997.1 Turbo - minor service......... how much?!

[Jimbob2911]

Just had my 996 turbo serviced at a very well respected independent was 250+ vat. All in. The difference is 60 an hour not 260 an hour. The techs both get paid around 15 an hour so the rest you pay is Porsche nice premises tax. Can't believe there is a massive difference in book times. Between a 996 and 997. Will the car be worth less with a well respected independent stamp. No. Save your money..

 

[andy996c4s]

Pardon me for my ignorance, but a 2007 car, why not just use a specialist?

Cheers everyone for all the intel. With regards to the query above, as T8 points out the car has been under warranty all this time. Also, the OPC is convenient and until now I have always been happy to pay the slight premium as I have been well looked after and the team has been good with warranty claims. Also, after an incident with a previous P car when I took it to a specialist for some brake work and I later discovered they had routed some brake lines incorrectly I thought I would play safe.

Unfortunately I don't live close to any major independents (am in the Cotswolds) but given the increase I am considering travelling to an indie; possibly 9e and just getting an overnight hotel whilst the work is done.

 

[NickHappy]

I had this dilemma a few weeks ago.

I was also quoted about @£900 for a minor at my regular OPC. Like most - I'd like to think I'm on top of my car and know it better than anyone. I'm regularly doing little bits of maintenance to keep on top of corrosion, wear and tear etc. so a service is confirmation of what I already know and an oil and fluid change. Like yourself OP - keeping it full OPC history has its merits.

Anyway - I was all set on a service at 9E but thought I'd give the OPC a second call to check- they confirmed @£700 this time and including brake fluid change? That was worth it for me although they charge extra for a Suspension check!! Which I couldn't justify. Funnily enough the report back included a suspension check over as no doubt they are seeking opportunities to charge out for extra found.

Green all down the sheet - so all good

 

[cheshire911]

I think you will find that the OPC prices have risen across the board for a simple reason. That reason is, they disbanded their fixed price servicing at the end of 2019. Those fixed prices were a no-brainer compared to the cost of indy specialists. Around here in south Cheshire with a lot of high net worth individuals, the indy prices were marginally cheaper (around £80 or so) and some were actually dearer than the OPC. Not surprisingly, I used OPC (Chester) for the past 8 years). They quoted me a new fixed price as a regular customer, but that was still considerably more expensive than the prior fixed price scheme. Not all OPC's participated in the fixed price servicing, it was optional for them. Now the indy specialists are less expensive than OPC in this area - though tremendous variation if you shop around - travel to Lancashire such as Westhoughton near Bolton and the prices are considerably cheaper than any indy with a Cheshire or Merseyside post code. Travel to Yorkshire and prices are lower but started to climb when they cottoned on that the OPC fixed price servicing was no more.

I think OPC have shot themselves in the foot with this new positioning. If you are a loyal customer, they will offer you a discounted price akin to the fixed prices before, but still dearer than those fixed prices.

Each has to decide their option and follow their wallet I guess....

I never knew this. Do you have a link to an article perhaps?

No article. Just plain intelligence from ringing OPC Wilmslow, Chester, Bolton and Preston when my opening question was "Do you offer the main dealer Fixed Price servicing menu for a 996 Turbo because I need to get mine serviced and my regular OPC is a long wait list to get it serviced?" To be fair, OPC Chester did me a discounted rate for a loyal customer - but much dearer than the prior fixed prices. OPC Wilmslow asked if I had been their customer. When I replied no, but is that so important? They remarked that for loyal customers they are offering special prices whilst not the prior fixed prices, but less than the regular service prices." All confirmed to me that the fixed price deals ended in Dec 2019 and reminded me that it was optional for OPC to be part of that scheme. The fixed price Major with spark plugs for a 996 Turbo was £750 inc VAT. It jumped to a whacking £1340 inc VAT - for the same service! They also split out the spark plugs from the published price for a major service which was around £900 and then you have to request a price including spark plugs and the price jumps up to that whacking great figure!

They have truly shot themselves in the foot. We have good indys around here. They have good indys in Lancashire. The difference being price not abilities. South Cheshire versus the Lancashire prices we are talking a huge difference in labour costs for the same product. The indy in Lancashire is ex-OPC and well qualified on 996 Turbo and 997 cars. Given a Turbo has considerable labour for a major service with spark plugs, the difference can be considerable - and that's before someone does a Vehicle Health Check and uncovers shed loads of advisories that also need to be fixed. These advisories are often par for the age of and mileage of these cars and add considerably to what appears to be a straight service that was required.

 

[The return of Marty Wild]

Happy to have not ever owned anything new enough to worry about warranty and OPC stamps.

Having come from VAG R32oc, VW stamps were actually considered a bad thing. Due to horror stories about VW centres not knowing what they were dealing with. Killing the AWD Haldex system and the like.

I've had terrible dealings with my local VW, I'd not trust them to butter my toast.

Have it on good authority that OPC pays their Techs a bonus to get it in and out in the smallest time possible. Some say the reason OPC cars more prone to seized bleed nipples on the calipers. Anyways, I took my Cayman to Precision where you could see and tell, they cared for the car, didn't rush the job for the sake of a bonus.

 

[easternjets]

Yep fixed price full 4 year service in July 2019 on a 997.2 turbo £997.00.

Intermediate 2 yr minor service on a 991.1 GT-S (not a turbo car) £1100.00!
And this service includes the heat shield recall, so basically I'm paying to have the back of the car stripped down to get it serviced and Porsche will pop in a new heat shield while it's getting done.
I have got the price down but that's only because I'm not getting the brake fluid done, it's only done 5k miles and the Serpentine belt replaced which says 6 yrs or 60k miles in the book. I'll get them to inspect it when it's visible and if it's in a poor state I'll have it replaced.
This business of just replacing items as a precaution is a money spinner for OPC's and I'm not playing that game.
How often did you hear of people replacing brake fluid every 2 yrs or 6 k miles back in the 80's and 90's.

They introduced fixed price servicing because they lost so many customers to the Indies that were taking business from them, De Ja Vue it's all going to happen again.