Porsche Bolton "Joyriding"

I recieved a call from a friend of mine on Thursday telling me my RS had been stolen and had just undertaken him round a roundabout. It had 2 people in it and was being driven like a t£$%$^r. Imagine my concern as the car was in for the engine wiring loom recall and 4 wheel alignment at the new Porsche main agent in Bolton. To add to the horror I use 15w 50 oil and the roundabout is c 1min from the dealership i.e the car would be cold. I immediately drove to the dealership and tackled them. Once the service manager deigned to come out of his office to speak to me, he said "he'd look into it". Following a little more straight talking he assured me that the car was warm as he knew they had the radiators out and so run it up to temp to bleed it. Not a good answer really unless my 993 is fairly unique.... At this point I got the dealer principle involved, who seemed to care even less (in a manner reflective of the overbearing arrogance Porsche seem to exude these days) and said he'd look into it.. I had to leave the car as it was back in bits to fix a small oil leak they'd found. I went in on Friday to check progress, no one updated me on the "looking into it", no one apologised any further nor has any suggestion of a discount been offered. I collect the car tomorrow and will be really upset if I have to pay in a way that will include writing to the local press, Porsche AG and every forum I can find together with the dozen or so friends who own Porsches from the dealer. A lesson to us all the in addition to main agents caring about older Porsches like a piece of dirt on their shoe they also joyride your car for you. Thing is whilst we like 993s and think they are quick imagine how tempting a 997 turbo is to the in-house joyrider!! Beware, and keep out of Porsche Bolton at all costs lest your own car overtakes you. I'll let you know the outcome after I kick off again tomorrow.

Are you sure Bolton has a Porsche centre?

It certainly does... Not sure what to suggest, but seem like disgraceful behaviour from the dealers.

If you take a car more than 3 years old to the main dealer, their not interested in you or your car. I recived very poor treatment from Porsche Colchester with my old Boxster, they simply were not bothered.

sorry adi99601 i have to disagree with the last comment i take both my wifes 2004 boxster and my 2002 turbo to colchester and i think the service i receive is really very good.

Ditto Porsche Kendal looked after my last 2000C4 very well indeed, and I expect the same with my 2004 tt when it needs servicing (longer gaps between services now). Even though |I have moved and other OPCs are probably nearer I shall be staying with them. I am sure that service levels will vary according to dealerships, why not try a different one, with a courtesy car it isn,t too much hassle.

sorry to hear that. you must let us know how you get on. when mine went in there i asked them to keep hold of it until it was right (after it had to go back 3 times to fix the results of the service) and i was told it had been used to take someone home to Stockport. i was therefore somewhat surprised to find 2 Warrington addresses programmed into the satnav when i next had cause to use it a few weeks later...

I take my 1999 Gt3 to Chapelgate in Ferndown Dorset & feel like I get treated the same as someone who has just bought a brand new car, this is my first Porsche & Im loving the whole experience, Ive even had the door panel removed in the workshop & a plug dried out free of charge when my drivers window wasnt closing fully when shutting the door. My local OPC seem a really nice bunch of guys who really love the cars

Same at Wilmslow with my 99. Couldnt be better.

I've never had a problem with an OPC. In fact in 1987 I bought a new 944 Turbo from Malaya Billingshurst and asked the service manager to run it in for me over the first 1000 miles. It is normal practice for the car to be road tested with two occupants.

Richard I use Hartech in Bolton, they give better service than any main agent of any make I've ever had!

With all due respect, that is the type of casual generalisation that blights the web forums and diminishes their credibility. It is possible to have an excellent relationship with an OPC, and they will look after you and your cars, however old. In practice, though, there are specialist independents with greater experience of earlier Porsches. But even they can make mistakes.

Er...come again? They used your car to take someone home? What's that all about then? Did you drop off your car and explcitlty tell them to freely use it for all their customers needs, or just to get it fixed? Did they reimburse you for wear and tear and depreciation and used fuel? I would be absolutely livid....and to later find out they possibly lied about the destination too! Shocking!

Ditto Rodney's remarks..... without asking you first, they are taking the P. My supplying OPC (Nottingham) and my service/local OPC (Tonbridge) have always treated me with great respect, regardless that I drive a 3+ yr old car. I suggest asking to speak with the branch manager, not the service manager. Speaking with a 'sales' person is often better, because they benefit from you being happy.... and potentialy buying something from them in the future. If you get no joy, then I'm sure your local paper (or even the tabloids with such a prestige mark as Porsche) would like a bit of a story "Porsche Bolton use customers car as taxi!" [&:]

I am quite sure that Julian 27 will correct me if I am fundamentally incorrect. There used to be an offence called unlawfull taking, maybe now called taking without consent. This tries to block the loophole in the theft law where the intent to permanently deprive a person of ownership has to be proven before an offence can be classed as theft. With that in mind, telling the dealership that the mileage has been noted, and that if a distance of ten miles ( for the purposes of a test drive) is exceeded it will be reported as a case of unlawful taking, might just get their attention. I guess the dealership has the equipment to reset the distance recorder, but they can't reset the sat-nav, can they? I find this sort of off hand treatment of customer's cars reprehensible.

Superlawyer to the rescue. Yes, section 12 of the Theft Act 1968 [as amended] makes it an offence to take a motor vehicle without the consent of the lawful owner, although there are some defences available to this. Using a customers' car to take someone home is not something which any reputable dealership would, should or could consider within any implied consent given by the lawful owner. Quite why two people are needed for a high speed check of a car is difficult to understand and, especially, to take another customer home [or whatever] is inexcusable. It might also invalidate the insurance policy of the dealership ... Now that is really serious for everyone concerned except the rightful owner.

sorry, i should have made myself clearer - when my car went back in for the 3rd time I made it plain that i didn't want it back until it was fixed and I invited the service manager to use it for a couple of days to ensure that the problem had indeed been repaired. It was he who took it home to Stockport. obviously i would have been happier if had not had to go back once...

What are you babling on about?

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Update Collected the car today from Bolton. Dave Brown, who is a service advisor ex Stratstone, is everso helpful and pleasant, looked after me. The service manger then had a chat and said sorry and they have offered to waive the bill or do a free service when due. Clearly I am still upset but they were sincere, have looked into it and as a result I will use them again. To be fair they have also clearly spent plenty of time on the setup as the settings are within a minute or two each side and sorted one or two other small issues. That gives me confidence they do know what they are doing, not least because the car was serviced by a specialist a few weeks ago and some of the things should have been picked up. If nothing else lightening can't strike twice..can it! So whilst the joyride was bad it is only fair to report the good bit today.

I would take their money and go elsewhere next time. I couldn't trust them again. That is very poor behaviour.

I had two very bad experiences with Porsche dealers recently. Both of them in the same week. I have been looking for a 996 Turbo Cab for some time but failed to get hold of one. I decided to give the new 997 c4s cabrio a chance and booked a test drive at Porsche Colchester for late afternoon on easter monday. I was impressed with the car and decided to make an offer approx 4k under the advertised price explaining to the sales man that my preference is the Turbo but if I can get this 997 for the right price I'll take it (this was a 82k car). Anyhow they turned the offer down (wanting to meet me in the middle) and I and the salesman agreed to think about it till the day after. I did think about it and decided that I really do want a Turbo and not a c4s. So I proceeded to call Porsche Colchester up the next day and told them I had changed my mind. Instead of trying to find solutions and helping me to find a Porsche Turbo Cab the salesman decided to insult me instead. "It seems a little strange how you book an appointment to drive the car, make an offer and then change your mind", implying that I had wasted his time from the beginning basically. What a cheek! Especially considering he could have agreed to my offer the evening before and the contract would have been signed there and then. Anyhow i complained to the head of sales and he appologised for this guys behaviour but I didnt go back to them after this incident funny enough! That same week I kept looking for my dream car and was shocked to find a 996 turbo cab (april 04 first registered, 24k miles) advertised on the Porsche approved used car website for almost the same price as the average private sale car. I did think Porsche Silverstone must have made a mistake (the car was up for £60750) but rang up anyhow just to check. The salesman there agreed that it seemed too cheap but said he would check and call me back. An hour later he rang me back and said that the car was indeed advertised too cheap, it should have been up for £62750 not £60750, but he mentioned since they made a mistake on the website they would offer me the car for £61750. I had a quick think about it (millisecond)and told him I'd take it. He asked me for my credit card number in order to pay the 5 % deposit and as I was telling him this number I heard someone shout "Dont do it mate, the car has just been sold!" in the background. The salesman confirmed the car had indeed been sold and that he was really sorry. I was gutted and asked the salesman to call me back when he'd found out how that could have happened when I had already agreed with him and was paying the deposit. Whilst I was waiting for him to ring I checked out the Porsche website again and found they are still advertising the car, but now for £ 64850.-. I decided to ring back to find out whether the car was still for sale but just put the price up. So i called and asked to speak to the head of sales as I was having no joy with the salesman. I talked to a guy called Allen, he explained that they havent sold the car afterall and confirmed that it was now up for sale for £ 64850.-, because they had quoted it too cheap.They also told me that when I was enquiring about the car, I should have known there was something wrong and that it was up too cheap(Like it's my job to know these things, I even told them it was too cheap at the beginning!) At this point he became quite abrupt with me and was telling me that he was also a legal adviser, after I asked him if he wanted to listen to the conversation as all my conversations are taped. He didnt seem to be bothered and carried on as if nothing had happend, they just didnt seem to care at all. So after asking and checking with Salesguy and even telling them that the car looked cheap, giving them time to think about it and then asking for a deposit from me, they just decided that the price should have been higher, twice and that was that!!! What a bunch of comedians, I was absolutely furious! Minutes later I was on the phone to the principal of Porsche Silverstone, Robin something (I think b*****d should be his surname), and at first he seemed to make an effort to sort this problem out but then disappointingly came back and tried to offer me only a £350.- discount on the latest price of £64850.- - thanks !!!! He said that they havent actually got the car yet (they failed to mention that before funny enough) and that the garage needs to make a £3000 profit on this car!! Surely after what happened you would expect the principal of Porsche Silverstone to cut his profit in half at least to offer me his best price - but no, he still needed to make 3 grand. I turned them down and told them I had enough and wasn't interested in buying a car from them. Robin even admitted that if he would be me, he wouldn't be buying a car from Porsche Silverstone either! Sorry??!!?? *&&$%^^^* I've now purchased a car off an independent dealer - who I might add was so much more helpful than these arrogant Porsche main dealers (I do understand that it was only two branches I dealt with - not saying every Porsche main dealer is the same.

I would write to Porsche UK. They don't deserve to run delaerships. It's interesting what you hear about some dealers. A local independent who used to work for my local OPC told me that the most experienced mechanic who works at that OPC has only worked on Porsches for 2 years. I don't use OPC's. However, I wouldn't rule out buying a car from one if it was what I wanted.

I have used two OPCs - Solihull and Swindon - and they have both been totally correct and helpful at all stages of all the transactions that I have done. Plus a great deal of help and courtesy. Do as you would be done by.

And thus, is it not the moral of all the stories that it is the people and not the institutions that matter? Find the right people, regardless of where they ply their craft, and you have your pot of gold!

My 996 was returned to me from Porsche Sheffield with an extra 70 miles on it after making the fatal mistake of leaving it with them overnight when it went in for service. No response from Service manager or dealer principal, letter to porsche UK resulted in a rather curt letter from Porsche Sheffield saying it was "normal" to do lengthy test drives - HA! But, as a goodwill gesture I could have 20% off my next service not that I want to take it there again.

Hi everyone, I didn't complete the 996 TT Cab transaction, because it failed a 111 check and would have left me with a £3500 bill. So I now have a small confession to make. I have since gone back to Porsche Colchester to make the head of sales there an offer on the 997 c4s cab I test drove on easter monday. Ok I know, youre going to say I'm mad to go back after what happened. True, maybe... but I justify it by them owning a demo car which had the specs I really wanted. Price wise they accepted a lower offer than I made originally. I'll pick it up after work tomorrow and can't wait. Here are the specs: 997 Carrera 4S Convertible 01/07 first registered 2500 miles Basalt Black with Black Leather Interior Manual [*]19 inch Carrera S wheel [*]Automatically dimming interior and exterior mirrors with integrated rain sensor [*]BOSE Surround Sound System [*]CDC-4 six disc CD autochanger [*]Door entry guards in stainless steel [*]Extended navigation module [*]Heated seats [*]Instrument surround in Aluminium Look [*]ParkAssist (parking aid rear) [*]Preparation Vehicle Tracking System [*]Sport Chrono Package Plus [*]Telephone module [*]Three-spoke multi-function steering wheel in smooth leather (only with PCM) [*]Windscreen with grey top tint [*]Seat belts in Guards Red [*]Sports seats Cheers, John

That's like saying "I bought these eggs at the supermarket, they were great, clean, free of feathers, brown speckled with lighter bits at the end................". How much?

hi dpoynton, ive sent you a private message, don't really want to post the figure on the forum, will do that in a week or so.

So, let us guess ... I'll go for the fact that they've accepted less than the 78K you offered before coupled with the fact its been neary 2 weeks since easter monday and not sold yet, so I'll plump for 75K. Sounds very nice car - bet you can't wait

Hi Nope, wasn't quite as good as that, unfortunately. I promise to post the figure soon.