Benjamin Cherry

Hi all,

I am nearing the closure of a deal on a gorgeous dark blue metallic 981 Cayman (with PASM and a rear wiper! love it!). The car has 5k miles on it and looks and drives like new. The PPI and DME were essentially flawless. I've negotiated what I feel is a fair price.

Now I'm trying to figure out whether to bite on a third party service contract. I was quoted $2700 for a comprehensive plan by the (Volvo) dealer; the rep described it as essentially a no-questions-asked type plan. That sounds great.

I've read highly mixed reviews for e.g. Carchex and other VSC brokers out there. Some people seem to be hopping mad that their claims aren't covered and I can imagine their frustration.

I've not done a lot of comparison shopping yet in part because I find those brokers to be pests once they have one's contact information, and also because I suspect that a third party would want to come and inspect the vehicle prior to issuing a warranty (could be wrong on this of course); a hassle I'd rather not deal with.

So here's my question: how do repair costs typically look for a car like this? I know that it depends on what goes wrong and I assume that MAINTENANCE will actually be the greatest expense. My guess is also that many of you have had factory or CPO warranties, and thus may not know what the out of pocket costs would be for things that go wrong.

Anyone have stories about lots of things going wrong with their 981 Cayman or Boxster? Anyone who has paid out of pocket for electrical or mechanical failures and can give me an idea of what they paid?

Thanks!

storii

I have some experience in selling cars back in the days and am who ALWAYS turn down any offers for an extended warranty on new cars. My theory is that, as far as the modern cars go, if something major (engine, transmission, ECU, etc.) should go bad, providing normal use, it would go bad within the first 30-40K miles: i.e. under the original warranty. However, if I remember correctly, the car you are considering only has like 5K miles in the past 5 years or so. This means that the car hasn't gone through the cycle to shake off possible initial problems. If I were you, I would read every single word in the fine prints of the third-party warranty that being offered to decide whether it's worth it. Can you receive warranty services from other than this particular dealer? Does the approved service dealer network include any Porsche dealers and/or Porsche-specific indies? I wouldn't want my Porsche serviced by anyone but a Porsche dealer or Porsche specialized shops. What are covered and what are not? How long will the coverage last? So forth and so on. If what the proposed comprehensive plan offers meet your needs and wants, $2,700 is not a bad price IMO.

billwot

Well, to each his own, but I just don't "get" why anyone buys warranties.

We have concurrently owned 3 vehicles for at least the last 25 years, a grocery-getter, a small truck, and a toy. Currently a '14 Camry, '11 Tacoma, and my '11 Cayman, We generally keep them to 100-120K and 7-8 years. We collectively drive about 45K per year.

My cumulative total repair costs for all vehicles for the last 20 years wouldn't total anywhere near $2700.

Benjamin Cherry

Both useful perspectives and exactly what im looking for. Please keep them coming and thank you !

GregWormald

I haven't had any repairs to my new 718B yet so can't comment on any Porsche specifics.
However my last two Subaru Imprezas travelled almost a quarter of a million kilometres in 14 years and the repair bills totalled $zero. Given that Porsche rates as one of the MOST reliable cars available I wouldn't predict any major expenses.

kiznarsh

Off the top of my head I remember reading about the parking brake sensor malfunctioning with some of the 2014 cars. Sometimes it wouldn't disengage after turning the car on but I never looked into what it would take to replace it. It may be a relatively inexpensive part that's not too hard to swap out.

In general these motors are pretty solid and while you'd like to see no issues over a longer period of time than 5k miles, you know it's at least broken in and nothing bad occured.

The problem with extended warranties is that you're betting on something going wrong to justify the money you've spent. I initially declined it when I got my car but after being treated poorly by the dealer, they threw in an additional 20 months for free. Obviously no point in declining free coverage.

I'd advise against it and just keep up with the maintenance.

Pep!RRRR

terbiumactivated

To me this is just like the home warranty they push hard in the Atlanta area. The actor states he had a high end dishwasher go bad and the replaced it, big deal what's a dishwasher cost and how hard is it to plug and play into an already wired and drain accommodated space? What does that equate to three months payment of the contract at the maximum? The reality is if one has the financial discipline to put the same amount away faithfully they are better off, it's the same with cars. AND it's the same with placing too much faith in the almighty PPI as so many on this board do. I don't care who the mechanic is a PPI isn't going to catch everything, same with a home inspection, they miss things all the time and in my state they aren't even licensed. I had a master plumber and a technology education teacher for a free home inspection, place was and still is 100%. The only time I see a service agreement being needed is if you're buying a two million dollar MRI scanner, then it makes perfect sense. Same with the over rev report, sure it's critical information yet I wonder how many untrained eyes walked right past a resprayed panel in jubilation of a good report card?

zedcat

What's the in-service date and is there any factory warranty (4 yrs) remaining? If so I'd make sure all maintenance (fluids, filters, etc.) is up to date- should have been done on time rather than mileage in your case. Then put some miles on it and watch for any problems. Generally the 981 is very reliable. My 981 is still under warranty and has had no issues. Personally I would pass on the third party warranty and set aside that cost for the next set of tires and brakes....

SpyderSenseOC

I don't have any advice on whether or not to buy it. That's obviously a personal decision.

What I can tell you is that you should NEVER believe what the salesman/finance guy tell you about the comprehensiveness of the coverage. They always say "it covers everything" and it NEVER does. What I can also tell you is that there are basically two types of plans. One is called a "covered component" plan. It covers ONLY what is listed and everything else is NOT covered. You DO NOT want this type of extended service contract. Especially on a car that probably has a lot of components with funky names that would never appear on the list of "covered components" of a generic plan. The other type of plan is called a "named exclusion" plan. This plan lists everything it does NOT cover (usually the obvious... brake pads, rotors, belts, hoses, wear items, clutch discs, glass, trim, leather, some audio and NAV, etc.) and it covers everything else. This is the type of plan you want. Trust me.

Benjamin Cherry

Thanks, when I was seriously interested in a 997 C2S "launch" I remember reading this. This is a really important point that I took to heart then, but it certainly bears repeating now.

I think my experience with my cars over the years has been consistent with much of what has been covered above. My 2009 Maxima went from 24-96k miles with only a bad Bluetooth module (that was actually the dealer defrauding Nissan, but I digress), my 2003 Mazda6 went from new~76k miles with ZERO issues (despite me doing all kinds of electrical shenanigans with installing HID headlamps, an aftermarket iPod control unit, etc), and my 1991 VW Passat **** the bed when the timing belt snapped in the middle of a 30-mph cruise down a city street. I had gotten it with ~56k or so miles on it and had put only about 30k of my own. It had other problems too.

I guess the moral is that Japanese cars are largely indestructible and German cars are ticking time bombs jk, can't wait to love on my P-car, and now I have the means to really maintain it.

Also, although many on these boards opine that Porsches are actually among the least problematic cars, this data set argues otherwise (personally I'm shocked to see BMW so high on the list):

https://www.consumerreports.org/car-...they-stack-up/