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Apologies in advance if this has been discussed elsewhere.
I noticed that a lot of you are sending your cars right away for PPF. However, my question is whether Porsches are more prone to stone chips based on their design or is the paint quality not as good? I have had BMWs previously (2 X 335I, 2016 M4, 2021 M3) and never truly regretted not having PPF done. Similarly, I wasn't planning on a PPF for the 718 either but looking at all/most of you getting PPF done immediately, i am re-thinking this.
For what it's worth, I am in Toronto and I put about 100kms a day on my car with mainly highway driving and of course get the odd stone chips here and there. My evaluation of PPF has always been that it's not permanent (fades or rips) and also doesn't provide 100% protection (bigger stones). So from a cost perspective, if I have to re-do PPF in about 5 years, I can have the front (or parts of it) repainted for a similar cost instead of PPF plus touch ups on what PPF couldn't protect originally. On the other hand, if I don't keep the car for that long or longer, I can trade it in and the dealer usually doesn't care much about minor chips in my experience.
Am I missing or misunderstanding something about PPF that I need to reconsider?
So I had been debating PPF for a long time. I was actually thinking I was going to avoid PPF all together. My reasoning was similar to yours… I plan to keep this car 30 years. If I have to replace the PPF every 10 years…. Let’s say even on the cheaper end at $6,000 each time, that’s $18,000. That would fix a lot of rock chips.
Add to that… I’ve heard from guys that have a six month old car that is totally PPF’d, but they already have taken a rock hit on the track that actually created a visible rock chip *underneath* the PPF. To me that’s the nightmare scenario where you would have to remove the PPF to address it, and who knows if you’d peel additional paint off on the process.
I also hate stuff like screen protectors on phones, plastic guards on high end watches, etc, etc. I figure I want to directly touch the metal without the plastic in the middle.
Now, having said all that…
We show up two weeks ago and handle all the paperwork for the Spyder. I listen politely as the finance manager goes through her spiel. I politely decline all the different warranties and protections… and then the unexpected happens… my wife pipes up and starts advocating for pre-paid maintenance, the “extra” warranty (to extend it to 10 years), and PPF up to the doors.
Long story short, I was able to see a 2019 Speedster and a brand new 718 Cayman GTS that had been wrapped by the same detail shop that does the services for my dealer. Both of them looked awesome, even the 3 year old Speedster. My other major objection was I didn’t want people disassembling my brand new car after it was just built (to wrap the door handles, for example). They assured me that there service techs do all the disassembly and reassembly.
So we left the dealer that day having paid for the maintenance, the extra warranty coverage, and the front 1/3 PPF.
That night I went to the grocery store, and I was thinking “well crap, I don’t plan to ever park the Spyder here, but if I did, and I took a shopping cart to the side or the back, I’d be pissed it wasn’t fully wrapped”.
That night I reached out to the finance manager and upgraded to the full Monty.
So… that’s the story of how I spent $19k on my wife’s peace of mind. If it actually pays off in value, then so much the better, but for now it’s a pretty expensive experiment. Don’t get me wrong… I’m happy that I got the PPF, but it’s not critical in my opinion. It *does* mean my six year old can help me wash it and I won’t worry about it at all… so that’s something.
Last edited by Todd.Dang3r; 06-17-2022 at 02:48 AM.
First off, getting ppf vs not is obviously a personal decision. I too have never put ppf on any of my cars until I got my Porsche. Now as you mention if you plan on trading in the car or know you're going to sell it at some point, getting ppf may not be the best place to use the money because all you're doing really is spending more to protect the car for yourself and the next owner. Also as you mention if you trade it in, the dealer usually doesn't care about minor nicks and such so I wouldn't spend the money in that case.
I think a lot of factors add to people's decision to get ppf. I'll throw some out there and some may apply to you.
1. gives the owner peace of mind to drive the car vs worrying about getting paint chips
2. prefer to reapply ppf when needed vs repainting the car (which decreases value of car since not original paint anymore)
3. cars are low and the front design lends itself to being more in the line of fire from cars ahead spraying rocks at you
4. Porsche tends to hold their values better especially GT models than competition so having original paint that's been protected adds to value when you go to sell
5. want to protect Paint to Sample custom paint colors
6. may be easier to sell if you advertise paint has ppf protection
7. Porsche owners have a higher probably of keeping their cars long term (vs for example BMW which have the highest lease rate among "owners") so they want to protect the paint to keep it original
Thank you! Certainly some good points there that I may consider too. I would like to keep the long term but that's what I said with all the BMWs too.
So I had been debating PPF for a long time. I was actually thinking I was going to avoid PPF all together. My reasoning was similar to yours… I plan to keep this car 30 years. If I have to replace the PPF every 10 years…. Let’s say even on the cheaper end at $6,000 each time, that’s $18,000. That would fix a lot of rock chips.
Add to that… I’ve heard from guys that have a six month old car that is totally PPF’d, but they already have taken a rock hit on the track that actually created a visible rock chip *underneath* the PPF. To me that’s the nightmare scenario where you would have to remove the PPF to address it, and who knows if you’d peel additional paint off on the process.
I also hate stuff like screen protectors on phones, plastic guards on high end watches, etc, etc. I figure I want to directly touch the metal without the plastic in the middle.
Now, having said all that…
We show up two weeks ago and handle all the paperwork for the Spyder. I listen politely as the finance manager goes through her spiel. I politely decline all the different warranties and protections… and then the unexpected happens… my wife pipes up and starts advocating for pre-paid maintenance, the “extra” warranty (to extend it to 10 years), and PPF up to the doors.
Long story short, I was able to see a 2017 Speedster and a brand new 718 Cayman GTS that had been wrapped by the same detail shop that does the services for my dealer. Both of them looked awesome, even the 5 year old Speedster. My other major objection was I didn’t want people disassembling my brand new car after it was just built (to wrap the door handles, for example). They assured me that there service techs do all the disassembly and reassembly.
So we left the dealer that day having paid for the maintenance, the extra warranty coverage, and the front 1/3 PPF.
That night I went to the grocery store, and I was thinking “well crap, I don’t plan to ever park the Spyder here, but if I did, and I took a shopping cart to the side or the back, I’d be pissed it wasn’t fully wrapped”.
That night I reached out to the finance manager and upgraded to the full Monty.
So… that’s the story of how I spent $19k on my wife’s peace of mind. If it actually pays off in value, then so much the better, but for now it’s a pretty expensive experiment. Don’t get me wrong… I’m happy that I got the PPF, but it’s not critical in my opinion. It *does* mean my six year old can help me wash it and I won’t worry about it at all… so that’s something.
Good Choice! Expensive, but good! If I did one, I would think similarly about getting dings on the non-PPF parts so I would vote for the full too!
BTW, beautiful looking car with a handsome future driver!
So I had been debating PPF for a long time. I was actually thinking I was going to avoid PPF all together. My reasoning was similar to yours… I plan to keep this car 30 years. If I have to replace the PPF every 10 years…. Let’s say even on the cheaper end at $6,000 each time, that’s $18,000. That would fix a lot of rock chips.
Add to that… I’ve heard from guys that have a six month old car that is totally PPF’d, but they already have taken a rock hit on the track that actually created a visible rock chip *underneath* the PPF. To me that’s the nightmare scenario where you would have to remove the PPF to address it, and who knows if you’d peel additional paint off on the process.
I also hate stuff like screen protectors on phones, plastic guards on high end watches, etc, etc. I figure I want to directly touch the metal without the plastic in the middle.
Now, having said all that…
We show up two weeks ago and handle all the paperwork for the Spyder. I listen politely as the finance manager goes through her spiel. I politely decline all the different warranties and protections… and then the unexpected happens… my wife pipes up and starts advocating for pre-paid maintenance, the “extra” warranty (to extend it to 10 years), and PPF up to the doors.
Long story short, I was able to see a 2017 Speedster and a brand new 718 Cayman GTS that had been wrapped by the same detail shop that does the services for my dealer. Both of them looked awesome, even the 5 year old Speedster. My other major objection was I didn’t want people disassembling my brand new car after it was just built (to wrap the door handles, for example). They assured me that there service techs do all the disassembly and reassembly.
So we left the dealer that day having paid for the maintenance, the extra warranty coverage, and the front 1/3 PPF.
That night I went to the grocery store, and I was thinking “well crap, I don’t plan to ever park the Spyder here, but if I did, and I took a shopping cart to the side or the back, I’d be pissed it wasn’t fully wrapped”.
That night I reached out to the finance manager and upgraded to the full Monty.
So… that’s the story of how I spent $19k on my wife’s peace of mind. If it actually pays off in value, then so much the better, but for now it’s a pretty expensive experiment. Don’t get me wrong… I’m happy that I got the PPF, but it’s not critical in my opinion. It *does* mean my six year old can help me wash it and I won’t worry about it at all… so that’s something.
This being my first Porsche, I also ended up buying the extended platinum warranty. You'll get arguments from both sides saying it's good and the other saying it's a waste but I bought it because even though I know a lot of people say Porsches are reliable, I've still seen reports of failures here and there. I've been a long time Toyota and Lexus owner and those cars are reliable and I would measure all reliability claims against Toyota and Lexus. I've also owned a couple of BMW and I would say those are the least reliable cars. Never again.
As for the pre-paid maintenance, I turned it down. There's really no benefit to buying the pre-paid maintenance except to lock in the price now vs paying the future going rate of labor. Now had I known that we would be experiencing 8.6% inflation a year later from when I bought my car and having been told what I would have paid during the 1st year/10,000 mile service had Porsche not paid for it, I would definitely consider locking in current labor rates vs paying future labor rates. Also, when I take my car in, I request for a Certified Gold Technician and their rates are higher than the lower level technicians.
Paying for ppf is like paying for insurance. It's always a waste until you need it. If you never get a rock chip, then you would say you wasted money on the ppf. The problem though is that having ppf is the first layer of protection against a rock chip or paint damage. If it does its job to protect against paint damage from rocks and debris, you may never see actual paint damage and may think you wasted the money when in fact it was actually worth the money. Now that you're going to protect the entire car, you'll enjoy the car more when you drive it.
One other thing to consider is to get windshield protection. I didn't get it at first but ended up doing it later because these cars are so low, they get blasted with rocks all of the time no matter how much you try to avoid it. I hear the rock strikes on the windshield and I see the imprint on the windshield protection film and as far as I can tell, no spider cracks on the windshield so it's doing its job.
Last edited by halfmonkey; 06-13-2022 at 12:25 AM.
......One other thing to consider is to get windshield protection. I didn't get it at first but ended up doing it later because these cars are so low, they get blasted with rocks all of the time no matter how much you try to avoid it. I hear the rock strikes on the windshield and I see the imprint on the windshield protection film and as far as I can tell, no spider cracks on the windshield so it's doing its job.
Which windshield protection did you get ? Dynoflex or ExoShield ? and what make you choose one over the other ?
My SA and I are in the same situation as you, reached Jacksonville on 6/1 and was supposed to reach the dealership this past Friday. Hopefully the car will come this week.
My CGTS is built! I placed the order in October, and initially dealer quoted delivery at the latest in June 2022. Allocation was confirmed in February, and the build date back then was wondering estimated to be 17.5., actual build date was last Thursday or Friday (didn’t get an exact date yet). So in the end there was 3 weeks delay, which is quite good considering the circumstances. Hoping to receive the car in around 3 weeks, fingers crossed!
Earlier I inquired here about modifying the configuration just before lock date, but finally kept the specs as is: manual, shark blue, black wheels, sports plus seats, extended black leather w/ chalk stitching and brushed aluminium trim, Bose, etc..
My turn to exit the waiting room! Eric, Grant, Joe, and John at St. Louis Porsche made the delivery process enjoyable. So many choices to be made, and my initial impressions are all positive for the decisions.
My turn to exit the waiting room! Eric, Grant, Joe, and John at St. Louis Porsche made the delivery process enjoyable. So many choices to be made, and my initial impressions are all positive for the decisions.
Another 718 GTS waiting for delivery
I was drooling over your car when I had my 997 in there a little bit ago. (if not yours, then another read Boxster GTS.)
06-12-2022, 09:59 PM
