996TT Service+Warranty due: Do I go OPC Cardiff or Indy?

A bit of advice needed guys....as I'm losing what hair I have left here over my dilemma! My car is 2003 996 TT which at 56,000 has full OPC Service History. The previous owner was battered every time he went near his local OPC...... Tonbridge Porsche you really should be ashamed - I have the previous owners invoices here!! How on earth can they justify such pricing? I bought the car in April with the balance of a OPC Warranty running out on 12th December and a major Service due on 28th November. With the recent "changes" in the Porsche warranty scheme, I have decided NOT to renew the porsche warranty when it expires after 12th December but that leaves me with a major dilemma... Do I? 1. Have the service done at OPC Cardiff and see if there is anything that I can screw out of the warranty in its last 14 days of existence? Or.... 2. Go to an Independent.......and who on earth do I go to within reasonable distance of Glouestershire? I have negotiated Cardiff OPC down 10% off the menu price of the major service and will be supplying my own oil.....as I can get Mobil 1 for around £25 a tub!! That brings the price of my service down to about £835.00. Have any of you any good or bad experiences of OPC Cardiff? (please pm me with any comments if you dont want it to be said publicly?). And can anyone recommend and justify going to an independent which is within reasonable distance of the Gloucester/Cheltenham area with suitable experience of servicing a 996 TT? I have decided that being a Turbo, the RMS/IMS issues do not apply, the engines are reliable (!) and surely most of the other things are wear and tear anyway!! Had the Porsche warranty remained at £895 with no re-inspection required, I may have considered renewing! So much for the previous owners 5 year support of the Porsche dealer network! Based on some of the experiences I've read about with OPC's I am terrified of going to one! Will they wrestle my wallet from me kicking and screaming and rugby tackle me on the forecourt until they have had some decent wedge out of me? Or will OPC Cardiff just do the service as I ask them to?? I get the impression that they are umm...."not" too busy at the moment!! What would you lot do if it was your car?

Dealers are more subtle than that. It will be while you are balancing the coffee on one knee and juggling with the milk and spoon with both hands you will feel a simultaneous lightness in your pocket and a pain in the part you are sitting on. That way they leave no visible marks

I have the same dilemma, although 33,000m and a X50 tip...I am thinking of putting £1400 aside each year just in case ...and getting friendly with an Indy for service...expected annual mileage of 4,000.. any suggestions :? Dan

I've got a 23,000 mile 2003 996TT with an indie warranty from Paragon and I sleep very soundly at night :sleepy: :sleepy: :sleepy: :sleepy: :sleepy: :sleepy:

Any other ideas guys?

Yes, most definitely! At 56k surely it's only an oil-service so the cheapest one anyway, just make sure they fully check the car and fix everything!

Cheers Damian. However, the servicing is out of sync due to having slightly (!) higher miles than it should so it actually needs a major service this time. I want to do the screwing for a change and want the garrantee that I'm going to pay an agreed service price and they won't do anything that I do not agree to! The car drives perfectly yet something tells me they will try to say that the car is a wreck and needs this doing and that doing...all surprisingly not covered by the warranty!! Lets hope I am pleasantly surprised! I'm still struggling to find a decent indy within reasonable distance of Gloucester?? Should I go down that route! I'm thinking that porsches are serviced at OPC's so they dont drop in value so much but the values are dropping anyway!! And most buyers in the future would realise that a good independant would do as good as and if not better job at maintianing it than an OPC? Or is this flawed thinking on my part?

1) Just tell them you want the ??k mile service and nothing more apart from warranty work. On the Porsche GB website there is a pdf with the service menu and prices. They cant deviate from this if you ell them you only want service & warranty work done. 2) Any buyer who knows about Porsche will happily accept service stamps from a decent Indy. A general punter might not, but if they dont know much about Porsche they are probably easy to convince anyway. If I was buying, I would prefer to see stamps from a good indy, accompanied by invoices showing the car was cared for, rather than stamps from my local OPC.

Cheers Wagonface. That is going to be my plan, I will have the "Year 6" service (around 57,000 miles) done at the end of November as I am also having my wheels refurbed at the same OPC courteousy of Herefordshire Council due to them providing a huge hole in the ground for me to drive into!! OPC Cardiff quoted £235 to refurb all four as they couldnt gaurantee a colour match with the non damaged ones! So a service at the same time as the car is there, and hopefully milk a few warranty freebies from the previous owners hard earned cash!! (he's probably in a care home now, mumbling and rocking due to Tonbridge Porsche!!) Will keep you all posted! Thanks for all the advice!

Hi Ian. I have a 2003 996 C2. I've always taken it to Porsche CMD in Pyle near Bridgend (01656 746262) http://www.thomsonlocal.com/CMD-Porsche-Specailist/0327693200101354000/map/companyinfo.html The guy that runs it is Andrew David - I've no personal interest in his business at all but, my God does he make a change from any OPC! My own personal experience of OPC Cardiff has not been bad at all. But I want to sit and chat to the mechanic who's just serviced my car - not just enter my PIN and leave! Andrew will take you through everything he's done on your car and give any advice that he thinks might be of interest. There is also one other indy that I've heard of but never used: RS Porsche (Penarth, Cardiff) 02920 706944. The first thing I noticed with Andrew is that he'll give you loads of his knowledgeable time on the 'phone before he's got anywhere near taking any cash from you. I'd give him a call and explain your dilemma - he seems to be very reasonable and objective and doesn't just slag off the OPCs just for the sake of it. "If I was buying, I would prefer to see stamps from a good indy, accompanied by invoices showing the car was cared for, rather than stamps from my local OPC." ....Totally agree with this too! Let us know how you get on! Adrian.

Andrew thats great, thanks for that. I will speak to the individuals mentioned. That is such a great help! I've got a very good friend who works in Pyle, and lives just up the road in Caerau so I may invade his premises and demand beer!!

No problem, Dave! It's always a bit risky recommending people but hopefully you'll find (Andrew) as good as I have. ...Don't attempt anything without beer! (Except driving, etc ) Adrian.

Lol, thanks Adrian.

I have just spoken to WarrantyWise - quite impressed. Cover up to £5000 per single claim!! Ring 0800 169 7880 I spoke to Kevin Fergusson, very helpful guy indeed!! Quoted me £550 for a year!! Let me know if any good - I will be taking this route from December 12th!!

OPC Cardiff have been superb with my car - very happy, and I'm not easy to please. Martin Wright is the chap I deal with. As per my other post on the Warranty issue - I'm going to stick with the OPC, but it seems I may be in the minority. Not sure why as the option of a two year factory equivalent warranty on an ageing supercar seems bloody amazing to me.