Servicing debate

I'm sure that this topic has been covered numerous times before but as a new member to this club, I thought I'd ask for some advice. I bought a 1998 996 in Oct 05 and in Sep 06 it will require a service. To date it has always had OPC servicing (which attracted me to the car), but as the car continues to get older will a Porsche Specialist Stamp affect the car's resale value when balanced against the cost of an OPC service. Any advice gratefully received.

Depends on the specialist's name. Most of us know who is trustworthy and who is not. For a 1998 car I'd be happy with a decent specialist who knew what they were doing.

Absolutely - unless you have a Porsche Warranty to preserve go for a good independent on a car of that age. If you have, go to an OPC for the servicing and an independent for everything else - you'll save a fortune. Where are you located - maybe you could get some feedback here. My indy is Wrightune in Wallingford, Oxon. ( http://www.wrightune.co.uk )

I agree that a good indy is well worth while, i have thought about this many times, however in my case i have a good opc up the road who give good discounts on older cars such as 25% off servicing and 10% off parts for being a club member so it eavens out from the specialist that is 1 hours drive from me, and a pain to get too, its worth looking at both options you may not pay over the odds by using OPC and also maintain the full opc history. Phil

Thanks for the advice, unsure whether I can name the specialist that I was recommended for fear of bringing down the wrath of the moderators. However, I will investigate the discount option at my local OPC.

As far as I'm concerned - Recommend away - good info is always welcome [8D]

Here's my two pennies worth and experience... I bought a 98 C2 from Autobahn 2+ years ago with their own specialist warranty. Lovely car and some small niggles were rectified amicably. Last year I decided to get it serviced with an OPC and get a Porsche warranty. The service I have received at OPC Stratford has always been pretty good and accomodating with one or two exceptions (big problems but was sorted out and they did a lot of work for me under goodwill). The warranty has been a godsend. Having broken down twice its has been recovered and loan vehicles issued (lovely S Type Jag that leaked oil on my drive and a C Class Merc) and the work done under warranty. With an OPC and Porsche warranty, my view is that they will do as much as they can under warranty because they will get paid. In the last 12 months I have had electric window motor, oxygen sensors, air con condensor, alarm unit. RMS [ ] and more recently a new Tiptronic gearbox (6.5k) under warranty plus loads of other smaller bits. Getting to the point, for an extra few £££ I would choose an OPC, I would also extend the warranty with a Porsche one. As the car gets older, more and more things will wear and potentially fail. An early history on a car is good, but as the car gets older I feel that the more recent history is actually more important. Just my opinion [ ] All the best,

Interesting point made about OPC service and warranty - I hadn't thought about a Porsche warranty (more costs to get passed my wife). What sort of outlay are they? As for an independent specialist, I had been recommended Cametune in Godalming, which is close enough to where I live in Aldershot. I'm leaning towards the idea of servicing through an OPC and any other work through a specialist.