My Porsche Dealer wants $189.00

For an oil change!!! Is that out of line?

I have paid Jiffy Lube over the years anywhere from 90 to 120 depending on where I am.

Seems like too much to me.

Would you trust your Porsche to Jiffy Lube?

I have to admit I would take my Boxster to the dealership before I took it to a Jiffy Lube.

"Bart, with $10,000, we'd be millionaires! We could buy all kinds of useful things like...love!"

blame me for the higher prices. When I was back there a year or so ago I talked with the service manager and he was amazed at the prices west coast dealers were charging for things like tire mounting/balancing.

What I do is with my service manager's permission is supply the oil. The service manager tells me PCNA charges a pretty hefty premium over what I can buy the oil for. Additionally there's a shipping charge. The SM tells me that this can be a huge charge. PCNA doesn't apparently seek out some business arrangement with a shipper to lower its shipping costs. I've been told 3 maybe 4 different shippers are used.The result is shipping costs are high. The upside is that in most cases parts/supplies for a service/repair arrive in pretty short order. One would guess prompt turnaround on one's car has priority. The SM tells me in most cases the dealer eats the shipping charge.

Anyhow, I buy Mobil 1 5w-50 at a local Mobil oil distributor for a few dollars less per quart than say I can buy Mobil 1 0w-40 at the local auto parts store. I needed a quart of this oil the other day and paid around $10/quart including tax for it. Doesn't seem too long ago I paid $6.99/quart and thought that was high.

Also, I can get a bit of a break a discount with my PCA membership.

With me supplying the oil an oil/filter service costs me around $125 or thereabouts. If I have the dealer supply the oil this easily drives the oil/filter service cost to IIRC around $250.

I'm with others... I'd take my Porsches to a dealer rather than to a quickie lube place.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

I think so, unless you are willing to do it yourself. Considering the amount of oil that goes into these cars (nine quarts), more than a third of that cost will simply be the oil, not including the filter. Jiffy Lube is in business to service your average American car with its average engine. What sort of oil does your local Jiffy Lube use, is it even synthetic? Mine does have an off brand that they buy by the tanker load. They don't open the individual cans/bottles of oil and pore it into your car. It may come from a big underground tank and pumped directly in based on a computer determination of the amount squirted into the engine.

While you don't necessarily have to use Mobil 1 in your Porsche, I'd certainly want to stick with a high quality synthetic since Porsche's service requirements are based on the attributes of synthetics. The average american car has an oil change interval at 3 months or 3,500 miles. Porsche has it at one year or 15,000 miles. Huge a$$ difference there.

I'm not knocking the Lube. I've used them in the past for our family's pedestrian sedans when they've been cheaper than the dealer, which from time to time have issued coupons for various services). I know the Lube's cheapest prices are based on their offbrand sludge. To go up to a Pennzoil or something is not much different than the dealer.

For a dealer, $189 doesn't sound too bad. Jiffy Lube in my area won't touch a Porsche but I wouldn't let them even if they did. My indie charges $125 for an oil change including oil, filter and crush ring.

Most of the time I do it myself and buy the parts via mail order and the oil at a local auto parts place. Probably saves me around $35 from that. Changing the oil in these cars is pretty easy with a set of ramps and a catch pan to drain the oil. Since I change it really often, like after every DE, it adds up.

Dave - 06 987 S coupe SG/NL; gone (but still my first love): 03 986 AS/GG/BK;

I bring the crush ring, filter, oil and even an extra clean drain plug. They add ~$35 in labor and the use of their lift. I stand there and watch. I take any extra oil home with me along with the dirty oil plug in a baggie. I drive away with clean hands and clothes. Has worked for years...no drips. I check the level after the 10 mile trip home.

I live in a labor market where turnover is low so the same guys have been doing the change for several years.

What they don't do for that cost is provide any inspection-while-the-oil-drains expertise. I know that and that is a risk I take to save around 100 bucks.

Drive a Porsche, use good oil, run on PS2s but go to the quick change. We all differ about what we all spend on or save on.

Last oil and filter change for SilverBox at the Porsche dealer was $165 (price reflects their own $25 off coupon). Since they do a total check of everything at the same time I am comfortable with the cost.

I know not everyone wants to get under their car and get dirty but if you do it one time, you'll know there is no magic to the maintenance procedure. With the knowledge learned through the DYI, You'll know the dealer is charging too much for this simple service.

I use Castrol Syntec 5 or 10W-40 (depending on availability). At some point during the year, I can find it available for $5 per quart. OEM filter is $10 and a crush ring is $.25. So for $55 plus tax, and less than one hour of time I perform this service myself.

I'm not saying that $189 is out of line for one dealership versus another, its just too high period.

dghii
2000 Boxster S 6speed 112k miles

...wife's car.

The last oil change at my dealer cost $188.06 (or $169.25 after a 10% PCA discount.) The largest charge was for labor - $106.00 for an hour. The Porsche service manual says to allow about 20 minutes to completely drain the oil. There goes $35.33. That leaves $70.67 for about 40 minutes of actual work. The rest of the cost was $26.24 for a filter insert; $1.32 for a new crush washer; and $64.50 for the oil - 0W40 Mobil 1.

Obviously, free service, like some car brands offer as an inducement to buy, would be better. But, I don't have any oil disposal obligations nor any oil change paraphernalia storage problems in my already crowded (read messy) garage. I am also a believer in the possibility that always trying to do things as cheaply as possible is often a false economy.

Bill

At the dealer what is *supposed* to happen is an oil service - which has about a dozen specified checks that take place coincidentally with the oil change. I somehow doubt they all get done except superficially.

Now, the basic cost of an oil change on a 987/6 is high. 9 qts of synthetic (let's say $7/qt) plus a filter that retails for $18. That's nearly $70 in parts. So $100 is really quite reasonable. My GP indie charges $100 for the two boxsters he does every decade. $189 - well, its a dealer. I've never, ever been back. Takes me 45 minutes including getting the car on ramps. I get to see the oil, specify the oil, check the level, pre-fill the filter so it runs dry less, torque the plug, inspect the filter, etc. It takes me 45 minutes to drop the car off somewhere!

No you knwo the basic facts. You decide.

Grant

I had to laugh because I paid $299 for my annual oil change last month and I've seen prices in my area as high as $350. Your price of $189 is probably what we'd pay an independent garage in my neighborhood. You're getting a bargain -- at least from my vantage point.

I've done it myself.

2 large jugs of Castrol Syntec or 9 qts of Mobil 1 - $60 retail 'sale' price.
Filter - $15
drain plug gasket -$0.50

No way I would pay a dealer to do it. - ever. I only drive it March-November at the most. I do one change a year.

Given the amount of oil it requires, $189 sounds 'reasonable' for a Pcar dealership.....

Seems about right, considering parts alone are about $100. I always do it myself because I want to do it right. I doubt the dealer waits as long as I do for all the old oil to drip out. I've also heard horror stories about bad things happening at the dealer like putting the wrong fluid in the wrong place or cars getting dented, etc. I only take my care to the dealer (or mechanic) only when I absolutely must.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/2011 05:43PM by boxsterd. (view changes)