2014 981 2.7 8yr service costs OPC vs. Indy (RPM)

[Twinfan]

Royal Jelly said:

Same. After two years, savings using an indy major service & oil change a year earlier; plus front brakes & pads vs OPC prices and warranty is nigh-on £3000.

Very unfair to add the purely optional warranty into that comparison, so the true difference is £1700-ish over a service and brake change? Were they genuine Porsche parts or alternatives?

I use both an Indy and an OPC for work, depending on the job, so I've no axe to grind either way but throwing out a "£3k saving" figure is a bit disingenuous unless you're comparing apples with apples

Edited by Twinfan on Sunday 27th March 20:34

[Royal Jelly]

Twinfan said:

Very unfair to add the purely optional warranty into that comparison, so the true difference is £1700-ish over a service and brake change? Were they genuine Porsche parts or alternatives?

I use both an Indy and an OPC for work, depending on the job, so I've no axe to grind either way but throwing out a "£3k saving" figure is a bit disingenuous unless you're comparing apples with apples

Edited by Twinfan on Sunday 27th March 20:34

That’s a fair point, although I can’t for the life of me understand why you’d use an OPC unless you’re running with the warranty. YMMV of course.

[981Boxess]

Royal Jelly said:

After two years, savings using an indy major service & oil change a year earlier; plus front brakes & pads vs OPC prices and warranty is nigh-on £3000.

Yes, perhaps I can shave 400 off an OPC service by ringing around, but I’ve got better things to do with my life than transport my car to OPC Benbecula.

Nothing wrong with wanting to do it a cheaper way once you have opted out of the warranty, the OPC route isn't for everyone.

Porsche East London are so busy in their workshops that they now have to do night shifts, so it would seem there are lots of people who are not put off by what it costs to do it that way.

[Twinfan]

Royal Jelly said:

That’s a fair point, although I can’t for the life of me understand why you’d use an OPC unless you’re running with the warranty. YMMV of course.

I'm not going to be running the extended warranty because I have lightly modified my car, but I use my OPC for servicing because:

• they're very good
• my car is only two years old so they are arguably the best placed people to work on it
• it's an OPC, so they have all the latest software updates/recall info/service bulletins to check my car against
• I'm not planning on selling my car, but OPC stamps in the book could potentially increase my pool of buyers

Back to the original topic of an 8yr service on a 981 series 2.7 Boxster, would I still use my OPC? If the car had full OPC stamps I probably would for the reasons above unless the difference in servicing price was massive. From what I've seen, on a like-for-like basis on a regular car it's not night and day different unless you start buying non-Porsche parts.

[esotericar]

981Boxess said:

Royal Jelly said:

Another example of saving outside the OPC network; I’m soon to be in need of new front disks & pads. Under the extended warranty, I’d be obligated to use the OPC to do that.

If you buy genuine OE parts it wouldn't matter where you have it done if you cannot or don't fancy doing it yourself, they would never know.

If you use cheaper parts then that is a different matter.

Indeed, just to slightly contradict what I said earlier, it's about appearing to follow the rules rather than actually following them. So, long as you use Porsche parts, not pattern parts, then no need to pay an OPC to fit them. They won't know who did the work.

That would be paying extra for zero benefit, other than logistics should it be easier to get it done at an OPC for you, maybe they'll lend a car etc.

Basically, don't give them any reason to deny a claim. They're not going to attempt to confirm every part fitted to the car was fitted at the factory or by an OPC. So long as the part is OEM and correctly fitted, it's extremely unlikely to cause a problem with the ext warranty.

[Paul-sx2hk]

I have been following this thread closely as I was about to go to the local OPC for service (interim) and two year warranty.

Not sure it’s really worth it - price difference is around £1800, would this be better used on preventative maintenance?

Has anyone used their OPC warranty for a large claim? Small? Do Porsche push back a lot?

Want to gundo hack the exhaust, split the PCM for apple car play and add mesh to cover the intakes. Will they kick off? 981 2.7 manual.

Thanks

[981Boxess]

Paul-sx2hk said:

Has anyone used their OPC warranty for a large claim? Small? Do Porsche push back a lot?

I think this answers most of your questions:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Armitage.Shanks]

Paul-sx2hk said:

Want to gundo hack the exhaust, split the PCM for apple car play and add mesh to cover the intakes. Will they kick off? 981 2.7 manual.

Warranty is a non starter with those so you won't get it.

Warranty is peace of mind and depends on your attitude to risk. Consider the failures a 2.7 Boxster/Cayman can suffer based on previous reports. Outside of dynamic engine mounts and PSE actuators I'd favour very few other big (part costs £500+) items seem to go wrong. Aren't the engine mounts made by Lucas?

Porsche will not 'repair' anything they'll just fit a new part so that's why PDK failures of £10k+ get quoted when there are now places that can open them up and repair them.

That said taking out the expensive cost of OPC servicing the price of the warranty at half the 911 costs seems good value to many especially if you have a GT4.

My friend drives a 2012 Panamera diesel on 95k and he has always maintained the warranty. There's an engine oil leak and now potentially transmission/differential grumble. It goes in next week for the oil leak which is £5k+ of work. Granted a lot of that cost will be labour at their high rate so in his mind he sees the warranty as good value and peace of mind along with a decent courtesy car thrown in.

[Twinfan]

Armitage.Shanks said:

Paul-sx2hk said:

Want to gundo hack the exhaust, split the PCM for apple car play and add mesh to cover the intakes. Will they kick off? 981 2.7 manual.

Warranty is a non starter with those so you won't get it.

It depends. You could get the warranty before the mods then take the risk that the mods won't affect anything you might want to claim on. Mesh covers won't affect a gearbox lunching itself so you could still claim for that for example. The exhaust might be alright too as the engine mapping should compensate and externally it looks OEM to the OPC, but I'd be upfront about it if I had to make an engine claim.

I'd be more concerned about messing with the PCM which would invalidate the warranty on that for sure and then potentially other connected electrical systems.

[Paul-sx2hk]

With the PCM it seems quite normal now to add apple car play etc (pro install) can’t imagine many people have had problems with that?

Thanks for the reply’s, think I’m going to skip the OPC route. I have a porsche specialist to use and trust them and their skills, so will go that route.

Any other info welcomed. Cheers all

[jayxx83]

OPC said 400 to change tyre foam for the 8 year service. I couldn’t give a d about the stamp, I’m sure perceived depreciation on a 13 y/o boxster will be neither here or there

[981Boxess]

jayxx83 said:

OPC said 400 to change tyre foam for the 8 year service.

So an OPC tried to charge you '400' for a can of tyre foam, is that what you are saying?

[rawenghey]

Figured I'd post this in here rather than creating my own thread.

My 981 GTS needs an 8 year service this year, so I've been e-mailing most OPCs in the South East, along with the usual Indies.

Current OPC quotes are:
£1616
£1616
£1636
£1700


Indy quotes are still coming in, but so far:
£650
£820
£1080
£1020

Itemised, so identical work.

The car has the extended warranty, so to make it absolutely bulletproof I'd need to go OPC. It does make one wonder whether keeping a slush fund to one side would be cheaper than extended warranty + OPC pricing.

EDIT: Should see if I can get a 992 loaner car to take the sting out of it a bit

Edited by rawenghey on Friday 3rd March 10:19

[cossers]

Twinfan said:

I'm not going to be running the extended warranty because I have lightly modified my car, but I use my OPC for servicing because:

• they're very good
• my car is only two years old so they are arguably the best placed people to work on it
• it's an OPC, so they have all the latest software updates/recall info/service bulletins to check my car against
• I'm not planning on selling my car, but OPC stamps in the book could potentially increase my pool of buyers

Back to the original topic of an 8yr service on a 981 series 2.7 Boxster, would I still use my OPC? If the car had full OPC stamps I probably would for the reasons above unless the difference in servicing price was massive. From what I've seen, on a like-for-like basis on a regular car it's not night and day different unless you start buying non-Porsche parts.

Have to say in in the exact position of twinfan and I do the same even though I can’t get extended warranty because of mods, saying that they are easy reversible and ever bit is oem Porsche.

It has full opc history and the difference in an Indy here is little to nothing and they are not exactly jzm!

[981Boxess]

cossers said:

It has full opc history and the difference in an Indy here is little to nothing and they are not exactly jzm!

I seem to remember you quoting much cheaper OPC prices than on the mainland when this last came up.

I was actually thinking of going over there to do mine and get a trip out of it

[cossers]

981Boxess said:

seem to remember you quoting much cheaper OPC prices than on the mainland when this last came up.

I was actually thinking of going over there to do mine and get a trip out of it

My major service was 799 in parts and labour, only thing it didn’t include was the brake fluid change as I had just put bigger discs and callipers on and didn’t need it.

Must dig my invoice out to be sure but I’m 99.9% sure on it.

Going for a minor in November so I’ll report back!

Edited by cossers on Friday 3rd March 13:34

[rawenghey]

rawenghey said:

Figured I'd post this in here rather than creating my own thread.

My 981 GTS needs an 8 year service this year, so I've been e-mailing most OPCs in the South East, along with the usual Indies.

Current OPC quotes are:
£1616
£1616
£1636
£1700


Indy quotes are still coming in, but so far:
£650
£820
£1080
£1020

Itemised, so identical work.

The car has the extended warranty, so to make it absolutely bulletproof I'd need to go OPC. It does make one wonder whether keeping a slush fund to one side would be cheaper than extended warranty + OPC pricing.

EDIT: Should see if I can get a 992 loaner car to take the sting out of it a bit

Just on this, I've e-mailed another 3 OPCs in the rough area today, and the quotes are all over the place. Some OPCs are quoting as low as £1300, but they aren't including drive belt. One included a drive belt, but not spark plugs. Others included the lot, as well as air con, hence the thick end of £2k. Glad to see it's all a precision system with everyone on the same page

[981Boxess]

rawenghey said:

Just on this, I've e-mailed another 3 OPCs in the rough area today, and the quotes are all over the place. Some OPCs are quoting as low as £1300, but they aren't including drive belt. One included a drive belt, but not spark plugs. Others included the lot, as well as air con, hence the thick end of £2k. Glad to see it's all a precision system with everyone on the same page

The drive belt is usually done on the 6 year service, have you checked it wasn't done last time?

[cossers]

Just checked my invoice for the 8 year major service, it’s was £800 inc vat exactly without the fluid change from my OPC in November 2021.

[981Boxess]

cossers said:

Just checked my invoice for the 8 year major service, it’s was £800 inc vat exactly without the fluid change from my OPC in November 2021.

What is the OPC situation over there, are there many?

Have you just used the one?