On Monday August 13th I called Porsche Roadside Assistance for a tow after finding an oil puddle under my in-warranty 911 GTS. Porsche suggested towing it to Rusnak Porsche in Pasadena as the closest dealer. Many years ago I had another 911 serviced there, and while in for service it got scratched, leaving me uneasy that they don’t pay proper attention to customers’ cars.

My first problem was the tow. I scheduled it for 8am Tuesday. The driver showed up at my home at 12:45am, waking my wife and scaring her half to death as she was alone (I was out of town, returning that morning). I called Porsche again, and had the car picked up at 8am and let them know clearly they screwed up. Not a Rusnak problem. But still…

To make sure there was no misunderstanding about the condition of my car and the problems needing correction (I also have de-laminating headlights), I typed a letter and tipped the tow truck driver $20 to give it to the employee checking in my car. I wanted CLARITY that my car has NO damage when they took control of it.

I called Rusnaks service department Tuesday afternoon to confirm receipt of my car and its condition. No call back. I then called Wednesday. No call back. Then Thursday. No response. I called Friday, and FINALLY a woman named Chleo called me back and said they found my car. What???? At this point I’m pissed. Am I going to have a repeat of the last Rusnak disaster? My car has a ton of carbon fiber, and I know for fact that Porsche carbon will warp if left in direct sunlight. It happened with the last 911 I had. I called Chleo back, told her I was pissed, and told her CLEARLY to make sure my car is not left outside. She promised to take care of that.

On Saturday I began thinking “These people don’t give a sh*t about customer cars” and decided to make the 2 hour round trip drive to make sure it was parked inside in these near-record hot temperatures. There it was. Not only outside, it was parked in the only spot with no shade. My front window sunshade stored wasn’t even used. I asked for the General Manager and told him of my displeasure. He first apologized but then made the dumbest comment ever saying “Not to take the side of service but the tow truck driver just dropped it off.” WHAT???? Now you are blaming the tow truck driver? How about all my ignored phone calls? Doesn’t ANYBODY here take responsibility?

You want to take your car here? If so cover your *** and take pictures or a video of it, and be ready for lack of attention and poor communication. I own and have owned a lot of cars and you would THINK that Porsche being a premium brand would have premium service. No true at Rusnak.

UPDATE 1

My car was in service for 30 days for no reason except they could not order the correct parts. I’ll spare you the gory details of mistakes over and over and promises broken. During that time I was told TWICE my car was going to be delivered “this afternoon” and arranged to leave work early to receive it, only to be told they had gotten the wrong parts AGAIN. A month gone. Though they did park it inside for the last 3 weeks it was there, a bunch of junk got into the paint and I sure as hell was not going to let THEIR detailer touch it. I’ll pay mine $180 to do it right.

Update 2

When I got the car back, I noted the illuminated entry doorjam light was out. I was not about to take a chance and give it back to Rusnak, so decided to wait. Well I didn’t have to wait long. Drove the car a couple times, and on 10/31 I was greeted by another puddle of oil that caused all of this in the first place.

Update 3

It’s been a week. They changed the lower transmission pan and gasket I assume, and it still leaks. Found out today my transmission is “leaking internally” whatever that means. They want to replace the transmission with a factory rebuilt one. I say no. The car has 10K miles on it. Would YOU take one????

I’ve always known Porsches are problem cars. I’ve had several. But they are worse than ever. My Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio is a daily driver and I BEAT IT because it’s so fun to drive. The 911 gets babied truth be told. Like many, it’s a Garage Queen.

My Alfa had it’s first scheduled service done in less than 2 hours. Porsche? Slow service. No parts in the United States even for simple things like for headlight lenses.

Why people put up with this and give excuses to Porsche is unbelievable.

One more point: Just got a call from the service manager, and he stated that the Porsche rebuilt transmissions are 100% new except the cases. Well I don't take anybody's word, so asked for a written document clarifying what is replaced. You would think I was speaking another language, or that I insulted the God Almighty by questioning Porsche. The Service Manager said "All we're trying to do is help you and your throwing it back in our face" What?????

1. You buy a re-manufactured part at Pep Boys for $200, and THEY will tell you what's replaced in writing.
2. While I guess they have tried to help me, every complaint I've listed above is 100% true and NOT exaggerated.

 

Did you get a nice loaner?

 

I guess we'll see your car in the classifieds soon. But I disagree that Porsches are crap, and the same for dealers since I have dealt with some great dealers and have had some great Porsches over the years. One bad example does not define a brand.

 

I have noticed a marked decrease in tech expertise and attention to detail. For example, and I appreciate that this may be picky, the dealer switched my summer tires and rims for the winter set (dealer stores them). Every six months or so year they balance, install the tires, and adjust the car's 19 or 20 inch W and S settings. They also check the tire pressure. I got the car back with winter tires over inflated by 10 pounds. They just didn't check the proper inflation for these tires and, if they looked the car reported the pressure.

 

It's always sucks when a Porsche needs to be tow-in and received crappy service....
I recently had an unfortunate chance to called and used Porsche Roadside Assistance.. In the worst opportunity.... Finally had chance to dropped off our kids to the visiting in-law and alone time with my wife. So we decided to take a 3-day mini vacation in our Cayenne, it was supposed to be our longest drive/trip in this car- over 1,000 miles. Not even half way, engine warning light came on, started feeling rumbling. After about 20 miles existed highway, at red light, the car started shaking and almost die on me, so we pulled-in to the truck stop parking lot. Called the PRA, confirmed the location and contact info. Immediately got the automated confirm call back for the E.T.A. of the tow truck, The tow company also called and confirm the info. It was pretty much in the middle of nowhere highway truck stop.... Closest Enterprise was 30+ miles away..... Closed to 2PM on Friday afternoon while the tow truck was about 1.5 hrs away....
Long story short. The closest Porsche dealer was Porsche Riverside (Walter's) about 2 hours away. Contacted several different service advisers and they were able to secure a driveable car for me at last minute (when I picked up the car, it was indeed a Porsche loaner car). Around 7PM (after hours) got a call from Porsche Riverside confirmed my car was dropped off in their lot and will start looking first thing in the following Monday. Got call the following Monday morning, described the possible condition and they need to verify with Porsche USA. Next day, the parts arrived and fixed the problem.
Quite frankly, I was very disappointed with this particular Porsche- Cayenne, it only has about 48,000 miles on it and already replaced coolant & relative parts and now the malfunction fuel injector (this time). But I am very satisfying with Panamera and the 911 so far.
To be fair, it really depends on the tow truck company and the dealer you have to contact with. I think with the growing volume of Porsche is having, their service is still in deed one of the top consistent for a "volume" luxury brand.

 

Well, my advise don't buy a Ferrari or a Lamborghini, if you think this is taking long you would be pulling your hair out. Okay so I just bought Porsche # 42 and car #461 (yup those numbers are real) and I have 3 Porsches at the moment. I have had issues with cars before, with every brand. I got my start with taking cars apart from owning MG's Triumph's, & Jensen Healey's (yes I'm old), when you owned those cars you either learned how to work on cars or you didn't go anywhere. I have found Porsche's to be pretty reliable and considering all but two of the ones I owned was thoroughly modified (including two 996tt's converted to RWD). Not sure how old you people are but things have changed in the last few decades. The concept of loaner cars and free towing services are not something I grew up with. Your car broke you fixed it, hell they all broke at some point. I guess you all from this era are spoiled, you have come to expect a lot, maybe that is not a bad thing, but not always realistic as you can see. Happy Thanksgiving

 

Good story that I have to agree with. I wish I knew more about cars that I could fix myself. But to be honest, cars today are a lot more complicated where computers control most of what goes on. In the old days, you had a spare tire. Not anymore - you are forced to get a tow. BIG time waster and inconvenience! Also, while on the subject of "fixing cars" today's "mechanics" are just symptom fixers and error code readers - they don't know how to diagnose anything, they just fix whatever the computer says is wrong - no code means nothing is wrong.

 

 

See there are I have had RR's for over 20 years, have a V8 supercharged Autobiography now, no issues. Then again mine are equipped with Nokian snow tires and are only used in bad weather.

 

This is quite possibly the red ribbon award winner for bad service. This is definitely an outlier based on my experience with 7 Porsches I’ve owned, including a 2004 Cayenne S which was an absolute beast and reliable as Hell.
If your GTS was a garage queen, that’s part of the problem on a flat six.
Drive the car man!!

 

 

 

The Porsche after-sales service is absolutely diabolical - especially given what we pay for these cars.
The service advisors only goal is to up-sell at every opportunity.
I am not surprised by your awful experience, especially given that your car is probably being repaired by technicians and not seasoned mechanics.
They follow the service manual to the letter, and Germany is called for anything that deviates in the slightest.
There is no fault finding - just replace and send the entire component back to Germany for analysis.

The last time they serviced my car it was literally being worked on by a fetus. The kid was so young it was ridiculous.. and the problem wasn't resolved.