took the car for a service

lindsayhbrown · **Posted:** Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:50 pm

took my 944S to my local OPC ( i know i must be mad but there is no local indy ) on saturday for a 12k service, cam/balance belts and a water pump if necessary. got a call with the normal passenger door mirror heating element u/s, also door check strap worn etc etc, now i was expecting a largish bill, but when the service girl reeled off a list as long as your arm with costs for each job i stopped mental addition at just over £4k at which point i said whoa !! so she reeled them off again and i said yes or no to each job, she said she would ring back with the cost inc tipec discount. well £1750 for the service, belts, all the top hat seals, gaskets, and some other sundry items etc, but no water pump as ok, i objected saying i wasn't prepared to pay that much an i would take the car to an indy, i then was told she would see what she could do, i later got a call saying my business was important as i had been a loyal customer and they would do the job for £1500, i agreed to this and the car will be ready a week on saturday, anyone want to buy a kidney ?

PaulSmith · **Posted:** Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:45 am

Seems a reasonable price for that lot. Did they check the camchain tensioner and slipper inside the head?

It's the most important thing to keep an eye on in the 16v models and the official service schedule that OPC's use makes no mention of it :shock:

rav · **Posted:** Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:58 am

I can pay that sort of of money at my local indy for not a lot of work.

Makes me wonder why i bothered going to university sometimes.

watchcam · **Posted:** Fri Oct 09, 2009 8:07 am

Good point .... rates in a lot of places, main dealers in particular pay no resemblance to the real world.

As a side note I have also been offered significantly lower quotes when questioning the prices of work on my Audi. Got £300 quote on brakes down to £180!

tr7v8 · **Posted:** Fri Oct 09, 2009 8:10 am

TBH £1500 for that lot isn't bad. The top hats & seals are suprisingly expensive & soon add up. It doubled my cam belt job when I first had it done.

stratfordshark · **Posted:** Fri Oct 09, 2009 8:13 am

Lindsay you should have triumphantly turned the tables, and claimed your £2K scrappage against a new PanAm (only about £140K with reasonable options) <g>.

At least you have paid for your TIPEC membership about 10x over! You can see why less conscientious owners sell these cars on when a big bill comes in, only for next owner to realise he didn't get such a bargain after all.

Think it was decent of Sutton to recognise your loyalty though. They are a good bunch there, ditto Solihull.

RH944 · **Posted:** Fri Oct 09, 2009 11:29 am

I paid just shy of £1000 for belts and service last year. including brakes and radiator flush. The bills seemed high but I felt more happy with it being an OPC

Mid Sussex OPC are offering deals at the moment. They are willing to offer members competitive rates on major works where the labour will be over £400. Or discuss projects can can be carrie dout in thier workshop. If I had the cash I'd put mine in for the suspension to be overhauled

ben944 · **Posted:** Fri Oct 09, 2009 2:37 pm

Bloody 'eck! Who's the manager at your OPC? Dick Turpin? Crumbs, I'd have been having kittens with a bill that big. Glad they appreciate you're loyalty though.

Ben :bounce:

Richy_S · **Posted:** Fri Oct 09, 2009 8:51 pm

Blimey, if you were to buy the bits independantly they would be no more than £375 - what hourly rate did they charge?

Rich

lindsayhbrown · **Posted:** Sat Oct 10, 2009 8:45 am

hourly rate is £75 per hour, nearest indy charges £60, OPC are saying that the 944 has reached classic status and because of this the parts prices have massively increased

lindsayhbrown · **Posted:** Sat Oct 10, 2009 8:46 am

PaulSmith wrote:

Seems a reasonable price for that lot. Did they check the camchain tensioner and slipper inside the head?

It's the most important thing to keep an eye on in the 16v models and the official service schedule that OPC's use makes no mention of it :shock:

both items were replaced with the belts last time (about 7k miles)

watchcam · **Posted:** Sat Oct 10, 2009 9:07 am

The car has reached classic status. You have got to love that spin. Didn't know Labour were in charge at Porsche at well :-)

ExAudiSi · **Posted:** Sat Oct 10, 2009 9:29 am

Hmmm....with some other manufacturers when a car reaches classic status they bring the parts prices DOWN to help the enthusiasts keep them on the road!

I think that Porsche need to rethink that policy.

Brett928S2 · **Posted:** Sat Oct 10, 2009 10:36 am

lindsayhbrown wrote:

hourly rate is £75 per hour, nearest indy charges £60, OPC are saying that the 944 has reached classic status and because of this the parts prices have massively increased

Hi

OPC labour rate is set NATIONALLY at £120 per hour...although they "can" discount it for older models...

Ummm....how do they know your water pump is ok ?? Are they psychic ?

All the best Brett

tr7v8 · **Posted:** Sat Oct 10, 2009 11:05 am

Brett928S2 wrote:

lindsayhbrown wrote:

hourly rate is £75 per hour, nearest indy charges £60, OPC are saying that the 944 has reached classic status and because of this the parts prices have massively increased

Hi

OPC labour rate is set NATIONALLY at £120 per hour...although they "can" discount it for older models...

Ummm....how do they know your water pump is ok ?? Are they psychic ?

All the best Brett

Classic rate (pre 996) is £77 ph for all, some discount lower than this dependent on overall workload & the complexity of the job.
Rule of thumb for a 944 water pump is every other belt change but on frequently used cars some feel that this is excessive & they can go longer. Checking the pump is a judgement call but no different to another other pump.

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took the car for a service

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