Need Advise - Warranty Punched in Car (2013 991S)
 

Hi All-

I am working on purchasing a new 991S. I have found a new 2013 model with specifications I like. I am very close to finalizing a good deal on the car.

The dealer I am working with told me that the car was punched in on July 30, 2013. Because, the car was punched in the original manufacturer warranty will be extended by one year. Since approximately 90 days have passed instead of the standard 4 year manufacturers warranty I will get 4 years and 9 months of warranty. The car has 45 miles on it. The dealer confirmed that I would be the first owner of the car and the car is not a demo car.

My question is - would you be concerned that the car's warranty was punched in July? Have you heard that the warranty extension by Porsche? Any advise or personal experience you can provide is much appreciated. I am trying to finalize the purchase the car next week.

what exactly does punched in mean?

That's pretty common. Nice of them to extend warrant coverage. Most do not do this.

Maybe this is Porsche's way of throwing "trunk money" to the dealership??? It is almost November. And I saw snow last week.

The price is pretty good...~15% off the MSRP of the car. I am sure Porsche is incentivizing dealers to get the cars moving. Do you think it is a good deal?

15% off MSRP. New car. With 9 months extra warranty?? Yes! Very good deal.

This will not be a problem for you. As LexVan pointed out, getting the one year extension is unusual. Normally you lose the elapsed period of warranty, and since the car hasn't actually been sold yet, the dealer can't even CPO it to make up the difference.

Not an issue at all.

Just make sure you get what you want in writing about the warranty.

"Punched" means the dealer tagged it as a demo to get it off the books with Porsche even though its a brand new car. That way the dealer can get its 2014 allocation going. If they don't do it, Porsche will see that 2013 inventory still there.

My car was punched as a demo. It was brand spanking new with 12 miles on it.

At least that's how it's done here in So. Cal.

Go for it. That's 7% more than what I got two months ago. :)

I bought my car that way and got a great deal My understanding is that it has to be put into demo service for a certain number of months, I thought it was 12, for the extra year of warranty. Be sure about that. If you are the original owner with only a few miles I think the price should be more of a factor than losing a few months of warranty if you don't qualify for the extended warranty.

A common practice in the US auto biz is for manufacturers to give dealers incentives to report cars as sold, even if they may or may not be. This way the manufacturer gets to mark the car as sold (and no further inventory financing assistance is due, better numbers for wall st., etc., etc., etc.) and the dealer figures out the best way to sell it quickly. The warranty is considered "punched in" at the time the car is reported sold.

At 45 miles, it's likely been test driven a decent amount. Not really much of an issue to me, considering the discount you are getting. I would make sure you get something very official as to the warranty, make sure it's transferable, etc. Otherwise, I've seen dealers say, "No problem we'll take care of it." and leave you hanging as the extension is never contractualized.

I'm going to be the thorn in the side here. I think you need to make double sure of exactly what the dealer is telling you. "Punched" simply means they marked the car sold, took whatever incentive PCNA was offering, and the warranty started ticking.
I would suspect your warranty will be three months short, not extended an extra year. Wouldn't be a big deal to me for the discount you're getting. If they are in fact extending the warranty an extra year, that's a new one on me, and would most likely be an aftermarket extension the dealer is including in the price. I don't think Porsche is in the business of extending their factory warranties.

Thanks Scott. Good point. I have confirmed with the dealership. Porsche gives the dealership an extra year to the sell the car. If the car was punched in at the end of July 2013, Porsche gives 5 years of warranty instead of regular 4 years i.e. the car will have warranty till the end of July 2018. They are assuming that it might take dealership one year to sell the car. If a customer purchases the car at end of October 2013 he will have 4 years and 9 months of Porsche warranty. Makes sense?

^first I've ever heard about Porsche doing this.

I think you are correct. Why would Porsche start the warranty ticking when the car is punched if they are going to extend it an additional year?