*** The Official 996 Forum Off Topic Thread ***
#256
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TheChunkNorris (04-21-2022)
#257
Racer
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That’s about what it would cost me for the M3 at the dealer. It’s my wife’s car so she won’t let me work on jt (aside from swapping the wheels/tires). I’m pretty sure I could tackle the 996 brake job though.
#258
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Pretty sure you could too, multi piston calipers are super easy to work on.
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Boff (04-21-2022)
#259
Three Wheelin'
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my love for food and drinks still be there, hitting a happy hour place today with wife and son, pretty soon, I’ll have soul headers with less than 2,000 miles for sale. Also fabspeed x pipes with the cheaters, Carrera S Airbox 3.8, I really wanted a Carrera S but when I saw the prices and probable issues compared with the Turbo, I decided to go this way. Thee we turbo will not be staying stock. Peace,
#260
Drifting
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If you haven't received this detail already, you should definitely ask for a breakdown of parts (by part number) and labor. That's the only way to effectively evaluate the quote. You can evaluate the parts against Suncoast or Sunset (for the same exact OEM parts) to compare both their price and to see Porsche MSRP. If the dealer is above MSRP for parts, that's not a good sign. Mine was very, very far above MSRP. Also, it's hard to spend many hours replacing brakes, you just unbolt stuff and bolt it back on -- nothing could be simpler. They are still going to charge "book rate" hours, which will be longer than what it actually takes, but it shouldn't be ridiculously longer.
Last edited by peterp; 04-21-2022 at 01:47 PM.
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ZuffenZeus (04-21-2022)
#261
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#262
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If you haven't received this detail already, you should definitely ask for a breakdown of parts (by part number) and labor. That's the only way to effectively evaluate the quote. You can evaluate the parts against Suncoast or Sunset (for the same exact OEM parts) to compare both their price and to see Porsche MSRP. If the dealer is above MSRP for parts, that's not a good sign. Mine was very, very far above MSRP. Also, it's hard to spend many hours replacing brakes, you just unbolt stuff and bolt it back on -- nothing could be simpler. They are still going to charge "book rate" hours, which will be longer than what it actually takes, but it shouldn't be ridiculously longer.
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peterp (04-22-2022)
#263
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Yea, that's a good idea. I've bought a lot of parts from Porsche of Atlanta and they've always been way under the MSRP. In fact, in some cases better than some of the independent retailers. They've been really helpful, but service labor is crazy high. I enjoy meeting and talking with alot of people at car events that own Porsche cars. Seems like many of them are older than I expected, I would venture to say retirement age. Admittedly, many of them can't physically get in and out of the cars easily much less do a brake jobs even though it may seem easy for many of the contributors here on Rennlist. Conversations always come up like... "Hey do you know any good Porsche mechanics locally that can work on these cars?" "Or, any idea what the dealership charges for [this or that]?" With the pandemic, many of the car events were cancelled, but looking forward to going back as they get back to some sort of normal.
#264
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Good news for many 996 owners is that they don't drive hard enough to have to replace their rotors and pads very often.
Still wouldn't go to the dealership to have any work done because of the typical $250-300 hourly rate versus typical $150 hourly rate for an indy.
Not to mention, you can accumulate replacement parts over time for a much better price and then hand them to your indy. All you have to do is pay attention to what all the part distributors and manufacturers are doing and buy on sale. Can't do that with a typical dealer. It's gotta be from the factory and at full price. They are a huge profit center after all for the dealership.
This doesn't take away from the training and expertise of the dealership technicians, nor their ability to properly service a 996. It's just more expensive by the hour and by the part.
Still wouldn't go to the dealership to have any work done because of the typical $250-300 hourly rate versus typical $150 hourly rate for an indy.
Not to mention, you can accumulate replacement parts over time for a much better price and then hand them to your indy. All you have to do is pay attention to what all the part distributors and manufacturers are doing and buy on sale. Can't do that with a typical dealer. It's gotta be from the factory and at full price. They are a huge profit center after all for the dealership.
This doesn't take away from the training and expertise of the dealership technicians, nor their ability to properly service a 996. It's just more expensive by the hour and by the part.
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ZuffenZeus (04-22-2022)
#265
Drifting
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Yea, that's a good idea. I've bought a lot of parts from Porsche of Atlanta and they've always been way under the MSRP. In fact, in some cases better than some of the independent retailers. They've been really helpful, but service labor is crazy high. I enjoy meeting and talking with alot of people at car events that own Porsche cars. Seems like many of them are older than I expected, I would venture to say retirement age. Admittedly, many of them can't physically get in and out of the cars easily much less do a brake jobs even though it may seem easy for many of the contributors here on Rennlist. Conversations always come up like... "Hey do you know any good Porsche mechanics locally that can work on these cars?" "Or, any idea what the dealership charges for [this or that]?" With the pandemic, many of the car events were cancelled, but looking forward to going back as they get back to some sort of normal.
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ZuffenZeus (04-22-2022)
#266
Drifting
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FWIW : Porsche Training Center at Atlanta Headquarters still holds regular classes for P10L ( Luft/Air cooled engines) P10W ( water cooled engines) P10T ( Turbo and Mezger engines ) plus most other classes such as suspension, electronics ect. on a yearly basis, and dealership send there techs there for training yearly. And yes the classes are updated periodically so even if you have taken the class before, you are encouraged to take it again after 5 years or so.
The only class I know for sure that is no longer held is the exclusive and rare Carrera GT Class that I was fortunate enough to attend back in 2004. they only held a few of these to the lucky dealers Techs who were fortunate enough to get a new one, they had to have 1 Tech that had been to the class. ( yes it was pretty fun taking that thing apart and putting it back together., totally splitting the car in half to get the engine/trans out.....lol )
Being a Dealer Tech for 45 years and going to training at least twice a year ( two weeks 4-5 day classes ) I have been to over 100 Dealer Training Classes. When I started for Porsche they flew me to Reno Nevada ( that was where Headquarters were at the time) for 1 week a month for 7 months for Training., They called it the " Turbo Track Training"...![rockon](https://rennlist.com/forums/graemlins/rockon.gif)
The only class I know for sure that is no longer held is the exclusive and rare Carrera GT Class that I was fortunate enough to attend back in 2004. they only held a few of these to the lucky dealers Techs who were fortunate enough to get a new one, they had to have 1 Tech that had been to the class. ( yes it was pretty fun taking that thing apart and putting it back together., totally splitting the car in half to get the engine/trans out.....lol )
Being a Dealer Tech for 45 years and going to training at least twice a year ( two weeks 4-5 day classes ) I have been to over 100 Dealer Training Classes. When I started for Porsche they flew me to Reno Nevada ( that was where Headquarters were at the time) for 1 week a month for 7 months for Training., They called it the " Turbo Track Training"...
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This is awesome info and good to hear. Can you share whether Porsche has a standardized corporate "book rate hours" for commodity tasks like brakes rotor & pads front/rear, etc.
.
Last edited by peterp; 04-22-2022 at 05:34 PM.
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ZuffenZeus (04-22-2022)
#267
Racer
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As far as dealer rates go, I think GC996 pretty much nailed the range. I asked the Spokane dealer just out of curiosity while I was picking up some parts, and I believe their rate is $250. Also, I had a C300 and I took it to the dealer in Tacoma, WA at the end of 2020 for a transmission service (they were supposed to be sealed for life, so it is a PITA and requires a special pump) and I believe that Mercedes dealer and the Porsche dealer next door owned by the same company all charge the same rate and it was $250/hour, but I wouldn't be surprised if that has increased in the last year and a half. Their engine oil change was also $20 more than the Spokane dealer who was $20 more than the Boston dealer. I personally would never go back to that family of dealership again for a variety of reasons, but I was in a bind, needed it done quickly, and needed recall work done.
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ZuffenZeus (04-22-2022)
#268
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The dealer was kind of reasonable for some things. For example they only wanted $160 for the parts/labor to replace both hood struts (must be pretty cheap parts.) Then other things are just overpriced, they wanted $350 for an alignment. So i'm guessing their labor is quite expensive.
Last edited by pulpo; 04-22-2022 at 06:25 PM.
#269
Drifting
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The dealer was kind of reasonable for some things. For example they only wanted $160 for the parts/labor to replace both hood struts (must be pretty cheap parts.) Then other things are just overpriced, they wanted $350 for an alignment. So i'm guessing their labor is quite expensive.
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pulpo (04-22-2022)
#270
Race Car
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SSDVC (04-26-2022)