Bad experience with Porsche OPC, what should I do?
Discussion
For the first time in my life I see myself sadly in the situation of having to sell a car that I bought just 4 months ago. The main reason is that I have to unexpectedly move to a different address, but I´m also not getting along with the car.
The car is a beautiful 2018 991.2 Carrera 4 GTS that I bought from Porsche Cardiff back in October. Knowing that I´m about to take a considerable financial hit, I contacted several Porsche dealers to sell the car on SOR basis to try to loose as little as possible. From all the ones I talked to, I chose Porsche
because the agent seemed like a nice person. He told me I should only have to leave the car there for a 111 checkpoint (paid by myself) and then they would advertise the car, but that I had nothing to worry because since I had bought it as an “approved” car from another dealer just 4 months ago, the car would most likely be in perfect condition.
So I drove there and left the car. He inspected it thoroughly and took it for a drive. All was good. I left the car there and they did the 111 checkpoint. A few days after they sent the report among picky things like “smeary wiper blades”, the report came back with 2 issues not covered by warranty:
1- They detected “corroded fixings but secure” in the exhaust mounts. Apparently the underbody of the car has now become rusty during these 4 months in my possession and they now want over £500 pounds to fix this in order to advertise the car… They say this issue should have been spotted and fixed by the other Porsche centre before they sold the car to me and asked me to call them to see if they can do something as a “goodwill”…
I´m not happy with this, but I was willing to accept it, the problem came with the next issue they detected:
2- The detected a “rattle” behind the dashboard. I was so shocked when I read this, that I went there on the same day and asked them to test drive the car to see what they were talking about. They let me the keys and, in fact, there is now a huge, very obvious rattle. It sounds like a loose bolt or something running around the back of the dashboard and making a huge noise when you take a corner, going from one side of the car to the other. I told them the car DID NOT have this problem when I left it there and I reminded them that the person in charge of checking the car when I left it here went for a drive and he has confirmed he did not detect any noise then. They are asking over £900 to dismantle the dashboard and get this loose part.
I have tried to reason with them, telling them the car did not have this issue when I left it and even one of them test drove the car and did not detect any rattle which confirms my theory (the rattle is very, very obvious and you can hear this loose part rolling around when you take a corner). Unfortunately they are not listening and ask me to pay to pay both bills if I want to leave my care there for sale.
Any suggestions on what should I do? I would gladly take the car back and try to sell it via other dealer or independent, but now I have a car with an obvious rattle that they won´t fix just because almost certainly they stuff accidentally dropped a bolt inside the car.
The car is a beautiful 2018 991.2 Carrera 4 GTS that I bought from Porsche Cardiff back in October. Knowing that I´m about to take a considerable financial hit, I contacted several Porsche dealers to sell the car on SOR basis to try to loose as little as possible. From all the ones I talked to, I chose Porsche
because the agent seemed like a nice person. He told me I should only have to leave the car there for a 111 checkpoint (paid by myself) and then they would advertise the car, but that I had nothing to worry because since I had bought it as an “approved” car from another dealer just 4 months ago, the car would most likely be in perfect condition.So I drove there and left the car. He inspected it thoroughly and took it for a drive. All was good. I left the car there and they did the 111 checkpoint. A few days after they sent the report among picky things like “smeary wiper blades”, the report came back with 2 issues not covered by warranty:
1- They detected “corroded fixings but secure” in the exhaust mounts. Apparently the underbody of the car has now become rusty during these 4 months in my possession and they now want over £500 pounds to fix this in order to advertise the car… They say this issue should have been spotted and fixed by the other Porsche centre before they sold the car to me and asked me to call them to see if they can do something as a “goodwill”…
I´m not happy with this, but I was willing to accept it, the problem came with the next issue they detected:
2- The detected a “rattle” behind the dashboard. I was so shocked when I read this, that I went there on the same day and asked them to test drive the car to see what they were talking about. They let me the keys and, in fact, there is now a huge, very obvious rattle. It sounds like a loose bolt or something running around the back of the dashboard and making a huge noise when you take a corner, going from one side of the car to the other. I told them the car DID NOT have this problem when I left it there and I reminded them that the person in charge of checking the car when I left it here went for a drive and he has confirmed he did not detect any noise then. They are asking over £900 to dismantle the dashboard and get this loose part.
I have tried to reason with them, telling them the car did not have this issue when I left it and even one of them test drove the car and did not detect any rattle which confirms my theory (the rattle is very, very obvious and you can hear this loose part rolling around when you take a corner). Unfortunately they are not listening and ask me to pay to pay both bills if I want to leave my care there for sale.
Any suggestions on what should I do? I would gladly take the car back and try to sell it via other dealer or independent, but now I have a car with an obvious rattle that they won´t fix just because almost certainly they stuff accidentally dropped a bolt inside the car.
Mod edit. No name and shame please
It’s hard to imagine a scenario that many bolts are undone during an inspection. Let alone them dropping one into an inaccessible area. My guess is that something has just come loose or you just didn’t notice it.
The corroded bolts aren’t their fault either, so I would vent your anger at Cardiff OPC who sold it to you that way. Why should/would pick up the bill?
The corroded bolts aren’t their fault either, so I would vent your anger at Cardiff OPC who sold it to you that way. Why should/would
pick up the bill?981SPYGANG said:
Having only had the car 4 months and it being an ‘approved’ car can you not return it to OPC Cardiff and ask them to have a look at the problems that have been brought to your attention by another OPC?
What mileage have you done in those 4 months?
The car did not have any problems during my ownership. I contacted several centres for the SOR, the previous OPC did not reply back. The rattle noise happened for the first time while the car was in their possession. As as said, not me or the guy who test drove the car when I left it there could hear anything at all. What mileage have you done in those 4 months?
I have done 3,000 miles, basically a road trip to Spain, which is going to be very costly by the looks of it!
911wise said:
It’s hard to imagine a scenario that many bolts are undone during an inspection. Let alone them dropping one into an inaccessible area. My guess is that something has just come loose or you just didn’t notice it.
The corroded bolts aren’t their fault either, so I would vent your anger at Cardiff OPC who sold it to you that way. Why should/would pick up the bill?
I did not say "many bolts" The noise seem to be ONE bolt. The sound is obvious that me or the person who tested the car would have noticed. I agree with you the corroded bolt should be claimed to the previous OPC, not this one.The corroded bolts aren’t their fault either, so I would vent your anger at Cardiff OPC who sold it to you that way. Why should/would
pick up the bill?Edited by Tite003 on Friday 4th March 18:43
Tite003 said:
I did not say "many bolts" The noise seem to be ONE bolt. The sound is obvious that me or the person who tested the car would have noticed. I agree with you the corroded bolt should be claimed to the previous OPC, not this one.
When I said many I meant as in they wouldn’t have undone many bolts or any at all on what is most probably a visual inspectionEdited by Tite003 on Friday 4th March 18:43
Sorry you’re now in this position and I hope it works out for you, but I see little evidence that the OPC deserves a bad mouthing in this case.
I´m not saying they were sabotaging or dropping a bolt on purpose. I did say that almost certainly someone accidentally dropped something during inspection. This possibility was admitted by the guy who was working on the car. I´m not bad mouthing, I have first spoken this with them openly and I´m free to post my experience on here to ask for advice, am I not?
Tite003 said:
I´m not saying they were sabotaging or dropping a bolt on purpose. I did say that almost certainly someone accidentally dropped something during inspection. This possibility was admitted by the guy who was working on the car. I´m not bad mouthing, I have first spoken this with them openly and I´m free to post my experience on here to ask for advice, am I not?
I based my comment on you bad mouthing the OPC based on what you called the thread.Tite003 said:
I´m not saying they were sabotaging or dropping a bolt on purpose. I did say that almost certainly someone accidentally dropped something during inspection. This possibility was admitted by the guy who was working on the car. I´m not bad mouthing, I have first spoken this with them openly and I´m free to post my experience on here to ask for advice, am I not?
As someone who put their Panamera in for a minor service at an OPC and found a socket wrench on the back seat when I got the car home, I am certainly open to the suggestion that “accidents” happen in unexpected places at OPCs. Sorry to hear of your troubles but I have dealt with for best part of 30, years and have had nothing but exemplary service from them - even resolving ( at zero cost to me) a brake issue I had with a 996 Turbo which I had bought from another OPC and which they couldn’t/wouldn’t resolve. As stated by previous posters the 111 check does not involve any dismantling and I would say your claim is against OPC Cardiff
for best part of 30, years and have had nothing but exemplary service from them - even resolving ( at zero cost to me) a brake issue I had with a 996 Turbo which I had bought from another OPC and which they couldn’t/wouldn’t resolve. As stated by previous posters the 111 check does not involve any dismantling and I would say your claim is against OPC CardiffWG said:
Sorry to hear of your troubles but I have dealt with for best part of 30, years and have had nothing but exemplary service from them - even resolving ( at zero cost to me) a brake issue I had with a 996 Turbo which I had bought from another OPC and which they couldn’t/wouldn’t resolve. As stated by previous posters the 111 check does not involve any dismantling and I would say your claim is against OPC Cardiff
I know they have a good reputation, it was the main reason for me the leave the car there. It´s a shame things are going this way. I had the chance to speak to the guy who worked on my car the other day, he admitted someone might have dropped something and told me they were going to try to use some sort of cameras to see what was loose exactly. But today I spoke to someone else and she was inflexible, she told me they would not investigate and if I wanted that fixed I would have to pay for it... for best part of 30, years and have had nothing but exemplary service from them - even resolving ( at zero cost to me) a brake issue I had with a 996 Turbo which I had bought from another OPC and which they couldn’t/wouldn’t resolve. As stated by previous posters the 111 check does not involve any dismantling and I would say your claim is against OPC CardiffI’d be driving it back to OPC Cardiff and asking why bolts didn’t flag up in their 111 which I believe cars have in order to get ‘approved’ status.
Buying from an OPC should enable you to have both problems looked at. Kinda why you paid 5-10% more than buying privately.
As said earlier I think you need to be speaking to Cardiff and not
Buying from an OPC should enable you to have both problems looked at. Kinda why you paid 5-10% more than buying privately.
As said earlier I think you need to be speaking to Cardiff and not
There are not many bolts holding a dash in or together, I would drive it and throw it about a bit and see what falls out.
A lady at my daughters school was crying in the car park, her daughter had dropped a £1 coin in through the air vent and Landrover had looked that morning and quoted £1200 to take the dash out. It took me 10-15 mins and lost some skin off my knuckles but I got it out without any specialist tools.
A lady at my daughters school was crying in the car park, her daughter had dropped a £1 coin in through the air vent and Landrover had looked that morning and quoted £1200 to take the dash out. It took me 10-15 mins and lost some skin off my knuckles but I got it out without any specialist tools.
BlackWidow13 said:
As someone who put their Panamera in for a minor service at an OPC and found a socket wrench on the back seat when I got the car home, I am certainly open to the suggestion that “accidents” happen in unexpected places at OPCs.
Yes, I know these things can happen accidentally, that´s why I´m asking them to at least investigate. Just walk dude , take it on the chin and chalk it down to experience . Today OPC hold the cards unless you are super famous super rich eg by a car every year brand new , ..be really good looking is icing I guess .
Truthfully best to just deal with one OPC build a relationship with a salesman/woman or two , meet the mechanic and say hi to the dealer principal and send a genuine Christmas card every year —you know stuff like that
Best you will get good will worst they will remember you as a decent bloke/woman etc .
Good luck with the repair , pay the money ( its peaceful ) drive your car and smile in Europe alps , Autobahn , M6 to Scotland —its really beautiful .
Truthfully best to just deal with one OPC build a relationship with a salesman/woman or two , meet the mechanic and say hi to the dealer principal and send a genuine Christmas card every year —you know stuff like that
Best you will get good will worst they will remember you as a decent bloke/woman etc .
Good luck with the repair , pay the money ( its peaceful ) drive your car and smile in Europe alps , Autobahn , M6 to Scotland —its really beautiful .
Take it back to where you bought it from 4mths ago and tell them you have a rattle in the dashboard. Presumably your car will have a 2yr warranty on it.
As for the rusted bolts...probably just do as advised - talk to the OPC you bought from and ask if it had been checked (maybe say a mate had been looking over your car and noticed it. Or simply note you're looking to sell it - they may need stock
). Problem is, the last 4mths is over winter, just when you'll pick up road grime that could cause issues.
As for the rusted bolts...probably just do as advised - talk to the OPC you bought from and ask if it had been checked (maybe say a mate had been looking over your car and noticed it. Or simply note you're looking to sell it - they may need stock
). Problem is, the last 4mths is over winter, just when you'll pick up road grime that could cause issues.Gassing Station | Porsche General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff