Ironman88

It looks like you were wise to at least ask the Pep Boys staff some questions in advance of the work in an effort to "qualify" them. In light of the outcome, I do think you were lucky however. I would never risk having any work done on my 911 at a Pep Boys. Your (lucky) experience is one that I would bet is an extreme exception - and hopefully others reading of it here in the forum will not take it as sound guidance and advice to follow.

gcthree

Jeez, if that's true, I stole this '05 Carrera S with only 10,800 miles last month at $45K.....

Caliporsche

You buy your parts from Suncoast and then have them sent to Circle?

PV997

No, I buy my parts online from Circle Porsche (wholesale prices on their website) but then select "will call" at checkout rather than shipping. If you call down there before ordering online they'll check stock for you. That way you can get your parts the same day but still pay Suncoast or Sunset prices.

drmain1

Holy crap $45 for a 10k speed yellow with full GT3 kit! I'm jealous!

Sporty

My Indy overcharges me (around $250+ for oil change service) but he actually does the work, is a Porsche (M96/97) specialist who attended FSI classes, etc and goes thru/over the car for me. He will drain the oil first thing when I get there, capture an oil sample analysis for BS, cut open the filter examine it and the magnetic drain plug and give me the filter back in a baggy for my examination. I have my oil changed about 1- 1.5 times a year now so it buys me comfort that someone experienced and knowledgeable is going over the car and he will walk me around underneath it pointing things out. If I ask him a technical question sometimes I have to cut him off because he goes into detail at length. He runs the shop with his wife and dog and is accessible for anything else and will give me an estimate beforehand for anything else if I ask. He needs to pay the shop rent and put food on the table, so while not perfect, he is "my" Indy and better than the stealership or Pep boys (to me) for that matter. When I retire and have no other projects to do I will change my oil maybe every other time, but we need to keep these guys alive and in business. My 2 censt, sorry.

Ironman88

Your ".02-cents" makes good sense to me. If cost = value, then it's a sensible solution.

63mercedes

That was the one from Miami right? It looked like a real nice car.

PV997

Absolutely nothing wrong with being loyal to an honest business with good service, it's commendable. I know I'm happy to pay a bit more for good service rather than being treated like a number. My beef is with Porsche dealerships with their $400 oil changes and $3000 brake jobs. It's Porsche policy that your car sit on a lift to drain for an hour (paying at least $125/hour) for no good reason. Our local dealer told a friend of mine it was Porsche policy to replace brake rotors if there was any sign of a lip (which is absolute nonsense). Maybe the dealer was making it up but the apple doesn't fall far from the tree as they say. Porsche has lots of expensive "policies" with no compelling rationale.

Porsche engineering really is second to none which is why we love these cars. Nobody buys a Porsche for the service department or due to their management ethics.

ThomasCarreraGTS

My Porsche dealer (Porsche Grapevine, TX) charges $267 out the door, and thats with the use of a Porsche loaner and incredible service from a dedicated tech and attentive service writer. Im happy to pay that for the quality I receive and I know my car has OEM parts and is always in exceptional condition.

PV997

That's great to read, I wish more were like that.

Wayne Smith

FWIW time wise I had a friend's GTS on the lift today and oil flowed for a full hour before starting a mere drop for ten minutes and then stopping. My C4S never takes that long. But we all seem to have different experiences with each of our cars. But the dealer has to assume worst case time wise.

And a second FWIW ... Even with the longer drain time the measured oil out was 7.5 quarts.

sandwedge

So I had Pep Boys do an oil change. Something a lot of non mechanic members and users here do themselves in their garages. So help me understand why a Pep Boy mechanic doing the same thing without destroying my car is an "extreme exception of luck". Especially after giving me the correct torque numbers for both the drain plug and the filter housing without even having to look them up. He had those numbers in his head. I brought the oil and filter kit so no chance of screwing that up and I was able to watch the whole process from the waiting area. But the fact that this tech didn't damage my car was still an "extreme exception of luck". Sometimes it gets a bit on the dramatic side around here imo.

sandwedge

Watched the drain on my recent oil change. I had driven the car for more than an hour before draining so it was hot. The filler cap was removed too which speeds up the drain. I could not see a drop coming out after 35 minutes. Maybe another few drops could have been had with another hour or two or overnight. But I think most of the bad stuff comes out with the initial full flow anyway. Besides, how much of the old oil remains in the engine no matter how long you let it drain?

wc11

Thank you. No premium at the time (10 years ago). It was rare to find yellow then though when most were silver or grey
Looked for about 2-3 years before the right one came along.

While I understand the need for any bisiness to make a profit to keep the lights on, some of the prices out there are just plain rape.