Orient Express

I stand corrected aboot the Canadian dollar, and am moving some of my investments into Back Bacon and Molson immediately!

Who knows, With a strong currency, and global warming making the north a nice place to live, perhaps it will be the Canadians who will be building a fence to keep the pesky Americans out soon!

I did want to make one final comment on our dust up over the original direction of this thread.

My original comments were not to promote the moral, virile, or intellectual superiority of the DIY'er, (those traits stand on their own), but rather reinforce the importance of getting value for your money.

There is nothing wrong in having someone else work on your car, but what is wrong is not knowing the value of what that work is worth.

This board is riddled with stories about people paying outrageous sums for simple procedures performed on their cars. If others can learn from these overpayments, and know what the these things really are worth, then they are in stronger position to get fair value for their money. As I said, Knowledge is power and everyone else pays retail + markup!

If we can keep just one person from being overcharged for an oil change or other procedure, than we have provided a valuable public service!

rmillnj

I originally posted this in April. I think the advice remains valid.

Shop around, prices can really vary. I am coming up on my 90,000 service for 1999 C2. I called two different dealers here in NJ yesterday and asked how much for the service. One dealer quoted $1600 and the other $700. Hmmm, I can only wonder how it can be so different for what should be exactly the same thing.

I have had Porsches serviced at both places in the past and both do a good job. I have confidence in the mechanics of both places. The real difference is one dealer has a more high end address and modern showroom. I guess that gives them the right to charge more.

Orient Express

One last point about this dead horse is that yes, a 996 is not like a Honda, it actually much more like a Toyota Corolla.

When the 996 was being designed, the serviceability of the platform was vetted by Toyota (under contract from Porsche) to make the servicing as efficient as possible.

This is why the 996 (and 986, 997,987) is so simple to maintain. From alignment to brakes to engine routine maintenance, the effort and time involved is the same or better as any entry level Toyota.

I also wanted to make all of the temporally challenged Porsche owners aware of my new time management program "Soccer, Clients, and Brake Pads, a Family Affair"

Freddie

Too bad I do not live on the east coast, but Texas is a big state. Austin is the nearest at about 80 miles away but very bad traffic. Houston is 180 miles,3 dealers, and very bad traffic. Dallas is 260 miles away, 3 dealers, and some traffic. Corpus has a dealer, but when I went by once, they did not even have any for sale. Just some used boxters and Cayennes. For me to go out of town, would require a hotel, rent a car etc.. and again too much time.

I have serviced my car in Dallas, only because I was taking care of my mom. What was really cool (besides the dealership's soda fountain and coffee bar) was that my step dad took me to pick up my car. I had the 15k service, brake flush and rear tires. My step dad, came in with me, and paid the service. Totally unexpected, since he thinks I am an idiot for buying a porsche in the first place. His mantra is that porsches are only for people who are worth 10 million or more, and pay cash for their car. I always respectfully answer that if that were the case, then there would be no such thing as a porsche, because there would be no market. I understand what he is truely saying in that why am I driving such an expensive car, when I still have a mortgage etc...

But he is the one who got me into porsches. He never bought one, but wanted one really bad. We would visit dealerships and dream all the time. I suspect my mother would have gone balistic, she is german and a control freak. Almost got a 944 for my first car, but my mom nixed it-she thought it was ugly and that I would kill myself. Funny, at the dealership, the a hole salesman was steering us away from the 944 and towards an alfa romeo (4dr hatch back that was ugly but fast for the mid 80's). Settled on a BMW.

One X-Mass she even went to the dealership, bought a key and key chain, gift wrapped it, and put it under the tree. Outside in the driveway she placed a toy porsche. Dad opened up the box, went outside and was severly disappointed. My family liked to play jokes on each other, although I thought that this was cruel, but very funny. I got to keep the model.

I always would tell him that I would buy him a porsche one day, but sadly now, he would not be very comfortable in a 911 (too old to get in and out). That is why I pulled the trigger, better be young and foolish in a porsche, than regret not every buying one.

As to the maintenance, I also get to deduct it at the end of the year or at least a high percentage, since my 911 is my business car.

The dealermatched the prices quoted for the tires by the local Discount and gave me $50 off the service. At least I asked.

Believe it or not, this maintenance on the 911 is a dream compared to my out of warranty Land Rover. That was costing about $3k every 6 months at an indy shop. Finally dumped it and my 911 is my DD.

You all have to undersant where I live. SAT is not a wealthy city. I am shocked that there is even a dealership here. So when you are looking for weird sized z rated tires, there is not a lot of choice. Also, a lot of indy's may say that they work on porsches, but they don't often, and do not have the right equipment.

If I wanted something cheaper and easier, I would have bought a corvette. I knew going in that service would not be cheap. Thank God it is only every 15k miles or 2 years, whichever comes first.

rmillnj

I have at least 6 dealers within fairly easy reach of where I live or work. From home though the nearest is still a 40 minute drive away. There are only 4 that I have used in the past. I would probably lose count if I started adding up all of the Porsche dealerships within a 2 hour drive of me. So in that respect NJ is a good place to own a Porsche.

There used to be a dealership 10 minutes away but they burned down 4 or 5 years ago. They are finally building a replacement and I can't wait until it opens to save some driving. I figure they won't be ripping people off too much in the beginning while they try to build the business. The only problem is going to be where they find some good mechanics.

My car comes off of warranty though in February and then I might try one of the mechanics at the local garage. He used to work for the Porsche dealership that burned down. If he doesn't go back, he might be a good alternative.

tooloud10

That's funny...Tire Rack quotes me $338 and $222 per tire, plus about $45 shipping for all, and they're in stock. Of course, I've never found Tire Rack to have that great of prices, so I probably still wouldn't pay that.

Also, balancing a tire isn't rocket science, even on a Porsche.

tooloud10

Oh, sure, I'll bet it's extremely hard to find P-car parts and service in our country's seventh-largest city. Try owning a P-car in the Midwest and then let me know if you still feel the same way.

At least SEVEN dealers within 260 miles? You'll not get any sympathy from some on this forum...