Trout

iTrader: (1)

The pork was due to have it's MOT and Warranty renewal this month, it also needs new front disks and pads. As this is a whole days work I had to work out when I was available to take the car in and for them to have a courtesy car available for me to use.

This was booked in three weeks ago for today.

Last night Porsche customer service called me to ask what me experience yesterday was like...err the car is booked in today


I arrive at the OPC in Leeds this morning, bright and early as I live around 45 minutes away. All good, they are expecting the car, courtesy car is booked...

...except they had no courtesy car available. No worries, we will get a car for you in five minutes.

I waiting 45 minutes for some muppet to arrive from Enterprise who hasn't actually got a car with him he is there to drive me to the Enterprise Portacabin to pick up a car. I am pretty pissed off by this time and all he wants to do is ask me cheerful questions like a bluddy hairdresser.

I go to pick up the car and they tell me they have to take my company details. I tell them it is a private transaction and nothing to do with my company. He insists, I get stroppy.

He then tells me that they cannot hire me the car without taking two landline numbers!! It is like the bluddy twilight zone.

Anyway - get a half decent rental and head home well over an hour late.

I then get a call from Porsche at 16.16pm having had the car for eight hours. They haven't even started work. They wanted permission to do a couple of things for the warranty. OK, fair enough.

Then the girl tells me that the brakes will be done tomorrow as they need to be sent overnight from Porsche HQ. But I booked it in to have the brakes done three weeks ago so why aren't they here. I don't know I didn't book the car in!

Absolute shambles from start to finish - and what amazes me is that they have even more staff than a BMW garage - what do they all do?

Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhh!

Simon C

Just wait till you see the bill!!!

Trout

iTrader: (1)

I know how much the bill is going to be - I could buy a spare Scoob!

Matteeboy

Ouch. That's not good.

If it carries on like that, I'd name and shame across the 'net.

Shoddy service should not be tolerated, especially for a prestige car.

zip106

Ahhh.... the pleasures of using an independent Pork specialist..... no more subbing the eloquent gin palaces, make-up bills for the girls, hairspray for the chaps and free (?) lattes.....

I hope you smashed them down on their price before you went in?

I've got mine on Sports & Classics maintenance plan (not too far from you, either) now, bugger PCGB and their stupid warranty terms

dpb

They can afford to take the **** ! - look at the sheer volume of minutiae flocking to their doors ( bmw upwards)

zip106

Not anymore they can't - loads of us (the clever ones ) are jumping ship and going to the much better and cheaper indy garages.
Hence actually being able to haggle with OPC's on prices. That NEVER happened before!

Trout

iTrader: (1)

I get all the real work done by an independent (don't tell Porsche) - warranty remains attractive though with a car that has an engine that costs £28k

Of course if you know of an independent who can warranty a GT3 engine then please let me know

Trout

iTrader: (1)

I think this is a veiled insult


But I think your use of the word minutiae may be misplaced. I am not sure why there would be a volume of 'small details' flocking to their doors

Timwinner

iTrader: (3)

We use Camtune now, The front right turning bulb went, Porsche wanted £100 to change it (remember this is like an interior light size bulb) Camtune will do it for £22 with no appointment needed.
I will never go to Porsche for parts or services again unless its absolutely essential.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

I would strongly recommend Autofarm - super cheap labour and very knowledgeable. Shame about the distance from my house!

Timwinner

iTrader: (3)

Looks good, Its only about an hour or so from us too!

dpb

just an observation certainly not an insult

zip106

The new warranty stipulates that you can't have ANY work done on your car by anyone other than Porsche.
If your engine blew and they found out that you'd had something done by another garage (which they would) then PCGB would not repair your engine. - I've seen a warranty claim thrown out because of this.
You're taking a big chance, Fishy!

Anyway, seeing as my engine would cost a fair bit more than yours (ner ner na ner ner) I'm still happy in that if it did blow, it would only cost me the sum of parts used to rebuild it as all labour costs are included in the maintenance plan.
This also covers consumables - clutch would only cost me the parts (£500, labour (£650) is free), brakes will only cost me half of what you've just paid and I get an MOT each year and whichever service is needed, including parts, all for a small monthly outlay

All joking aside, when your warranty does expire I can strongly recommend you having a look into it.

hodgy0_2

and here is me, the numbtie reading it, thinking when is the jamy bugger going to get offered the spare Lambo for the weekend - "for all your trouble sir"

still whatever the circumstances it's always a **** to be messed around

and as you say Trout, they had advanced warning,

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Well the PCGB would not the repair the engine anyway

As for the OPC the car has just passed it's 111 point check to get rewarrantied - so nothing spotted their then

At the end of the day it is a balance of risk. A GT3 with a Porsche warranty typically has a better private resale value. But the running costs are higher.

Will look into your approach.

As for a turbo engine costing more than a GT3 engine - well you learn something everyday! Shame they depreciate like falling rocks

zip106

The last set of figures I saw flying around for my engine from Porsche were nigh on £40K.....

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Ouch - that is a lot. I have seen a GT3 engine quoted as that much but didn't believe it!

Even as a bunch of parts they will be quite expensive - for either of us. And one of us has a blueprinted engine

My car is certainly getting to an age where the value of staying in the network is questionable and I will tell Porsche that tomorrow.

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Mr Trout, I'd kick up merry hell with them and tell them that as a Porsche owner you expect more from your dealer. Give them a detailed account of your time and energy wasted and let them know in no uncertain terms just how unhappy you are and how much they've inconvenienced you.

Make the buggers grovel. I HATE poor service, no matter what it's for, there's no excuse for it.

Matteeboy

I think our Jimny engine might be worth a might 47p. Only 20k miles so it keep the value strong ;-)

Porkers are mind bendingly expensive to run - £40k for an engine?!!

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

So, would blowing the engine write it off ?

MMT WRX

I've seen the £40k replacement engine figure mentioned, Ive also seen a lot of claims that thats over hyped and the true cost is nearer £20k. Having said that, I've never bought one of course thank ****

Trout: There is also Hartech in Bolton, as well as Sports and Classic in Knutsford. Both about 11/2hrs from York (45mins in the GT3, 35mins in Zips TT being an X50 and all that ). Both run similar...ish maintenance schemes, both get very highly praised on PH and both cover GT3s.

My money will be going to one of these two

A bit of a synopsis of all the Porsche maintenance plans can be found here on PH.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Oh - very good - thanks for the links

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Having a look at them I can see some value but the savings are not quite as much as I was expecting from above. £1,020 from Sports and Classics versus £1,299 (or £1,150 if you buy two years of cover at once) from Porsche that has much more comprehensive cover (and, yes, is more restrictive).

However, something to think about

zip106

Not really, no. Depends on the damage.

That price would be for a complete engine from Porsche, including ancillaries.

A good Porsche indy can re-build the engines, depending on what damage has been done, for £5 - £8k, parts and labour.
The parts could be as little as a grand.

I know someone whose engine on a 3.4 996 detonated and he bought a brand new crate engine from Porsche, fitted, for £10k.
Got a 2 year warranty on it, too.

People like Hartech have engineered repairs and fixes for all the Porsche engines and you can actually have modified liners (liners going oval one of the main culprits of blown engines, along with IMS seals) and barrels fitted to stop any likelihood of problems arising in the future.

Like Porsche gearboxes - there's a fairly common fault with them popping out of 2nd gear.
Porsche insist the gearbox is replaced with a new unit, Hartech / S&C repair the boxes for relatively few £'s. Porsche will always replace an engine rather than repair it.

As MMT says, all over hyped prices.

zip106

Don't forget that price from S & C includes your yearly service - major or minor, your MOT, any other work you just pay for parts, even your brakes/clutch are done labour free.
And you won't get the YTS lad doing your brakes

For me it would have cost me about £2800 for a major service, brake fluid change and the warranty itself from Porsche just to get on the warranty scheme.
Add to that the fact they wanted me to change my battery and windscreen wipers to Porsche branded ones (got Bosch ones at the moment - they make the Porsche ones ) at a cost of £320.

It may, in the long run, cost me a little bit more going with S & C, but as my car will soon be 7 years old more things that wouldn't be covered under the Porsche warranty may start to fail and so cost me more to fix.

Mines going in for it's major service, rear brakes and a few other bits in April.

IWatkins

Got a 3 year warranty plus a deal where I paid £199 to cover everything else for three years (except tyres) and that includes any services. And all that on a turbo.

Nice.

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OK, it's a Citroen DS3 but my dealers are a great bunch of people, nothing too much trouble, damn good *real* coffee (none of that latte fluff). Even when I've had troubles in the past on previous cars, they have been fair (without needing to ask) and again, nothing was too much trouble

I think you have the wrong car Trout

Seriously, that is pretty bloody awful. If had service like that from my Citroen dealer, I would maybe understand (but wouldn't be happy), but on a premium car like that...

I think a stern letter to your dealer is the gentlemanly thing to do.

Cheers

Ian

zip106

You might find your Jimny's worth more than you think.
These little pluggers are quite revered in the off-road world and fetch quite strong money.

Matteeboy

Okay - 51p then! It's funny - we were planning to sell it and get a VW California. I actually dreaded getting rid of it and was slightly relieved when we decided against the Dub. Strange how stuff that isn't desirable but just works can get under your skin.

Back to the Porkers - I'm amazed at the running costs of these. Is it proportional to the cost of the car? Is a Boxster similar money to run to a 997T for example?

hodgy0_2

what world is that, "blue oyster bar 4x4 monthly"