BED997

Good advice palmbeacher. I'm still waiting to see if the owner can find out any more on the paint- no records seem to be available. My guess is that it got a respray on the bumpers at the dealer before the car was resold, and the current owner wasn't told or didn't ask. I'm in no hurry- probably will wait to get a 2009 next year. I'm hoping the 991 erodes some of the 997 pricing. Might also try to find something within 500 miles from home to reduce the cost of getting it here. With the cost of transportation and LN service added this car doesn't really beat the price of a good 06 or even a base 07 that is close by. I'm also seeing some nice 2005 S models coming up for sale that are tempting and near the price of this car.

I did get a ext warranty quote from carchex. Cost was about the same as easycare my local dealer sells- $1k a year for 4 years $100 ded. Pretty steep.

utkinpol

i think if you drop off gearbox, get in new clutch (if needed), replace AOS and put in LN ceramic bearing you should be fine. during PPI you may ask to check compression in cylinders if you suspect car looks like been beaten up.
any car off warranty is a, well, risky business and 997 parts are not cheap.
if you have a bit extra money left 2008 CPO car would be a smarter buy now, even if it got more miles.

mgordon18

I'm keeping tabs on the '06 '07 '08 market using AutoTrader. It seems the premium CPO cars are demanding ends up costing more money per year than the extended warranty quotes I'm reading about in this (and other) threads.

A 2008 CPO car would still under the original warranty until sometime in early 2012, at which time the CPO kicks in for 2 more years. I've read here that dealers charge anywhere from $2500 - $4K to CPO a car, so I'm assuming any CPO'd car would demand at least $2000 more on its asking price.

The extended warranties are quoted as $1K/year. So what gives? What's so good about CPO over a solid extended warranty policy? Even at the "steep" extended warranty prices they still seem cheaper than CPO and provide similar (if not identical) coverage.

McCulla

As I've posted, I have the Carchex policy. About $4K for 4 years and up to 75K miles. I'm probably having more bad luck than the vast percentage of 05 owners, but as of late next week this policy will have covered approximately $7500 in repairs (in about a year and a half)....I'm one of the outliers who has been very fortunate to have decided to get the warranty. I have to mention that the process for each of the repairs has been very clean and cordial. I give max credit the the independent shop that takes care of my car. They gather the needed info and communicate with the warranty company like the policy mandates. I'm sure this is a PIA but they sure don't ever complain to me about it! I'm very lucky.

gibsonre

McCulla - I have a 2005 997 C2 with ~10k, only having put 2k on it since purchase last late spring. Immediately I had a front sensor go out resulting in a $600 bill. Can you tell us what kind of issues you've had specifically?

thanks.

McCulla

Gibsonre, I have to admit that this list is a little embarassing. I have to preface this with the fact that this is my 5th 911, 8th Porsche (2 944S2's and a Boxster as well) and I have had no problems with any of them. This car has had quite a number of issues (you'll agree in a few sentences..) so for now, I'm feeling like this one is my karma equalizer. I'm beginning to see a limit on the horizon, however and I won't put up with much more before I move the car. I bought my car from a non-Porsche dealer, sight unseen, had a PPI and shipped it from Pennsylvania to Florida. The truck offloaded at Home Depot and I drove it home. Then the fight started...

1)When I went to start the car to take my wife for a drive, it wouldn't start. Threw a check engine light (CEL). I put a new battery in it (called the dealer to register the issue...) and it started fine, but didn't clear the CEL

2)Took it to my independent shop and the diagnosis was bad alternator. (Apparently there is a record that the alternator cable had been changed) I wanted the selling dealer to buy the car back but they offered to fix the charging system and I fell for that. The dealer paid that bill (about $1K I think)

3) A short time later the PCM failed. Ate a CD and wouldn't spit it out. Also wouldn't play the radio. Amazingly, Porsche NA paid 1/2 of the cost of the PCM. About $1500 at the dealer.

At this point I purchased the Carchex warranty. They have a waiting period and all was good.

4)While we were out of town, the car was on a CTEK for about 2 weeks and when we got back, on start up the car again threw the CEL. The shop cleared the code (code was for random misfire) and couldn't get it to manifest again

5) 2 months later I came out of work to find a big puddle. Water pump replaced

6) The coolant tank was slowly losing coolant, turned out to be a bad cap, easy fix.

7)Oct, 2011 the CEL is back on. Same code, random misfires. The shop drained the fuel tank and that cleared the code with no reoccurance while in the shop

8)Nov, 2011 the CEL is back on. Now the investigation has to go to the next level. Still 0300, Random Misfire. All of the easy stuff checks out good (injectors/coil packs/plugs/DME/MAF/cam position sensors/engine ground/air intake leak) so the next step is lifters (all 24) and VarioCam actuators/solenoids. Those parts are on order.

I bought the car with about 23K miles. Changed the oil the next day. I am a poor steward of the environment and change my oil every 2K miles. I always disassemble the filter to look for metal (have found nothing more than a few very small aluminum specks, nothing ferrous that would more indicative of an IMS issue--which can also be a misfire causer eventually)

Kind of a horror story. My experience is certainly not normal. Like I said, I'll set a limit for myself. This current problem will end up taking about 3 weeks in the shop. (Thanksgiving, waiting for the warranty adjuster, parts order and doing the job.) This is my driver and my wife works, so I have to rent a car. There may be some coverage for the car rental from the warranty, but I still have to go through the process of pick up/drop off, getting rides, etc. My attitude is helped by the shop that is doing the work, they really go the extra mile.

Hope this is "enlightening"...it's a disappointment for me.

boolala

The PCM and faulty alternator cable are known issues with the 05s. The rest of the stuff is just random bad luck.

McCulla

He asked for specifics, I wish I didn't have any to provide! As my post alludes to, I seem to be on the other side of the fortune swing right now. I hope it starts heading back the other way soon.

Tito_gsx

McCulla, sorry to hear about your misfortune. Sounds like you still have a positive attitude, let us know how everything works out.

BED997

How has carchex been to work with? Hopefully they will get you back on the road soon without further issues. I'm somewhat worried about buying a warranty and then not finding a shop to accept them. We only have 3 in town that work on Porsche. Indy is great but flat out told me that they don't do warranty work - they have more than enough business. That leaves the dealership which sells easycare and a place that does mainly bmw/ audi.

boolala

Didn't an aftermarket warranty company go bankrupt and fail to pay claims recently?

McCulla

Carchex has worked well, so far. They are covering a large claim with this current job. I think I posted earlier that I checked with my shop before I bought this policy to be sure that they would work with this company. This shop works with a number of companies and they are willing to do the grunt work that's necessary for these things to be beneficial to all parties. So far, so good.

boolala

Warranty Gold in bankrupcy. One million consumers affected. (Of course this is being litigated in the Cayman Islands). I know for a fact that some here on RL are among those one million affected but we don't hear from them.

Like I said a long time ago: when you are one of the lucky ones and have a successful payout you brag about it. The losers? Well they are subject to "publication bias." LOL

McCulla

I just assume you're not referring to me when you speak of bragging, right? The last thing I'm doing is bragging, just stating my experience. I'd much rather not be in the position of needing this work done to my car. I have to say that it is sure nice not to have to be writing the check.

boolala

No. Was speaking in generalities. Glad it has worked out for you. Just warning others that warranty companies are not in the business of losing money (at least not deliberately). And when they do, you are left holding the bag.