Balr14

This is my main concern: but for a car with a normal as required service/maintenance history'

I bought my car from a dealer, who bought the car from a broker, who bought it from the original owner. I have the names of all parties involved and have tried to contact them but nobody has been able, or willing, to provide service records. I even tried to contact Porsche dealers in the area around where the owner lived, with no luck. This makes me feel like I have a serious risk of a claim being denied by a warranty company. I am not alone. A lot of 997s are purchased from dealers who don't have service records.

Greenchunks

I wanted to provide an update on my extended warranty search to contribute to the forums knowledge base. Why am I doing this? Everyone on here seems to swear by Fidelity Platinum and has a decent amount of proof that they will cover and pay out, that's great. However, there is very little information on any companies other than them (Endurance, Inifinite, Liberty Bell, CareMax?, AUL, Zurich, etc.). For my car, Fidelity Platinum for 4/48K with a $100 deductible was $14,400 AFTER MJ's discount from retail which was $32,000. That is absurd. A 4 year Gold with $250 was $6,900. Most of the other 3rd party companies were in the $2,500-$4,000 range for a 4 year vehicle service contract with $0 deductible. With Fidelity I would be looking at a Powertrain with $250 for 3 years for $3,000.

I will be purchasing an extended warranty from Infinite Auto Protection today for my vehicle for approximately $3,000 for 4/40K of coverage with a $0 deductible (2009 C4S with ~80K miles). I've spent a very lengthy amount of time talking to them, digging into nearly every thing that I can find. So first on to the common objections to any other third party aside from Fidelity (Platinum or otherwise).
1. Haven't been around for long - Infinite has been around for 10 years, was recently accredited with BBB (A+) as of July 2018 when they moved from selling to dealerships to a Direct to Consumer model (allegedly).
2. Use of Used/Reman Parts - I have in writing in a email from them that in most all cases, they will go with the recommendation of the shop that you take it to for the part, if the claims adjuster deems it to be excessively expensive or above market, Infinite will purchase the part and send to the mechanic (potentially annoying I know)
3. Labor Rate - Their standard amount they will cover in a labor rate only goes up to $120/hr but I have negotiated that up to $160/hr (Local P dealer charges $172, local Indy charges $145) for an additional cost to my premium
4. Maintenance Documentation - I have in writing that documentation of maintenance is required from when I take ownership of the car, not before. Proper documentation/maintenance includes recommended services focusing primarily on oil and other fluid changes. DIY maintenance is ok as long as you have receipts and dates.
5. Pre-existing conditions - This would be be anything that would lead the adjuster to believe that an issue was known beforehand. I do plan on getting some standard maintenance done within the next few weeks, so I will have them also add to the repairs a note stating they have looked over the car and nothing else is needed. I also have a PPI from a couple months back showing a clean bill of health.
6. Bore-scoring - I have in writing confirmed that this is a covered repair.
7. Aggregate Limit of liability - Lesser of my purchase price of the car or a trade in value, so I should be somewhere around $40k even if they low ball my 997.2 C4S for a trade in value. That should cover a full engine rebuild if that ever happens. Limit of liability on a single repair is the same trade in value.

From a coverage stand point, it is NOT exclusionary, it is stated component, this is what is covered (page 2 and 3). It appears to cover quite a bit beyond your basic powertrain given it is their top coverage, but there are a few things that don't seem to be in there (engine mounts, power seat motors/electronics, clutch, pilot bearing, throw out bearing) but at this price point that is a trade off for not getting exclusionary. Also, it does state that they will not cover a 'covered part which the repair facility recommends replacing, but which has not yet experienced a breakdown' which seems like it could be an issue if a mechanic spots something failing but has not yet failed.

All in all, I'm sure that if I went into this level of detail word by word on the Fidelity contract, I would find similar issues. At the end of the day, 4 years and $3,000 does seem like a pretty safe bet for the service contract. I will be sure to provide an update as soon as I need to submit a claim with my experience. If I never need to submit a claim in 4 years, I'll be happy walking away with spending $3,000 over 4 years for the car.

Greenchunks

Quick update to this 2 years later in case anyone finds this when searching.

DO NOT PURCHASE A WARRANTY FROM INIFINITE AUTO PROTECTION. If you already have, cancel the contract now, you should be able to get a pro-rated amount back.

They are a truly awful company, unpleasant to work with, dishonest and will not provide you the coverage you think you are getting, regardless of what any Sales Rep says. I purchased a contract with them a little over 2 years ago. I first tried to use them for a CV boot about 1.5 years ago, given that I have coverage for the 'constant velocity shaft, joint or both and associated gaskets'. They stated that even though a failure to replace the boot would cause a failure of the joint/shaft they would not cover it, as it was a stand alone gasket which is excluded. Fine.

Recently, I had a High Pressure Fuel Pump go out, my mechanic quoted me roughly $1850, $1,150 for the fuel pump, $50 for new coolant and around $650 for labor. They asked for all maintenance records, which I provided that day. The next day they asked for Title, registration and Bill of Sale as well as another maintenance invoice not on the VIN report, which I provided. The next day they asked for two blank pages of an invoice. The next day they claimed that I was missing maintenance records because one invoice referred to prior installation of headers, and the prior invoice was for 'remove/replace exhaust manifold". We spent a day arguing over whether an exhaust manifold and headers were the same thing (neither of which would be relevant to a Fuel Pump). The next day after providing a letter from each mechanic that they were the same, they said they were arranging for an inspector to come out and look at the car. This was 5 days now. The next week on Monday an inspector came out and looked at the car, told my mechanic that yup, High pressure fuel pump was dead. For two more days, Infinite Auto said they were 'waiting for the report'. Finally on day 8 since the claim, they said they decided to authorize a used HPFP which could be found locally for $320 and only 4 hours of the 4.5 hours of labor for a total of $900. Mind you, I have a written email from the sales representative that says regarding parts they will go with the Mechanic's recommendation (I asked this because the contract merely states they can use OEM, OE replacement or used/reman). They refused to cover the coolant or the time needed to drain the coolant which is required to replace the HPFP. So I asked them where they found the used part for $320 as neither me nor my mechanic could find it locally. They said they don't share that information. Then they called back and said they found it at a dismantler (which was 2,000 miles away) and verified they had it for $150, I specifically asked if it was the in tank fuel pump (more readily available and much cheaper) or the High Pressure Fuel pump that is part of the engine, he said it was the HPFP. So I called the dismantler. He did not have a HPFP available, and he said the earlier call did not specifically ask for that, and all he had was the in tank fuel pump. Additionally, he said that no dismantler would sell just the HPFP as it is part of the engine, which is worth $15-20K and would be incomplete without one. When I called the warranty company back, the 'supervisor' was now out at lunch and the service rep simply repeated "the adjuster has made his decision, and authorized a used part" over me as I tried to explain that used parts are not available. So essentially, I am out $1,000 still on a covered repair, plus the $290 to diagnose the repair.

On top of this, I have been yelled at, yes actual screaming, by one of their customer service reps (the female who works there), the other rep named Matt appears to be high or on drugs every time he answers and has hung up on me no less than 4 times when answering the phone, and 2 more times when discussing the details of the contract. Their supervisor has stated that even though I have provided written documentation from a sales representative of their company (who no longer works there) that doesn't matter as the contract does not state they will use the mechanic's recommendation. They intentionally 'make' the claims team an 'offline' team that cannot be reached by a customer so that they can just repeat that they do not make the determination, the claims team does.

Stay as far away from this company as possible, and anyone holding a current contract should request that it is cancelled.