Indie repair shop for Boxster in SE Michigan

[bwillis]

I'm looking for recommendations for an independant dealer in SE Michigan (Ann Arbor area).

I would like more personal service to take my 98 Boxster to for service instead of having to deal with the Porsche dealership.

Any help appreciated!

[99C2_Riyanto]

Hi bwillis, unfortunately the shops that I have used are quite a way from Ann Arbor. I have had my 996 serviced at Munk's (indie) in Waterford, Fred Lavery (dealership) in Birmingham, and Automotive Technique (indie) in Farmington Hills. I have not tried Auto Europe in Birmingham, a Lotus and Morgan dealership that have sold and serviced porsches for the longest time and have heard many good things about them.

I have not had service done at Bill Cook's (Suburban) Porsche, but a guy that I know have serviced his 996 Turbo there and didn't have a good experience. So, I steered away from them just to be safe. I don't want to get into the details of his not so good experience in an open forum like this, since it was not my personal experience.

I know you said you want to try to avoid dealerships, but my experiences at Fred Lavery have been really nice. The technician, Kern, is very experienced and diagnoses problems very accurately. As for indie, I also had a good experience at Automotive Techniques with its owner/mechanic, Jeff Jones. I think I'll keep on using both these shops for my service needs.

They both have advantages.

Indie: I get to discuss options/problems with owner/mechanic directly as opposed to going through a service advisor middleman. More flexibility in discussing after-market parts/upgrades, custom jobs, or ala carte maintenance. When I take my car in for service, I get my DE tech inspection done and some general look-over underneath the car for no charge. Try to get a dealership to do that for free.

Dealership:

Fixed time units for labor! I love this. Sure, the hourly rate is $115, but with fixed time units for every job, repairs labor cost has been lower or same with indie. Plus, Porsche nationwide warranty. Convenient shuttle car to and from work, no need to ask friends for pick ups/drop offs. Shop opens 7AM-Midnight. I can practically pick up/drop off my car anytime.

Hope that helps. Sorry, I don't know anything closer to Ann Arbor.