996 servicing advice.
Discussion
Late last year I finally bought my first Porsche, a 2002 996 C2, a one owner 23,000 mile car with full Porsche history.
It is due a service in August and would welcome a bit of advice as to the best approach. Since I have owned the car I have had a few minor jobs carried out by these guys:
www.precisionporsche.co.uk
They have been very helpful and efficient and are local to me. Thing is, I have an eye on future resale values and I am very fussy with my cars. I hope to be able to upgrade the car in 18 months or so. Should I therefore continue to have the servicing carried out by an OPC? I live mid-way between OPC Mid Sussex and Tonbridge and would be interested to hear any feedback on both.
Or should I have the service done by Precision and to hell with the full Porsche history?
It is due a service in August and would welcome a bit of advice as to the best approach. Since I have owned the car I have had a few minor jobs carried out by these guys:
www.precisionporsche.co.uk
They have been very helpful and efficient and are local to me. Thing is, I have an eye on future resale values and I am very fussy with my cars. I hope to be able to upgrade the car in 18 months or so. Should I therefore continue to have the servicing carried out by an OPC? I live mid-way between OPC Mid Sussex and Tonbridge and would be interested to hear any feedback on both.
Or should I have the service done by Precision and to hell with the full Porsche history?
I personally agree with MTR but given the price reduction of servicing 996s I would go to an OPC given you want to sell in the next couple of years. Many prospective buyers would probably want a full service history but I would personally want a good indie.
Out of the OPCs. I've only heard good things about mid Sussex
Out of the OPCs. I've only heard good things about mid Sussex
Blimey... 23,000 miles in 10 years!
I agree with MTR... a good porsche specialist is as good as an OPC on a car of that age. I suppose you could always get the "stamp" service done via your OPC, but still take it to the indi for anything that was flagged up as needing attention by the OPC, but I doubt a full OPC history beyond 10 years will add value to what will be a 13-14 year old car when you come to sell it.
Other considerations are... has it really had servicing to the correct schedule over the 10 years, to be worth preserving, or has that already been skimped (in which case keeping OPC is a waste). At only 2 and a bit thousand miles between services, you should have 10 stamps at no more than 12 month intervals and they should have been "minor", "annual check", "major", "annual check", "minor", "annual check" etc... I guess it won't have had any spark plugs done or the polyrib belt as you haven't reached the mileage for those yet (as an aside, I hate to think what 10 year old spark plugs will look like on a car with such low mileage - presumably lots of short journeys), but it should have had brake fluids changed at the required interval (each 2 years IIRC). I guess, also, that tyres will have been replaced on age, rather than wearing out.
Finally, what mileage are you expecting to put on it. The downside of very low mileage cars (I know, I had a 5 year old Fiat Coupe 20v turbo with 9K on it), is that doing a normal mileage will decrease the value disproportionately.
Just my 2p...
I agree with MTR... a good porsche specialist is as good as an OPC on a car of that age. I suppose you could always get the "stamp" service done via your OPC, but still take it to the indi for anything that was flagged up as needing attention by the OPC, but I doubt a full OPC history beyond 10 years will add value to what will be a 13-14 year old car when you come to sell it.
Other considerations are... has it really had servicing to the correct schedule over the 10 years, to be worth preserving, or has that already been skimped (in which case keeping OPC is a waste). At only 2 and a bit thousand miles between services, you should have 10 stamps at no more than 12 month intervals and they should have been "minor", "annual check", "major", "annual check", "minor", "annual check" etc... I guess it won't have had any spark plugs done or the polyrib belt as you haven't reached the mileage for those yet (as an aside, I hate to think what 10 year old spark plugs will look like on a car with such low mileage - presumably lots of short journeys), but it should have had brake fluids changed at the required interval (each 2 years IIRC). I guess, also, that tyres will have been replaced on age, rather than wearing out.
Finally, what mileage are you expecting to put on it. The downside of very low mileage cars (I know, I had a 5 year old Fiat Coupe 20v turbo with 9K on it), is that doing a normal mileage will decrease the value disproportionately.
Just my 2p...
I don't know Precision Porsche personally, but I would go Porsche specialist over OPC, particularly on an older car. I doubt it would make a blind bit of difference to resale value at that age either. My car is going to Fearnsport rather than Towcester OPC next door. I just think the top specialists generally do a better job than OPC and are usually cheaper.
Diesel130 said:
Blimey... 23,000 miles in 10 years!
I agree with MTR... a good porsche specialist is as good as an OPC on a car of that age. I suppose you could always get the "stamp" service done via your OPC, but still take it to the indi for anything that was flagged up as needing attention by the OPC, but I doubt a full OPC history beyond 10 years will add value to what will be a 13-14 year old car when you come to sell it.
Other considerations are... has it really had servicing to the correct schedule over the 10 years, to be worth preserving, or has that already been skimped (in which case keeping OPC is a waste). At only 2 and a bit thousand miles between services, you should have 10 stamps at no more than 12 month intervals and they should have been "minor", "annual check", "major", "annual check", "minor", "annual check" etc... I guess it won't have had any spark plugs done or the polyrib belt as you haven't reached the mileage for those yet (as an aside, I hate to think what 10 year old spark plugs will look like on a car with such low mileage - presumably lots of short journeys), but it should have had brake fluids changed at the required interval (each 2 years IIRC). I guess, also, that tyres will have been replaced on age, rather than wearing out.
Finally, what mileage are you expecting to put on it. The downside of very low mileage cars (I know, I had a 5 year old Fiat Coupe 20v turbo with 9K on it), is that doing a normal mileage will decrease the value disproportionately.
Just my 2p...
I have 9 service stamps, all East London OPC in the service book as well as stamps for brake fluid changes every two years. I have done 9000 miles in the car since November, tyres have recently been replaced all round.I agree with MTR... a good porsche specialist is as good as an OPC on a car of that age. I suppose you could always get the "stamp" service done via your OPC, but still take it to the indi for anything that was flagged up as needing attention by the OPC, but I doubt a full OPC history beyond 10 years will add value to what will be a 13-14 year old car when you come to sell it.
Other considerations are... has it really had servicing to the correct schedule over the 10 years, to be worth preserving, or has that already been skimped (in which case keeping OPC is a waste). At only 2 and a bit thousand miles between services, you should have 10 stamps at no more than 12 month intervals and they should have been "minor", "annual check", "major", "annual check", "minor", "annual check" etc... I guess it won't have had any spark plugs done or the polyrib belt as you haven't reached the mileage for those yet (as an aside, I hate to think what 10 year old spark plugs will look like on a car with such low mileage - presumably lots of short journeys), but it should have had brake fluids changed at the required interval (each 2 years IIRC). I guess, also, that tyres will have been replaced on age, rather than wearing out.
Finally, what mileage are you expecting to put on it. The downside of very low mileage cars (I know, I had a 5 year old Fiat Coupe 20v turbo with 9K on it), is that doing a normal mileage will decrease the value disproportionately.
Just my 2p...
My logic in buying a low mileage car is that if I do 12 or 13,000 miles a year for a couple of years, I still have a comparatively low mileage car to sell and shouldn't lose too much in terms of depreciation.
tr7v8 said:
The guys at Tonbridge are pretty good, they'll also discount on labour & parts, especially if you're a TIPEC member like me. No experience of Mid Sussex but I know a couple of their guys attend the TIPEC SE meet. Normally with something shiny & new off the forecourt!
+1For me Tonbridge OPC were cheaper than going to a specialist and IMO it would be worth keeping the 'Full Porsche Service History' for the sake of a year or so.
If you were going to keep the car for a few years then it may be worth using a good specialist like Sam at Precision.
JulesV said:
Lots of useful advice, thank you. Am I to understand that OPCs now offer reduced servicing prices for older cars?
Yes, recently took advantage of this on a 986.http://www.porschehost.com/servicepricing911996.as...
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