Is warranty a realistic option?
#1
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Is warranty a realistic option?
I'm thinking more about the 2003-2008 range with under 70k miles rather than the 1999 with 125k miles. I realize that if you could get a warranty on any 996, it would be fairly expensive but still a fraction of the cost of a new engine over 5 years and maybe worth a little bit of peace of mind in case of a catastrophic failure.
Just wondering if anyone has paid for a warranty on a > 10 year old car and what your experiences were. If anyone has ever tried to make a claim, what was your experience?
FWIW (and given my experiences with most insurance companies), I think they would probably take your money for the coverage but then find some reason to not honor any warranty claim, but I'm really just wondering if anyone has tried.
Just wondering if anyone has paid for a warranty on a > 10 year old car and what your experiences were. If anyone has ever tried to make a claim, what was your experience?
FWIW (and given my experiences with most insurance companies), I think they would probably take your money for the coverage but then find some reason to not honor any warranty claim, but I'm really just wondering if anyone has tried.
#2
Three Wheelin'
Basically the answer is no, warranty is not a realistic option for a 996. You should really just wait until you can afford a 2009 or newer, or just very carefully choose a 996 that has great records and was owned by a car/Porsche enthusiast. When I sold my 2002 recently to a Rennlister for less than $14k it had 124k miles on it but also came with $16k in receipts for the past 3 years. So the buyer knew what was done and what was not done and could make an informed decision. Since a roller is worth $5k...hard to go wrong at that pricing. Do the pre-purchase inspection, take it on a LONG test drive, that's all you can do. There are ZERO guarantees with ANY used vehicle that is 15-20 years old.
#4
Rennlist Member
996 1999 with 75K miles
I'm thinking more about the 2003-2008 range with under 70k miles rather than the 1999 with 125k miles. I realize that if you could get a warranty on any 996, it would be fairly expensive but still a fraction of the cost of a new engine over 5 years and maybe worth a little bit of peace of mind in case of a catastrophic failure.
Just wondering if anyone has paid for a warranty on a > 10-year-old car and what your experiences were. If anyone has ever tried to make a claim, what was your experience?
FWIW (and given my experiences with most insurance companies), I think they would probably take your money for the coverage but then find some reason to not honor any warranty claim, but I'm really just wondering if anyone has tried.
Just wondering if anyone has paid for a warranty on a > 10-year-old car and what your experiences were. If anyone has ever tried to make a claim, what was your experience?
FWIW (and given my experiences with most insurance companies), I think they would probably take your money for the coverage but then find some reason to not honor any warranty claim, but I'm really just wondering if anyone has tried.
#5
Drifting
Personally, I would rather just take the $5,000 (made up number, obv,) and park it in a broken Porsche fund rather than hand it over to a warranty company "just in case the one issue I happen to have is an engine failure." I can almost promise you you'll have way more "wear & tear" issues that a warranty won't even cover before you see the engine go. This isn't even counting the money that most of us tend to spend on refreshing the car after purchase. Things like worn suspension components, rubber, brakes, etc.
If you do get quotes I'd be interested in hearing what they are and what they cover. Just like anything - I've heard both overwhelmingly positive and negative reviews of these companies. It could be nice to get some fresh data if you're going to go about doing the research.
Good luck!
If you do get quotes I'd be interested in hearing what they are and what they cover. Just like anything - I've heard both overwhelmingly positive and negative reviews of these companies. It could be nice to get some fresh data if you're going to go about doing the research.
Good luck!
#6
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Just spitballing with simple numbers for the sake of conversation, let's say in the first 5 years/50k miles of ownership, somewhere around 15% of owners have some sudden issue that causes a complete engine replacement at a general cost of $20k per owner. With those completely made up numbers, for a large enough insurance group it would take about $3k per owner to cover all of the catastrophic cases.
Would around $3k for 5 years be worth it to _know_ that your engine is safe if the worst happens? I don't know. I do know that some people are absolutely terrified to buy a 996 or early 997 because of the possibility that their car might, out-of-the-blue, be near worthless without a new engine and there _is_ some definite benefit to being able to drive it knowing that it's not a huge deal if it happens.
Disclaimer: I have no ideas if any of the numbers I used are close to realistic.
#7
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
I can almost promise you you'll have way more "wear & tear" issues that a warranty won't even cover before you see the engine go. This isn't even counting the money that most of us tend to spend on refreshing the car after purchase. Things like worn suspension components, rubber, brakes, etc.
If you do get quotes I'd be interested in hearing what they are and what they cover. Just like anything - I've heard both overwhelmingly positive and negative reviews of these companies. It could be nice to get some fresh data if you're going to go about doing the research.
I called fairly recently about a 2007 base 997 with 60k miles and Endurance quoted $3900 for 4 years/48k miles but that was their "top" plan that covered pretty much everything. I wanted to get quotes for the different plans but he was being real "sales-guy"-ish and I didn't have time to deal with it when he called.
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#9
RL Community Team
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
#10
3rd party warranties are junk and they always find some way to weasel out of paying up. They are like taking insurance on a blackjack table. Read the fine print as they tend to take a no touch stance on any pre-existing manufacturer fault/recommendedation I.e. ims which is what you probably want the coverage for anyway.
#11
Pro
Also, if anybody does get an after market warranty, make sure you understand the organization who is backing the warranty. I once bought a new VW, got the extended warranty, but didn't read the fine print. It was a "dealer" warranty, not a VW warranty, so when the dealer went out of business it was useless paper and VW as a company would not uphold the warranty.
#12
Drifting
I have no personal experience with them, and I think it's right to be highly suspicious and selective regarding third party warranties, but I know from posts on other forums (from users I trust) that there are some good warranties out there. I'll try to post a link later if I can find it, but I remember specifically somebody buying an older Mercedes CL model that was well known to be prone to very expensive maintenance issues (I think air suspension was one of the problem areas) and he ended up saving a lot of money by buying the warranty. Wish I could recall the name of the warranty provider and the details, but if you research, you may find it isn't as ridiculous an option as it seems.
Last edited by peterp; 11-02-2018 at 03:29 PM.
#13
On a positive note, I had a very good experience with the Hendrick Autoguard warranty.
I bought a 3 year, 36k miles warranty when I bought my 996 in 2015 at Hendrick Porsche in Charlotte NC. I paid 2k$ for the warranty that was used to replace the engine mounts and a bad wheel bearing. All work were performed at the Porsche dealership and I had the pleasant surprise to see that for the bearing change they also paid for the 4 wheel alignment. Overall I probably used it for 1300$ versus my initial investment of 2000$ because I had to sell my car but the very good point was that the warranty was transferred to the new owner (I paid 50$ for that). I enjoyed my ownership knowing that it would cover an engine failure.
I bought a 3 year, 36k miles warranty when I bought my 996 in 2015 at Hendrick Porsche in Charlotte NC. I paid 2k$ for the warranty that was used to replace the engine mounts and a bad wheel bearing. All work were performed at the Porsche dealership and I had the pleasant surprise to see that for the bearing change they also paid for the 4 wheel alignment. Overall I probably used it for 1300$ versus my initial investment of 2000$ because I had to sell my car but the very good point was that the warranty was transferred to the new owner (I paid 50$ for that). I enjoyed my ownership knowing that it would cover an engine failure.
#14
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
I've investigated a good many of the warranty providers I could find and, to be honest, you can find numbers of really terrible reviews for every single one of them (even the ones mentioned positively in threads I could find on rennlist). Nearly all of them are for denying claims that often seem like valid claims that should be covered. I'm just not sure there is a better way to research this since even the "customer reviews" sites seem to be filled with lots of people who give 5 stars for "easy to make payment" ( Well, that's effing worthless feedback) and/or possibly fake reviews boosting the scores.
#15
Rennlist Member
I'm curious what you guys would think would make a good warranty for our 996s consist of. A warranty specifically for just covering the engine?
What kind of responsibilities would you say are acceptable on the policy holder's part? Should the policy holder be expected to have their engine pre-qualified for coverage? Send in annual oil analysis results? Maintenance requirements?
What kind of responsibilities would you say are acceptable on the policy holder's part? Should the policy holder be expected to have their engine pre-qualified for coverage? Send in annual oil analysis results? Maintenance requirements?