[ecohen]

Last Tuesday morning 8 am I dropped my 996 off at a local dealer because I threw a CEL over the weekend.

When I dropped the car off I pointed out THREE things
1. No pressure under the gas cap
2. A clearly leaking vacuum line (not the hose they are replacing)
3. The CEL light.

Tuesday night I get a call saying that they won't get to the car until Wednesday.

Wednesay I get a call at 5pm saying that they will be done with the car Thursday.

Thursday at 11 am I get a call saying I need a new MAF. I asked what the error code was and they said 1128 and 1130, which is what I read before I dropped the car off.

Thursday I stop by around 2pm to see how things were going and discover that I now need a new oil filler hose. Which of course is not in stock and won't be delivered until Friday.

I asked if they had check the problem with no pressure under my gas cap and he said no, but he would look into it.

The bill so far? Over $800!!! I asked the manager WTF? He said he would explain when the car is done. Give me a break!

Is this typical of a Porsche dealer?

Ed

[howiemy]

And the dealer is?

I had a similar run around with my 964 CAB a few years back reagadring A/C problems and multiple receiver/dryers.

Sympathies

[}{arlequin]

Originally Posted by ecohen

The bill so far? Over $800!!! I asked the manager WTF? He said he would explain when the car is done.

right then and there i'd ask for the keys and say that they're done working on it. it's ridiculous but not unheard of as far as stealership work experience. sorry you're having troubles with it. any reason (other than time) that it's something you couldn't have just addressed yourself? i'm sure rennlist has solutions for all these problems described in detail....

[Vicegrip]

I can only speak for the dealer I work at but we are slammed up with cars and short on techs. Xmass brings in more work just as the techs and service writers take time off as we all do. The longer a Tech has worked the more time he tends to have off too.

[Seltzer]

I have used a private shop and a dealer. The problem with the private shop was they too never had anything in stock so it always seems to take a day or two longer than I anticipated (which is why I have a backup car). I still use the private shop for major stuff (rebuilding transmissions, etc.) and suspension work. They are expensive but not as bad as a dealer.

My wife's Cayenne is still under warrenty so obviously it goes to the dealer where we bought it. Because it was (before I retired) on my way to work, I also started using the dealer for occasional work on my '87. They have done decent work but it does cost $$$. That said, the dealer does have a two year guarentee on their parts and so I have them do things like CV boots & rotors since my car is hard on them.

Surprizingly the dealer also often doesn't have the part in stock (perhaps I need a newer car).

Oh well, P cars cost more than your average vehicle so I guess one should expect repairs to cost a bit more.

[Mike W]

I had a similar experience with a dealer.

I had an electrical problem that I already knew about. When they pointed it out I said that if they could fix it for the cost of a shop hour go ahead. Nothing more. Magically it was fixed for one shop hour in cost.

but.................suddenly a few other things didn't work that had worked before. I brought the car back. They finally fixed the new problems and told me that it took 7 hours of work (over a period of 3 days) but they would be nice and only charge me for 3 hours of work. In the end I only paid for parts, as I had only authorized 1 hour of work and had already paid for it.

Needless to say, my car never returned.

My 911 only goes to independents. When/if I get my 996, I will only take it to an independant.

Dealerships just want to screw you.

Find a good independant, create a relationship with said person, and go from there.

That said, my Jeep goes to the dealership that sold me the car, but they have always been good to me.

[Rick V]

Just a recomendation for those thinking of starting up a relationship with an indi. shop. Make sure you have access to the tech working on your car. When I refer to "my customers" I am refering to those people who only have me work on thier cars. They "most of the time" contact me before thier cars even hit the lot. We also have a de-briefing, when the car is finished. I am on a first name basis with "my" customers, and most have my cell phone number. I order most of my own parts (for them), and bypass the service writers most of the time.
It is important for the tech to know what the customer wants, how the car is driven and the type of person the car belongs to.
If the boss won't let you meet/talk to the tech, you should be cautious.

[}{arlequin]

thanks for good intel rick. personally, i've always been like that. my previous track car was just a from-the-dealer-street-car really and right off the bat i told the service manager what's up. they were cool enough to allow me to do what's reasonable, meaning stay out of the way but ok to observe what's being done to yours. worked out great.

at the same time, you should be (and at least appear) like you've been around a shop/cars. if your susp/exhaust has been worked on all day, and now the wheels have been put back on- guess what? it means the car is being dropped. soon. don't be camping out under the car and look like you know that it's about to come down. common sense. since many lack it, the big shops don't let you observe due to liability. tell them that 'you know' and they may be different.

[michael lang]

It never ceases to amaze me how hard people are on car dealerships and the stigma that no longer exists in the car business but for some reason people can't seem to let it go. The days of the plaid suit, slick talking, greased hair back used car sales person are long gone. It's okay to not got to a dealership to have work done on a car. Take Ed's situation for example, the only thing he got was a service advisor who obviously did not know how to do his job properly. Not the the dealership doesn't want to fix his car nor that the tech is trying, but if the service advisor dispatched that r.o. to the proper tech who may be better at some things than others the situation may be different. In all fairness to the tech, check engine lights can some times have false codes stored and reveal the actual failure after the initial reading is addressed. What difference is it going to make what the fault is, Ed, you obviously do not have the tools or the parts to fix it otherwise it would be in your garage instead of someone elses.
Regardless if you go to a "stealership" (you guys have absolutely no idea how much time & money & training owners have in invested in their businesses) or you go to an independant, the same thing remains to be true. It's all about the relationship you have with the person you leave your car with. Mike could not have said it better "That said, my Jeep go to the dealership that sold me the car, but they have always been good to me." Wait, just two sentences earlier he said "Dealerships just want to screw you." My point is, work on the relationship and I guarantee your quality of work will increase dramatically, It doesn't matter if it is with this current repair facility or another one. Good luck!

[Redroc]

The one thing I've found about individual shops is that the person you are usually dealing with is an owner or part-owner of the shop. They seem to have a bit more interest in making sure the customer is happy. I don't have any experience with local Porsche dealers, but I haven't had very good luck with local VW dealers. The independent VW shops were nicer to deal with and did better work in almost all instances. Stan at RPM and Grant at ABS (BMW shop) are good examples of this. Stan talks me out of doing extra work half the time.