Miznthrope

Not going to name names and I'm willing to be accused of being cheap here, but thought I would post for educational purposes and get opinions. My 2019 Cayenne S went into service in November 2019. Barely broke her in when the pandemic hit....other than some early morning drives just to get out of the house, she has been a garage queen ever since and I have less than 4,000 miles on her. In October of 2020, I took vehicle into dealer for the 1st year anniversary/10k service --- an oil and filter change essentially.

So, I call my dealer to try to set up taking her in for the 2nd year anniversary/20k service. I confirm with them that there are no recalls or TSBs on my VIN just so I can appreciate the time it will take. Other than an inspection and cabin air filter change, I ask what else will be done for this service. I am then advised that a whole littany of "inspections" will be done. ok, so I ask what the price is going to be....advisor then quotes me $1,500!!!!! After I got up off the floor and picked the phone back up, I ask if there's any discount. He says nope.

I am going to an independent now (highly recommended by enthusiasts here on this site) to have the 2nd year/20k service done that will include all of that and a brake fluid flush ---- $750 quoted.

Again, I'll happily be accused of being cheap and I can hear the "you bought a Cayenne S and should have expected to pay a premium for service" camp. But the more I thought about this, I cannot help but think that this price is a complete over-reach by the "stealer" trying to improve cashflow at the expense of existing customers. Any thoughts? Am I being over-reactionary here? From my vantage point, since this is a garage queen since the onset of the pandemic, the vehicle only needs an oil and filter change if that and my advisor should have offered that up (since I shared my relative non-use and mileage with him from the onset).

AS an aside, I cannot find a digital version of the 2019 Cayenne maintenance schedule and what should be included in each service to make sure I can ensure the independent does everything required for me to not inadvertently void the warranty. Does anyone have a pdf or is there one somewhere on the site here you can point me to?

As always, thanks. I love my Cayenne S and have no issues with the vehicle. It truly is just the best driving expression of an SUV/crossover I could ever imagine with the perfect amount of street power (I'm sure V8 Turbo owners might disagree!!!). Could not recommend the vehicle more. Just get ready to bend over on service prices I suppose if you plan to go to the dealer for service. (pardon the expression). Peace!

dgjks6

My 2 year service was an oil change and brake fluid flush and inspections. Total was $900. And I thought I overpaid. That's $500/hour for labor.

Learning to DIY saves thousands. Otherwise plan for a couple thousand a year in maintenance.

chassis

+1 on DIY. Brake fluid change is easy.

MB dealers are the same. Their business practices are gross.

Fang911

Its a double whammy when it comes to Porsche service- its not just the $200/hr labor rate- on top of that they charge “book rates” ie a job which may take only 1 hr for an experienced tech has a “book” time of 2 hrs which is worst case scenario for a green tech- so effectively we are paying $400+/hr for labor-

3 yrs ago my dealership charged me $1800 to install a Sharkwerks exhaust (GT3) when Sharkwerks said shouldnt take more than 2-3 hrs- took it to my indy and paid $300 🤬. Will never take my cars to the dealer again (except for recalls)-

macanakey

Nope - not cheap. I can afford my Porsche collection because I work hard for & mind my money, which includes refusing to overpay for other service at the stealership!

YHC

Downtown LA Porsche is quoting 4.5 hours of labor @ $270.00/Hr for oil change and brake fluid flush.
That's $1215 just for labor, not for 20,000 miles service, but for oil and brake fluid change.
What a wonderful world we're living in?

drcollie

HA! I think you are overpaying at $ 750. Oil change and Brake Fluid Flush? Man, I do that in my garage and have fun doing it. Crank up my "911 GT3 bluetooth speaker" turn on the ceiling fan and have at it for about $ 140 in materials (don't forget your pollen filter). Will take me 90 minutes. Nothing is complex.

Rather than apply labels "Stealership" to businesses that have to pay their service techs close to $ 100K a year to retain them, just learn to do it yourself, It's not hard. Buy this and a small air compressor for your brake fluid flush, it's ridiculously easy then, plus you can do topside oil changes in vehicles that support it like Mercedes and some Audis.

Bxstr

Pricing is high. Very high. Brake fluid flush at the dealer I would expect to be $200-250. Oil change maybe $300-400. Independent I would say $150 for the brake fluid flush and $200 for the oil change. The checks should be done while they are waiting for the oil to drain and on top of that, the inspection they're hoping will yield something they can charge you for. However, a friend of mine takes their Cayenne to a smaller independent guy who does it out of his garage who he's used for years with great results and pays even less than that.

Regarding what the dealer should recommend, servicing is due based on time or mileage. Technically, even if you put no miles on your car, there are services it is due for. So I think he recommended the proper services, even though your car has pretty much not been driven at all.

I couldn't find a PDF of the service book either. Check your owners manual. It should be in there. I'd use this as a guide. https://www.rusnakpasadenaporsche.com/cayenne-major/

Fang911

Even if dealerships paid their techs $50/hr, it doesn’t justify the $400+/hr “actual” labor rates given how book hour quotes greatly overestimate actual time spent on the service…ie oil change takes an experienced tech 30 min but you are charged 1.5 “book hours” at $200/hr so effectively you paid $300 labor for a 30 min service-

drcollie

Porsche Techs have to be Certified, which means a lot of training / school. An Independent guy only has to hang out a sign on his shingle. And the work is backed by Porsche AG, the Indy is backed by....the Indy.

You have an F8 Tributo coming in Fang 911? You are about to get a dealership experience with Ferrari that will make the Porsche dealer seem like a backyard sandlot operation! You can't even fart in a Ferrari without the dealer logging it into their database and requiring a service of the car afterwards (that will be $ 2,000 for the mandatory fart inspection, sir, and if you don't bring it by we will blacklist you. Shall we send our enclosed carrier over to pick it up?).

YHC

I dropped my car off at 8:00 AM and services were done before 11:00 AM, yet they were telling me about 4.5 hours of labor for the job(they must be that stupid)
They emailed me an invoice with total of $1237 and I asked them to justify the labor charges.
The cost for brake fluid change was $375(parts and labor) which I'll accept it, but not $900(parts and labor) for an oil change.
I told them that I am not begging for discounts, but I need the justification for $635 of labor for an oil change.
They adjusted the total amount to $837 and I picked up the car and will never go back to DTLA Porsche.
To show their stupidity, on invoice, they charged me for 10 quarts of engine oil when I know that the capacity is 8 quarts or less.
I knew I've made a mistake taking it to dealer, but I wouldn't have any issue paying $800 to $900
I have 6 Porsche dealers within 30 minutes from my house, but I think they are all the same. What a shame.
I can do the oil change at home but I didn't have the scanner to reset, now I will buy the scanner.

kayjh

I don't think they get to take the $350/hour "profit" you identify above to bottom line. They had to build the building, employ SAs, SM, buy equipment, pay for training, pay utilities and maintenance, etc. I don't see why they shouldn't be able to make a profit. And as has been pointed out, you can DIY the simple stuff.

Silververtu

Part of the profit goes to the see-through workshop to watch how a $900 oil change looks like while zipping cheap coffee at the “lounge”



Photo credit: colnagoG60

YHC

I have no problem with dealers making a profit just as any other business should/would.
However, they shouldn't be cheating with the labor hours vs the actual hours, they must draw the line somewhere.
There is no way that any Porsche dealer in US who can justify $635 labor on oil change on base Cayenne.
Also, I had clearly addressed the intermittent malfunction issue on the easy entry and the seat belt warning on the passenger side.
They didn't even bothered to do anything with that request.
I think they were just happy to do oil and brake change for $1300 and why bother with anything else.
Yes, I'll just be quiet now and will do the DIY.

Bomba

Yeah, this is about what I paid the last time my wife took the base 2016 Cayenne for it's 40k service. I was annoyed because she just made the appointment and did it herself without discussing with me. I only knew about it when the credit card statement showed up. I was pissed.