Almost 10 yrs old, time to go independent servicing? - Page 3 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

My 2 yr OPC warranty will be due for renewal in October this yr along with a service and I'm thinking of going the independent servicing route as I have a couple of great options close by. I've used the warranty once for both engine mounts and a solenoid issue and these were the latest PADM mount design so hoping will fix the issue once and for all. Its a 981 GT4 2016, so 10 next year and it seems bonkers paying OPC service and warranty rates, my calcs are: OPC: Service 1300 quid Warranty for 2 years 2k Front brakes from Porsche 3k vs independent Porsche service for 700 quid......I'm doing less then 4k a year...am I mad or is this a sensible time to move away from OPC...anyone done this and regretted it?

Single PADM replacement will cost you 2k by itself.

Both were done last year with the latest design and I’m not aware of any more weak points on the 981 gt4 or am I wrong?

You could, and mix and match as long as you use Porsche parts rather than OE spec. So have the indy fit new brakes, clutch etc. But service at OPC. Or - and I have done this - haggle with the service dept and get them to try and price match (they won't, but they often get surprisingly close when challenged).

Porsche extended warranty stipulates ALL work done on the vehicle must be carried out by an 'authorised Porsche Centre or Porsche Service Centre'.

scrounger73 said: Porsche extended warranty stipulates ALL work done on the vehicle must be carried out by an 'authorised Porsche Centre or Porsche Service Centre'. Didn't know this. Had my brakes done by local indy over the years when in warranty and never had an issue - but I didn't volunteer the information and the dealer never asked.

scrounger73 said: Porsche extended warranty stipulates ALL work done on the vehicle must be carried out by an 'authorised Porsche Centre or Porsche Service Centre'. No it does not. But what it does say is that if a fault on the car is deemed a consequence of work carried out by anyone other than an official Porsche Centre, then cover may be denied. In other words, if you have someone else fit brake pads (or do them yourself), they're not going to refuse a claim on the infotainment. In practice, if you use Porsche parts and fit them correctly, the odds of having a problem are close to zero. Provided the parts on the car are the right parts fitted correctly, there is no straight forward method to determine who fitted them. Personally, I would still get the basic servicing done at Porsche to prevent them blaming a major mechanical failure on third-party servicing. Whatever the rights and wrongs of a given claim, if Porsche says no, you face a very uneven fight as an individual versus a big corporate. So, don'[t give them an excuse to deny a claim. Then get everything else done that isn't covered by warranty at an indy using official parts.

Same dilemma on the wife's Cayman. She's made it clear that she's never selling and it's 10 years old in October. Warranty runs out at the same time and brakes will probably need doing in the spring. As it only does around 3k miles a year I think we're going to bite the bullet on go indy as we've got a very good one near us and if anything does go pop put it down to experience.

f6box said: Personally, I would still get the basic servicing done at Porsche to prevent them blaming a major mechanical failure on third-party servicing. Whatever the rights and wrongs of a given claim, if Porsche says no, you face a very uneven fight as an individual versus a big corporate. So, don'[t give them an excuse to deny a claim. Then get everything else done that isn't covered by warranty at an indy using official parts. Agree.

f6box said: No it does not. But what it does say is that if a fault on the car is deemed a consequence of work carried out by anyone other than an official Porsche Centre, then cover may be denied. In other words, if you have someone else fit brake pads (or do them yourself), they're not going to refuse a claim on the infotainment. In practice, if you use Porsche parts and fit them correctly, the odds of having a problem are close to zero. Provided the parts on the car are the right parts fitted correctly, there is no straight forward method to determine who fitted them. Personally, I would still get the basic servicing done at Porsche to prevent them blaming a major mechanical failure on third-party servicing. Whatever the rights and wrongs of a given claim, if Porsche says no, you face a very uneven fight as an individual versus a big corporate. So, don'[t give them an excuse to deny a claim. Then get everything else done that isn't covered by warranty at an indy using official parts. From the warranty Ts & Cs 'A claim made under Your Policy for the repair or replacement of a defective system or component shall be invalid to the extent that the defect results from any of the following: Service, repair, or maintenance has previously been performed on the Vehicle by you or a third party who is not an authorised Porsche Centre/Porsche Service Centre' I agree that if your have your condensers replaced by an indie and the PCM fails then you have a claim but I'd tread carefully when having anything major done.

Two parts to this :- 1) Can you tolerate a major loss i.e. engine / gearbox problem costing well in excess of £20,000 even if the probability is low? If the answer is no, then continue to take out the extended warranty. 2) If you decide to keep the warranty, then check the fine print in the warranty - it doesn't take long - and satisfy yourself (or not) that you can have the car serviced at an independent without invalidating your warranty. There is some mis-information earlier in this thread https://www.porsche.com/uk/accessoriesandservice/p...

Why are the brakes and pads so expensive? On a standard 981 Cayman it's only £1055+VAT for a full set at RPM Technik.

I’d go indie. Put the £2k warranty cost aside and use it if needed. My 911 is so old it’s not an issue, so it’s been indie for 20 years. Can’t imagine letting it near an OPC. Almost certainly saved enough in that time to cover the full engine rebuild it’s had. My 458 was 10 years old when I bought it. It had a full Ferrari service history. But I am happy with my indie and the £130+ an hour I save for a wonderful service. It could bite me but probably won’t meanwhile I am saving a fortune for a service that I am happy with.

Were you to sell the car, would a main Porsche dealer service stamp be more helpful than an independent? I am new to Porsche ownership so don't have a strong view on this, but would imagine main dealer servicing might help swing a sale.

NDA said: Were you to sell the car, would a main Porsche dealer service stamp be more helpful than an independent? I am new to Porsche ownership so don't have a strong view on this, but would imagine main dealer servicing might help swing a sale. I don’t think it matters to most potential buyers with older cars. Personally I wouldn’t let my car go anywhere near an OPC.

Annual warranty has gone up since I had mine! The GT4 is warranty priced as a standard Boxster/Cayman and I was paying less than £600pa for it 2yrs back. In your position and if I still had mine at 10yrs I'd look for a good Indy and 'self warranty'. In terms of the PADM there's a fix incoming by swapping out the PCB controller and fitting a new one to the existing mount for what is likley to be a tenth of the price of a new unit, and is long overdue.

scrounger73 said: Porsche extended warranty stipulates ALL work done on the vehicle must be carried out by an 'authorised Porsche Centre or Porsche Service Centre'. Thats to extend the warranty further. I sent Porsche UK an email back when I had my 981 S, It had 2 year warranty, I had a family friend service it who ran a Porsche specialist, all the parts came from Porsche Silverstone (he used to work there), Porsche UK said the current warranty would remain valid as long as genuine parts were used. However the warranty could not be extended unless the car had another service from APC/PSC.

Some OPCs will do a reduced labour rate for cars over 7 years old. Even if out of warranty a loyal OPC customer may get a goodwill contribution if anything fails. As stated above maybe get brakes and annual oil change at indy and then main service at OPC

You’re getting to a point where non warranty items will be cropping up and you’ll want to take care of them if you wish to keep the car driving as it should. These costs are offset by bring on a flatter portion of the depreciation curve.

On the OP, if it’s a longterm keeper I would go indie, in fact that is what I am doing with my 718s although I can do most of the work myself so have a headstart. Armitage.Shanks said: In terms of the PADM there's a fix incoming by swapping out the PCB controller and fitting a new one to the existing mount for what is likley to be a tenth of the price of a new unit, and is long overdue. Off the OP, sorry, do you have any further information on this?

Take a look at Garagsite post on this page which calculates the premium of warranty on his 991 over 6 years (based on OPC servicing costs vs indy) https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

You’re assuming the OPC will be good at fixing and servicing cars - I wouldn’t let Leicester touch my 911, they couldn’t even put the the correct amount of oil in my Macan…twice

oddball1313 said: You’re assuming the OPC will be good at fixing and servicing cars - I wouldn’t let Leicester touch my 911, they couldn’t even put the the correct amount of oil in my Macan…twice Plus they don't really 'fix' anything, they just fit a new part at what you beileve are full costs (given the warranty company get a discount on parts) which distorts the comparable cost to fix the problem at an Indy.

Picked up a new to me 10 year old 981 Cayman on the weekend. It has 4 OPC services and the last service being a Porsche Independent Specialist. I think I will also keep it maintained via a Porsche Specialist Independent moving forward.

Schuey_911 said: Picked up a new to me 10 year old 981 Cayman on the weekend. It has 4 OPC services and the last service being a Porsche Independent Specialist. I think I will also keep it maintained via a Porsche Specialist Independent moving forward. Very nice. 2.7L? Warranty or self insure?

Nuttcase said: Very nice. 2.7L? Warranty or self insure? Thanks Nuttcase, yes it is a 2.7 manual. I'm not going down the warranty route, will just get things fixed when they need.

Kept my 2014 981 2.7 PDK in extended warranty until 2019 then had to go indy due to Zunsport grilles. My indy, GCR Leicester, says the 981 is bullet proof and I've had few problems in my 9 years of ownership, just the front caliper locating studs going rusty which I sorted myself for under £1. At 69k miles it's never used a drop of oil which may be a good indicator of engine health. If it were something more complex, a Macan say, I'd be tempted to keep extending the Porsche warranty.

DJMC said: Kept my 2014 981 2.7 PDK in extended warranty until 2019 then had to go indy due to Zunsport grilles. Yeh Porsche kicked off at me for Zunsport grilles as well.

DarkVeil said: Why are the brakes and pads so expensive? On a standard 981 Cayman it's only £1055+VAT for a full set at RPM Technik. i was doing sums before buying my car to check on affordability for servicing so got a couple of quotes for various bits and pads and discs at an indi compared to the OPC was absolutely ridiculous - OPC was probably 70% more. Consumables i'll go indi but intend to keep the extended warranty going so servicing will be OPC, even though i'm starting to have doubts about the economics of the extended warranty.

Once my 981 gt4 is 10 years old I’ll be doing all myself as I find it hard trusting anyone to do it as well I know I can. As it’s not a gt engine it’s not going to clean you out of the worst happens, I’ll run the gauntlet for the last 5 years without warranty. Most likely keep it now anyway.

2015 Boxster Spyder I’ve had it 2 years, and had the OPC warranty running alongside Never had to use it. When it runs out, soon, it’ll be maintained by SCS Porsche in Honiton. It’s modded too far now anyway and it’ll not be leaving me.

the-norseman said: DJMC said: Kept my 2014 981 2.7 PDK in extended warranty until 2019 then had to go indy due to Zunsport grilles. Yeh Porsche kicked off at me for Zunsport grilles as well. Not an issue on the GT4/Spyder though as the grilles were there from the factory

400SE Dave said: the-norseman said: DJMC said: Kept my 2014 981 2.7 PDK in extended warranty until 2019 then had to go indy due to Zunsport grilles. Yeh Porsche kicked off at me for Zunsport grilles as well. Not an issue on the GT4/Spyder though as the grilles were there from the factory Might be the side ones... they're worth having too...strikes me each individual OPC interprets 'the rules' their own way..

My 981s is coming up for its 12th birthday this year and I have to make a similar call. It's currently under OPC warranty (and I've had cause to use it with a broken tensioner bolt and a door lock replacement) It's definitely more saleable with an OPC warranty on it than not.

purchased a 996 1 owner and full OPC service history, had a PPE before purchase and was disgusted by the way the so called OPC (guildford) had serviced the car. Over filled with oil, cross threaded sump plug to name a few!! Bought car and used independent ever since and have been very happy with them, they look after me and the car very personal and cheaper than main dealer. they are near Horley and yes i would recommend them.

If your tracking the car a £1000 a year isn't bad for a warranty and Porsche warranty is good. Servicing you have the right to use a specialist using genuine parts which shouldn't affect your claim, however, a few hundred difference. Consumables like brakes and other things I'd use Indy or do it myself. That said, outside of new car warranty I've never paid for warranty on any of my cars, and I mainly used Indies. Maybe I've been lucky but I've not claimed on anything, small things have happened which were probably wear and tear and I've fixed or an Indy.

My Cayenne S was under extended warranty when I bought it, first service trip to Porsche and a £200 / hr labour charge was enough to persuade me not to renew, man maths calculated warranty and main dealer service was going to cost £1500 / year over an Indy, who is also 45 minutes closer. I’m self insuring from now on!

DarkVeil said: Why are the brakes and pads so expensive? On a standard 981 Cayman it's only £1055+VAT for a full set at RPM Technik. They're GT3 parts. £650/disc last time I looked, and I don't think anyone else is making them yet.

When did a Cayman warranty go up to £2k? Was £1200 for 2 years when I renewed mine in '23.

An extended Porsche warranty for a Cayman is, 1YR £720, 2YR £1,310 & 3YR £1,870. Not sure where the OP got £2K for 2 years from. I too have a 2016 981 GT4 and I will be renewing the warranty on mine this March and will probably take the 2 year option. I get 20% discount on servicing costs and free MOTs from my OPC being a loyal customer and also as my GT4 is over 8 years old. My major service in March 2024 cost me £1,227.23 inc VAT, which I don't think is too bad. I priced the same major service with RPM and it was £1.138.80 inc VAT. RPM would be the only Indie I would use and it is a pain in the neck for me to get there.

I didn’t realise the gt4 warranty costs were so much less then the 911. Those costs actually look like good value so thanks to all the responses I may well stick with Opc this time, thanks all.