997.1 Service due; OPC or Independent?

[Kettmark]

Hi, recently purchased a 997.1 C2S registered in 2005. It's due a major service in April next year and I was wondering whether it was worth continuing having it serviced at a main dealer to retain the full main dealer Porsche history or take it to a local indy whom I trust.
Cost saving would be about £150-£200 with the latter.
Thoughts?....

[pete.g]

Kettmark said:

. . . a main dealer . . . or take it to a local indy whom I trust.

Answered your own question really.

At 13 years old it could be serviced, 111 point checked and warrantied at an OPC - I'd think you'd be lucky to get that for less than £2500 (including warranty)

Or continue with your local crew and have maintenance done as and when it's needed.

[So]

pete.g said:

Kettmark said:

. . . a main dealer . . . or take it to a local indy whom I trust.

Answered your own question really.

At 13 years old it could be serviced, 111 point checked and warrantied at an OPC - I'd think you'd be lucky to get that for less than £2500 (including warranty)

Or continue with your local crew and have maintenance done as and when it's needed.

If the difference is really only £150-200 I'd go Porsche. An all Porsche history has to be worth more than that.

[911wise]

If you intend to sell the car sometime soon it may be worth paying the extra and keeping it OPC.
However if you plan on keeping it long term I'd go with a good indie, most of which will have a better understanding of these cars.

[So]

911wise said:

However if you plan on keeping it long term I'd go with a good indie, most of which will have a better understanding of these cars.

You think? It’s not like we are talking about an 80s air cooled. This is fairly modern.

[kilarney]

Indies often overrated imo. I would OPC if only for the stamp

[911wise]

So said:

You think? It’s not like we are talking about an 80s air cooled. This is fairly modern.

Yep. Most techs will be trained on 991generation Cars 10-14 years old are old by OPC standards. Most the staff won't have been driving when they were released.

[So]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

That's not been my experience and I've had cars looked after by OPCs and by Indies.

The thing with OPCs is they are under the cosh from Porsche not to ps off customers. They will swallow costs as goodwill sometimes that Indies just cannot afford to.

Also, I've in the past had such lumpy discounts off Porsche parts via OPCs that I suspect I've paid no more than indies would pay trade.

I would add that the above didn't always used to be the case, but I sense that in recent times they've twigged that older Porsches make money too, but the owners are price sensitive. I've found it with other marques too, who used to scare away customers with elitist pricing.

[anonymous-user]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

The variance in the quality of OPC's without overstating the size of the problem is absolutely huge, my worse car related experience has been with an OPC and they make the fast fit exhaust people look the best of the best.

[911wise]

Most OPC technicians are simply trained to look for and replace consumable parts. They were probably working for mini 6 months ago and will probably be at Audi in two years time. A car is car to them and they work within the organisations directive.
If you do have a problem,unless a diagnostics tool can name a part that can be replaced they’re clueless.

[So]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I think it depends upon the Porsche you're talking about.

In terms of 911s of less than 10 years old, that currently have full Porsche history, I'd need some persuading not to take them to an OPC.

[jimmyslr]

For a car of that age i’d be going Indy. In fact I do! I take my 997.2 GT3 to an Indy as have I with all my prior Porsches. Not a moment’s thought.

Once warranty is no longer an issue and you’re into the enthusiast end of the market the it’s a no brainier to me. I can’t see that any sensible next buyer will be worried about OPC stamps in the book for a few 10+ year old car.

[jakesmith]

I go main dealer till car is 6 years old then indi
My thinking is that it increases the likelihood of a goodwill contribution outside of warranty
Far cheaper than maintaining a warranty so a cheap insurance policy if you like, probably costs £200 a year
Certainly helped me make a case for a part that wasn't covered by warranty being replaced on my wife's Evoque FOC
There might not be anything to this but it gives me a little peace of mind and doesn't hurt resale
After 6 years I honestly don't think it makes any difference to the car's value unless you are selling something exceptionally low mileage / rare / interesting provenance.