Porsche Service Dept Called Me Today
 

Are dealer service departments hurting for customers right now? The local Porsche dealer cold called me and offered $25.00 off an oil change for my 993. I had an alignment done there once so I must be in their system. I said no but thank you anyway.

I know service is where dealerships make most of their money, are the high end dealers feeling a pinch right now?

They want to drag you in for 5k in marginal repairs they'll "discover" while doing your $200 oil change...

This. Our dealership wants over $400 for an oil change on a 2015 Macan. Our indy charges $180. That indy has told me more than one story of a customer coming to his shop after the dealer telling a customer they needed all new brakes or similar, only for him to tell them they are fine.

I would not be surprised if they weren't feeling the pinch. Parts and labor continue to go up, and our newly-opened dealership looks like a high-end hotel with fancy tile floors and a glitzy showroom, so there's lots of overhead they have to support.

So typical. Had the MIL's Jetta in for warranty rust repair at the dealership and when I picked the car up, before I was given the keys they "cautioned me" the brakes front and rear needed to be serviced and the exhaust system was in need of replacement. The estimated bill awas around $3k. I took it by the indy shop where she bought the car and the necessary work (front brakes and muffler) were looked after for less than half.

VW dealership quoted me $1,400 to replace the starter on my VW Golf.

I passed and had an indy shop replace it for $500

That knife cuts both ways. Took my Passat V6 to an independent shop and told them it was overheating. I suspected the water pump / thermostat. They called me later that day and said I was correct but they couldn’t do it because they didn’t have the special tools to do the job. Charged me $50 checkout fee. Took it to the dealer the next day and got the job done. Just saying.

Dealers use only factory parts, I believe. Indys tend to use aftermarket. Not necessarily all the difference, but some.

You are talking pennies to dollars. However, it's your right to prefer a rapid turnaround and excellent quality. You just have to pay for it.

The dealer has Starbucks more often than not.

Charging $50 to checkout a problem they can't fix sounds very unethical. I'd ask for the $50 back and if they said no I'd consider a writeup on Yelp.

Yep ... and be glad they could not fix it imo...

A mandate from the high-higher ups perhaps...given Porsche's projected (1bn+) losses relating to poor EV (and some ICE) sales in certain countries?

Every time I buy a used German car with thousands of dollars of dealership receipts, I shake my head at why anyone would ever go to the dealer post-warranty.

Why? If they spend half an hour or an hour on the issue they should eat it? My indy charges $125 just to look at anything due to the number of folks that drop off cars and when they find out what it'll cost to fix something just say "nevermind".

My indy shop used to be a VW dealer decades ago, but bailed when they were told they would have to expand in order to keep the franchise. They service just about anything now but still specialize in VW and BMW. The current owner is the son of the man who started the business. He buy cars at auction and from time to time the lot might look like a Subaru or a Kia or an Audi
place, depending upon what is available. The service records manager is a gearhead with about 8 vehicles he has restored or modified. It is the sort of place you just feel comfortable spending time ( and money) in.

Being an auto repair shop implies having the ability to replace a water pump and thermostat on a VW Passat V6. Charging to verify a problem that would most likely involve a repair they can't do implies they're not equipped to do the tasks they're in business to do. Perhaps they could have looked at the water pump to see if they had the right tools up front or went out and got the tools to do the job. Then they would have what they need the next time and the next time after that. I would be embarrassed if I was that shop.

The guy told me no problem, they could do it at the beginning then charged me $50 (this was some time ago) to tell me they couldn’t do it. I paid them and never went back there…problem solved. Now I have 2 Hondas. Agree with everything Steve said in previous post.

Not trying to hijack. My point is there can be problems at both kind of shops. Find someone you trust.

Another story: when our dealership was Porsche / Audi, one of the Audi techs brought a 5000 in for an oil change for a waiter. He quickly discovered the front shocks were leaking and totally wasted and the catalytic converter guts were loose and rattling to beat the band. He went up front to tell the service advisor who reported it to the waiting customer who went ballistic in front of all the other customers at the front counter. The Audi service manager took him outside away from the other customers, got him calmed down and said come on back in the shop and I’ll point out the problems. After seeing the deficiencies, customer says ok, go ahead and do it. Service manager says, it’s obvious you don’t trust us, you need to take it somewhere you trust…lowered the car down and gave it back to him, no charge. I love it.

You both make a point. If the shop can reasonably see that is is something they may not be able to do, they should get to the point. No charge. That, however, is going to cost them credibility, but not as much as charging to say the same thing.

If if was my shop I would do some serious thought about finding a way to do the job and keep the customer. Of course that is not how it always works out with customers being fickle, but you're in business or you're not. The only shops that can say no and get that right are shops that do not do general repairs, like a transmission shop.

But they don't call them independents without reason. Some guys are really independent in their thinking. Anyone remember Otto over in Venice?

If you can’t change a thermostat and water pump, you should not advertise yourself as a mechanic.

That shop knew how to do the waterpump. They did not want to spool up with $1,700 (guessing - WAG in fact) worth of VW tools and then do the next job in 2031.

If you are a businessman you go to where the money is and it wasn't there.

Edit: Just throwing out a different perspective. I ain't throwing no hands. I mean if we get into a fight I'll just roll up into a ball and you can kick me in the back (See 1:45 below).

Spicy language:

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