Warranty Work - Courtesy Car

[mc_blue]

Hi all,

Just curious to know if your vehicle has been to an OPC for warranty work have you been put in a similar vehicle? Had loss of oil pressure (!?) on my 981 now at an OPC and I'm in an Enterprise 320d though Porsche Assistance (AA). I have been advised the car will be in there at least and week and we recovered it in last Thursday. Would you have expected the OPC to put you in one of their vehicles by now? I don't mind the car I'm in but I am missing mine a lot now.

[Trotmant]

mc_blue said:

Hi all,

Just curious to know if your vehicle has been to an OPC for warranty work have you been put in a similar vehicle? Had loss of oil pressure (!?) on my 981 now at an OPC and I'm in an Enterprise 320d though Porsche Assistance (AA). I have been advised the car will be in there at least and week and we recovered it in last Thursday. Would you have expected the OPC to put you in one of their vehicles by now? I don't mind the car I'm in but I am missing mine a lot now.

Look at my thread currently trending.... not quite warranty work, but in essence the same thing. I have a Ford Fiesta until Friday, then I have a Porsche loan car after I demanded one. I would do the same if its more than a 5 day job. Being fair within a couple of days they in my view should at least provide another one from somewhere in the local fleet.

[J12KJR]

Currently also in a 320D from Enterprise after mine was recovered with a gearbox problem, moving into my second week and starting to think I would like something a bit more in keeping with my 981 than I currently have. Will be having a chat with the OPC as with a new gearbox coming from Germany along with removal and refit I don't suppose it is going to be a very quick turnaround.
After less than 5 weeks of having the S it is not the introduction to Porsche ownership I was hoping for.

[mc_blue]

So it sounds like you guys are in a similar boat - missing my car a lot now.

[J12KJR]

Know that feeling well, first period of several continuous days of lovely dry roads and sunshine since getting the Cayman and I'm in a BMW diesel
In 22 years of TVR ownership I saw them go off on a low loader twice, in less than 2 years of AM and Porsche ownership I have already equaled that total.

[ChipsAndCheese]

Porsche assist will nearly always put you in an 'Executive' rental. OPC's Porsche courtesy cars usually get booked out a couple of weeks ahead, so they are unlikely to have one if you are recovered and just turn up on the back of a trailer.

If they didn't put you in a rental you'd probably get a car from the backup courtesy fleet, often a VW Golf diesel or similar. I've had this where I have been able to make it to the OPC but they have advised leaving the car with them. The rental is probably the slightly better option there.

[SimR]

My 981 was one of the first to have the brake bush problem (lucky me), and I was put in an Enterprise 320d. Once they told me there was no due date as the part was on back order from Germany I enquired as to the fairness of me being in a 320d when I'd only been in my 981 for 3 months.

The OPC told me to take it up with Porsche UK Customer service, who duly told me, and I quote "it's not like we have a fleet of Porsche's available". One quick email to the MD later and I was being invited back to Hatfield by the centre principal to be put in a Cayman S.

That would've been fine, except I got a call on the Monday morning from Enterprise (I'd dropped the car off to Porsche on Friday evening) saying that as I'd damaged their car they were charging me £200!! Now I'm so careful with my cars (as I'm sure many of us are that drive nice cars but aren't rich) that I knew 100% that I hadn't done it, and it must've happened over the weekend. When I explained that to Enterprise they said that Porsche had refused to sign for the damage. To say I was angry is an understatement.

Anyway, cue another call to the dealer principal (who I now had on speed dial thanks to the other problems they were having with my 981), and he promised to refund the money and lo and behold also had a 911 Carrera S to lend me for the remainder of the time my car was out of action (a month in total!).

Moral of the story - stamp your feet (politely but assertively) until they do the right thing!!

Good luck

[Trotmant]

What a nice day, my 7mile drive home from work in the country lanes was truly amazing in my little loan Fiesta eco boost.

[SkinnyPete]

Call me dumb, but in a situation like this why can't they just let you have a 2nd hander on the forecout?

[threespires]

SkinnyPete said:

Call me dumb, but in a situation like this why can't they just let you have a 2nd hander on the forecourt?

Road tax ?

[X1BHO]

I've taken my 987 Cayman S to my OPC (Leeds) three times and have had three 981s as courtesy cars. A manual Cayman and then two PDK Boxster S'.

They said they'd only not put me in a Porsche if I was under 21 due to insurance reasons.

[ChipsAndCheese]

SkinnyPete said:

Call me dumb, but in a situation like this why can't they just let you have a 2nd hander on the forecout?

Most likely because the Porsche approved used cars will have been prepped for sale, meaning the inspection and over-rev checks, etc, and sometimes a respray of the front bumper to remove stone chips. Handing them out as courtesy cars will result in them needing prep again, which they obviously won't want to do.

Some OPCs will give out sales demonstrators during the week, but will nearly always want them back before the weekend when they are more likely to be used for test drives.

[mc_blue]

My car is still there nearly two weeks later and no real update?

[Trotmant]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

yes

[J12KJR]

mc_blue said:

My car is still there nearly two weeks later and no real update?

While I understand you aren't happy about having the 320D I would be more pi**ed off at not having any news on the state of your car. Why can't they tell you what is happening?

Gearbox issue on mine took the OPC it was recovered to 3 days to check and follow the diagnosis flow charts from Porsche. When they couldn't work out the problem Porsche instructed them to remove the gearbox for return to Germany and had a new gearbox out to the OPC a week later.

[SimR]

mc_blue said:

My car is still there nearly two weeks later and no real update?

I've been there and feel your pain. My advice would be to politely become a gentle thorn on their side, and escalate up the chain if necessary.

[mc_blue]

They've referred it to "technical" in Germany. The car has done 12000 miles and just turned a year old on 16/03/15.

The engine and 'box have been taken out.

[richardrsc]

mc_blue said:

Hi all,

Just curious to know if your vehicle has been to an OPC for warranty work have you been put in a similar vehicle? Had loss of oil pressure (!?) on my 981 now at an OPC and I'm in an Enterprise 320d though Porsche Assistance (AA). I have been advised the car will be in there at least and week and we recovered it in last Thursday. Would you have expected the OPC to put you in one of their vehicles by now? I don't mind the car I'm in but I am missing mine a lot now.

I'm currently in a loan Hybrid Lexus, I feel very Alan Partidge and environmentally aware. But yes it's pretty normal to get a 'premium' rental - Merc E, BMW 3, etc.

Though on occasion I've had Caymans and Boxsters if they were available, I think it's probably a bit 'luck of the draw' and I suspect you're a bit more likely to get one if you're a big spender, though that could just be me being cynical.

[ilduce]

mc_blue said:

They've referred it to "technical" in Germany. The car has done 12000 miles and just turned a year old on 16/03/15.

The engine and 'box have been taken out.

Oh dear. They're still making their cars out of chocolate and hope then.

[J12KJR]

ilduce said:

mc_blue said:

They've referred it to "technical" in Germany. The car has done 12000 miles and just turned a year old on 16/03/15.

The engine and 'box have been taken out.

Oh dear. They're still making their cars out of chocolate and hope then.

Slightly unfair, no matter who makes an engine there is always the chance of a failure. With all those components it only needs an imperfection in one piece of raw material to cause it to wear or fail prematurely.