YYC930

Zookie.....

Based on my experience in the past, as both a Porche dealership sales manager for years and selling the stuff forever afterwards, the way warranty claims usually work in the situation you mentioned is like this.......

The dealer where you get the work done will do one of two things..............

1-Honor the warranty, send you on your way and submit the claim "hoping" they get reimbursed.

2-Tell you to pay the bill and make a warranty reimbursement claim back in your own country at the dealer who sold you the car.........and it's up to them as to whether or not they help you or even if Porsche reimburses them for your claim.

Option #2 is what I have been told will be the new approach in which the current changes will be handled from after July 1.

As to what really happens, lets wait and see because everything is anecdotal at this point.

However, from the point of view of PCNA I see it unfolding like this...........if.people start a class action lawsuit, whether or not it has merit in law is irrelevant, it could take 3-5 years to get to trial.......

Now.....where will FOREX rates be in 3-5 years ?

PCNA wins regardless and here's why, they stop an existing problem right away, settle out of court much later for an inconsequential amount (in relative terms) that the vast majority of goes to the lawyers, and each Porsche owner gets enough to maybe do an oil change when it is all said and done.

Toyota recently settled a 5 year old suit for $40MM for THE EXACT SAME THING..............and Toyota is enjoying record sales to this day...............so as much as we rant, it don't matter.

Avia2

At this point this is still a rumor. There has been no communication sent to Porsche dealer principals from PCNA with regards to voiding the warranty. This would go against Porsche's belief that a Porsche customer is a Porsche customer and the warranty is valid everywhere.

hoffa

"Furthermore, US dealers will not be permitted to sell to Canadian clients and anyone trying after the fact to import a US car to Canada will now be required to also obtain a "COMPLIANCE LETTER" from PCNA...."

Just to clarify on your wording here, the compliance letter from PCNA is only required to import cars from US dealers right? Or does this mean that ANY car, even a car bought from an individual will require this letter?

jgrant

Compliance letters are required for private sales as well... it's a requirement of the Canadian Government to allow a car into the country, regardless of where/how it was purchased.

Age or purpose/type of vehicle (race car, for instance) are some of the scenarios where it is not needed.

hoffa

Thanks for the info.

So the consensus is that it will be much harder to get these letters if these changes go through?

How hard is it to get it now?

The DareDevil

You hit the nail on the head with that one!

pongobaz

Thank-you!

YYC930

Hoffa.......

A compliance letter is currently "NOT" required from PCNA on US cars coming to Canada.....and the recall letters can be done by your local dealer or a US dealer at present. PCNA did/does charge $200 however and it takes a week, for a compliance letter on a Canadian car being imported to the US (although I haven't done one going in that direction for almost 24 months).

Until the official notification from Porsche to the dealers is in their hands. everything is speculative as to how the importation of US cars will work from July 1 onward.

hoffa

Thanks for the info YYC930!

jgrant

Sorry... I was referring to the Recall letter. However, as it sits right now, the recall letter has to be done by the head office, or an American authorized dealer when bringing the car into Canada from the US.

http://www.riv.ca/english/html/recall_clearance.html

badbeef

Well, there's a good side to all of this... From my understanding of this situation:

1- it will be more difficult to import from the US quality cars (as US Porsche dealers won't be able to sell/export and PCNA will give trouble regarding the 'absence of recall' letter for sure)

2- will have a dissuasive effect on future buyers to go south and import (they try to protect the Canadian market, right? And with the warranty voided, not sure if people are willing to take the risk...)

= The value of our P-Cars already in Canada will remain high and have less depreciation in the next few years! A simple question of offer and demand...!

My 0,02$

Badbeef

pongobaz

or in other words: the worst kind of protectionism!

pongobaz

Well, I just got of the phone with PCNA customer care and they said that they've fielded a number of calls concerning this and that it is absolutely untrue! In my case, my imported US car is now subject to the CDN warranty in effect at the time my car was new and Porsche will honour that to the letter of what is printed in the warranty book. Furthermore, I was told that I had nothing to worry about coverage wise, since the US and CDN warranties for '03 were almost identical.

Now to your point YYC930, it still might be true that they will enact something on new or US CPO cars sold from dealers to protect their network here. But, will have to see those changes when they publish their '07 warranty books.

YYC930

All I can say is that my dealer contact was told this on Friday by the PCNA field rep who was in town for a visit, and the reason I was contacted was to make sure that I was aware of it, I guess so that I did not have any cars that were going to come across after July 1st without knowing what is up.

So there is truth to it........but what "actually" happens, versus the anecdotal phone call I recieved, will be only announced shortly in the very near future. We all have to wait for the reality to hit and assess what it is.

No offence bud, but expecting PCNA customer care (or any other corporate bodies PR department) to tell you something that is not yet officially announced, is kind of like expecting a politician to tell you if they will keep their election promises, before the votes are counted. I also know a lot more than what I posted, but will not be saying that part.......because it is not in writing and officially announced yet.

pongobaz

None taken "Bud",
But it's interesting you say that. While both of us may have countless years in the biz, yours come from the retail side while mine comes from corporate. You see for the last 15+ years I've dealt with corporate in the auto industry;they are my clients and we provide various training and management programs to them. This includes domestics and imports, from low-end to luxury. It doesn't matter who the manufacturer is; the common thread is that they are constantly reprimanding dealers AND field personel for eroneous assumptions and interpretations when it comes to warranty and service issues. They are also very, very careful to limit exposure to liabilities, lawsuits and negative publicity. As you well know from your experience, there is always an adversorial attitude between dealers and Corp. which never really helps communications when each side jumps on any self-serving bit of info. Being a field rep, is very much a mid level position in the corporate structure; a way to get to know retail and cut your teeth on that side of the business before you ascend to regional manager and eventually HQ. So you see my trust of what a rep says verbally to a dealer is pretty low too.
But you are right, we'll see eventually whether PCNA is truly taking this shocking position or whether the field rep "interpreted" something the wrong way. Let's stay tuned I guess.