hmm, cant speak for garage/dealership, but in engineering, its very common to give drudge work, or at least, not too technical stuff, to apprentice's. yes, this helps with their training, etc, but the company still charges top rates, even though its not a fully skilled tradesman, who is doing the job. i believe that it is just common place in the work area.
i would think that a porsche dealership, would be quite different from an independant though, as regards job times. i have found that{here, anyway} if you go to an independant garage, and ask for a quote on a particular job, as soon as you say the magic words ..its a porsche, the guy suddenly ups the ante, and definately doubles the price.
just my $10 can. thats about 2 cents US, right?.
bob.

Why would you go to anyone other than a shop familiar with Porsche vehicles? Most non-Porsche or German car specialists don't work on Porsches on a regular basis so estimates are guesstimates.....

yes, i agree with you on that one, britwrench. however, not knowing any better, having purchased my 944, and after a short time discovering that the rad had gone "south" on me, i went to the local p- dealer, and just let him get on with it. anyhoo, 1 new radiator later, and including time for replacing, i was $1105 canadian worse off. AND, for some reason, the snap ring for the thermostat was missing {mia}. i can tell you, i was none too pleased. of course, i'm not saying thats the case with all p-dealers.
but there are some jobs, that dont require that you have to go to mr p, to have done.
at the end of the day, its your own money, and your own car.
regards, bob.

But Britwrench, what you fail to realize is that socal has gotten an influx of german car specialists since they closed down the last beetle factory in Mexico. Hans Riviera pulls down $3.25/hr untill the shop owner has him deported the day before pay day to save two weeks wage.
They're headed your way, Brit, :eek:

I would shop around, if you have a DD. There must be other shops who can do the work. I think $1500 is more in-line.

About the high cost of auto repair. If the shop I went to was awash in profit, they sure did a good job of hiding it. I imagine a lot of the profit goes to anger-management classes or psychologists for having to deal with folks who try to fix it themselves first.

Oh, and if you want to get a free clutch, contact the Tuner Transformation folks and offer your car as a project. You might get a cool aero kit too!! (chuckle)