grantf

Hey guys,

i'm new to the forum as i just got my first ever Porsche, a 2002 996 C4 cab. I grew up around my dad's Porsche, a 1976 911 targa. I decided to join the family and got what i thought was a really good deal on one.

Since getting it I found this site and obviously all the fears of failure started popping up, and if the motor died and needed replacing i wouldn't be able to afford it.

I was thinking about getting one of those extended warrantys from like Warrantys Direct or something like that. What do you guys think about that?

ohdavey6286

First and foremost Welcome to the Rennlist. If you were to get a warranty, make sure to read the fine print to be sure it covers what you are looking for. Pics of the ride?

grantf

Here are the only pics i have right now that I took with my cellphone for the insurance company. I literally just got it last week and haven't even had time to give her a good wash/detail let alone go to a good place to shoot the car.

ohdavey6286

Beautiful car! I think I am just biased towards the interior though....

mkenyon

I'd also like suggestions. While I'm still hoping to find a 997 that I can justify, the 996's are showing up all over this area. I'd love an opinion on which warranty companies are decent for the dreaded IMS/RMS issues but won't cost 15% of the purchase price of the car itself.

BruceP

If your circumstances or your disposition can't cope with uncertainty, then a warranty is a good decision. Just know that this is what you're paying for.

If, on the other hand, you simply believe that a warranty will likely be cheaper than paying for things that go wrong yourself, the odds are overwhelmingly high you will be wrong. A tiny minority of people will look like geniuses for getting one, and the vast majority will have wasted their money.

This is what is called a 'business model.'

Limetreuseworm

I just finished trying to get an extended warranty on my 2003 C4S with 22k miles. EasyCare wanted in the ballpark of $6.5k for 3yr stated care warranty. I didn't check Fidelity. Carchex quoted me $3.5k for 3yr but wasn't an exclusionary policy and only covered $65/hr labor. I can't see spending 17% of the purchase price on a warranty when I was only considering buying one to cover a catastrophic engine failure or the like. I decided against it. Like BruceP said, these companies are in business because they make money...

grantf

Thats why i was thinking about it. if the engine died in my car I wouldn't be able to afford to fix it.

mkenyon

Would it be fair to say that if the RMS and IMS seals have been updated in the past year on a 3.6L engine/tranny that you'd be reasonably sure it was fixed right. Obviously no guarantees. In my opinion the total IMS failure of the bearing can't be in a high percentage of engines. I admit it is real but I think the seals are more of the issues.
All of the other parts of the are are fairly interchangeable at reasonable costs (Shocks, bushings, etc.) my big concern is to cover the total IMS failure. But I think I've been reading forums too much to be sane anymore....Analysis Paralysis....

johnnyreb2010

Only get a Warranty if you cannot afford the worst case scenario & in your case that sounds about right. The warranty companies are gonna make their money no matter what. Get the Exclusionary Warranty (names items it doesn't cover) Try to get one from your local Porsche Shop since they are the ones that will be fighting on your behalf for the claims, hope this helps. Either way you got a car your gonna spend money on, even if its just for mods. You can buy alot of inexpensive Porsches, but if you have to replace a motor in any of them then its not an inexpensive car anymore.

georgiadis

I was in the same situation a little more than a year ago. I ended up getting a Fidelity Platinum warranty (which is exclusionary) from a local P-dealer.
My rationale was that if I needed to replace an engine, I wouldn't be able to afford it.

Fortunately the engine has been running beautifully in the meantime. However the targa roof has needed replacing, as well as a few other things. In total the warranty has covered almost $20K worth of repairs (the targa roof being around $14K).

Lesson learnt - a lot more can go wrong other than the engine! And even minor problems are very expensive to rectify at $120-160 / hour that most Porsche specialist shops charge in LA.
Moreover, if I had to cover the repairs out of my own pocket, I was afraid that I might have ended up cutting corners instead of fixing everything right.
If one can (and is willing to) do repair work himself, then maybe the warranty is not worth it.

So even for the peace of mind I think it is money very well spent. I guess it helps the resale value too since a (practically) bumper-to-bumper warranty indicates that any issues have been repaired right.

georgiadis

Btw at <$35K that 996's go for these days, you should expect to pay at least 15% of the car's value for a decent 3-4 year warranty.
Consider that a new engine is more than 50% of the car's value.

laxaholic33

I just purchased a 36 month 36k Totalcare policy from Easycare through a porsche dealer. it was about 3800 w/ a $250 deductible...A new engine wouldnt cripple me, but it would take away a good chunk of my savings (im 2 months into the real world). I figure by 70k miles, even if the engine doesnt go, something significant will break and i'll at least be able to get a portion of my money back. If nothing wrong happens...then i got a hell of a deal not paying $4k more for the car at the purchase.

ryangambrill

Weather or not an extended warranty is worth it, depends on your EXACT situation. This is because the cost of the contract depends on age and mileage etc.

A better question is what are the good companies to deal with. Get quotes from them, then make the decision, or ask us here what we think.

Otherwise it is just too vague of a question.

For example, I just purchased a 6 year / 72 k mile $0 Ded. extended VW Real Driver warranty. It is backed by VW and serviced by Fidelity. Being that my vehicle is still under factory 4 year warranty until Dec, and my current mileage is 34.9k, my cost out the door was $2,500.

I felt that $400+ per year was cheap insurance. A V10 TDI Touareg is not cheap to fix. One repair bill can hit $2500 with no problem.

sshus924

Fidelity is a better value. One Porsche dealer sells Fidelity and a 3 yr/36K is around $2,500 for the platinum. Another Porsche dealer sells EasyCare and charges $3,500 for the same coverage! Fidelity is $100 deductible and EasyCare is $250 deductible... AND Easycare requires the dealer to do a pre-inspection check for $450!! Big difference.