Servicing Recommendations

[Chadders743]

Hi all, My 987.1 is due a two year service, I have been looking for a good Indy in our area. I have heard D&G in North Shields are good, but seem to be getting negative vibes about Tom Ferguson Gateshead? Please let me know of your suggestions/recommendations. Are OPC that much more expensive?

Thanks All.

 

[Eldavo]

D&G looked after the 987.1 we had - in fact I had them do a PPI on it too. They also look after my 996 and are in the middle of rebuilding the engine on my 944T too.

Absolutely zero complaints at all and I would wholeheartedly recommend them.

Tom Ferguson has been around a long time and have a generally good reputation - like any garage/service you’ll get mixed reviews. I’ve used them in the past but for me personally I don’t anymore.

OPC do offer a ”fixed price” servicing menu for the older cars but read the small print carefully as it doesn’t often include what you would expect and these become fully chargeable extras. You will get a flashy new courtesy car to play with for the day but just remember you’re effectively paying for that one way or another. Worth calling Tim at Teesside Porsche and seeing what he can do or speaking to him or one of the team at a club night.

 

[Mfitzz]

Hi Chadders,

First of all the most important factor in deciding which garage to use is trust and experience over purely costs.

(The bitterness of poor quality remains long after low pricing is forgotten.)

Regarding costs. Being a PCGB member you can register with your OPC Newcastle/Teesside which enables you a generous discount on labour/parts costs.Its a sliding scale giving the most discount to cars over 10yrs circa 50%. Discount doesnt apply to fixed costs such as servicing,alignment etc.

I help out at D&G a couple of days a week so you can factor in perhaps a little bias.

All the social media/forums etc talk for themselves regarding D&G and im sure Tom Ferguson.

What i personally find as a plus with D&G is that they will give you the option of refurbishing/repairing a part and the chance of upgrading to an after market part which can work out to be cheaper.

They will guide on advisories and work out a time scale to suit the individuals needs.

Labour costs are 50% cheaper than OPC but similar for a car over 10yrs old with their discount.

Good luck

 

[davidbradford]

+1 for what the guys have said above. Great advice as always.

My personal view I can only comment on Tom as I've only had my car serviced there. Bought it from him too. Tom is very old school and there is nothing he doesn't know about Porsche. Great to have a chat with. I've never had any issues with service from him, and in fact he's helped me out at very short notice when a couple of my coil packs failed. He also fixed niggles like doors locks and micro switches failures very quickly under warranty. The car was advertised to come with two keys but only had one so he sorted a replacement with no argument or cost.

Just don't expect a new Macan loan car, you'll get a beaten up old Volvo probably ;-)

David.

 

[Kevin Ervin]

I have always found D&G to be both a useful source of information and very realistic when it comes to pricing. When I bought my 987 Gary at D&G gave it a full inspection and charged me less than £100, probably out of compassion having showed me the bore scored cylinder. He has reassured me concerning a couple of suspension advisories which came up on the recent OPC MOT inspection and made some excellent suggestions regarding remedies. So, all in all, a good experience. Hope that helps.

 

[Jasperjim]

Opc will be more expensive. I use always Tom for my 3 cars he is undoubtedly the most experienced Porsche engineer in the the North East Charges £60 per hour and is dead straight about everything he does. His colleagues are all very well experienced with all Porsche. D and G, I have never used them but understand they can struggle with the classic porsches. Alastair

 

[Chadders743]

Thanks everyone for your advice I will make a few phone calls to the various businesses before I make my choice. Its always testing, trying to get the balance between cost and quality of service.