POLL - Who is ON a warranty and who is OFF Warranty (risking it all)
 

I just thought it would be interesting to see what the breakdown is here on this forum - among Boxster owners.

Obviously, the people here with brand new cars, or just buying CPO cars will have a warranty. But a lot of you running around in 2.5s obviously are way OFF the factory warranty - but a lot of people may have some form of extended warranty on the car....

If you care to contribute, can you post your year/model/mileage and whether you have a warranty or not. Factory, CPO Porsche Warranty, third party (who is it) and might as well tell us if you've been pleased with the warranty coverage so
far..

also toss this is - for you OFF warranty guys - what are you planning to do in the event of "the worst" and your motor blew up. Fix it w used motor, fix it with upgraded motor, sell car for parts... and then would you buy another boxster is you had to sell off your car for parts...

Here's me.

2000 base. 75k miles.
NO WARRANTY.

Although prior to buying from my dad he did have a third party warranty through Fidelity that he bought from the dealer. it was a 3 yr / 36k miles warranty he bought right when the factory warranty was expiring. He paid about $3000 for it. It ended up paying of for him as he needed some new interior parts (a new leather dash) a new top, and new cats...that and the other few things he had done were at least 3k...maybe a bit more..so he broke even or won "slightly".

Car had an RMS leak at about 15k miles and the dealer put in a new motor - that was back in 2001'ish. That was under warranty. so the "new" motor has about 60k on her...

If my motor blows - I don't know if I would pay to fix it. I figure my car is worth mayb $10-12k in this market...at MOST. and if it costs me that much to fix it... that's a LOT of money to put into a car - i can't see the logic of investing 100% of a cars worth to fix it when it is as old as mine....

You need a Poll counter on your thread.

I'm out of warranty, with no plan to buy one. Don't know what I would do if I had a catastrophic issue. I don't want to will it my way by pondering it too much.

Maybe I would do this:

http://986forum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=10225&stc=1

IMS/RMS Tuesday. Today is just Monday.

No warranty, if my m96 poops the car will either be converted to electric ( I hear the Box is a good candidate for this) or I'll paint Porsche screws it's loyal followers on it and youtube myself towing it around behind my truck and send copies to Stuttgart.

*2001 S with 56K

*Warranty through Warranty America

*$2275 for 60 mos, 80,000 miles - claims to mirror Bumper-Bumper (but plenty of clauses)

*Better than NOTHING but far from satisfying

*Purchased at 38,000 miles and has already paid for itself 2X's, but I'm out a few grand in uncovered repairs too.

P Dealers often recommend Easy Care, because:
1. they probably sell it, and
2. it seems to be one of the few warranties that knows what to expect when it comes to covering these cars.

*Warranty America will only honor AllData or Motors when it comes to necessary hours to complete a job. They won't honor Chiltons & they won't honor Porsche. This is VERY important info when it comes to where you service your car. A dealership will use Porsche's hours & most specialists use Porsche or Chilton. AllData & Motors frequently come up with fewer hours for the repair, so the warranty company will only pay out on their recommendation. This has caused me NUMEROUS headaches & plenty of extra $$$, but obviously, the thing to do is find a specialist that will use AllData or Motors to work around it. Problem is... will they be any good? Most Porsche specialists get their hours straight from Porsche.

Hope this info helps.

1997- 2.5 - 53,000 miles - no warranty. Immediately upon explosion...3.4.

At 35K on my 2001 Boxster I've investigated warrantees, but hesitated to buy one. This is the first car that I've ever owned that I am truly worried and skeptical about. Not only are their engines an outrageous cost, but they're far from dependable. I'm going to give some further consideration to the warrantee again.

If mine has a catastrophic loss, maybe I'll put in a dependable low cost flat six (from Subaru)!!!

2002 Box S, purchased three years ago with 8k miles, no warranty. Car currently shows 15k miles; oil changes only during that period, along with performance upgrades. "If" the 3.2 grenades, I would opt for a 3.6 Raby motor and be done with it.

1998 base model 2.5l, purchased just over a month ago. No warranty, most warranty companies are 100% rip-offs. They'll take your money and hide behind clauses when you make a claim.

2005 Boxster S, almost 54,000 miles, now on a CPO warranty for 100,000 miles. Shouldn't take long, considering it's 3.75 years old and I managed over 14,000 a year already. Yeesh.

1998 986 with 177,000 miles.
Daily driver.
No warranty since 2000 (2-year warranty in '97 and '98)
If the engine goes, in goes a 3.8L X51.

1999 986 with 76,000 miles.
No warranty since 2003.
If the engine goes, I'm not sure what I'd put in place.
This car is for racing.

Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

I have a 2001 base 5-speed with 17k miles. No warranty. If the engine kills itself, we'll see how my finances are doing and how nice Porsche wants to be and go from there.

This thread & thinking about IMS/RMS is really making me feel like I need to take a step back before purchasing a boxster... however I don't want to believe it 'cause this is the car I've been wanting forever now.

I know how you feel, I'm in the same boat. I've decided to wait a year or so until I can afford an '06 (base) with an apparently stronger IMS design.
Steve

I'm doing the same, right now a 333hp M3 is looking real good, especially because it doesn't carry as much of an exotic look as compared to the Porsche, I don't really need to extra attention given my current neighborhood, as much as I want a Porsche I'm trying to bring myself back down to reality since I'm a college student and don't really want the possibility of my motor blowing up on me, at 19 (almost 20) I see myself as having plenty of time to save up and buy a Porsche later on down the road either brand new or with a certified warranty in the future.

But in my eyes, BMW's styling is not timeless, it looks great now but won't look as good in 10 years. I can keep a Porsche for 20 and it'll look just as classic, in my opinion.

Sorry for getting off topic.

I have a warranty
 

Bought an '03 CPO Boxster in November '08 with the Porsche warranty. The car has 49k and the warranty is 2 years or 50k miles.

2001 S with 63,000 miles. CPO until 100,000 miles or 3/2010. A few days before the warranty expires I will have a new clutch and LN Engineering retrofit IMS bearing installed or dump it for a new one with no IMS.

2002 Base 71,000 miles No warranty

I am confident it won't blow, but if it does. I'll take the top off, fill it with dirt, and plant roses in it.

2002 Base, 74K miles, still under 3rd party (Warrantec) "Ultimate" coverage. This warranty was bought new with car for $3900- 84 months or 100K. Expires in May of 09. Original owner paid to have this warranty transferred to me for $40
Daily driver, bought it 2 years ago at 34K. Warranty repairs on mine are pretty inclusive including road hazard ($100/tire- used it twice).
In addition the following were all covered under warranty by the dealer:
RMS
Ignition switch
headlight switch
drivers seat rails
trailing arm (includes a free alignment...cha ching)
Oil Separator
2 O2 sensors
MAF sensor (also covered the air filter for this repair)
steering wheel bushing
passenger door window lifter (regulator?)
(do the math and this seemed like a decent investment)

Not covered- one repair to the clamshell cover (considered an adjustment) which I could have easily done myself ($65) and all oil and tires.
warranty=good

The warranty is what sold me on buying this car and allowed me to enjoy the ride with no worries.
I drive this car very carefully. If the engine blows I'd replace it. Just too much fun to drive for the investment. I paid just over 23 K for the car and that seems low for the fun/dollar factor I credit it for. keep in mind I drive it daily and put about 25K/year. I get a ton of seat time...about 2 hours/day :), i do weekend trips with my wife, and i have done several car rallies and driving events with the local PCA. see you on the road:)

Mine is a 1999 base 5-speed with 15K miles and no warranty. Almost ditto to Samson. I was offered a warranty but it was almost $3000 for 3 years, so I declined. For that bet to pay off, there has to be a 20% chance of the engine blowing in the next three years ($15K x 20% = $3000). I figure the odds are much, much lower than that, and anyway the $3000 saved now can go towards a new engine -- if need be.

There have been hundreds of thousands of Boxsters produced, and yet I've only seen reports of a couple of hundred engines blowing up. I even checked the NHTSA and they only have 11 such reports. Porsche has NO such reports on the Better Business Bureau. Consumer Reports mostly rates the Boxster "Better Than Average" for major engine problems. My mechanic knows of "a couple" of engines that blew (in greater KC metro area, that's not many). I know if my engine blew up, EVERYBODY would be getting my complaints, and I can't be that much different from other people.

What I think is happening is this: a couple of hundred engines blowing up IS above average compared to, say, Toyota or Honda. If it is 1% of the total Boxster production, that actually is very BAD but statistically it's still a 99% chance of NO problems. So, I'm going to take my chances.

2001 Boxster S - 23,000 miles - no warranty. Bought in 2008...

Engine blows....? well, I guess I buy a replacement (engine) and drive the car until the day I enter the nursing home.... or park and buy a Vette...

Bob - Colorado

I have a 2001 Base Boxster, used to be a 2.7, now it's a 3.2 after my 2.7 spun a rod bearing. I'm going without a warranty right now. I did have an extended warranty with Warranty Direct that cost me about $3,100 or so. It ended up paying out about $17,000 over the life of the warranty, although the last $12,970 something took about 14 months and arbitration for me to get.

Mike

2000 Boxster S. 87,000 miles, probably 4,000+ in track miles since the warranty expired and no extended warranty. RMS 3 times and replaced the tranny while under warranty at about 45,000 miles and both have been solid ever since (knock on wood). I drive the car very hard and don't do any special maintenance other than more frequent brake bleeding, checking wheel bolts for tightness, etc. I worry more about safety failures and keeping it on the track sunny side up but ahead of the GT3's :) But if the engine fails, 3.4/3.6 conversion here I come.

2005 Base Bought in June
63,000 miles

No Warranty

I do all my work myself, If I get bored after my 944 is up and running I may even build a spare flat-6 just for the hell of it.

2002 Boxster S , 35k miles, no warranty. If it blew, I'd likely part it out or leave it in the garage to look at while parked next to the C6 ZO6. She's pretty fun and all, my practical side says I could never bring myself to drop $20k into it, just wouldn't make sense to me.

98 Tip with 65K. Bought it with 22K on the clock and turned down a 3 year or 36K warantee for $3600. I am beyond the covered period and ahead $3600. That translates to more HP on the new engine which I would put in. Ed

98, 2.5, 5spd, 78k miles, no payments, no warranty, no fear. Very few unscheduled repairs in 3 1/2 yrs of ownership. I do my own diagnosis and some regular maintenance. My local Econolube does my oil changes now for 20 bux if I supply the oil, filter, crush ring. Not worth my trouble anymore. I also found a good local indy for wrenching stuff I don't care to do. Good to have another set of experienced eyes under the car once a year or so. I just can't stand dealer service.

My car is a weekend toy, joyride, track tool. If I had a serious engine failure there would be no time pressure to fix it so I will weigh my options if and when the time comes. I am over my lust for big horsepower so I may just do a Raby 2.5 spec rebuild and keep it stock. I must admit to taking a little twisted pleasure in driving around GT3s, TTs, 997s, and Vettes in my old, underpowered, POS 2.5L chick car. It is my fatal flaw.

'03 Boxster w/Tip, 40K, extended warranty from Warranty Direct. Drive the car as I feel it should be driven, all regular maintance. RMS replaced under factory warranty just as it expired. Got my extended warranty because of the reputation of this engine to have catastrophic failures long before it reaches a "normal" rebuild or replacement mileage. For me, "normal" is 150K for top end, 200K+ for bottom end on a well-maintained motor - those figures are minimums for the stock late air-cooled flat 6 Porsche engines that these water cooled motors (with supposedly better reliability) replaced.

If I have an engine failure under my WD coverage, I expect it will be a battle like thenavarro had, but this is a weekend car and I've got plenty of time and energy to get my claim honored. If my WD coverage runs out and the car is still working fine, I'm going to sell it and upgrade to a later model Boxster ('05+).

'02 Boxster S - 22K miles no warrenty, bought in '07 2nd owner with 20K, RMS done under warrenty by previous owner. Weekend occasional use plus 1 DE where is was heavily thrashed, I expected the brakes would last more than 3 laps on PS2's ... :( Just installed full Fabspeed exh and Evo intake no dyno #'s yet.

'98 Boxster 2.5 with 125,000 miles. Was my daily driver until last month. Now it's my fun car only.
Slight RMS leak and saving for a clutch-kit / lightweight flywheel before taking the tranny out.
No warranty. I do my work but have a great local indy in case of more complex work.
If the engine goes I will upgrade. The car is paid off and at this point it's all about upgrading and making it the best racing car I can afford! I am looking at what Raby does and I am very interested...

no warranty and did my own ppi.

'01S @30k mi. 5k mi were mine. Weekend touring car. Had to put on a rear wheel bearing, otherwise no probs. The rest of the car would have to be in very good condition to justify the cost of a swap. I've built air cooled 6's and would do some of the work on the box if it came to that.

When I bought the car two years ago the dealer offered me a 3y/36k mile warranty on my '99 Boxster with 17k miles. I got the warranty for $3k. Initially it was worth it because the previous owner had let the car sit and the warranty covered the $1k vacuum leak and bent engine plate.
But lately the warranty has not been used, and the Boxster has been very reliable. When the warranty is up I will probably just put $3k in a saving account or CD for any future repairs, unless I can find something like a 10k/100k engine only warranty for about the same price.

02S - 2nd owner. 35K miles. Bought from dealer with Porsche Certified Warranty for 2years.

So far I have paid for:
Passenger wheel bearing - $700
Coolant leak around the base of the bottle - $279

now it sounds like the driver's rear is making noise - another $700.

Warranty coverage to date - $0.00

that's one of the downsides to the certified warranty - it's NOT a bumper to bumper "everything is covered" warranty - some of these little items they won't pay for - so you do get coverage for the big ticket items - but on these cars it's the little stuff that nickel and dimes you to death.

i've been lucky so far. in 6 months of ownership i've "only" had two vacuum leaks and now a water pump leaking. each vacuum leak was about $200 in parts/labor to fix. the water pump is close to $600-700 at the independent....

i figure i'll eventually need a clutch... i'm at 75k miles. but my car is a weekend toy.

if/when I lose the motor - i'll decide if I want to keep the car long term or not. If I do - i'd likely do a 3.4 swap. as the car is a third/toy car - i could take my time until I felt comfortable blowing the funds on the motor swap.

you have to admit - it would be a real blast to have a 3.4L powerplant in this car.

the one thing i would consider is how much I culd sell the car for in it's damaged condition. then look at the cost of newer boxsters. given the recession, poor reslae, you might be able to find a newer 986S or 987S for a price that wouldn't be THAT much more than the cost of an $$ swap. ??? it would be MORE for the car, but how MUCH more? given that you'd be getting a newer car that will have all the other items newer - electrical, suspension, brakes, transmission, etc et cetc... you might be smarte to just get a newer boxster, sell the broken one, and eat any "loss"...

Mine is a 2000 "S" 6-speed with 65K miles and no warranty. I purchased it in January 2009 as a weekend/fun car. I do all my own maintenance, diagnosis and repairs.

Shortly after purchase, I installed a Pedro's front engine mount to replace the broken original. Just last Friday I replaced the leaking one-year-old Laso (German) water pump with a Porsche part from Sunset. Next up is a new Sachs stock clutch, Mobil synth trans fluid, IMS bearing check, maybe a RMS and an AOS replacement. If the engine were to suffer an internal failure, I would probably swap in a 3.4L as it would be fairly simple to do so.

I couldn't afford this car if I were paying someone else to fix it!