Question…Boxster S with 329,000 miles

[FloridaBill]

Hi,

I bought my 2000 Boxster S new in March, 2001 and now have 329,000 miles on it. For the first 255,000 miles I had it serviced at Porsche recommended schedules at two different local Porsche dealerships. By the time she was ready for her next 30K at 270,000 miles I had relocated. I was fortunate to find a local shop that specialized in Porsches and BMWs, and their Porsche mechanic really seemed to know what he was doing. I have used them for 3 years, but a problem developed when I dropped her off for a 30K last week.

I called first to schedule an appointment, and found out that the person that had always done the work on my Boxster was no longer there. I asked his replacement a few questions to see if I was comfortable with him doing the work; among other things, he stated he had been working on Porsches since 1984. So I dropped it off with specific instructions for a 30K maintenance.

I received a call from him 15 minutes before I was supposed to pick it up; he was requesting extra time. In the ensuing discussion it came to light that he wasn’t planning on replacing the spark plugs. I told him I was surprised at that, since replacing the plugs was part of a 30K; furthermore I was surprised that if he had been working on Porsches since 1984 he didn’t know that. He said that on newer Porsches the recommended replacement is at 60K. I stated that I had always had them done at 30K and wanted it done that way since that is what my owner’s manual stated.

The more I thought about it, the more I become convinced that I didn’t want this guy working on my baby. I called back and told him that since he didn’t know plug replacement should be part of a 30K, I no longer had confidence in him and didn’t want him proceeding any further. I picked it up and paid for an oil change.

Before leaving I had a polite discussion with the owner of the shop telling him why I would not be doing business there in the future. The owner of the shop was polite, listened without interruption, and then proceeded to tell me their policy was to replace what needed to be replaced, and not replace what didn’t need to be replaced (and not charge for it), regardless of the published maintenance schedule. When I pointed out that I had two previous 30K maintenances done there with the old tech, and each of those included the plug changes without me having to specify it, he proceeded to disparage the old tech and said that is the reason he was no longer there. The discussion was civil and ended with us agreeing to disagree.

When I got in the car, the technician I had initially spoken with had left on the seat a printout from ALLDATA Collision showing plug changes as part of a 60K and not a 30K. This means the shop owner was taking a different position than the technician…the tech was saying it wasn’t part of a 60K, whereas the shop owner was saying the maintenance schedule is secondary to their inspection of the vehicle. So my question to you all is: Were either the shop owner or tech correct in what they were saying? I really don’t want to go through the process of finding a new qualified tech if I don’t have to.

Thanks…FloridaBill