When is service due.. and small rant..

Our 2003 black C4S is a wonderful car.. But so far Porsche has not been a wonderful company to us. This is our first porsche and come from owning several Mercs. Still have an 04 E55 AMG which is wonderful.. My first suprise with Porsche came when the roller bearing on the tensioner seized causing the belt to come off, and thus the car immedietly lost power, and overheated. Ironicly my wife called me, and I used the TeleAid service in my E55 to have the car recovered.. the dealer gave us a loaner which I expected and was nice.. and they apparently fixed the problem, and there was no overheating damage to the engine. Then about two weeks later, a strange clunk started in the right rear as you went over bumps or driveway entrances.. I crawled under and gave the sway bar a yank, and that appeared to be the problem.. I really wanted to just fix it myself, but my jacks at home really arent designed to work on a car like the Porsche.. and I thought I should really make the manufacturer responsible. One day at work, I called Porsche roadside to pick up the car to fix the sway bar, and they said they would be there in a hour to pick it up.. After an hour they called back again to say that it would be another hour as the original driver did not want to pick up the car as it was a porsche and he didnt think it could be picked up on his truck without minor damage. When the driver did show up, he was incredibly filthy, was missing more then a few teeth, but otherwise seemed nice.. He did an inspection for existing damage, pointed out to me that there was some slight abrasion on the lower air damn of the front bumper which I agreed on. I then handed him the keys, and went back to work in my office. The next day when we went to pick up the car, we promptly drove home.. It wasnt until the next day in the garage that I noticed the shiny silver tow hook sticking out of the bumper.. and spiral shavings of plastic hanging down from the front air damn. I couldnt believe it... I bent over and there were multiple abrasions, much more severe then what had been there before, and spiral shavings of plastic hanging down an inch to two inches. Now, Im not one who always jumps to conclusions, but tow hook still in bumper means sloppy attention to towing procedure.. That plus me not being there to watch it put on ramp or taken down, plus the first truck canceling due to this exact fear leaves me no choice but to conclude that it was done during the tow.. I promptly called Porsche roadside to report the incident.. Over the next 2 weeks, they repeatedly promised to call me back and didnt.. Promised to send someone out to assess damage who didnt show, and then ultimately came back with the decision that it was existing damage... Im left with my jaw open thinking.. is this really a company that sells $100k cars??????? Ok, fine, maybe I'm being too nitpicky.. but its a $92k car... and I didnt scratch the air damn.. and it wasnt like that when I bought it.. The part to replace costs maybe... $150? I dont know.. it cant be much.. but the broken promises of call backs.. the shady outsourcing to AAA of the tow., and then to pawn it off as existing damage? NOT ACCEPTABLE.... I cant really yell at the dealer about it.. they have been fair with me, but Porsche Roadside is going to hear about this till Im bored or dead.. I will probably end up replacing the spoiler lip myself, again, how much could it possibly cost, but I am big on principle. And while it may be something small this time, the principle should apply no matter how small it is.. Also, I am at 14,000 miles now.. should I be expecting a service light to come on, or do you just take it in at certain mileage points..? Im used to cars telling me when they need something.. thanks

Sorry to hear about your problems. Outsourcing from repuatable companies to others always seems to be a problem. I have had problems in numerous areas on this and it is often difficult to resolve. Regardless, your beef is with Porsche even if they were not the ones that did the work. For the 15k - my car had that on it when I bought it and I didn't see any lights or anything so I assume that you are just supposed to know about it. Hope things get better and enjoy the car. Barry

I know now it is too late, but if I was in your shoes: 1 - I would drive the car to the dealer myself - avoid towing at all costs. 2 - If being towed, would have installed the hook myself, and watched lifting the car to the truck.

Re. service, there is no "service due" type of light that comes on at the mileage intrevals for routine service. Porsche recommends an annual service for cars that travel less than 9K miles. There is a a warning message for brake pad wear, but otherwise I guess Porsche expects a slight degree of driver involvement in keeping the cars maintained.

outsourcing is a way of life here in the USA, get used to it. thats why you need to find an independant shop that you trust, otherwise, leave it up to the dealer in hopes that you can sue them.

Singal -9 First let me say I agree with you - and no your not being a whip - we should get the best service for what the hell we pay for these cars - I also am of the mind set that if I drop 90K on a car it better give me great service and work, every dam day - I would also never let anyone hook up my car - my firends GT3 had a problem and the tow came and scratch the hell out of the bottom, when he complained the guy say - It was like that sir - WTMF - he shouted - never mess with a lawyer I say. Hope you have better luck, they really are great cars -