Do you love, like, or hate your local Porsche dealer?

[Eric G]

Hard to find any that are willing to do something other then take your money and NOT fix what you bring your car in for....still a few more to search in Seattle to see if they are any better.

[BYprodriver]

Originally Posted by thstone

I hate my local dealer (Rusnak Porsche in Pasadena, CA). Everytime that I go there, I am strongly reminded that their business model is built on selling new cars and performing warranty repairs - and that they really don't want anything to do with my "old" car unless I'm interested in upgrading to a new model off the showroom floor.

What is your experience?

I have heard this before about Rusnak but that's generaly true about all new car dealers. I hate the parts dept @ Newport Beach Auto center (4 miles from my shop) & usually will drive an hour away to Circle Porsche for parts, I used to take my car & all the PCNA press fleet cars to Circle for service & they had good mechanics then. Tried Power Porsche in Torrance Good parts dept. but service dept was substandard especially service writers.

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by Eric G

Hard to find any that are willing to do something other then take your money and NOT fix what you bring your car in for....still a few more to search in Seattle to see if they are any better.

fivepointnine, Gforrest2, Eric G,

Squire in Redmond did my tech inspection for DEs this year and has reasonable rates and seems to really like the cars. I'll be using him for future work that's outside of my ability.

[fivepointnine]

I have talked to Chris's german and they seem to really know their stuff, might have them do my IMS upgrade after the 1st of the year, also had some interaction with Bristows in Tacoma, they seem fair and honest, unfortunately Im in the south sound area so Redmond is quite a haul for me!

[husker boxster]

Originally Posted by tonycarreon

if that's the same place i'm thinking of (off of 80) then...

back over the summer i was on my way to denver and passing through nebraska. i had been having issues with my ignition switch (natch) but figured it would be fine to get me round-trip from MD to Denver. i stopped in lincoln to get some gas and i didn't think i would get the car started. i ended up calling the porsche dealer in omaha. i told him i was from out of town passing through. he offered to pick the car up, bring it back to the dealership, find me a hotel room and bump an appointment to fit me in. sadly they didn't have the housing in stock so it would have been monday before they could get to it (i called on friday). i remember thinking after the call that i felt like i was treated like a long-time customer even though he knew he'd never see my car again.

we even joked about the fact that all the dealer could do is replace it with the actual housing, and he mentioned that i could buy the audi part online much cheaper than the porsche part and do it myself. i told him i already knew that and we both laughed.

most other shops would have simply said "bring it in and we'll see when we can get to it."

Yes, that would be Woodhouse.

[AndyA6]

Strong Porsche in Salt Lake is great, I know them for years now, they always treated me right, never a problem.

[Eric G]

Originally Posted by blue2000s

fivepointnine, Gforrest2, Eric G,

Squire in Redmond did my tech inspection for DEs this year and has reasonable rates and seems to really like the cars. I'll be using him for future work that's outside of my ability.

Originally Posted by fivepointnine

I have talked to Chris's german and they seem to really know their stuff, might have them do my IMS upgrade after the 1st of the year, also had some interaction with Bristows in Tacoma, they seem fair and honest, unfortunately Im in the south sound area so Redmond is quite a haul for me!

Thank you guys!

[Deserion]

I have Brumos Porsche not too far from my office.

The parts guys are great, the service guy is pretty cool. When I got my Boxster last year, I was getting overly paranoid about an IMS death-rattle. I was near-begging to fork over to have them check it out. Reassured me things were normal, didn't take my cash, and I've been having a grand ol' time with it.

Plus, they host our PCA board meetings and special events. We've had Grand Prix viewings in the showroom, a BBQ dinner and tour of the private car collection, and so on. Great guys. Oh, the sales staff is kind, too. Haven't purchased from them, but they usually offer me a soda or such when I pass through.

[thstone]

Since I don't like my local dealer, I have found WerksII in Burbank, CA to be exceptional. I do most of the work on my car myself but they take care of everything else perfectly. Highly recommended - so much so that I have their name on my car as part of my relationship with them ...

[Aron in Toronto]

Originally Posted by AndyA6

Strong Porsche in Salt Lake is great, I know them for years now, they always treated me right, never a problem.

+1
I had Dave Strong do a long distance PPI for me over 8 years ago and they continue to treat me better than my local dealers. They've given me info over the phone on my car (radio code) that the local dealer wanted to charge $100 to supply.

When my car was new to me I wanted the local dealer to do some basic work like the required safety inspection, and install an airbag deactivation bar. They did the inspection but would not fill out the official safety paperwork needed to import and register the car and insisted that the MoT and Registrar of Imported Vehicles would accept their paperwork. You can imagine how that went over with the Mot clerk. When I called them back, they insisted the clerk was in the wrong and still refused to file the correct paperwork. I ended up paying another garage to reinspect and file the paperwork.

On my second visit to have the airbag deactivation bar installed my service advisor wanted to charge to activate computer when at that time PCNA was covering the bill to do this work. My airbag fault light came on the first time a passenger sat in the seat and they insisted that it was not related to the work they had just performed and quoted me double the amount other dealers were charging to replace seat belt receptacles.

There were other little things that left me with a bad feelings towards the dealership service dept, like telling me they have no coffee for customers and gave me direction to walk to the nearest coffee shop only to find out when i got back from my walk & have receptionist laugh and point out their full espresso bar.
On the same visit I'm waiting and talking with another customer and we were comparing my Arctic Silver '97 with his brand new GT Silver Boxster SE550 with the espresso interior, when another advisor walks up and joins the conversation and tell us that these two Boxsters are the ugliest Porsches he's ever seen. The two of us were speechless.

[Flavor 987S]

I think the dealerships suck. I do like them for tire replacement work.

I love Sunset Porsche for parts.

My indy is excellent.

[Bengalfan]

It would be nice to have a local dealer in Toledo.
My closest is Howard in Ann Arbor, Mi, from which I've purchased a couple of parts, and they treated me fine.
I did try to contact the dealer in Birmingham, Mi. that had serviced the Boxster for the previous owner, but they never returned my phone calls nor e-mails.
Still looking for a good indi in the Toledo area.

[Gforrest2]

Blue2000s, fivepoint nine,

Thanks for chiming in on the Seattle area indys. Larson's PPI says I need my brake fluid flushed and my CV boots replaced. I'll tackle the flush myself but the boots look beyond my skill level. I think I was quoted $250 at the dealer. I thought, not bad, almost twice what I paid for my Honda. Then he told me it was $250 each. Ouch, that's when I figured I better find a good indy.

And +1 for Sunset Imports for parts. Got my motor mount, rear tail light, and spin locks there for a good price. +No tax.

[ProjectM96]

I hate my Porsche dealer in Rockville, Maryland.

They will not give me any quotes on repairs unless I pay them $133.50 for the quote when I already know what the problem is.

I think I know more about my car than they do since they deal mostly with Porsche's at least a decade newer than my Boxster. They charge nearly double the price compared to the Porsche dealer in Philadelphia area in PA. I usually order parts from there and pick them up when I visit family in Philly.

They don't answer the phone. They can never answer any of my questions. They wanted me to schedule an appointment for a 1 minute job of finding out what type of wheel lock I have.

[Mark_T]

Auto-haus Porsche here in Winnipeg is pretty good. They have a reduced shop rate for "classic" Porsches over 10 years old and they offer a 15% parts and labor discount for PCA members. Those two discounts together bring their shop rate down to $95/hr. They often host a free inspection day in the spring where you can have one of their mechanics spend half an hour going over your car looking for things that need to be fixed. Granted, this generates paying work for them, but they make a nice day out of it for everyone with coffee, donuts, test drives, etc. It's a good way to get a pro to look at your car for free. ( It's because of this inspection that I found out that a) Boxsters have dual horns and b) one of mine wasn't working).

(The dealer name isn't actually hyphenated, but without the hyphen the forum sensor thinks its a bad word. Not sure why?)

[fivepointnine]

Originally Posted by Gforrest2

Blue2000s, fivepoint nine,

Thanks for chiming in on the Seattle area indys. Larson's PPI says I need my brake fluid flushed and my CV boots replaced. I'll tackle the flush myself but the boots look beyond my skill level. I think I was quoted $250 at the dealer. I thought, not bad, almost twice what I paid for my Honda. Then he told me it was $250 each. Ouch, that's when I figured I better find a good indy.

And +1 for Sunset Imports for parts. Got my motor mount, rear tail light, and spin locks there for a good price. +No tax.

I buy some parts from Larson.....new gas cap was the last thing I bought from them haha.

[mts]

My local dealership got shut down. They weren't great, but I would rather have a poor dealership than none.