My failed transmission saga and Porsche's poor customer support...
 

I had lost 1st and second gear and had the car towed to the local dealer. After 2 days I finally heard the not so good news. Transmission failure at 22K miles... They only have one guy who can work this job and he is booked for another 2 weeks!

So I asked for a loaner and they could not provide one.
On top of this he told me Porsche requires them to open the transmission, find out what the failure was, do a cost analysis (fix/buy) and then fix it or replace it after a Porsche manager review...

Meaning? I will be without a car for 3 weeks minimum!

I called Porsche and asked for a solution. Having a transmission completely fail at 22k miles is really bad in any car. Not getting it fixed for 3 weeks is even worse...

I was very unhappy with the answer. They were not helpful and I am now paying for a weekly rental for at least 3 weeks.
Also refused to have it towed to another dealer that can work it quicker.

I have owned many cars, including very high dollar German cars and never had such a failure. I am not happy with the failure at 22Kmiles and not happy about how this has been dealt with.

Porsche makes great cars. It would be nice if they showed more concern for their customers.

I will think long and hard about this next time I buy a sports car. They are not the only game in town...

You always have the option of having it towed to the other shop that can work on it faster. The money spent on the tow truck will most likely be more than offset by the money you save by getting your car back sooner and not having to pay for a rental car.

Sorry to hear of your disappointment. On the plus side, I imagine once you relax and drive the car once it is back and fixed, you will feel much better :)

Is the car under warranty? Did you buy it new? How old is it? When you say "porsche" do you mean you spoke to the dealer/shop or Porsche North America?

Car is an '03 CPO. Bought with 12K miles.

The dealer was helpful but they can't get me in front of the other customers which I understand.

I spoke with Porsche North America. I would have expected them to get me a rental or move the car to another dealer
it is not the cost of the tow that concerns me, just the attitude. I then checked and others dealers are equally swamped. No point in paying for a tow truck.

I think PNA should try to help in a situation like this by at the very least getting me a rental car.

My big issue here is that a transmission failure at 22K miles is unacceptable. They should have better customer support for a situation like this.

You have a right to be pissed --but this may be a blessing. Maybe the previous owner(s) trashed the transmission. Its better to go now, rather than a day after your warranty expires.

My transmission didnt fail but I never felt it worked good.

I kept bugging the dealer with it and they just checked the gear linkages saying all is fine.

One day I told them they need to strip down the car. I got a call 2 hours after to replace it for 200$ (just the clutch pedal is not covered by warranty). Took 2 days for them and I had a new transmission...

Good luck with urs! The car will drive very good after!

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm just hoping they will replace it and not try to rebuild. I'm looking forward to a Porsche that doesn't grind gears. You are probably right, the previous owner most likely did ruin the transmission. If they fix it right I will be quite happy.

My garage has an empty spot and I miss my car.

The Boxster is a very fine automobile although it clearly could be more robust.

Porsche customer service attitudes puzzles me. They act like they are selling a 15 thousand dollar car.

IMHO.

just thought i would add to the displeasure of dealing with a dealership.

i had my catalytic converters replaced and they tried to charge me while under warranty

Wow, why aren't they supplying a rental?

I have to bring my car back Monday for a fix or replace transmission appt as well and with only 2 days left on the CPO warranty!

I brought it in last monday and drove off in a dealer paid rental only to get 10 miles away and then get a call saying they didn't tell me that the tools needed to do the work haven't been obtained yet. In any case I assume the rental will be covered by them again this coming week.