Porsche Reading

[Mudskipper]

I’m a big fan of Porsche cars but I’ve finally lost faith in Porsche Reading.

The last straw was when I went in to talk about the Boxster GTS 4.0 that they are now taking orders for. I was seriously considering putting a deposit down and looking to trade in my wonderful 981S for the GTS 4.0.

However, after a having a good look at my high spec, low mileage, fpsh 981 which is still under Porsche warranty and in very good condition, the valuation they offered for trade-in was very disappointing.


Just for fun I checked and Porsche Reading offered less than I could get via WeBuyAnyCar.com!!

.... and they wanted to reserve the right to revise the valuation to allow for more depreciation before delivery of the new car.

I have dealt with Porsche Reading for a long time since I bought my first (of 4) Boxsters from them many years ago.


In recent years, the servicing / repairs that I’ve had done there has always been a matter of fending off extra, unwanted services that they want to sell me.

I have complained to them previously in person and via their post-service survey. All that changed is that they stopped asking me to complete their surveys!

Anyone else having similar experience and/or can recommend another Porsche Centre for buying and servicing the excellent Porsche motors?

 

[graham.webb]

Can't comment on the OPC, but I have had the same Part Ex issue with two BMW dealers. WBAC valuation was better, so on both occasions I concluded they didn't want to sell me a car. They really only want to sell you finance...

 

[GrahamW]

For servicing outside of Porsche warranty, why not try Northway just a little way down the A4 from Reading OPC? For Selling without hassle try Ashgood. They are ALWAYS MUCH better than Reading and easy to deal with.

 

[tigertrout]

Unfortunally I have had the same experience with Porsche Reading.Very over rated prices on service and repairs,I have raised this with the after slaes manager but she just said they have a high labour cost at the branch. I feel all they are interested in is money and making as much profit as possible.I use Porsche Swindon now for service and repairs,much cheaper and honest. I live 5mins from Porsche Reading but the extra 40min drive is worth it to Swindon to know I am not being ripped off. As someone else has said Ray Northway is very good if your car is not under warranty and he also buys cars.

 

[brianahern]

Plus one for Swindon.

Very very good.

 

[henleymag]

I’ve had a recent similar experience at OPC Reading as Mudskipper. I was looking to upgrade from my 2016 C2 and went in to look at a Agate Grey GTS. This wasn’t for me, but they appraised my car - £1k above webuyanycar.com! The car has done big miles but is in great condition, with £20k of extras.

I asked about cost of change for a very low mileage 991.2 C4S that was in West London, part of the same Porsche Retail Group. Very keen for me to buy it, and said it would be in Reading the next morning. No movement on sticker price, and absolutely no increase on PX - I left!

10 days later, I bought the car directly from West London, a bit better PX price but £5k off the sticker price. Excellent service from Daniel Legg.

Picked it up on Wednesday - thrilled with car, but won’t deal with Reading again. They‘re greedy and complacent.

 

[Peter_Bull]

I had a very similar experience with my 981.

I have shown nothing but loyalty to my own PC over a number of years and when I asked about a valuation against a highly speccc'd Cayman GTS 4.0 I was very dissapointed with the Offer they came back with. WBAC.com came back with a better figure!!!

It was the same with my wife's BMW 4 convertible. When it was 6 months old she fancied a X3 so I asked for a valuation. The joker came back with a drop of more than 40% of what we paid for it. She's keeping it.

Car dealers are are all the same. The old days of the friendly Porsche dealerships are long gone and all they are interested in is lease sales and other finance deals.

I'll shop around and use my dosh to get the best value for me.

 

[ted walker]

I have bought my last 5 Porsches from OPC Bristol. They are proper people who care about their customers as well as support our R16 group.

 

[geoff lane]

I have a lot of time for OPC Tewkesbury who have treated me very well, they are in the same group as Bristol who I have also bought a car from and I can confirm they were again very good. It is interesting to note that Swindon,Tewkesbury and Bristol are all part of the Dick Lovett group. That possibly tells us something.

 

[scud626]

I'm new to 991 ownership and took my 991 S to Porsche reading to have an oil change as I have had the car one year after buying it from Porsche Hatfield.

Terrible experience.
They told me the car would be done in the day and then only put on the ramp at 5pm. So it rolled to the next day. Then told me it was ready the following day to collect and I turned up, but it wasn't. So in the end collected it after 3 days there.
Then they sent me a video with apparently the following needed doing urgently- brake fluid, drive belt, spark plugs, air filter, aircon, auxiliary unit mount check, drains and ducts (its garaged). All added up to about £1,700. All of these bar the drains were done at the major service at Hatfield when I bought it. Reading claimed there was no record - despite the service book in the glove box detailing all of that. They couldn't even explain what the auxiliary unit mount check was when I asked.

And then the oil change was charged at £500! Which I assumed was usual Porsche dealer over charge until I found Porsche Swindon charged £300.
I'll be going to Swindon from now on.

 

[jdpef356]

Some shocking stuff both with buying and servicing issues. Would appear some franchises are not upto standard.

No excuse, you pay top money for both the cars and servicing. If some Porsche centres can get it right why cant others?[:-]

 

[SL Boy]

I knew very little about Porsche prior to buying my first in 2007. I was introduced by friends to Porsche Mid Sussex and they have looked after us ever since. Never put a foot wrong with either sales or service. Their dealer principal, Andy Crabb, takes a personal interest in everything that goes on. It's quite a hike there from where we live a few miles from Reading but worth it to get excellent attention to detail from a friendly and efficient team.

 

[Robin]

This thread is interesting and quite shocking to learn of the way owners are dealt with by the OPC's.
I do not, and have never had any OPC touch any of my three Porsche cars, I only very occasionally use them for parts.
Recently, and I have no idea how they organised it, attended a car show in a nearby village, (150+ cars and hundreds of people!) I parked our 356 in front of an attendee who had a McLaren 620L? He said he was a Porsche fan and only bought his McLaren after being badly dealt with at our local OPC in Hatfield. He is a carpenter and went into the showroom after work one day to ask about a new GT4 and they treated him as if he was a nobody, probably because of the way he was dressed. Porsche lost a customer, who will probably never return, who was cosseted by McLaren when he bought his car.
If you have ever met anyone from the Porsche family in earlier days, they would be horrified to learn of these experiences.
It does not bode well for future sales. Well done for the independent companies who look after us.