going to make an attempt to answer Mingler's question, but the subsequent local knowledge comments, have now made me uncertain whether to go high, or low.

Also relating to the USA, is something that I heard this morning.
Enjoyed a visit to the excellent Morgan Motor Company cafe. During conversation with Morgan enthusiasts; I learnt the following;

1. I was already aware, but for many years Morgan have not been allowed sell their 4 wheeler cars in the USA.

2. The Morgan 3 wheeler became a strong seller in the USA, far exceeding expectations. It was permitted there, because the 3 wheeler car is classified as a motorcycle.

3. 4 wheel sales have now recommenced in USA. [Not certain, but that might be because the Lotus/Aston Martin type alloy chassis is now being used.]
Must be good news for them, because UK new registrations in 2024, were only 105 cars (down 22%).

3. Motorcycle engines can no longer be obtained for the 3 wheel model. As a replacement, a Ford 3 cylinder engine is being used. The strong historic link, of having an exposed motorcycle engine visible at the very front of the 3 wheeler, has been lost. The engine is now entirely under the bonnet. As a consequence of this, sales of the 3-wheeler have recently been very poor.

Not to do with Aston Martin, but I thought might be of interest, also because the ex-minority owner of AML (Investindustrial), now own Morgan.

[Minglar]

Thank you to all of you who took the time to reply. I must admit I was very surprised at the answer, especially considering the proliferation of prestigious British marques I saw. The stand out and most surprising number for me was Rolls Royce, but Range Rover and Bentley seem to be very popular choices too. In five days I saw two Aston Martins. One DB9 Volante and one new Vantage (2017-2023). Not a single DBX and nothing from the current updated range of sports cars, not even second century DB11 or DBSS. I really have no idea why. I always thought the US was a big market for AML. Perhaps I was just in the wrong part of the country. BRM.

[roughrider]

Its still low brand awareness over there, but its steadily improving, especially if a good season in F1 is forthcoming.

[Simpo Two]

roughrider said:

Its still low brand awareness over there, but its steadily improving, especially if a good season in F1 is forthcoming.

Is there any reason why AM should do any better in F1 this year than last? If you're not in the top of the pack is the cost is worth the PR/extra sales? Maybe they should try a race series they can do better in, or spend the money on product development.

[Jon39]

Simpo Two said:

roughrider said:

Its still low brand awareness over there, but its steadily improving, especially if a good season in F1 is forthcoming.

Is there any reason why AM should do any better in F1 this year than last? If you're not in the top of the pack is the cost is worth the PR/extra sales? Maybe they should try a race series they can do better in, or spend the money on product development.

When Ford began seriously competing in motorsport in the 1960s, there was clearly a boost to sales of their performance models.
Lotus Cortina; Escort Cosworth; RS 2000; the list goes on.

Walter Hayes CBE, the motor sport boss at Ford UK once said, "The best couple hundred thousand bucks ever spent in racing".
He was referring to the money paid to Cosworth for development of the Ford DFV Formula One engine, which successfully powered almost every teams cars for years.

A 1st, 2nd and 3rd result at Le Mans in 1966 with the Ford GT40; a period of domination in world rallying and saloon car racing.
The publicity achieved noticeable success with additional sales of the sporty versions of their road cars.

Jaguar perhaps in the 1950 and 1960s, probably achieved extra sales as a result of their racing, using newspaper advertising describing their race wins. In those days, the Formula One racing drivers would compete in their F1 cars, then at the same meeting, would be driving Jaguar Mk 2s in a saloon race and Jaguar E types in a sports car race. Mike Hawthorn winning in F1 then also in a Jaguar, looking the same as those in showrooms, was a perfect way to catch people's attention.

I cannot think of many other motor manufacturers, who significantly increased sales of their road cars directly as a result of participation in motor sport. Subaru perhaps for a short period, when the Prodrive Imprezas were dominant in world rallies.

Mr. Stroll talks about billions of people seeing the Aston Martin name on his cars, followed after each race with an explosive increase in online configurator enquiries. Their most successful season in F1 was a couple of years ago, but road car sales have not increased, in fact they are fewer now than they were in 2007.

McLaren returned to success in F1 recently, after many seasons of disappointment, but their road car sales have not increased.

I think now, the 'win on Sunday, sell on Monday' phrase, no longer has much relevance.

[roughrider]

Don't forget Ferrari.

[Simpo Two]

Jon39 said:

Mr. Stroll talks about billions of people seeing the Aston Martin name on his cars, followed after each race with an explosive increase in online configurator enquiries.

If that was his objective, then well done to him. But as you say it hasn't sold more cars. I expect we've all built a DB12 on the 'online configurator' but that's a million miles away from a sale.

One way to sell more of something is to drop the price, but he's gone the other way. Price goes up, sales go down, that's the law of the jungle. So he'll have to think of a better way.

[Jon39]

roughrider said:

Don't forget Ferrari.

Public image of course on a different planet. Been consistent in F1 since the beginning.

[Doggleg]

Simpo Two said:

One way to sell more of something is to drop the price, but he's gone the other way. Price goes up, sales go down, that's the law of the jungle. So he'll have to think of a better way.

I don't think his strategy is to sell more to those of us who think a lower price makes something more desirable. He's aiming for those who think that the more expensive something is, the the more desirable it is. Observe the queues outside LV, Hermes, Chanel, etc. before opening time each day. They've got it down to such a fine art that they sometimes restrict the amount of goods people can buy each day. Madness.

[roughrider]

AstonV said:

Every dealer is different. Depends on the owner. Some are great, others not so much. Many dealers also sell higher end brands, Lamborghini, Maclaren etc. And treat AM buyers as such, with much less importance. Take LA, Galpin will treat you much better than Ogara.

Edited by AstonV on Tuesday 6th September 06:40

Yep, its a problem in the USA.

Edited by roughrider on Saturday 1st February 12:07