[matt de maria]

For Mont co, the owner is entitled to a written estimate (upon request) if repair work is over $25.00 Final bill maybe +10% of estimate.
Curiously this also applies to body shops but I never heard any one complain to the consumer affairs about body shops. I guess because most of the work is insurance work.

[max_stirling]

I have a 2004 Porsche Cayenna Turbo. I bought it from CarMax with their extended MaxCare warranty which is actually pretty good according to the service rep at GAG. The warranty covers the car for 6 years from date of purchase or 125K total miles, is fairly comprehensive for a non-manufacturer's extended warranty and it was reasonably price. I bought the car with 52K miles on the clock.

I'm a member of the Potomac region PCA. I choose GAG because they seemed to have a good reputation and they were close to were I live. This was the first time I've used GAG for any thing.

I couldn't tell if there was a lot or any smoke coming out the exhaust, but 2 quarts of oil over a 4K mile period is not acceptable. Also, paying over 2x the original estimate without price updates is not acceptable. One of my main complaints were that it took over 5 weeks to perform the work, but even that, I would have excused as long as the work was good and on budget.

I was not going to accept a bill that is more than 2x the original estimate and several weeks late. Even though the original estimate wasn't written down on paper, the service rep didn't dispute that he made that estimate, he also didn't dispute that he never updated that estimate and that I specifically told him that I wanted to be notified of any out of warranty expenses. Actually, I would not have been as upset with paying the higher bill if I was warned in advance. I still wouldn't have liked it but I would have taken that bitter pill.

The reason why the brakes were touched was that GAG had to pull the engine out of the car to replace the turbo and the brakelines were disconnected. Reasonable.

A positive thing I can say about GAG, is that the car seems to be running much better and is much more responsive than before. I'm also getting 1 mpg improvement in my commute. We did negociate lower bill but it was still significantly more than the original estimate.

Originally Posted by BlackTalon

Please introduce yourself, as it's always a little questionable when someone makes a post like this as their first, and remains anonymous.

Curious about the warranty... Was it from them for work completed earlier?

2 quarts of oil in 4k miles is not all that high for a turbo. Unless you were blowing out a black smoke cloud, it would have been much, much cheaper to just add a quart every couple of months.

As far as shops proceeding with work without calling the car owner first, unfortunately that is SOP for most places. The bill when you go to pick up your car is often 2-3xs what they estimated, and they almost never call to discuss before proceeding with the additional work. Once they have you car up on the lift, they pretty much tear through it until it's done; they don't want to stop and wait for approvals, possibly offload the car from the lift and bring in another, etc. It is a frustrating thing, and far too widespread.

Also curious why they touched your brakes for an oil leak issue...

[Lt. Dan]

Originally Posted by matt de maria

For Mont co, the owner is entitled to a written estimate (upon request) if repair work is over $25.00 Final bill maybe +10% of estimate.
Curiously this also applies to body shops but I never heard any one complain to the consumer affairs about body shops. I guess because most of the work is insurance work.

This is correct in VA too...

[BlackTalon]

I think you may continue to be disappointed with your oil comsumption, as that is pretty typical.

[joep]

I can vouch for the Cayenne oil use. Get used to it and watch it like a hawk!