Warranty Help for a non-CPO

[rusty1]

I have a new to me 2002 911 C4 Cabrio with 38k miles and i'm looking to protect myself from ridiculous service bills and of course the scary as hell IMS issue.

I have read through more posts about warranty's than i can count but there seems to be a lot of confusion, at least by me.

Can anyone recommend a good warranty and one that will specifically cover the IMS issue if it rears its ugly head?

[phillipj]

You might be better served to just use the money to upgrade your IMS.. These cars are pretty dam reliable for the most part. If you take care of them and do the maintenance you shouldn't have any problems. You can do almost all of the service requirements yourself unless your retarded.. Less that $100 bucks at Harbor Frieght and you'll have almost all the tools you need.

Call LN engineering and see if there is a shop in your area that can do the IMS upgrade for you.. That's what I would do.

Warranties are expensive and there are a lot of bad companies out there

If you want to do the research "Easy Care" has a good reputation. http://www.easycare.com

You can also talk to mechanics and see how they react to different warranty companies as well.

Enjoy your new toy.. She is a beauty..

Edited June 1, 2011 by phillipj

[rusty1]

Thanks for the advice & guidance

[phillipj]

Good luck!

[TimAustinW]

So I got my 02 996 Cabrio from Carmax last October. With it I purchased their MaxCare extended warranty to cover me up to 75K miles. Yesterday I had to take my car into the shop because it appears to be leaking coolant that is either mixed with rust or oil. If it's oil then I am potentially looking at a new motor. The guy from the shop said he'd never had an experience where an aftermarket warranty covered the cost of the engine. Which means worst case scenario I am looking at $20K out of pocket for a new engine on a car I still owe $20K on. I want to throw up. He said that the warranty companies are masters of getting out of these claims because they can ultimately pin it on the part that fails. RMS is a seal. Warranties look at seals as a maintenance part and they won't cover it. If that's the cause then all the resulting damage is null.

These guys are right. Spend your money on the IMS upgrade and keep it maintained if you're worried about the big stuff. However, An aftermarket warranty might be worth it for all the smaller stuff that can go wrong which can still add up. Things like window regulators, convertible top motor, etc can cost be pricey.

[rusty1]

Thank you everyone for your input. As recommended by many, I am going to bypass the warranty and just get the IMS procedure done this winter when i'll be using the beauty sparingly due to the snow. While i'm in there, i'll likely replace the clutch, etc. as well. Hopefully i won't have any problems before than. Thanks again.