BG3

Long story that I'll have to catch up later. However, I ended up purchasing a '12 GTS after a long search with lots of failures along the way. The car now has 19,500 miles on it and my CPO coverage expires on the 28th. I talked to Fidelity and I'm torn on how long I should cover the car. My knee-jerk reaction is to cover as long as possible. Given I've only managed to put about 3,500 miles on it in ten months, the 7/70k plan would be the most reasonable. But, the part I can't seem to reconcile is two-fold: 1) how much is 7 years of peace of mind worth? & 2) would a shorter length be a smarter decision?

My guess is this is the cheapest the coverage will ever be so,.... what are your thoughts? How did you decide?

PS. I know this is kind of a dead-horse topic. Just looking for feedback to help with this decision.

cwheeler

Is the car paid for? The only major expense is an engine, so you have the cash for that?

Easy questions for me.

Cw

BG3

Yes, car is paid for.

7yr/70,000 is just over $5k. Of course, shorter terms would be cheaper.

Seems kind of like buying a long term lottery ticket that may or may not have to pay out. But, does provide peace of mind. So, how much is that intangible worth?

milazzo_997tt

Who are you going through for this quote? I recently bought a fidelity platinum warranty through Micheal Jourdan with Mossy Motors. He gave me a Rennlist discount. Cost to me was 55% of the listed price through fidelity. If you'd like his contact info to get a second opinion/quote let me know.

BG3

That's who I've been talking to.

Fined

My GTS had a few months of CPO left when I bought it almost 4 years ago. It had 26k miles on it then. I decided to not to get a warranty on the car at all. Now with about 54k miles on it I'm glad I didn't buy a warranty. I haven't had anything come up that would've been covered by the warranty. So far the only repair on the car was a window regulator that went out when I first got the car and it was still CPO.

I can certainly understand folks buying a warranty and some here who had one got their money's worth several times over.

In the end... even if I'd had a 10 year warranty I've now taken the car to Germany so any warranty it had in the US wouldn't be valid anyways. I only mention that to say, you never know what happens with a car that could also remove any value in getting a warranty. Things happen, cars get sold, stolen, or totaled or somehow manage not to need repairs. But for those that do, it can be a wallet saver. I like to play the risks I guess.

Ironman88

I went through this myself. '09 C2S with 25k miles on it. PDK car. All of my research on the 997.2 prior to eventually buying the car that I did buy was that the 997.2 is a very reliable car. Past experience with Porsche (an '01 Boxster S that I had for 7 years) taught me however that when a Porsche breaks, it can cost you much more than you might expect to fix it (unless perhaps you do the work yourself which I don't do.) Someone in this thread posted that the only real high cost item is the engine. I think the PDK would also fit into that category as well. I know I would not want to have to pay for a new one if it failed. (Perhaps your car is a manual shift...)
Ultimately, I decided that peace of mind to me was definitely worth the expense of purchasing the warranty (6yr / 60k. Fidelity.) I just don't want to have to worry about the "what-ifs". Especially not at this stage in my life.

I think your decision has to be based on you knowing your own personality type. I think for you, the meaningful answer rests with you.

saabin

If you are still under factory/CPO coverage (it seems you are) I have a different contact that was even cheaper than Mossy for a platinum plan on my Cayman. LMK if you want the contact..

street rod

The other factor to consider is how long do you plan on keeping the car and fit the warranty to that time period. However this is a hard question to answer and no one has a crystal ball. I went with 5 yr / 60k. I had the warranty for 1 month and needed the some suspension parts replaced. It was covered with no issues. I just like having the peace of mind.

BG3

That's a good point. I have no plans to sell the car. But, life has taught me that our path in life isn't always going to go to our plan.

Took me 29 years of saving and dreaming to get it! It's a somewhat unique build and I want to make sure I take care of it. While I could afford and engine or PDK replacement, the thought of it makes my stomach turn. Just as Ironman88 mentioned, I too did a lot of research before settling on the 997.2. I really wanted a 993 but, reliability and other factors that made the 997.2 more family friendly were more important at this time. I also really wanted a manual but, also wanted my wife to enjoy the car.

exduluthian

This is a dilemma for a lot of us. The general rule, of course, is to never buy an extended warranty on anything. Warranty sellers are in business to make a profit, which means they always pay out less than they take in, and it isn't all covered by the lower prices they pay the shops that do the work. Cars like MB and Porsche may be the exception to the never-buy rule. I was afraid of my first MB and purchased an extended warranty. Can't remember the company, but they covered the two items that came up without any quibbling. I think I got about half my money back on that one. I then thought I was over my fear of expensive mechanical issues, and bought a 996. Turned out I was wrong. I probably spent too much time on the forums reading IMS horror stories, but I sold it within two years and bought my 997.1 turbo--without a warranty. I am comfortable with the decision, and every year that goes by accrues savings that can be put toward a major issue, if necessary. It all comes down to your comfort level, and if you will sleep better at night with a comprehensive warranty, then get it and don't look back.

BG3

I agree wholeheartedly. I've never been one to buy an extended warranty on anything. But, I also don't own anything else besides my home, where the repair bill could be $10,000 to $30,000+.

I had to replace the engine in my boat a few years back due to a slight lapse of attention on my part. I pulled the block plugs to drain the motor for the winter and thought it fully drained. Apparently, a rust flake was just enough to plug one side of the block and it cracked all the way to the head... But, that was 7,500 for a full long block replacement. Though, that was enough to have several uncomfortable conversations with the CFO/wife... Needless to say, even though draining the block is enough around here, I now fully winterize and fill the block with RV antifreeze.

Ironman88

This all anecdotal stuff, but I can tell you that I also swore off ever buying extended warranties - especially seeing how almost all of them are inclusionary in nature. When I really regretted it was on my last car - an '06 BMW M3. I bought it with 32k miles on it. California car. Competition pkg. Really cared for. Never tracked. Long story short, the last significant repair expense that I paid on it (prior to unloading it) was in replacing the DSC module, pressure sensors, and all wheel sensors on the car. All failed with only 35k miles on it. The dealer wanted $5,400 to do the work. I had a very good independent shop do the work for about $3,200 - a far better deal, but who in the heck wants to pay $3k plus for something like that? At the end of it, what more do you have? An ABS system that works - but should have never failed at that point to begin with.

Point being that you never know what may go wrong with the car or when. There is significant complexity them. With that complexity comes cost - often very high cost.
It's easy to fall into only considering the obvious larger component big ticket repair items like an engine or transmission. But a lot more can go wrong with these cars and sometimes very unexpectedly.

Bottom line with the BMW - I came to regret that I did not have a good extended warranty on it. Hence the purchase of the Fidelity warranty for the 997.2. No regrets.

Carrera991

extended warranty can only be purchased for a car that currently has CPO ?

Ironman88

No. Not the case.