HD2pct

Hey gang - I was quoted a price from my dealer of $1,800 for installing a hitch on my CS (wiring, hardware, etc)

That seems a bit high. Maybe even a lot high. What do you think?

For those in the Chicago area, do you have any dealers you like? I spend my time in the western suburbs and downtown. The north shore dealers are not convenient but I really think my dealer seems high on everything so I am willing to try something new!

yetis

I would ask them to break down the labour and the parts. There seems to be a fair bit of variation in the part price. I got mine for $700 in "Porsche" parts. The local dealer said they would install for $700.
The trailer hitch issue has been discussed in SIGNIFICANT detail....on this forum. You can install it yourself. Also, you will need a trail brake controller, that your dealer may or may not install and is unlikely included in that estimate. Pleaee see the links below.


https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...+hitch+install

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...+hitch+install

Stone43

One of the moderators on this site (Mudman) had an excellent gallery : http://gallery.rennlist.com/cayenneg...udman2?&page=1

It is a must see. Because of his gallery, I bought an aftermarket hitch, had it installed by an Independent Porsche mechanic and saved a ton of money. I believe my price out the door was around $700. Check it out and see what you think.

LVDell

Depends on how much weight you want to tow. If you want to take advantage of the full 7716# you WILL need the OEM towing kit. I bought mine for roughly $850 and did the full install myself. PITA! After that all that needs to be done is the programing to US from RoW towing specs so your lights work!

SCOTITUDE

I got the hitch from Suburban Porsche in Michigan thru ebay for $700. Porsche tech friend installed hitch and controller in around 3 hours. I think book time is 4 hrs. I think $1800 kinds steep. I wouldnt call the install that complicated now that I've help do it. I think if I had some basic intructions I would have tackled it myself.

LVDell

No way in hell was the ENTIRE towing system installed in 3 hours. The number of panels, etc., required to just mount the control unit is easily going to eat up that 3 hours. Then you have the R&R of the rear bumper assembly. $1800 for the dealer to do it is NOT out of line. Pricey, but still not out of line.

ltc

Waiting for someone to read the "!" sermon

HD2pct

Thanks everyone for their feedback. My understanding was that the $1800 was all-inclusive but I will make sure they are also talking about the controller too. Yes I have read a lot on this forum but it seems like opinions are all over the place and lots of people have done "creative" things to save $$$. I understand that by just dumping my car off at the dealer, I am being a little less than creative. It sounds like people that are doing what I am doing are still ponying up around 1500 bucks or more. True?

LVDell

The control unit comes with the Teq towing package. And like I said, if you want to take advantage of the full 7716# limit you have to go that route.

SCOTITUDE

Unless there was some fluctuation in the time space continuum we got it done in 3 hrs with the controller installed. And no we weren't in hell. My guru is a Porsche master tech and i was the slave so maybe that reduced some time with both of us turning wrenches. The rear lights and rear bumper were off in 10 minutes. The only interior panels that we had to totally remove was the trunk floor panels to release the side panel. The top trim panel only had to come down on the passenger side to release the pillar side panel. We were able to install the contol module behind the rear side panel w/o removing it, just releasing the rear of the panel. After reading all the posts on this install I budgeted the whole day at the shop for this. Friend said it would be about 4 hrs when we started. I was surprised when we got it done in 3. His knowlegde of the panel construction definitely helped the install go much easier.

LVDell

That probably explains it. A master tech and a helper (or slave as you said ) could probably do this in 3 hours. But a dealer is going to charge book rate and that is something like 3.2 hours. However, let me caveat that with my experience. I was going to have my local dealer back in Vegas do the install and told him the bookrate is 3.2 hours and he told me NO WAY he would be able to only charge me that. Said they had done a few in the previous month and that it was way more than that. And this comign from my SA that I had a GREAT relationship with and he always took care of me on labor hours when I had an out of pocket thing.