Dealer recommendations MD/VA area

Finally joined the ranks of Porsche owner just purchased a "previously driven" 2002 C2. I am looking for any forum member recommendations for a dealer and specific mechanic in the Maryland or Virginia area. Any positive or negative experiences?

I would recommend you stay away from any MILEONE dealership. I believe they own Tisher is Silver Spring. They will f-up yur car and then try to rip you off after. Valley Motors on York Road in Timonium Maryland are great, but very much stick by the books. THey would NOT install such items as my fabspeed exhaust or artic silver interior. I do believe the their mechanics are the most highly trained on our cars. I usually take my car to Len SToler porsche on Reiserstown Rd. in Owings Mills. THey ar cool guys and have done all my mods with no problem. I just sometimes feel they lack the skills of the VAlley Mechanics. HTH

I bought my 99 996 at Rockville Porsche and would rate them as fair, but somewhat tedious in their customer service. However, I've never had them do any service on the car. I would *highly* recommend ASG in Fairfax: <a href="http://www.autosportsystems.com/" target="_blank">www.autosportsystems.com/</a> who did both the PPI and 1 year service. These guys are extremely competent and professional. I'd also recommend RPM (Stan Fox + Bill Hagy) in Newington near Springfield. They've done great work on my 914. -Thomas 1999 996 C2 Arctic Silver Fabspeed exhaust+tips Litronics B&M Short Shifter 1972 914 Signal Orange Carrera front suspension and brakes Koni adjustable shocks 16" Fuchs

Based on my own personal experience, I can not recommend using HBL for service. For warranty work try Rockville or Arlington, depending on who is closer. For non-warranty work, the shops Thomas mentioned have good reputations with PCA members as do IMA in Fairfax and TPC in Jessup. IMA is one of the only independents with a Porsche System tester, so they can troubleshoot DME and emissions related problems that you used to have to take to the dealer. I have found TPC particularly knowledgeable on the late model cars (986 and 996) because they have developed supercharger kits for these models and race 996 and GT3 Cup cars in Grand Am. You may also want to post your question on the Potomac PCA website. Karl

Whatever you do, stay away from HBL! Heishman (now Porsche of Arlington) has done the dealer work on my car, and usually done it quite well. They give free PCA track inspections, if that matters to you. In the No. Va. area, three of the top independent Porsche shops are ASG, Intersport, and IMA. They're all well regarded.

There are many good independent shops in the Metro area. I have used ASG in Fairfax for several years. The have the Porsche System Tester 2 required for my 99 996. They service my air-cooled 911 for six years prior to my 996 purchase in 2001. Your car is probably still under warranty, but for maintenance you may want to consider an independent shop. As Karl suggested, you may want to post on the PCA Potomac site as well. You will find many helpful PCA enthusiasts in the Metro area just like Karl.

I would actually like to recommend HBL. Thier service guy is pretty nice and yesterday they hooked me up with a free diagnosis on the PST2 and the results and reset my check engine light all at no charge (my car is out of warranty). I was pretty impressed. Thier sales staff is somewhat annoying though. ash996

I'm not sure ASG does have the factory-version OBDII computer, like the dealers do. I've had my car serviced there, and I think they have a generic version reader, which isn't as good. They had to call around to get the meaning of some codes when I had a "check engine light" problem. However, they do seem to be competent mechanics, and the shop appears well-run. I'll probably give them more business in the future.

Thanks to all for the replies. It sounds like dealers are a choice for warranty considerations but that independents are the choice for service, repairs or modifications otherwise. HBL sure seems to be the most infamous (2 con and 1 pro). When I had a pre purchase inspection done (Independent) it was noted there was a slight oil leak, perhaps Rear Main Seal, but so far this is not leaving any spots on the garage floor. Also looks like a radiator hose connection shows signs of clamp loosing tension and slight leakage. After I took delivery and got a few miles on it found a very squeaky clutch pedal. I believe these issues should be handled under warranty. I also noticed what seems to be a tire balance issue Which that manifests itself at speeds between 70-80 mph. Anyone have good recommendations for tire/wheel work? I will post on the local PCA forums for other recommendations but again thanks to you all for the timely feedback!!