macfly4

I know it was stupid to even think about taking the car to the stealership but since i am out of the country and cant do much myself i asked my family to bring it there to fix a few things. the car is a 1987 s4 with 50k miles. outside and inside look amazing but there were a few little problems. airconditioner blows but was not getting very cold even though it has been charged. the outside passenger mirror motor wasnt working well, one windshield washer wasnt spraying and there was a small oil leak. i wanted to change the timing belt/ water pump since it hasnt been done.
they said the oil pan needed to be retorqued, the a/c was working except the control head and heat flap (?) needed to be replaced. they would replace the whole windshield wiper sprayer system. timing belt and water pump replaced. dimmer light for the dash as well wasnt working well so i told them to do that too. guess what the total was?
close to $7k
i figured i would get the work done so now the car is in amazing shape. but im sure i could have spent a lot less doing it somewhere else...how badly did i get screwed?

6mil928

I'd say real bad:-(

StratfordShark

I don't think you can re-torque the sump gasket without removing the crossmember as if you were installing new motor mounts, so that's a few hour's labour just for that.

I estimate a Porsche dealership here in the UK would probably charge $3000-4000 to change a timing belt and water pump. I honestly wouldn't trust them do the job as they see so few 928s now so would be learning on your car and taking far more time than necessary. My belt and pump was done by an independent 928 specialist who charged $800 (he estimates he's done about 400 TB jobs!).

Recently I ran into (not literally) another S4 owner locally who is not part of any of the owner clubs. He claimed that an official dealer had recently charged him $18000 to replace his central electric panel. Maybe he was bull****ting me, maybe not. The mind boggles.

If all the work described has been done correctly then it sounds like you paid the going rate for an official dealer, which is way high compared with an independent but you get the free coffee in reception! At least they didn't try to screw you by doing unnecessary jobs ("needs new discs and pads all round").

You can now enjoy feeling your car is perfect, and have cold air in summer!

6mil928

Yea at the price of a good used car

Mike Frye

Ouch!

Did anyone else wince when they read 'control head and heat flap'? I'm thinking it should have been the heater valve, which is pretty inexpensive.

Macfly, I think you paid the going rate, but I do think you got screwed. I know you're out of country, but this list can get you through most of that stuff. You could have spent less than half that and gotten to spend some quality time with your car at the same time.

Mrmerlin

OUCH, BUT, OTOH, you didnt get screwed , thats what happens when you let somone else thats in the business of repairing machines work on your machine. ( had your family/You had other options for service maybe they should have been explored)
So you really traded your time for your hard earned cash. Was it expensive? Yes it was, but then again so is your time, otherwise you would not have taken your car to the dealer, you would have found other ways to mend your problems

Dan87951

$800 for a timing belt and waterpump change? In the states I had estimates all over from 1800-3000 to do this work. I said heck with it and did it my self for the price of parts which was around $400 but I also did some other while you were in theres..

As for the original poster I wouldn't say you got ripped off but they paded the bill a little it seems. You had a lot of work done which will cost alot no doubt. Troubleshooting HVAC can be a real pain and take up alot of time. A new compressor for one of ours car can be close to $1k by itself. I wouldn't worry about whether I spent to much, just enjoy the car, you already paid the bill anyway!

Leon Speed

Do you have a specification for the parts and labor? I'm sure they replaced more then you mentioned in your post. The thing is with Porsche that when a part is broken they tend to replace parts of the system, not just the broken part. The parts you mention are expensive and they do need some time to do the work. So I would say the price comes pretty close, but is does seem a little on the high side. But then again, you know they did aquality job, something you don't know with independent shops when you don't know them. And: take off 22% for VAT. Would be interesting to see what they quote you for the obligatory TB tension check after 1500 miles. For reference: my Porsche shop does that for appr. EUR 300 incl. VAT.

macfly4

thanks all. well, in terms of time, i couldnt have done the work myself anyway. and i would feel stupid even trying since i wouldnt be able to diagnose the problem. this way i know it was done by the dealership which should stand behind its work. the a/c and timing belt work are pretty big operations so i feel it was worth it to get it done right and now i wont have to worry about them...i hope!
i knew the car was going to require some work. paid 19k for it and now its in pretty amazing shape for a total of about 26. a lot for a standard s4 but my dad told me that everyone in the store was amazed at what great shape its in. it really does look almost new.

Imo000

uhhhh that's brutal!

perrys4

I was expecting more as I was reading. TB and WP along with the A/C horror stories I have read had me thinking a higher bill. Enjoy it!!

macfly4

Perry, how much were you expecting? i had been hearing that TB was about $1500 in general and a/c could be anywhere depending on what was wrong. i was a little bummed as i figured maybe i would need to put in another 3-4k to get it in tip top shape but 7, yikes. that sure put a dent in my fun money pot for the car. i might have to put off the new wheels i wanted for a bit... i'll post a few pics though since she looks so nice.

928ntslow

Raped and beaten!

heinrich

nothing surprising about that

fabric

7000 USD? Not sure if you did the conversion for us.