OMG.. Dealer Parts Counter Hell
08-20-2002, 11:32 PM
#16
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This is exactly why I don't trust the dealership as a general rule unless I personally know the person I will be talking to. There was a raging controversy on the 924.org board about burning copies of the factory manuals and distributing it. If there was ever more plain reason to do so, here it is. The parts guy here is fairly good, but with dealer prices, I'm headed for aftermarket.
08-21-2002, 07:56 AM
#17
Race Director
I've had nothing but good experiences at White Allen Porsche in Dayton. Everytime I stop in there at the parts department (while driving the Porsche), the mechs always come out and check out the car and compliment me on it. Even the Sales Manager there talks about how much he likes 944's and how a 951S is he favorite Porsche ever (probably wants to sell me a boxster...).
Anyway, the guys at the parts counter are very knowledgeable and have been able to get whatever I needed, even though it may be a little overpriced ($17 antifreeze!!!).
Perry951, next time you need a part (that you can't get from Paragon, of course), take a short drive north. Or email me and I'll get it and bring it to work with me (I work between Dayton and Cinci).
Tifo
Anyway, the guys at the parts counter are very knowledgeable and have been able to get whatever I needed, even though it may be a little overpriced ($17 antifreeze!!!).
Perry951, next time you need a part (that you can't get from Paragon, of course), take a short drive north. Or email me and I'll get it and bring it to work with me (I work between Dayton and Cinci).
Tifo
08-21-2002, 02:38 PM
#18
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I've got some connections up at Northland, Brian. Sad part is, even then, when I need parts, it's still a pain in the ***. Their mechanics are great to me, and love the 944's. One of the guys up there has a 400+ hp 951.
Their parts counter, I'm not impressed with. I typically end up with what I want, but I usually go up there, have the counter guy print out the exploded drawing, and pick out the numbers I need.
Sad really.
They used to have a different parts manager who really knew his stuff, but he left a little while back, right after the dealership was bought by the Joseph group.
Good Luck!
Greg Roa
Cincinnati, OH
83' 944
86' 4kcsq
93' 90 CS
Their parts counter, I'm not impressed with. I typically end up with what I want, but I usually go up there, have the counter guy print out the exploded drawing, and pick out the numbers I need.
Sad really.
They used to have a different parts manager who really knew his stuff, but he left a little while back, right after the dealership was bought by the Joseph group.
Good Luck!
Greg Roa
Cincinnati, OH
83' 944
86' 4kcsq
93' 90 CS
08-21-2002, 02:53 PM
#19
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Well... if my interview in Columbus does not work out, I may have to call over there and present my resume and story of my rebuild. That should be enough to land a job and make a diffrence. I have wanted to work at a dealer at some point... but what I experienced made me sick!!
08-21-2002, 02:55 PM
#20
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After Gene sold the business at Northland it went downhill fast. Andy, the previous parts manager, was let go not too long ago. Life with Andy was good. I now find that I don't bother with Northland. It may take a few days to get a part through the mail but it turns out to be faster than returning parts to the dealer and waiting on the part you realy ordered.
Alan
Alan
08-22-2002, 02:11 PM
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Can't argue with that. I typically still go there on parts I can only get through a dealer, but that's only because I'm good friends with the service manager. Bill Fliehman is one of the nicest guys I've ever met.
I'm not very impressed with the way the Joseph group is running the place at all though. It was much more fun to go hang out there when Gene owned it.
Not really Porsche content: I'll have the Northland Porsche van as my transportation for my Bachelor party this weekend.
Greg Roa
Cincinnati, OH
83' 944
86' 4kcsq
93' 90CS
I'm not very impressed with the way the Joseph group is running the place at all though. It was much more fun to go hang out there when Gene owned it.
Not really Porsche content: I'll have the Northland Porsche van as my transportation for my Bachelor party this weekend.
Greg Roa
Cincinnati, OH
83' 944
86' 4kcsq
93' 90CS
08-22-2002, 03:35 PM
#22
Thinking outside da' bun...
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Tifo-
Im in Dayton too and will have to check out White Allen. I take my car to Foreign Exchange for most work, but I experienced the same thing once when I drove the 951 to White Allen to see if they had any vehicle history of the car still in their computers (they did not). Anyway, the guy there said "Man, those Turbos are hard to find. Nice car."
My only beef with White Allen was when I was shopping for my WRX and dealt with their Subaru division. Quite unhelpful and judged timeliness by a sun dial. Found a great dealer 70 miles suth in Florence, KY, though (Joseph Nissan - I think the same Joseph auto chain).
I will admit, the one cool thing about having a Porsche is you can show up to a Porsche or BMW or Jag dealer and when you ask for a test drive in a Carrera or M3 or Silverstone, they will take you semi-seriously (even though you really have no money and couldnt afford one in your finest hour). Its sort of like high school. If you got the British Knights sneakers, no matter how drab they are, you are in the club. <img src="graemlins/a_smil17.gif" border="0" alt="[blabla]" />
Im in Dayton too and will have to check out White Allen. I take my car to Foreign Exchange for most work, but I experienced the same thing once when I drove the 951 to White Allen to see if they had any vehicle history of the car still in their computers (they did not). Anyway, the guy there said "Man, those Turbos are hard to find. Nice car."
My only beef with White Allen was when I was shopping for my WRX and dealt with their Subaru division. Quite unhelpful and judged timeliness by a sun dial. Found a great dealer 70 miles suth in Florence, KY, though (Joseph Nissan - I think the same Joseph auto chain).
I will admit, the one cool thing about having a Porsche is you can show up to a Porsche or BMW or Jag dealer and when you ask for a test drive in a Carrera or M3 or Silverstone, they will take you semi-seriously (even though you really have no money and couldnt afford one in your finest hour). Its sort of like high school. If you got the British Knights sneakers, no matter how drab they are, you are in the club. <img src="graemlins/a_smil17.gif" border="0" alt="[blabla]" />
08-22-2002, 04:09 PM
#23
Race Director
UDPride,
You use Foreign Exchange? How do they do for you? I went there one time to check them out with another fellow Rennlister, and here was the scene:
We saw this red 951 come back from a test drive with a mechanic driving it. He parked it and went over to the apparent service manager and said "all done, call him and tell him it's ready". What he didn't notice was the FLOOD of radiator fluid gushing under the car. We turned around and left and started using Farler Performance instead. Could have been a simple mistake, but I took it as an "omen" and ran...
Let me know if you ever need Ken's number at Farler, he does some awesome work and races these cars. Plus, he's fair and honest.
Tifo
You use Foreign Exchange? How do they do for you? I went there one time to check them out with another fellow Rennlister, and here was the scene:
We saw this red 951 come back from a test drive with a mechanic driving it. He parked it and went over to the apparent service manager and said "all done, call him and tell him it's ready". What he didn't notice was the FLOOD of radiator fluid gushing under the car. We turned around and left and started using Farler Performance instead. Could have been a simple mistake, but I took it as an "omen" and ran...
Let me know if you ever need Ken's number at Farler, he does some awesome work and races these cars. Plus, he's fair and honest.
Tifo
08-22-2002, 04:43 PM
#24
Tifo,
I use Ken Farler when I have a job I don't want to tackle. He is one of the most knowledgeable folks that I know in the Porsche industry. He is also very fare on his pricing.
Jason
I use Ken Farler when I have a job I don't want to tackle. He is one of the most knowledgeable folks that I know in the Porsche industry. He is also very fare on his pricing.
Jason
08-22-2002, 06:45 PM
#25
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I remember calling a dealer in Miami, when I was looking at an 87 944S and needed someone to do a PPI.
Carl the service guy answered the phone. When I asked for a PPI, he said they were all booked until the next week, so I couldnt use them.
Anyway, Carl was a German, accent and all. He also owned and loved the 944s. He was on the phone with me for half an hour, going over what probably needed to be done to the car, and he went into the most minute details. He said stuff like "you vill probably need to set aside more money to re-dye the black leather seats to their original color", etc! This guy was great! When he said I would have to replace the cam tensioner, and I mentioned the little plastic ramp that could be purchased seperately for cheap, he was shocked, and wanted me to email him the website that advertised the part so cheap so he could have the dealership order them. Just a great guy.
Too bad he isn't in NJ, and too bad I didnt just buy that S and take my chances! It was white, full leather, but auctioned several times. Dealer wanted $4900...I could have got the car for $4k! Live and learn...
But I digress...not all dealer people suck!
Carl the service guy answered the phone. When I asked for a PPI, he said they were all booked until the next week, so I couldnt use them.
Anyway, Carl was a German, accent and all. He also owned and loved the 944s. He was on the phone with me for half an hour, going over what probably needed to be done to the car, and he went into the most minute details. He said stuff like "you vill probably need to set aside more money to re-dye the black leather seats to their original color", etc! This guy was great! When he said I would have to replace the cam tensioner, and I mentioned the little plastic ramp that could be purchased seperately for cheap, he was shocked, and wanted me to email him the website that advertised the part so cheap so he could have the dealership order them. Just a great guy.
Too bad he isn't in NJ, and too bad I didnt just buy that S and take my chances! It was white, full leather, but auctioned several times. Dealer wanted $4900...I could have got the car for $4k! Live and learn...
But I digress...not all dealer people suck!
08-22-2002, 07:46 PM
#26
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[quote]Originally posted by 951Badger:
<strong>When I bought my '88 951 S I had the local Porsche dealership check the car before I actually paid for it (I'm in AZ the car was in Kentucky).
On the phone with the mechanic, I ask him to make sure it has all the "S" components...
"I'M NOT AWARE THAT THERE IS OR WAS EVER A 944 TURBO "S""!!!!
I calmly explain that in 1988 there were a limited number of "S" 944 Turbos then in 1989 the "S" was dropped but the specs were continued.
"Noooo" he says, "There's no such thing as an "S"".</strong><hr></blockquote>
About 5yrs ago- there was a red w/black '88 for sale- the guy worked at the local dealer in the service dept, and he'd been there awhile too. Anyway, I asked him if it was a Turbo S or a regular Turbo, and he said the same damn thing!
"There's no such thing- there was a 944 S and a 944 turbo, but no 944 Turbo S..."
I had the '88 MT w/the Turbo S test- the title said "The 'S' Stands for Sizzle." I read most of the article to him and he kept on shooting everything down- like ABS- "I have ABS already, so that doesn't matter...the brakes are the best brakes you'll ever have- slightly larger rotors and calipers wouldn't do much..." LSD- "Well, I have it too, so that doesn't matter, and that hardening treatment on 1st and 2nd sounds like BS..." the extra 30HP/20TQ "Well, I have 'racing' chips in mine, and it's faster than ANY other 951 I've ever raced- a friend of mine has one, and I can make him look like he's standing still, so I'm sure mine's faster than the S- it HAS to have at LEAST 300HP..." the stereo- "Well, I've got a CD player in mine, and the stereo sounds awesome..." And so on and so forth- it was bad enough he didn't realize the car existed to begin with, but what's worse is him trying to say his car was every bit as much, if not more than the Turbo S "It sounds like the only difference is REALLY just the extra power, ABS, LSD, and air bags, all of which I have anyway..."
It's kind of scary... I probably should have bought the car, as it only had ~70K and he was asking ~$8K at the time, but I just felt like he was SO stupid, that there HAD to be more to the whole story- if he knew so little about the cars, then he probably didn't know enough to take good care of it, except for keeping it clean on the surface... So fast forward several yrs, and I pay $9K for a Turbo S w/125K and then spend another ~$14K over the next >3yrs keeping it up...
<img src="graemlins/cussing.gif" border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" /> Sometimes, you just can't win....
<img src="graemlins/cussing.gif" border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" />
<strong>When I bought my '88 951 S I had the local Porsche dealership check the car before I actually paid for it (I'm in AZ the car was in Kentucky).
On the phone with the mechanic, I ask him to make sure it has all the "S" components...
"I'M NOT AWARE THAT THERE IS OR WAS EVER A 944 TURBO "S""!!!!
I calmly explain that in 1988 there were a limited number of "S" 944 Turbos then in 1989 the "S" was dropped but the specs were continued.
"Noooo" he says, "There's no such thing as an "S"".</strong><hr></blockquote>
About 5yrs ago- there was a red w/black '88 for sale- the guy worked at the local dealer in the service dept, and he'd been there awhile too. Anyway, I asked him if it was a Turbo S or a regular Turbo, and he said the same damn thing!
"There's no such thing- there was a 944 S and a 944 turbo, but no 944 Turbo S..."
I had the '88 MT w/the Turbo S test- the title said "The 'S' Stands for Sizzle." I read most of the article to him and he kept on shooting everything down- like ABS- "I have ABS already, so that doesn't matter...the brakes are the best brakes you'll ever have- slightly larger rotors and calipers wouldn't do much..." LSD- "Well, I have it too, so that doesn't matter, and that hardening treatment on 1st and 2nd sounds like BS..." the extra 30HP/20TQ "Well, I have 'racing' chips in mine, and it's faster than ANY other 951 I've ever raced- a friend of mine has one, and I can make him look like he's standing still, so I'm sure mine's faster than the S- it HAS to have at LEAST 300HP..." the stereo- "Well, I've got a CD player in mine, and the stereo sounds awesome..." And so on and so forth- it was bad enough he didn't realize the car existed to begin with, but what's worse is him trying to say his car was every bit as much, if not more than the Turbo S "It sounds like the only difference is REALLY just the extra power, ABS, LSD, and air bags, all of which I have anyway..."
It's kind of scary... I probably should have bought the car, as it only had ~70K and he was asking ~$8K at the time, but I just felt like he was SO stupid, that there HAD to be more to the whole story- if he knew so little about the cars, then he probably didn't know enough to take good care of it, except for keeping it clean on the surface... So fast forward several yrs, and I pay $9K for a Turbo S w/125K and then spend another ~$14K over the next >3yrs keeping it up...
<img src="graemlins/cussing.gif" border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" /> Sometimes, you just can't win....
<img src="graemlins/cussing.gif" border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" />
08-22-2002, 09:37 PM
#27
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[quote]Originally posted by AndyK:
<strong>I remember calling a dealer in Miami, when I was looking at an 87 944S and needed someone to do a PPI.
Carl the service guy answered the phone. When I asked for a PPI, he said they were all booked until the next week, so I couldnt use them.
Anyway, Carl was a German, accent and all. He also owned and loved the 944s. He was on the phone with me for half an hour, going over what probably needed to be done to the car, and he went into the most minute details. He said stuff like "you vill probably need to set aside more money to re-dye the black leather seats to their original color", etc! This guy was great! When he said I would have to replace the cam tensioner, and I mentioned the little plastic ramp that could be purchased seperately for cheap, he was shocked, and wanted me to email him the website that advertised the part so cheap so he could have the dealership order them. Just a great guy.
Too bad he isn't in NJ, and too bad I didnt just buy that S and take my chances! It was white, full leather, but auctioned several times. Dealer wanted $4900...I could have got the car for $4k! Live and learn...
But I digress...not all dealer people suck!</strong><hr></blockquote>
AndyK,
You need to tell me where this place is! I live in Ft. Lauderdale, about 40 miles N of Miami...
<strong>I remember calling a dealer in Miami, when I was looking at an 87 944S and needed someone to do a PPI.
Carl the service guy answered the phone. When I asked for a PPI, he said they were all booked until the next week, so I couldnt use them.
Anyway, Carl was a German, accent and all. He also owned and loved the 944s. He was on the phone with me for half an hour, going over what probably needed to be done to the car, and he went into the most minute details. He said stuff like "you vill probably need to set aside more money to re-dye the black leather seats to their original color", etc! This guy was great! When he said I would have to replace the cam tensioner, and I mentioned the little plastic ramp that could be purchased seperately for cheap, he was shocked, and wanted me to email him the website that advertised the part so cheap so he could have the dealership order them. Just a great guy.
Too bad he isn't in NJ, and too bad I didnt just buy that S and take my chances! It was white, full leather, but auctioned several times. Dealer wanted $4900...I could have got the car for $4k! Live and learn...
But I digress...not all dealer people suck!</strong><hr></blockquote>
AndyK,
You need to tell me where this place is! I live in Ft. Lauderdale, about 40 miles N of Miami...
08-22-2002, 11:43 PM
#28
Thinking outside da' bun...
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Tifo-
Who and where is Ken Farler. Im not loyal to any shop other than the one who knows what theyre doing and wont BS me. If all I need is a $5 part to fix a problem, tell me. If its $2500, tell me too.
I dont drive my 951 often so its not liek I beat it down and need a lot of maintenance. Foreign X did my water pump/timing belt, along with a few other misc. things. Brake pads or something. I dont quite remember. Anyway, I cant complain about that, but again, not like Ive had my car in for service there more than twice.
If the Farler guy knows 951s front and back and he sounds like it, I may check him out. Im one of those folks who has very little time to fart around on my car myself, so my time is definitely worth paying someone else to do it, even if its small stuff. I'd like to do a serious lighting upgrade for one but I dont have time to eat a decent lunch, nevermind do it myself.
Who and where is Ken Farler. Im not loyal to any shop other than the one who knows what theyre doing and wont BS me. If all I need is a $5 part to fix a problem, tell me. If its $2500, tell me too.
I dont drive my 951 often so its not liek I beat it down and need a lot of maintenance. Foreign X did my water pump/timing belt, along with a few other misc. things. Brake pads or something. I dont quite remember. Anyway, I cant complain about that, but again, not like Ive had my car in for service there more than twice.
If the Farler guy knows 951s front and back and he sounds like it, I may check him out. Im one of those folks who has very little time to fart around on my car myself, so my time is definitely worth paying someone else to do it, even if its small stuff. I'd like to do a serious lighting upgrade for one but I dont have time to eat a decent lunch, nevermind do it myself.
08-23-2002, 01:15 AM
#29
Marcel, if you're in Ft. Lauderdale and need a shop, I've been very impressed with the knowledge (if not the speed...he is a bit slow) of Turbo Werks right off Commercial Blvd...my 951 is there getting a HG and water pump done now...it's been a couple weeks so I can't comment on quality, but as a wrench for Alex Job, and a guy who had a viable and intelligent answer for every question I asked, he certainly seems to know his stuff...he also had about 10 993, 964 and 911 turbos, 3 951s, and a 924 turbo sitting on his lot, so he's certainly seen his share of cars...was recommended to me by a buddy, has pretty good pricing (and is a hair negotiable)...I'll let you know what I think more tomorrow after I go down to hopefully pick up the car and check out what he did.
08-23-2002, 10:00 AM
#30
Race Director
Here's Ken's info:
Farler Performance
"We know how to make horsepower"
Porsche ASE Master Technician
7553 Liberty Lane
Bethany, OH 45044
513-779-6515
I have directions, email me if you need them. It's about 1/2 south of Dayton off I-75.
He did this car:
The white car in this photo is his (awesome), and the black one is one that he did for a customer:
Tifo
Farler Performance
"We know how to make horsepower"
Porsche ASE Master Technician
7553 Liberty Lane
Bethany, OH 45044
513-779-6515
I have directions, email me if you need them. It's about 1/2 south of Dayton off I-75.
He did this car:
The white car in this photo is his (awesome), and the black one is one that he did for a customer:
Tifo