dhsieh

Other than Porsche CPO warranty, I don't believe Porsche sells its own extended warranty like MB or BMW. Most Porsche dealers & independent Porsche specialty shops I spoke with, they all recommend Fidelity Platinum policy (that is what I will buy shortly for my 997 S)

UDPride

I would call the inconvenience and circumstances quite extraordinary. When I take delivery of a car, I expect the car to operate in as-new condition, not have a massive failure that basically renders the car completely in-operable.

If the owner chooses, he could play hard ball and ask for his money back, deposit, first payment, tax, titles, plates, and probably get it. The owner has all the leverage here.

Hey, Porsches are nice cars, but they arent the the only nice car in town. The owner could easily demand every last penny back and take his business to BMW or Ferrari. And, given this situation, maybe he should or maybe he shouldnt.

When I buy a used car, I expect potential hiccups. Even CPOs. But a new car from the factory shouldnt **** the bed 2 miles from the dealership. And if I was a brand new disciple to the Porsche brand, I would be asking myself why in the hell I ever bothered to begin with.

Porsche **** the bed on this one. If that was my company I would be falling over myself trying to apologize to the customer and making him feel like we went beyond the call of duty to correct a major fustercluck. At the end of the day the customer doesnt gave one bit if the problem was from the factory or dealer -- all he wants is a new car to behave like a new car.

I also suspect the guy in Germany who has installed 500 991 PDK trannies is slightly more qualified to do it than even the best master tech thats done 3-4 in his lifetime. There's something to be said for getting your car built from the hands that does it for a living, not does it only when there is a problem and needs to look through the manual to freshen up on how to do it.

Did this guy get a 991 loaner car or a Toyota Echo?

Porsche should be better than this. When you spend $100,000 on a car, there is a higher expectation when the dealership hands you the keys. Perhaps if you are in the Kia dealership, you dont expect anything close to perfection, but at the 6-figure price point, I expect better. Otherwise we can take our money elsewhere. Porsche doesnt corner the market on fun cars and Porsche should know this.

If Porsche chooses not to extend the warranty on a brand new car that **** the bed 2 miles from the dealership and made perhaps the worst vehicle delivery impression known to man (right out the worst case scenario playbook), then that tells me everything I need to know. Id tell them they can have the car back and Ill go buy an Audi R8 or something. Why should everyone else get to drive a perfect 991 while this owner has to drive one frankensteined after only 2 miles?

The catastrophic failure after 2 miles leaves doubt. It leaves doubt in the owner's mind that this car might have problems still undetected. I believe that doubt should be addressed by PCNA to show PCNA is so convinced the problems are resolved that they can offer the extended warranty knowing full well it will never be utilized for a major repair on the tranny.

I see three ways to handle things:
1. Just order a new car and wait 6 months.
2. Return the car and demand your money back (they are in such a lousy negotiating position, youll probably get it).
3. Request they certify the car -- or at bare minimum, the tranny for an extra 2-3 years.

Beyond this, Im taking my money elsewhere. And I say this with two Porsches in the garage.

The mark of a great company is not how they treat folks when things are going well. Its how they respond when things are at their worst. Your dealership should be your best advocate right now and willing to go to bat for you.

No company is perfect and Im sure all companies have a car or two that spits the bit. But they have a reasonable duty to make your experience as perfect as possible. Thats how you keep customers for 20-30 years.

If Porsche is too myopic and dumb to realize that, then quite honestly Im not convinced they deserve your business.

neanicu

You can't be serious!
Read this:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/auto_warranty/fidelity.html

dhsieh

Well, I saw that link before. The followings are my takes:
(1) Your Porsche dealer service mechanic needs to deal with the extended warranty carrier, not the policy holder. So make sure that you get that kind of commitment before buying it. If you don't feel that is the case, then don't buy. At least for me, that is what my local Porsche dealer "Stevens Creek Porsche" has offered.
(2) Be practical about what you can claim and remember that 3rd-party extended warranty != new car warranty. This is not that much different from health insurance you buy. For most part, auto extended warranty should be equated to those health polices that cover major illness, not daily cold or coughs

As I mentioned earlier, Porsche does not sell its own extended warranty and the reasons are pretty clear from what have been discussed in this thread. If you own a MB (I also have a '08 E350), you can buy MB carried extended warranty with 0 deductible that is close if not the same as its new car warranty (I already bought one with 3 years/70k miles).

Quadcammer

1. Did you special order your non-frame having tv from best buy?
2. Is there a Porsche "return policy" on vehicles like there is on tvs?

Quadcammer

Long post there.

1. Installing a transmission is not that complicated and does not a frankenstein vehicle make. If you don't trust a tech to remove and install a transmission, I'm not sure what you'd trust them with.

2. he bought one of the first vehicles of a first year run. If you do that, you expect certain glitches.

3. This is a product of many thousands of parts assembled in part by humans. Things break. Lets say his electric powersteering broke instead? Does he still get a new car? How about his ECU fries itself...new car?

If they fix his car properly and quickly, what is the big deal

GoTexas

LOL If you press the horn, and the windshield wipers start moving, then that's a glitch. If the transmission goes bye-bye after 2 miles of driving, then that's NOT a glitch. It's a major issue to me.

GoTexas

If I had ordered a frameless TV, then it'd only be useable by me and no one else so I agree that it's not returnable. But, he did not order the car so out of spec like "No engine" so it's not far off something you'd find on the lot.

There has to be something in the law that protects him on this...any lawyer out there that can chime in?

dhsieh

Well, failed transmission after just 2 miles off dealer lot is not the same as fried ECU. I am not sure about electric power steering broke. However, the work involved is much more higher & complex than replacing a new ECU in my opinion

dhsieh

Allow me to offer what my local independent Porsche specialty shop told me about Fidelity Platinum extended warranty:

"In my experience, Fidelity has been ready and willing to pay for needed repairs. There are certainly some items that they don't cover but they've always been very clear about what will and won't be covered. I have worked with some other warranty companies that deserve bad reviews but Fidelity has always been easy to deal with for me. The only thing that I'm not sure if they cover is the evaporative emissions system. 997s have a "DMTL box" that can cause a check engine light if there is any air leak in that system. Other than that I'm pretty sure all major areas are covered."

dhsieh

I don't necessarily agree with every word "UDPride" wrote but in principle, he has valid points about how arrogant & ignorant Porsche (not dealers) treats their customers historically speaking. I speak with my 3rd Porsche I have owned.

dhsieh

The following comes from my local Stevens Creek Porsche service advisor about Fidelity Platinum policy:

"Extended warranties can change coverage, depending on the dealership. Upon the request of the broker (dealership), the extended warranties can include or not include certain items for coverage. For example, emissions components, excluding these components will reduce the cost of the warranty to the dealership and therefore the dealership can sell the warranty for less. For the most part, extended warranties are a great deal, depending on the source. Meaning if you buy the warranty from a reputable location, you will get what you paid for. Most dealerships know the most common repairs and try to make sure the parts are covered. Yes, some of the complaints may be true but there is most likely a reason as to why the components were not covered. I have sold and used the Fidelity warranty over the course of 15 plus years and have not had more than two repairs denied."

Rushman71

The people saying "new car new car" are just being ridiculous. This isn't a TV from Best Buy and it's hilarious that anyone could think that even remotely analogous. There is no return policy. We all know this when we buy the car and the law is pretty specific. This is why cars have a warranty, it's that simple. Even lemon law protections won't kick in until you have a few failures that pose a real safety risk to the end users.

What we are really talking about a buzz-kill here. Yeah, it sucks to have this happen and I know it sucks a lot of the fun out of the initial experience. The OP has a car and his current car is being fixed in an expedited manner. Once this happens and he's back in his car and puts a few hundred miles on it, all will be forgotten. Yeah, it would be nice if some additional good-will gesture was included for PR reasons, but I certainly don't see that as something the OP is entitled to.

It seems during the boom people were retrained by insane customer service policies of businesses that were making so much money, they didn't care. At one point I read a magazine article about Nordstrom's accepting a return for a tire with no receipt even though they never sold tires! That's over with and it's never been the case in cars anyway.

You want to complain about something? Wait until you have a real problem to complain about. In other words, keep it all in perspective. We should all be so fortunate that our worst problem is waiting for a new transmission for a $100K plus car for a couple of days while we are forced into the indignity of driving a, god forbid, loaner car! Come on guys.

carcommander

Mechanical stuff breaks. The will fix it. Porsche stands behind their cars.

Nizer

Not the easiest thing to hear but I would try to reserve judgement at this stage. I had an early 545i that developed computer problems soon after delivery. Dealer had to keep the car for three days and ended up replacing the CPU. Never had another problem with it in four years of ownership and loved the car.

Great looking car and like the plate.