45K Service.

[AtlantaBoxster]

I just called two shops about the 45K service. One was the dealership: $620. The other one is one of these smaller shops that is always loaded with Porches of all makes and models: $200.

Will I get what I paid for? What have other people paid?

[Brucelee]

Originally Posted by AtlantaBoxster

I just called two shops about the 45K service. One was the dealership: $620. The other one is one of these smaller shops that is always loaded with Porches of all makes and models: $200.

Will I get what I paid for? What have other people paid?

It appears not. However, the only way to tell for sure is to get an itemized list of exactly what will be done by each vendor.

Then, you can compare apples to apples.

[Ronzi]

Your Maintenance Manual should list the things that are to be done at the 45k service. Take that to the $200 place and ask them if they are going to do everything on the list (Brucelee's apples to apples comparison).

From what I have seen, a dealer shop rate is $90-$100 and hour. An independant Porsche shop is probably somewhere around $75/hr. At least that is about what it is in my area, but yours may differ somewhat.
Juggle the numbers any way you like, but there is a few hundred dollars float in there somewhere. Some folks will say you are getting jobbed by the dealer by that much, others will say that the indy is cutting corners.

Many indy Porsche shops are experts on '70s - mid-'90s 911s and 92x cars, but really don't have the eqpt. to fully address the maintenance requirements of newer cars. Can they change the oil, check the brakes, the transmission, the basic things? Sure.
And maybe that's all you are ultimately going to get from the dealer, too.

If after your discussion with the indy shop, you have at least some confidence that they know what they are doing, it's probably worth taking a chance at $200 vs 3 times the cost at the dealer, particularly if your car is no longer under warranty anyway.