Bingo, there absolutely is a correlation. I use an independent shop for a lot of stuff, but I leave the sched maint. to the dealer, got to throw them a bone if you want their help in the future.

 

I think it's that, and also a matter of goodwill with the dealer, helping a "good customer". I'm not advocating one way or the other (yet). I'm changing my own oil, and the plan is every 3k, because it is an excuse to tinker with the car. My commute is short, so the decision is a long way off.

My experience with other cars, albeit less expensive ones, was that having the dealer do the service helped a lot. In one case, we had a 95 Volvo, and after the 3rd CEL my (ex) wife chewed them out and they invited her down to pick out a 96 and just pay the difference in the sticker between the two cars. (unbelievable but true).

 

I would sure hope you would get some goodwill for writing a $600 to $800 check for 3 hours of labor. After dealing with three local parts departments in the SF Bay Area, I would be pissed paying them COST for parts let alone any labor! They all have had quite an attitude and were quite proud of the huge mark up they had. The price we pay for these cars should be plenty of incentive for them to go to bat for you on warranty issues!

Although, if you do not have tools and are not comfortable working on your car I could see just paying the price and moving on (although I would find a good independent if I couldn't do it myself). It would seem that people not comfortable working on their car would not include most people here. I found it was much easier than I thought it would be and also took less time.

Kris

 

Too bad there are areas where graft and bribery are still the accepted way of doing business.

With all of the choices and alternatives out there today, it is disappointing that people still have to cower AND be overcharged on things like this.

 

Orient, that's just the way it is. Don't get me wrong, I do plenty of my own wrenching (tires, brakes, mufflers, shifters, spoilers....). I have a known RMS problem on my car and I need the dealerin my corner, plus I don't mind them going thru my car and my laundry list of complaints.

 

I think Dealers would like you to believe that having your car serviced by them will improve your chances of having questionable warranty items covered, but I doubt it. Remember it's Porsche and not the Dealer that is the final arbiter. I have to believe that Dealers would be highly motivated to have the questionable item covered by warranty since they know that the chances are slim that they will get the repair work if it isn't covered by warranty.

 

Any dealer would like to work on warranty repairs. They get money! I don't think DIY risks warranty. You can show receipts of filter and oil purchase as proof also.

Do it yourself but don't skimp on the inspections bc that only leads to failure of expensive parts.

 

Then it must be PCNA's job to find a way to not do them? Say if you did a track day or had a type 2 over-rev?