Looking for headliner replacement options in St Pete Beach Fla

I have a 2008 Cayman S . My headliner has fallen. Second time. First time was replaced under warranty. I am looking for suggestions on who I can take the car to for replacement/repair. Porsche dealer quoted $2500 before labor. Thank you in advance for your help. George

It amazes me how the dealers can ask for these kinds of prices and still sleep at night. Do they all gather in the back room and challenge each other to see who can find the dumbest customer willing to pay the most ridiculous price for things? I wonder what the prize is for the winner. I can't help you with specifics in your area but if you google auto upholstery shops in the St. Pete area, you should come up with a few choices to investigate. That's what I did down here in Naples and came up with 4-5 choices. I called a couple and got pricing from $300 to $1200. I checked the low bidder and his shop looked like it was in the middle of a junk yard so I passed. Then my regular Porsche independent service outfit said they would be happy to take care of it for $600. They outsource the job but I let them do it because I trust them. I'm sure there was a small mark up of some type but the work was perfect and I'm a happy camper. Good luck.

Thank you for your feedback. I have done some research and called local shops in St. Pete and Tampa. Before I go with one of these folks, I was hoping someone has used a shop in the local area they are happy with. The shops I have talked to are in the same price range as you stated. The lower end quotes are for gluing the existing headliner back into place. But my understanding is this is a very short term solution. If I don't get a recommendation, I will interview a couple of shops and go from there. Again, thanks for the feedback.

I have an '08 and my headliner dropped 4 weeks ago. Goes into a local upholstery shop next week. $250+ tax. Never gave the Porsche dealer a thought. At $2200 per, you do not have to sell many to make some real $$$$$.

Hope it works out for you. It's an all day job to be done well and if there's an upholsterer working for $250 a day less materials, I'd be very worried. Good luck with it.

This place has been around 50+ years and has a great rep. I only hope they do no damage to the other parts around the headliner.

You might try asking your Porsche dealer who they outsource their upholstery work to. I'll bet most dealers outsource both their body work and upholstery. If you do get a name then see about getting an independent quote on a headliner replacement. Good Luck.

-- $2.5k is laughable; just had mine done here in LA for a little over 300 -- the job was top notch with warranty and I'm extremely picky regarding work done on my cars...

I spoke to both of the dealers in my area. Both had no recommendations.

-- no surprise at all that the local dealers won't offer up a recommendation - it would make them look foolish if a quality indie were to complete the same job at a fraction of the cost. You might want log onto to your local Porsche club site and ask a few members. I found several quality indies within a 10-15 mile radius and couldn't be happier with the results.

Sorry, no. Have not found a solution. Checked with 3 shops. And 2 dealers. All $1200 and higher. I will probably go with one of these. Not the dealer. I was hopeful reading how others had the work done for less.

Thanks George. I will post back on my experience, if I am successful. My first task is to get mine evaluated by the dealer. I was told (by the same dealer) that my '14 was covered by a Porsche factory extended warranty through November of '19. So, if true, and my issue manages to qualify for defects in materials or workmanship (which, I think, it does) then hopefully I can have it rectified by a dealer and (should) be no out of pocket expense. Failing that, I will look into my local collision shop, which is fairly highly rated and does work within the USAA system. They did my wife's previous car damage and it was very hard to tell. Not sure if they do interior or fabric but might know what options they would suggest. Appreciate it. Rich

Hello Rich, I am sorry but unfortunately your repair will fail fairly soon, many headliners on the Caymans , specially in warm weathers (like FL..) fail after a few years, the best solution is to bite the bullet and have it professionally replaced, does not have to be OEM (you will never notice it), here in SoCal they quote me between $350-450 for my '07CS and ended paying $550 for an alcantara headliner with a 5yr warranty that came out way better looking than the OEM that had failed.