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Old 11-23-2007, 11:03 AM   #1
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UK Porsche Centre Rip Offs

I have recently bought my first Boxster and decided to have a full service carried out by my local Porsche Centre in Devon UK. I duly delivered the car and left it for the work to be carried out. About one hour later I received a call from the centre to tell me that the engineer had tested the car and found a vibration !! and having removed the oil filter had found metal particles in the oil. They asked if they could investigate further and would require the sump to be taken off and inspected, as I was obviously worried I agreed to have this done. I then some 3 hours later had another call telling me that the intermediate shaft bearing was failing and it would cost £7000.00 + VAT $14000 to be repaired. I could not beleive this as the car has only covered 28000 miles in its life and is in perfect condition. The car drove well and did not show any signs of any engine damage to this point. To cut a long story short I spend about 2 hours on the net and found what I think is probably the best Porsche specialists in England who will not only repair the engine for £3600.00 but will uprate and modify the intermediate shaft to prevent this happening again. The porsche centre would only repair as the original which would have probably failed again. My car is a 1998 986 which was bought from a personal freind and has been serviced and very well looked after all its life, that said why has this engine failed at such a low mileage surely this being a Porsche it should have lasted much longer than this, I can only say that my lifetime dream of owning a Porsche has very sadly been very disapointing and what I feel is a complete disaster, I wish I had bought a BMW as I have never had one let me down. Porsche as far as I am concerned are a rip off and I will never use a service centre again as long as I own the car. To crown it all the Porsche centre had charged me £919.00 for the privalige of telling me that my engine is knackered and they never even carried out any of the service. Porsche needs to have a customer service department that lends a sympathetic ear to it's customers and explains why their engineering failed at a very low mileage, I have no doubt however that Porsche are only interested in making money instead of listening to its owners.


Last edited by ikdavis; 11-23-2007 at 11:44 AM.
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Old 11-23-2007, 12:53 PM   #2
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Damn. Sorry to hear about the bad news, you are not alone. Many a buyer who found low-mileage Boxsters get screwed by engine failures that would end up costing 5-10k USD to fix.

To be fair, the IMS issue is more of a defect than a wear issue. So it's destined to strike sooner rather than later if it's going to strike any given Boxster. It does reinforce the fact that IF you buy an out-of-warranty Boxster with less than 35k miles, YOU ARE TAKING YOUR CHANCES WITH ENGINE FAILURE (can we please make a poster or something about this?).

Have you considered putting in a 3.4L engine instead of your stock one? If you have to take it out anyway, you might as well consider getting a real upgrade.

-David
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Old 11-23-2007, 01:46 PM   #3
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David

You are right in what you say, however I dont know of any other car that I would consider buying if the mileage was higher than 28k. Being a Porsche which is considered as being the best of German Engineering I would have thought this was a safe bet. I suppose that my faith in Porsche quality was undewritten by the fact that I did not look into my purchase further. It has been a very steep and expensive learning curve for me. Autofarm is well worth a vist on the net they have restored my faith in British engineering give them a visit and let me know your opinion on their skills with Porsche cars. www.autofarm.co.uk. Thanks also for taking the time to reply to my thread.
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Old 11-23-2007, 03:54 PM   #4
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While I won't defend Porsche for designing an engine that's had as many problems as the early Boxster engines, I would agree that more research on your part wouldn't have hurt. I tell myself that Porsche built the Boxster to be driven, and by doing so you would hit the magic mileage under warranty that would at least guarantee you some measure of financial protection.

At least take solace in the fact that you've purchased the finest mid-engine pureform roadster that Germany can design (for less than insane money anyway). BTW, checked out Autofarm, seemed ok but you might look to locals for good references. Make sure they give you a decent warranty on whatever rebuild (upgrade?) engine you decide on. Good luck!

-David


Oh, in regards to the thread title, yeah I think that Porsche center was a ripoff. 920GBP for a service? That's insane. And yeah you shouldn't have to demand that they service the car regardless of the diagnosis. Nobody on this forum should be going to a porsche center unless it's for warranty stuff IMHO, find a good mechanic!
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Last edited by David N.; 11-23-2007 at 04:06 PM.
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Old 11-23-2007, 10:05 PM   #5
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Unlucky there my friend. Your other option is to get a used replacement engine which will be around 2500 GBP. Check out Douglas Valley Breakers or Porschapart as they usually have them in stock. You take the risk that it could let go again in the future but it should be a lot cheaper to get it back on the road. Also try the Pistonheads classifieds. There is an S engine on there at the moment.

If you have lost faith in it, replace the engine and sell it on. They are great cars, you have been unlucky in this case. If you want to keep it, get the refurbished/updated engine from Autofarm, Hartech or Ninemeister. If you get this months Porsche 911 World magazine there is a feature on Hartech and it shows their engine refurb outfit.

Good luck.
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Old 11-23-2007, 11:37 PM   #6
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Thanks all for your replies. The car is going to Autofarm on Monday to be fixed and updated with the later shaft. I hope that will be an end to the woes with the car so I can start to enjoy it. I will keep you posted of the outcome.

Ian
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Old 11-24-2007, 08:25 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David N.
Damn. Sorry to hear about the bad news, you are not alone. Many a buyer who found low-mileage Boxsters get screwed by engine failures that would end up costing 5-10k USD to fix.

To be fair, the IMS issue is more of a defect than a wear issue. So it's destined to strike sooner rather than later if it's going to strike any given Boxster. It does reinforce the fact that IF you buy an out-of-warranty Boxster with less than 35k miles, YOU ARE TAKING YOUR CHANCES WITH ENGINE FAILURE (can we please make a poster or something about this?).

Have you considered putting in a 3.4L engine instead of your stock one? If you have to take it out anyway, you might as well consider getting a real upgrade.

-David
I don't agree with this, I judged my car by how well it performed and so far it's been great with low mileage. What your advice seems to say is no low mileage older Boxsters will have longevity, I don't see that being true. It seems with Boxsters engine roulette does exist to some degree, since nobody knows how a used one was driven they all need careful scrutiny.
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Old 11-24-2007, 03:29 PM   #8
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I believe I said "you are taking your chances", which I stand by.

Not saying failure is inevitable, but it is possible, and I think it's worth mentioning that possibility because it's so counterintuitive to everything you are trying to do when you pay more for a low mileage car. If more buyers were told this, maybe we'd have a couple less pissed-off new-owners coming to the forum and complaining about how they are absolutely flabberghasted that their low mileage German cars exploded at a stoplight and will cost them $$$ to fix.

-David
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1995 Silverado V8 - Green/Tan (FOR SALE)
2000 Boxster S - Ocean Blue/Graphite Grey
2002 GSXR750 - Blue/White
http://www.darkoven.com/sig.jpg

Last edited by David N.; 11-24-2007 at 03:35 PM.
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Old 11-25-2007, 04:57 AM   #9
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Originally Posted by David N.
I believe I said "you are taking your chances", which I stand by.

Not saying failure is inevitable, but it is possible, and I think it's worth mentioning that possibility because it's so counterintuitive to everything you are trying to do when you pay more for a low mileage car. If more buyers were told this, maybe we'd have a couple less pissed-off new-owners coming to the forum and complaining about how they are absolutely flabberghasted that their low mileage German cars exploded at a stoplight and will cost them $$$ to fix.

-David

Those stories make me cringe as well and yes it seems backwards to pick a higher mileage car for safety, agree to both. Nobody likes spending too much on cars, especially big repairs, then again you spend a long time in the dirt. Till then, I'm going to keep a Porsche in my garage and budget.

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