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My car is on a boat headed here and was curious what you guys think about some of the contract service plans. Here are the ones I was thinking about, post some opinions about what you see and the cost vs value. Wheel and Tire is one and the other is the Flexible Maintenance.
Thanks David
I used to be in the insurance business.
Only one that I think is worth considering is the pre-paid service from Porsche if you are going to lease the car - increases the residual
Cheers
J
All of those additional contracts are pure profit for the dealer. They are selling you a piece of paper. It is always the same when I buy a car. Once I get around to finally paying or financing the car, then comes the hard sell. Its usually just me and the finance guy in a closed room. He usually has some damaged piece of a vehicle, most likely a wheel to show me. I'm weak and vulnerable because of all the time it took to get to this point and he goes for the kill. Easy money baby.
Most people will never use the "insurance" contracts and are actually happy to have paid and never use them. The service contract may be ok but I would have to see how much it really saves you.
I know there are plenty of people who have actually used these contracts and gotten their money's worth. For instance, my brother always uses his warranty on his vehicles because he seems to find something to bitch about. He's a salesman so he likes to bull**** and spend time arguing with the service manager. For me, the less time in the service department the better.
I know this will probably jinx me, but I live in San Francisco where potholes, construction zones, and uneven surfaces are around every corner. I have owned two BMW 335i coupes, an Audi S4, and my current M5 and each time I fall for the wheel and tire insurance. Not once have I needed to use it. I've got 20" Micheline PSS and have hit many potholes but the only time I needed a repair was for a nail which was easily plugged.
For some reason I feel worried now with my 991.2 order. With the recent wet el Nino winter, huge chunks of the major freeways surface have washed away exposing potholes. Also there is so much construction in the city that roads are roughed up and uneven with metal covers / exposed manholes. I don't understand where the high CA taxes are spent, definitely not on infrastructure.
After spending 25 years in the car business (started with Porsche but mostly selling M-Bs) I would advise you to say no to post sale products. They're priced high and most people get little value to none from them. The exception can be pre-paid maintenance. I purchased that on my wife's Audi because it cut the cost nearly in half. When I checked on my Porsche, even the finance guy recommended against it because there was no savings compared to paying as you go. Looking at the prices for everything above I think you could self insure by putting those fees in a separate savings account and paying as needed. My guess is after five years you'll find a positive balance in that account.
After spending 25 years in the car business (started with Porsche but mostly selling M-Bs) I would advise you to say no to post sale products. They're priced high and most people get little value to none from them. The exception can be pre-paid maintenance. I purchased that on my wife's Audi because it cut the cost nearly in half. When I checked on my Porsche, even the finance guy recommended against it because there was no savings compared to paying as you go. Looking at the prices for everything above I think you could self insure by putting those fees in a separate savings account and paying as needed. My guess is after five years you'll find a positive balance in that account.
What's your take on the service plan if you lease the vehicle? Suppose to add 1% to your residual. Just order my '18 991.2 and wondering if I should pay as I go for basically 3 scheduled service under warranty. All 18's I hear get free service for the first year. I'm thinking that it's not worth the marked up dealer prices.
Do the math on payment differences to compare costs. I think paying as you go will be at least comparable to paying up front. Only pay up front for convenience or to get it over with. I'd still "self insure".
If you are financing over more than 3 years,I would get gap. I don't know what they are charging, but my credit union and USAA charge about 150-250 for it, so its a no brainer. I've only had major wheel damage one time in 35 years of driving. It was a BMW and my regular auto insurance policy covered it. Hit a large granite rock in the road in the dark.
My Cayenne owning Pal gets his curbed summer TSWs fixed every winter on that wheel /tire plan. Ive never taken it but have bent lots of wheels. I hope/assume HRE are strong!
I purchased both an extended warranty and 5 years of maintenance when I bought a 2015 Infiniti for my wife. We planned to keep it for years - I usually keep my cars for 8-10 years. Not this time... 2 years later I traded it in on her Macan. The plans from Infiniti are refundable based on mileage and I got a refund for about 70% of the value of both of those packages. When Porsche tried to sell me similar packages I asked if they were similarly refundable - the answer was no, so I didn't buy. When I bought my 911 the dealer didn't even try to sell me this stuff again. You never know what you will decide to do in a year or two.
I looked at pre-paid maintenance for my BS and compared to the a la carte pricing, it was about $700 MORE expensive. Now, I suppose in a few years the 40K service could have gone up a enough to cover that difference, but I passed.
Didn't take any extras on the BS. On the Cayenne diesel, the service plan made sense, so we got that one.
It definitely depends on where you live. My mother lives in Delray Beach, FL and I have never seen more hazards (screws, nails, etc.) on roads.
She purchased wheel/tire insurance on her Macan GTS and already had two tires replaced in four months of ownership. The SA told her someone recently came in with nails in three tires
04-10-2017, 10:22 PM
New car extra contracts opinions needed.
