991 C2S 2012.5 extended waranty
 

Hi All,

I was hoping to get some advice from experienced fellow Porsche enthusiasts.

2012.5 991 C2S, 74000km(46250miles),still under warranty from Porsche, until jan 2017,no issues so far. Expected to put on 32000km(20000miles) on it every year.

My dilemma at the moment is should I extend the warranty in January 2017 for another year or not. Here in Middle east we have an option to purchase extended warranty for a year(or 2) @ $1750 per year... besides a cost of $1750 per year I HAVE to have it serviced at Porsche dealership and that is expected to cost around $1100 for a period of 1 year, one oil change and one minor service. next year would be double that when the major service is due.

I just enquired about break pads, fronts would cost $560 installed and I could get those shipped from USA for 1/2 the price and change them myself... filters and oil for the service is also no brainer but as said, it would void the warranty as no independent shop is allowed to work on it and no work is allowed to be done by anyone else including the owner if warranty is to be maintained.
I dont mind doing work myself, actually quite enjoy it and have done work on P cars before.

now, to finish this rant, here is the question... is warranty needed on 2012 car ? is there anything thats expected to go "wrong" in upcoming years?

any advice greatly appreciated ... regards form a very hot Dubai :)

Extended warranties are insurance, nothing else.

IMHO, $1,750 plus another $1,000 in overpriced/required dealer maintenance is pretty expensive insurance for an extra 12 months of coverage on what is typically an extremely reliable vehicle. You would need $2,500 plus in warranty covered repairs just to break even.

Also, sounds like you aren't afraid to do minor repairs yourself, so chances are even if warranty work was needed, it often can be done on your own or through an independent (indy's in Dubai?) for 1/3-1/2 of dealer prices...

In short, if it was my $, I'd pass.

thanks @pfbz !

there is only one indy shop that I am aware of and that people use, its around 1/2 the price. I'll chat to them and see what they are like before making a final decision.

my understanding is that in US you don't void the warranty if you do services and oil changes yourself(or using indy shop), is that correct? if so, I wonder why its different here in middle east.

I would get it for the peace of mind, as you're putting about 20k miles on it every year.. I mean, what if you have problems with your transmission? I've heard of at least one person who has had their PDK unit replaced, major repairs are what you should be worried about on a car with expensive replacement parts.

In the US, consumers are protected by the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act which is federal law that governs warranties and service contracts on consumer products... Porsche in the US is required to follow US law, of course not so in Dubai.

The warrenty people aren't idiots, they charge more for the warrenty than their average payout. If you're like most 991 owners and could afford a new engine or transmission, paying for an extended warrenty doesn't make sense because it's a transaction that averages a negative profit for you.

And to be clear this is a service contract not a warranty.

A warranty is a "written guarantee of the integrity of a product and of the maker's responsibility for the repair or replacement of defective parts" - Merriam-Webster

porsche does think it is warranty :)

http://www.porsche.com/middle-east/a...tion/warranty/

well, not sure what the PDK or engine price tag is but I am not sure I would not like to get that bill... especially not in this region, one decent indy shop and only people that will look into it are porsche distributors(one in Dubai and one in Abu Dhabi)

out of approx $2800 per year in "warranty" and services, I could save around half that(maybe a bit more) by doing it myself... is that worth the risk? I am leaning more towards @wsjchoi suggestion and pay that for the peace of mind.

Thanks all for the comments.

You're not wrong, and neither would I (and I did get that bill when my Boxster engine blew up out of warrenty). However, when you consider all the items that extended "warrenties" are available on, the idea is that if you skip them all, the pot of money you save over your lifetime will probably be larger than you pay out. Besides the 911, people usually have a couple other cars, smartphone, tablet, tv, washer/dryer, fridge, etc. Extended warrenties are available for all those things, but if you skip them and pool that money together, you can kind of self-insure.

That doesn't even take into account self-selection bias, where owners who knew they would drive the car hard are more likely to purchase the insurance, so the insurer has to take that into account.

The anti-insurance logic breaks down with auto liability or health insurance of course, just because the costs of getting cancer or putting someone in the hospital for 6 months by hitting them with your car are so great that most all of us need to expand that risk pool beyond just ourselves.

If it helps Porsche offer the same deal for a similar cost in Australia. I did it on my 997 and never regretted it. Why? If anything needed doing on the car it was always done automatically, no questions asked.

One service the steering rack was found to be leaking, car was well past std warranty and all I knew was a call to say they needed the car an extra day. New rack fitted, I'm on my way. Same with some failing coil packs, car started missing so all 6 replaced. Cost to me for both problems was $0.

When I came to sell it the fact it was still under warranty was a great sales point.