Want to buy a Boxster, but I'm Afraid..very afraid!

[Brucelee]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

BruceLee,
would you recommend a service contract for a 2000 Boxster with only 12,000 miles?
I passed on the plan they tried to sell me on at the Acura dealership where I bought the Boxster. The previous owner traded it in for a CL or something.
The service records only included one oil change and something electrical I think.
I asked for more but they said that was all it had done.

On this car with that mileage, the service history sounds about right. For the future, I would do an oil change (Mobil 1 of course!) every 7500 miles, not 15K as the manual says. Assuming you drive prudently, this should keep your engine internals intact.

The issue of a service contract is thorny at best. Much depends on the following variables:

What is your risk profile, that is, how well do you respond to planned vs unplanned expenses? A service contract is simply an insurance contract which takes your money before an event happens and in fact, may not happen. On the other hand, it protects you when it does and more so if the costs are higher than otherwise expected.

Some folks love to buy insurance, others never do!

The second variable is the contract itself. What does it cover and how is the company about paying. From my understanding, if that SC was actually underwritten by Acura, they are pretty good about paying. That said, you have to read the contract carefully to see what you are getting.

On the Box, the big ticket items would include a total engine (unlikely for sure), clutch, trans and rear main seal. Less costly are other seals and gaskets and of course, electronics.

I wish I could just answer for you but as you can see, it really is very individual indeed, just like how we all like to personalize our Boxsters here on the forum.

[BuffaloBoxster]

Just to throw my two cents in on the subject of extended warranties... In May I bought my '01 Boxster, and the factory warranty ran out in November. During that time, I had a couple of little things fixed under the factory warranty - my HVAC controls had a couple segments on the LED go bad, and I also had the transmission mechanism on my top break. All of it was fixed under factory warranty. The bill for the HVAC was over $1000 (mostly the part from what I understand), and the top transmission was about $700.

I bought an extended warranty from Warranty Direct. I did some research and they've been around a very long time, and I had a hard time digging up dirt on the company. Their converage most closely mimicked what you'd see covered on a factory warranty, and they will let you have the car serviced by the dealer. My coverage was a little over $2000 to extend the warranty by four years and up to 100,000 miles. Knowing how expensive these cars are to have fixed, if only what has gone wrong over the first six months I've owned the car go wrong in the next four years, I'll still be pretty close to breaking even. And I'd hate to have everything sunk because that unlikely failure just happens to occur on my car, and I'm making payments on a car I don't have $9000 for an engine rebuild and a Bxster without an engine is obviously not going to get me much money out of the deal.

[Perfectlap]

is that Warranty Direct coverage $2000 a year for four years? ($8,000 total)
I drive the car pretty hard. But I have always changed things on previous car's before they break and I had a great mechanic who won't go near a Porsche.
I only drive about 6,000 miles a year. I rely on daily public transportation to get to work into NYC. So my daily drive is literally 5 minutes to the train station and five minutes back in the evening. Public Transportation is not cheap though $300 a month. I do plan to attend track drving schools and at least 100 Autocross laps, so the car will be tested to some degree.

Service contract seems very tempting, I'm the type that would like hanging out in the Porshce garage just to watch them tell nothing needs fixing. But my mileage is so low I wonder if it will be wasted.
(In the back of my mind I keep thinking about how a 996 I was considering was only $9,000 over the Boxster I bought. But I guess you can't look at it that way)

[BuffaloBoxster]

No, it's $2000 for all four years. The key is to buy the coverage before your car goes out of warranty.

[Ronzi]

Funny you should mention the heater/AC display. That is about the only problem I have had with my '99; the display does not show the footwell air distribution arrow, although the function does work. $800 to replace, according to the dealer.
Warranty history on the car shows a MAF sensor replacement, and a Tiptronic trans gasket replacement. No history of problems with the top (yet).
My experience with the Box and the 911 I had before indicates that you should expect maintenance costs to be higher than you would experience on the average Honda or Toyota. Scheduled maintenace costs (15K, 30K, etc) are not cheap. In my case the 30K was $900 at a dealer, and I did not have them fix the AC display.
Do your research, know what you are looking at, and what to look for. Jumping on a car because it is "cheap" is asking for big, and expensive, trouble.

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by BuffaloBoxster

No, it's $2000 for all four years. The key is to buy the coverage before your car goes out of warranty.

yep, my warranty ran out last year. If I had a 2001 Boxster instead of a 2000, I could've had 4 years/60000miles for $2200 with $0 deductible, $1700 with a $200 deductible.

oh well I'll keep looking.