Just looked through the sheaf of bills and Hartech charged me £180 plus VAT to do mine two years ago, but that was part of a full suspension rebuild with all the bushes changed so everything was coming apart anyway. £300 plus VAT does sound like a lot. It may be that they are swamped out with other work and not really looking for new 944 projects, so quoted high, it may also be that most of the 20 year old cars that they see for the first time are absolute horrors where everything is completely original, completely worn out and every adjuster seized solid, so they are trying to ensure that if you do go into them, you don;t end up with an unexpectedly large bill. It may simply be that they can charge that because they are known to be good, and it's still cheaper than Chris Franklin (anyone know what he's charging these days?). As Nick suggests, it may well be that being prepared to travel a bit will get you good quality setup at a better price.
I guess at Hartech a 944 cost wise for labour is the same as a brand new 911 GT3 RS and gets the same treatment.
It does get the same treatment as any other car they work on, and that's why I've gone there in the past, and to Promax, and there are some other places which I haven't tried but where I believe the same is also true. I struggle to see why it should cost any less. It is usually harder to do a given job on a 22 year old car than on a new one. Old age and condition can make the job harder, but apart from that the basic complexity of the work, the value of the equipment used, and the skill required to do it all is the same, whether it's a 944 or a 997. Even amongst 911s why would it cost any less on a £8K 3.0 911SC than on a new £150K GT3 4.0RS?
£300 plus vat, plus if it takes longer, potentially £500, is a hell of a lot of money on a cheap car
Well, yes, I know how that feels. But it's not a cheap car. It's an expensive car which has gone through a lot of depreciation. With age the capital value generally goes down but the running costs go up. This is just one of the realities of old Porsche ownership, I'm afraid.
I'm not saying everyone has to expect to spend thousands on their car every year, by any means. Of course there are lots of jobs where a competent and well-equipped home mechanic can save a lot of money over top-notch indy rates on a 20 year old Porsche, including routine servicing of many items and quite a lot of more involved projects, depending on ability and the facilities available. There's been some great work done by forum members far more competent than I, done to world class standards. Another big source of savings on a 20 to 30 year old Porsche car can be getting parts off scrappers, especially things that don't really wear in normal use, or corrode. But suspension set up on a car where everything is adjustable is very much in the specialist arena, both for equipment and expertise.