Lars997:
I always did everything at the Porsche Center. Especially meanwhile you are in guarantee it makes sense, but even on my old 997 - all services at my Porsche Center. BUT - nowadays they call 160 € per hour for the mechanic, this is just insane! Luckily next to my town a new independent Porsche specialist opened. Those guys have been in another town for around 20 years - ultra modern workshop, new building, all technology - even software upgrades are no problem. From now on I will go there for my service - why? First of all 80 € per hour second - those guys are enthusiasts, they love what they do, so I know my car is good hands. The Porsche center uses young people still in training for doing the "normal" service stuff and for that I do not want to overpay anymore!
My Porsche Center actually makes most money with service, not selling cars. If I do not service my car at my dealer, I do not support them. I get it, you want to save money but if I do not support my dealer, he will be gone at some point and I don't want that. Having a dealer/repair shop that close to home is worth gold for me, so I am taking the bitter pill, paying higher rates for repairs and service.
Also, from my experience, smaller independent Porsche dealers cook with water too, as we say here and even if they have lower cost than official dealers and thus can offer better prices/rates, they sometimes try to improve their gain further but not doing exactly what is necessary. It is also my experience that they lack the latest software updates, documentation and work action information but of course they would never admit that.
Yes, there are bad official Porsche Centers too, oh boy...no doubt about it. I am happy with mine though, I know almost all mechanics, I even know their families and talk to them all the time about the kids and daily problems, my relationship to them couldn't be better and this is what I really love. I feel good there, so I am willing to pay for that too.
--
RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Porsche 991 Turbo S (Oct. 5th 2013), Cayenne GTS (958), BMW X3 35d (2013)