Service, service, service service

Ok it's that time of the year again. Given I've covered a HUGE 513 miles this utterly terrible summer and in the past year in the 911, I'm seriously thinking that paying out several hundred for a service this year seriously isn't worth it - even for the stamp in the book. I did it last year as it was just for piece of paper in the history file. I want to keep the history up together, but I'm contemplating just ordering a service kit from somewhere and putting that receipt and the pics along with my picture file in the history for this year. I used the car very little last winter, and then I spent a few months waiting for the M030 when I found a faulty rear shock, so then fitted that and replaced the brakes etc and got the wheels refurbed as well as a few other things and only started using it I think around July (hence the ultra low mileage done so far, and the fact it's pretty much rained all summer!). So back to that debate again, who thinks it will 'damage' the cars history (tbh I think she's become part of the house now - my daughter already thinks I've promised it to her when I move on lol). I guess I'm fighting with myself over it, as the car has every receipt since new, and I hate the fact I will be the first person to mess that record up. Cheers,

Why not pay an OPC to do an Annual inspection? You get a stamp in the book and it doesn't cost much (although they don't really DO anything.

Steve I'm not sure it will make that much difference. At the end of the day these cars are, relatively speaking, worth so little that I doubt it would make any noticeable difference to its value or desirability. I think you should service it but if you can do it yourself, why not? I have a 98 C2 that has been on the Hartech Plan since I bought it from them over 7 years ago. As a result it's been serviced to within an inch of it's life. They are great in that they treat it like it's their own car, if something needs doing they tell you and aren't afraid to do the work that's required even though you aren't paying for the labour. In the last thousand miles or so it's had it's M030 suspension replaced, new steering rack, track control arms, strut mounts, clutch, fly wheel, RMS amongst other things. It's got to be up with the best mechanically sorted 996's out there. Last week it went in for the big Gold service, I've been toying with the idea of selling it because it isn't getting used - like you I only did 800 miles last year, had it not been on the plan (so the service is included) I'd have had to question whether it was worth doing. But then again, there's nothing more satisfying than looking at a mound of receipts and documents, as long as you don't add them up When you come to sell it it is being compared against cars that are cheap and will no doubt need thousands spending on them, but the majority of buyers don't see it like that.

Steve, I guess the BIG question is... is this year 2 of service intervals? these cars are 12k miles or 2 years as someone has suggested an 'annual service check or even just an oil change may suffice for the interim given the miles you've covered, also depends on how long you're likely to keep the car too! mine is due April & will be 9 years old.... as Porsche do not extend warranties after that is it really necessary then for a Porsche service stamp!! hth Paul

Only on MY2004-on cars. Before that it was 1 year or 12k. And no - there is no perceptible difference between your car and a MY2003 car. Only a slightly heavier duty battery!

Ooops! I stand corrected Richard...... [ ]

Sorry to contradict you Paul - but you can put a 1 year warranty on your car if you get it to the OPC before it is 9 years old. This is from the Porsche web site: Also a car must meet the terms and conditions of the Approved Warranty and it can be purchased until your car is 9 years old or has covered 125,000 Miles (or 8 years for a 2 year policy).

Cheers Peter, Corrected again.......[ ]

No worries Paul - we all help each other on here.

Thanks for the comments guys, I guess it's true, it's not going to have an effect on value, it's just getting around the fact I would be happy with a bit of paper for the service parts rather than a stamp in the book. I do all the other work myself and keep the receipts for all of the parts so I guess it's not much different. And the annual inspection thing? Not sure, how much do they charge for that? The same as an inspection when you purchase a vehicle? Cheers!

£125

Just had mine serviced at local PC for £250, seems a small amount to pay to keep the documents up to date, I'll probably never sell it (I've had it 8 years, it was 2 years old when I bought it) and it's covered 27k miles. Needed new A/C condensers and the PC quote was less than the local indie![ ]

Thanks Rodney, And strange Geoff that you should say that, I just had a brochure through this week that I had not opened from my OPC. I buy most of my parts from them so they have me on their mailing list, haven't had a service or any work done with them yet though, but their prices have dropped quite a bit for the 996 - pretty much inline with indi's.

It might be worth having a 12k service done on your car and asking to supply your own oil saving you £40 odd.

At the end of the day, a service book is only a bit of paper. It is no true refection on what has been done on the car in my opinion as there is very little space to put in what you have had done. I can't be bothered with folk harping on about service books, history and all that guff! People seem to get completely wrapped up in it. Even with a book or histroy that could choke a horse, the car can still be a complete shed! I am doing mechanical work on a 246 Dino restoration for a guy, he ordered a new front end assembly (2 wings, scuttle panel and front panel) from Maranello rather than direct so he could get the correct bit of paper for it, this bit of paper cost him £5000! It is still the same parts he bought, just in a box with a Ferrari badge on it! In the current crap economic times, why do you think that Porsche has put its prices down for servicing? Could be due to not selling cars, also their 2 year servicing deal is killing their workshops as I had admitted to me by the guy in charge of an OPC workshop recently. Why do you think they have started to do the inspection?? £125 to tell you you car is fine, top up the oil and maybe a bit of screenwash or go looking for work that the car doesn't really need done. Disks and pads anyone? Alasdair

Why buy a Porsche or Ferrari in the first place if it's just a badge?

The annual inspection has been around a long time. It includes no topping up of anything unfortunately, it's almost a complete waste of time. But if you're after a stamp in the book, and your annual mileage is low, it's the cheapest way to get one. With the regard to people being obsessed with a car having stamps in the book I'm not sure I agree. If you look to buy a car, a fully stamped book with receipts tells you lots of things. The owner is particular about his car/isn't afraid to get his wallet out and probably treats it better than a car with no service stamps etc. But it also tells you that the car has been up on a ramp, the technician has had many chances to look the car over properly and tell the owner what remedial work needs to be done. To me that's very important because if you get a PPI on a car a lot of these people (Peter Morgan/AA/RACetc) won't get it up on a ramp, so lots of things won't get checked. I would be wary of buying a high performance car off someone who promises me they've treated it wonderfully without taking it to a garage. You can assume a garage will have knowledge of that brand of car. How can you know anything about the owner's knowledge apart from his empty promises?

Totally agree, and also if there is a service history there is also a record kept at the same place doing the service, every hour spent and every part used is there to see if you ask.

I've also got receipts (mostly from OPC) for everything I've changed, and step by step pictures of everything being removed and replaced (also have a garage full of old bits I have removed ). I'm pretty sure that would be pretty hard to fake As I said though guys, I'm not looking to sell, I already decided I'd keep her for a long time - it's just bugging me not getting that bit of ink on the paper so I may have to do it again.....

I always have the same problem as I do around 3k a year. Just had mine serviced and my indi tends to go over the car and contact me before doing the service, as I am not as hands on as you I have piece of mind these guys are giving it a good check over. I think in your case with all the detail you would provide with the car to miss a year would do no harm, as the miles in between services is so low. As a buyer what really annoys me is when people state full service history when the car has gone well over on miles like 3-4k then that's not a complete history, I had an argument with a trader about this when looking at a 993 some years back. Anyone who looks at your car if and when you come to sell it would be very satisfied by the work you have done, and that the oil has been changed regularly, if not bang on every year. Cheers Phil

I like the Porsche badge but you can keep your Italian badges thank. Crap build quailty, well overpriced and usually red. No thanks. I like the Porsche badge for there quality of build, design (some of them!) and general friendlyness of ownership. Prancing horse owners have a general air of superiority that I cannot be bothered with. Alasdair

As I have the car in hibernation every winter I do about the same milage as you, so what I do is an annual.... annually(!) with oil and brake fluid change as a munimum, and then minor/major service every time I hit those numbers.

As a matter of interest Alex, how do you find putting the car away for the winter? Any problems when you bring her back out? Do you do anything in particular when you park her up? I'm toying with the idea of garaging over the winter months rather than selling but I don't like the idea of the car not running for months on end.

Hi, not much really. Give it a last wash with some tyre sealant on wheels and rubber and then plug in the battery charger and cover it up. During the winter I start up and let it run hot for 10-15 min just to keep some oil around the engine. i don't think it's very critical but if you start up after 4-5 months you get some pretty nasty sounds before the oil reaches all around. ;-) The main reason why people put away their cars here is the insane amount of salt used on the roads during the winter, not the cold or slippery roads in it self.

I've often wondered myself about best practice when not using the car for a while, my car wasn't really used between the start of the year and June, and hadn't been started for a few months. She was plugged in, and I expected a hell of a noise when firing her up for the first time and perhaps a struggle, but she fired up nicely. It is true that you can however, on occasion get a bit of clatter if they aren't used much, but a nice run soon fixes that. I normally leave the handbrake off, and roll her forwards or backward a foot or so in the garage to change position of the tyres every now and then if she hasn't been ran, I don't change pressure - I just keep them at the normal level. She is always clean, plugged in and covered when in the garage. Haven't had any issues so far, but interested also to hear what other people do. The thing is for me I guess, I don't actually take her off of the road totally, in that if we have a sunny / dry autumn or winter day then she will come out for a run.

[ ] I love those Portsmouth Porsche Centre guys! I managed to scrape a wheel, so got a quote from my local wheel specialist and PC, similar prices so I got the PC to do it, the wheel had to go away, when it came back they were not happy with the finish, so they sent it back and have loaned me a car in the meantime. I trust them so much that I'm trying to get them to look after my 2 Audis's ( it seems that Porsche UK are not keen on this, even though they are now owned by VAG - watch this space [8D]