My dealership experience

[Gogar]

This is my only dealership experience except for when the 2012 Panamera almost grenaded from the cam-adjuster bolts a few years ago. I don't count that one.




I'd been looking for a 2019-2021 Macan with some kind of v6 for a bit. Dealerships, marketplace, whatever.

Finally settled on this 2020 turbo on Autotrader. PO is an enthusiast and obviously interested and meticulous and had amazing records there's some CPO left and I bought his vibe as much as the car. Great Car, great guy yadda yadda.

Right on the way home upon wailing on the car I experienced a few errors that made me anxious but not terribly so.

I decided to go to the dealer because why not? See what they say and I'm still all precious about the new-to-me car.

I arrived with a list of the codes I had read from the car. Evap system error, turbo underboost, and "brake fluid fault". (all vacuum-adjacent errors yeah)

Anyway the tech smoked the vacuum system and found a teeny-tiny vacuum cap that had been chewed on by a mouse! Tiny hole the size of a ballpoint. He also found a crack in a (very accessible) vacuum line right up top in front of the turbos. Mouse here too. I believe him.

Anyway the 1.5 hour diagnosis and video at $295/hr was $442.50 and shop supplies were about $50 for a total just under $500 with repair declined.

The estimate to replace the single vacuum line was $283.34 for the part and $2306.90 for the labor for a total of $2590.24

Just data points, I don't really have a shareable opinion but I had an interesting experience and thought you may enjoy the numbers.


PS god bless that video and the pelicans who gave me a little advice and the $127 part that any VWAG dealer might have sold me if I had wanted to fix it in about 20 minutes myself which i'm not saying i did but i might have but i'm not saying i fixed it myself

[KNS]

That price is - breathtaking... Was this Porsche Denver West (in Lakewood)? I think they're trying to help pay for all that new remodeling.

I went there recently to pick up a small part at the parts counter, except they don't have a parts counter. Kind of a stupid arrangement if you're trying to purchase parts from them.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Congrats on the new Macan, looks really smart.

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by KNS

That price is - breathtaking... Was this Porsche Denver West (in Lakewood)? I think they're trying to help pay for all that new remodeling.

It was Littleton Porsche. That's where the car started and has been the most.

If i had bought the part which i'm not saying I did but if I had I know that Prestige Audi had the part for $109 plus tax. It's a common part in all the 2.9TT like this car and the RS5.

[mgatepi]

I have been taking my Turbo S to the Local P dealer and for the most part they have done a good job at a decent price until last year. I took the car in for its annual service and they suggested the PDK fluid change and found a cracked front boot on the axle. $5,000 out the door. I did it, but damn that was an expensive lesson.

[greglepore]

Yeah, if you watch the youtube stuff on Macan's and Cayenne's the numbers are frightening. They're not cheap to fix even with an indy, but dealership rates are nutso. A dealership gm on the PCA tech pod claims the rates have to be that way due to overhead. Uh huh....

[jhynesrockmtn]

I have mentioned my dealership vs. indy experience with our 2015 Macan S in a few threads. They are over double the cost for an oil change. I'll leave it at that. After many discussions with the owner of our indy shop who is a buddy and former partner of a friend, I will never go back to the dealer. He has seen many customers come in with ridiculous estimates for both needed, and in many cases, not needed repairs. That is one dealership in our relatively small market so YMMV.

[jhynesrockmtn]

Originally Posted by greglepore

Yeah, if you watch the youtube stuff on Macan's and Cayenne's the numbers are frightening. They're not cheap to fix even with an indy, but dealership rates are nutso. A dealership gm on the PCA tech pod claims the rates have to be that way due to overhead. Uh huh....

Ours is a 2015. I won't buy another modern Porsche based on this experience. But if my wife forced me to, I wouldn't keep it past 80k miles. Seemingly simple repairs like a drive belt and mind numbingly complex and expensive due to basically having to deconstruct the car to get to many things.

[speeder]

I did some basic research on Macans a couple of months ago on this forum and the general take-away is that you do not want the fist version, (2017-older?), unless someone already did the big service on it. It's 20 hours or something ridiculous.

The later one, like Gogar's, is much better. Glad that you could figure out the easy hack around letting the dealer give you a turbo walletectomy.

[T6andT]

Agree 100% on dealer pricing, but a different perspective. Just this week we sold our 2018 Macan GTS and got a new one. Surprised on the performance delta. Interesting to note, I asked the dealer about the potential for a trade in just out of curiosity. He stated that because the 2018 was not serviced at a Porsche dealer they could not offer anywhere close to market. Claimed it would need $10k in service before being certified. Did not even begin the debate as had planned on selling it via a different method. Some may want to the dealer trade in route. Just FYI.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by jhynesrockmtn

Ours is a 2015. I won't buy another modern Porsche based on this experience. But if my wife forced me to, I wouldn't keep it past 80k miles. Seemingly simple repairs like a drive belt and mind numbingly complex and expensive due to basically having to deconstruct the car to get to many things.

I'm sure size has a lot to do with it, my '10 Cayenne is very easy to work on. A year ago I did starter motor, waterpump, thermostat and belt & tensioner in 6 hours IIRC, working slowly but deliberately.

Lot of room in the engine bay.

[Gogar]

The Macans it's 2018 and older that have some particular challenges re fixing common problems and bore scoring possibilities. 2019-2021 was the sweet spot for me because they still have the button controls instead of glass touch-screen everywhere stuff.

[greglepore]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

I'm sure size has a lot to do with it, my '10 Cayenne is very easy to work on. A year ago I did starter motor, waterpump, thermostat and belt & tensioner in 6 hours IIRC, working slowly but deliberately.

Lot of room in the engine bay.

Yeah, but whoever put the starter under the intake should be flogged.

[Gogar]

Oh and the white-caliper PSCB brakes are stupid expensive to service but all the cars with PSCB are just coming into the time period where people are going to have to start doing their brake jobs and I'm interested to see if any vendor comes up with a cost effective solution once everyone with PSCB balks at the $7000 parts bill for a basic brake job

If you know a brake mfr that will make standard steel rotors and the proper size pad for these calipers maybe there's a market there! All these white caliper cars will need brakes in the next few years.

[KNS]

Originally Posted by mgatepi

I have been taking my Turbo S to the Local P dealer and for the most part they have done a good job at a decent price until last year. I took the car in for its annual service and they suggested the PDK fluid change and found a cracked front boot on the axle. $5,000 out the door. I did it, but damn that was an expensive lesson.

I would guess that the Porsche dealers will have to continue to raise their labor rates. If they're going to sell fewer cars (no more Caymans and Boxsters - didn't someone say), then they'll have fewer customers bringing cars in for service.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by greglepore

Yeah, but whoever put the starter under the intake should be flogged.

Agreed but the guy who made the vacuum line at the back the engine that was easy to connect on the assembly line but too short to easily put back on with the engine in the truck deserves a little time in hell. After 30 minutes I just went to autozone and got a length of hose and it was cake. Live and learn.

[William930t]

There are now four fancy Porsche dealerships just in the northern Atlanta area, understand the OP dealer cost dilemma quite well. We also have an even bigger number of independent shops to choose; several are active in PCA chapter events and tech sessions. Currently looking at 2018-2023 Panamera Sport Turismo (unnecessary family wagon), and I have found three indies capable of handling stuff I may not want to wrench, PDK service, cooling system, suspension wear. I am doing the research on service before making the purchase, dealership will be the last choice.

[herr_oberst]

Macan's are so good looking IRL, and I think I'd love to have one, but, like the pepper wagon before it, I haven't got the nerve (coff, cash reserve, coff coff) to put one in the driveway.

[edgemar]

If I may ask, what did you pay for the car?

[onewhippedpuppy]

Nice Macan! If dealerships are good for one thing, a $XXXX PPI is a great negotiation tool!