Question about independent shops - Did I get ripped off?

[Perfectlap]

whether the shop was ethical or not, I think the heart of the issue is that you didn't voice your discomfort with their moving estimate at the critical moment. A simple "let's stick with the original estimate for now" would let them know that you weren't looking to spend $3500 on repairs. Things that didn't have to be done now would need to be done later seems to be the sentiment I'm getting from you. You have to put your foot down when we're talking repairs in the thousands. Just don't go busting balls over "small" bills because you might find your pool of options as far as shops who can fix your car correctly start to shrink.

The other issue seems to be that you are in one sense a newbie to this brand. People buy these cars second hand with an overly optimistic view of what it costs to COMPETENTLY service these cars. $3500 bills will be nothing unusual once your car hits a certain mileage and age. This brand requires specialized labor and overpriced parts. Those are the breaks. My advice for people who don't plan to own any water cooled Porsche long term is to wait until the car has 20k miles to buy and get out before it hits 50k miles. Let the first owners take the massive hit on depreciation and let the next owner pay those $3500 repair bills which don't come just once in a blue moon. You just got your first taste of what's to come if you drive the car long enough. Think of it as a reality check.