stupid question-extended warranty?

[bigrita]

Just bought my dream car--2003 996 c4 convertible--silver w black leather interior. Beautiful. 16,000 miles one owner lease. Having debate with some friends...buy or not buy extended warranty? from local dealership or elsewhere? Came through PPI w flying colors. Went out of warranty about 1 month before purchase. help?

[gaspasser19]

Just bought my dream car--2003 996 c4 convertible--silver w black leather interior. Beautiful. 16,000 miles one owner lease. Having debate with some friends...buy or not buy extended warranty? from local dealership or elsewhere? Came through PPI w flying colors. Went out of warranty about 1 month before purchase. help?

Congrats on the new member of the family! I bought my 2003 C4 cab back in May. Mine's midnight blue/beige and I got it CPO @ HBL Porsche in the DC area. So far, I have had pretty good luck with the car. My one experience with Porsche service was pretty favorable but if I had been paying the bill it would have been over $2000 to fix an exhaust rattle and chase a ghost in one of the gauges. So, I guess it depends on how much the warranty is going to cost. I'm very happy that I have two more years...

Tim

[PeterK]

Just bought my dream car--2003 996 c4 convertible--silver w black leather interior. Beautiful. 16,000 miles one owner lease. Having debate with some friends...buy or not buy extended warranty? from local dealership or elsewhere? Came through PPI w flying colors. Went out of warranty about 1 month before purchase. help?

Congrats on the new member of the family! I bought my 2003 C4 cab back in May. Mine's midnight blue/beige and I got it CPO @ HBL Porsche in the DC area. So far, I have had pretty good luck with the car. My one experience with Porsche service was pretty favorable but if I had been paying the bill it would have been over $2000 to fix an exhaust rattle and chase a ghost in one of the gauges. So, I guess it depends on how much the warranty is going to cost. I'm very happy that I have two more years...

Tim

You know, I've asked a local p-car dealer if they would do a CPO on a used, but still-under-the-warranty car and they assured me that it can't be done! They said that the only way a p-car dealer can issue a CPO status is by selling a used car. So I guess it was the usual dealer BS, then? How much did you pay to CPO a car?

[viper501]

Most are not worth the paper that they are printed on. Porsche's is obviously a different story. But, the aftermarket companies put lots of fine print in and then they put the burden on you to prove that the part/failure/etc is covered and not excluded by some clause. I'd save the cash and invest it. You may end up paying more but at least you know that you haven't bought something useless. As way of illustration, my next door neighbor bought an M5 and aftermarket warranty from the dealer. The tranny goes bad a few months back, not as a result of any abuse but a fairly well-know design flaw. The independent BMW tech (great guy, very reputable) yanks the tranny and tears it down. Finds that there is a detent inside of the case that has spun itself off-axis. Warranty company sends someone to 'inspect' it. They say its not a 'lubricated' part of the tranny and is excluded. Well that's interesting seeing how its covered in lubricant. I referred him to a local consumer law attorney, who he is having to pay, to get the warranty company to do what they were supposed to do in the first place. Its all a big game to most of them and they'll deny the coverage until you force them to do the right thing, and what they should have done in the first place.

So, rant mode off, get the Porsche CPO or save your money. My two cents worth, YMMV. :)

And Congrats! Great car.

[grahamtwatson]

If you do go for a warranty, go for an EXclusionary one, not an INclusionary one. With the exclusionary warranties, everything is covered except components they specifically list.

And check out the background of the company very thoroughly - there is a history of them going under and leaving their customers without any cover or any way to get their money back.

[gaspasser19]

Congrats on the new member of the family! I bought my 2003 C4 cab back in May. Mine's midnight blue/beige and I got it CPO @ HBL Porsche in the DC area. So far, I have had pretty good luck with the car. My one experience with Porsche service was pretty favorable but if I had been paying the bill it would have been over $2000 to fix an exhaust rattle and chase a ghost in one of the gauges. So, I guess it depends on how much the warranty is going to cost. I'm very happy that I have two more years...

Tim

You know, I've asked a local p-car dealer if they would do a CPO on a used, but still-under-the-warranty car and they assured me that it can't be done! They said that the only way a p-car dealer can issue a CPO status is by selling a used car. So I guess it was the usual dealer BS, then? How much did you pay to CPO a car?

Just to clarify, I bought a preowned '03 from the Porsche dealer. I believe that the dealer was correct in telling you that they only extend the warranty on cars they sell. Further, they can still CPO a car even if the original warranty has expired. At that point the coverage is for 2 years or a max of 100K miles. As for the cost, there is no explicit charge for CPO status but there's no question that it costs probably a few thousand more when you buy it CPO from the dealer as opposed to from a private party though, as I said, it's already saved me a couple grand not to mention the peace of mind factor. An important point that I read somewhere is that if you buy a p-car from a non-Porsche dealer any remaining warranty time is voided. Something to check into if you find yourself in that situation. All in all, I'm very happy with the Porsche experience so far and I have no doubt I'll be getting a CPO 997TT in about 5 years. I'm already excited about that!

[whall]

I bought a CPO MY03 base Boxster from my local Porsche dealer last April. During our negotiations (gentle! arm twisting) the salesman showed me a Porsche document - not the back of a business card, or a napkin - covering the CPO program. The cost of CPO, to the dealer, is $1,550 to $1,700. Without a doubt, that cost is passed on to the customer. But, given the problems, and associated repair costs, I've seen on this forum, the money spent on a Porsche CPO warrantee would seem to be a bargain. One episode of a RMS leak would validate the decision to go with a CPO car.

I have no experience with "after market" warrantees but I think viper501 and grahamtwatson offer good points. If Porsche had to charge enough cover the actual costs of the program, I'll bet it would be more expensive than it is now. Obviously, the after market providers have to be very selective in determining what they will/will not cover in order to make a profit. PeterK's comment about having to buy a car through a Porsche dealer to get the CPO warrantee, factory warrantee expired or not, is the same as my dealer has told me. Any remaining factory warrantee follows the car if it sold private party to private party or through a non-Porsche dealer. One last point, a CPO warrantee can be transferred from private party to private party for a $50 fee. The CPO warrantee is voided if a non-Porsche dealer is involved in the resale of a CPO car.

Here's a link to the CPO warrantee: http://www.porsche.com/filestore.aspx/defa...iletype=default

I have no interest in Porsche or in any of their businesses. In fact, I approach dealings with the dealer with a wary eye. But it does help to be armed with the facts.

BTW, my wife is enjoying the Boxster so much, especially with the mild weather, I'm about to buy a CPO MY02 Targa for myself. :D

Cheers

Bill

Edited December 30, 2006 by whall

[PeterK]

Well, that pretty much confirms my fears. It is indeed kind of sad that porsche won't do a CPO on a privatly owned car. Other car brands such as bmw offer this service.

Now, because of that I'm actually looking at carmax as a source of my car. Carmax will sell you an "exclusion" base warranty that will be honored in both carmax stores and private/dealer-based shops.

[viper501]

Good luck with Carmax. Colleague of mine had a time with them on his fiancee's car. They were fine about 'fixing' things but they never did the work they said they did. Though he did manage to get them to pay for an independent shop to do the work.

[PeterK]

Good luck with Carmax. Colleague of mine had a time with them on his fiancee's car. They were fine about 'fixing' things but they never did the work they said they did. Though he did manage to get them to pay for an independent shop to do the work.

Yes, I actually called the local p-car dealer and they said that they work with carmax warranty terms and do bill carmax directly.

[UCrazyKid]

Congrats on the new purchase. I just bought a '02 C2 coupe and wanted a warranty too. You can purchase one directly through www.warrantydirect.com. I did a lot of research and they seem to be the best one out there, not to mention the ONLY one available in California (only one cleared by the state). Go to the website for quotations. They have a few different options. I bought a 4 year 75,000 mile bumper to bumper EXclusionary for my car.

Good Luck.

[PeterK]

Congrats on the new purchase. I just bought a '02 C2 coupe and wanted a warranty too. You can purchase one directly through www.warrantydirect.com. I did a lot of research and they seem to be the best one out there, not to mention the ONLY one available in California (only one cleared by the state). Go to the website for quotations. They have a few different options. I bought a 4 year 75,000 mile bumper to bumper EXclusionary for my car.

Good Luck.

Have you had a chance to try it out yet? I've heard some bad stories of people dealing with warranty direct and warranty gold.

[UCrazyKid]

I haven't tried it out yet. I searched the internet for 2 weeks for information on warranty direct and found no (0) negative reviews of their services. Could you point me to someone that had a problem? I still have a week to cancel

Thanks.

AA

[john in lb]

I haven't tried it out yet. I searched the internet for 2 weeks for information on warranty direct and found no (0) negative reviews of their services. Could you point me to someone that had a problem? I still have a week to cancel

Thanks.

AA

I just checked out WarrantyDirect.com's web site and this is what I got:

We have temporarily discontinued sales of our MBI Program in California due to some technical changes in the program. Upon completion we will be back offering Mechanical Breakdown Insurance to our California Customers. If you have a current quote, please contact your representative before December 15, 2006 to complete your purchase.

I am from CA... did not call them to get further clarification... but does not look good.

[UCrazyKid]

I'm not sure why they are still giving that message. When I called them they told me something about under going a state of California audit before offering in CA again. You will probably have to call them to get details on when it will complete.

[Dharn55]

In 2004, when my 2000 C4 Cab was going out of warranty I tried to get the Porsche dealer to CPO the car. At first the saleman thought they could do it, I I later found out they can only do it for cars they are selling, but not for my car, even though I bought it from them. Some have talked about selling the car back to the dealer and them buying it back, but you would need the dealer cooperation, and woud probably have to pay taxes on the transaction.

I ended up buying an EasyCare Gold Warranty that the dealer recommended, with a $200 deductible. Covered up to 75K miles (about 30K miles at the time I bought the warrantly) and 48 months additional time. This week they paid for an RMS replacement, no questions or even an inspection, just authorized the work at my Indy.

This did not recoup the cost of the warranty, but I have another year of coverage.