Purchase Extended Warranty?

[PhilNotHill]

Should I get the Extended Warranty through the dealer for 2011 Boxster S?

7 years, 70,000 miles with $100 deductible. Cost now $2495.00

[tonycarreon]

1. how long do you plan to keep it?
2. porsche warranty or 3rd party?
3. 2011 are new, no one really knows what the problems will be.

that said, most people on the forum tend to walk away from warrantys that are 3rd party. the odds are that it will never be used, otherwise there's no money to be made from selling them.

[Norminhouston]

for four years and 50,000 miles, you are paying $2495 for three years and 20,000 miles. For me I would pass and invest the money in a good growth stock like Apple.

[tonycarreon]

not to hijack the thread, but my AAPL stock has only given me 103% return, whereas the BAC stock has done 185% - purchased at the same time...

[mikefocke]

Are here .

Statistics say it is a bad bet. But the 2011s are not immune from serious problems.

Details would matter. What does the contract say? Who is behind the contract?

[thstone]

Unfortunately, there isn't any good methodical way to calculate the value of an extended warranty because you'd have to know that likely failure modes and failure rates.

Of course, Porsche knows those numbers and that is how they came up with a price of $2495 for an add'l 3 yrs/20K miles. Generally, you can safely assume that Porshce believes that they will come out ahead on the deal.

With that being said, the question comes down to three things:

1. Can you afford to pay for repairs yourself once the standard warranty expires or are you cash-short most of the time?

2. Do you want "worst case" insurance to provide coverage if the engine or tranny goes?

3. Is it easier for you to roll the expected costs of repairs from years 4-7 into the price of the car and finance them over the life of the loan even if you might be over-paying a little?

I bought both of my BMW's with an extended warranty and they turned out to be about break even when compared with the extermely high list prices that the dealer quoted for repairs. At actual dealer cost for the repairs, BMW made decent money on the deal. But what I really wanted (and was willing to pay for) was worst case insurance for an engine or tranny failure (which never occurred but I slept better knowing that it was there).

[AreaOne]

You will be better off waiting until your factory warranty is about to expire before buying an extended warranty. If you buy now it runs concurrent with the factory warranty. Check with the warranty company that you are interested in and see how much the warranty would cost if under a certain amount of miles then you will have a longer warranty for about the same price.

[mikefocke]

have calculated the payout as a percentage of the income of these companies. And it only stands to reason that if I sell something that has administrative costs and sales costs (salesperson, upseller, sales manager, GM, owner, etc all take their cut) and profits in it, the amount I have left that I expect to pay out in parts and labor expenses to fulfill the warranty terms will be less on average than the cost I will change.

Consumer Reports calculated a 30% payout as a percentage of cost several years ago. 70% went for things that, in the end, didn't benefit the buyer...on average. Sure we'll hear from some who won...just like at the casino. But casinos don't take 70% off the top on average in any game I'd play.

And financing a warranty only adds to the cost and decreases the efficiency of the purchase.

A 2011 isn't that new and we have the experiences with the last 2 years from a similar design to judge from.

Porsche provides the CPO as a way of selling on used models so the dealer can talk the potential trade-in owner into the high margin new car. Curiously, the CPO terms and costs are a US specific item. In the UK it seems you can buy a warranty from a OPC (dealer) and it will be backed by the Porsche distributor in the UK through about 10 years. No such luck here. The cost of a CPO warranty that is subsidized by another product's sales is not a good measure of the payout liability in a warranty.

[PhilNotHill]

Originally Posted by mikefocke

Are here .

Statistics say it is a bad bet. But the 2011s are not immune from serious problems.

Details would matter. What does the contract say? Who is behind the contract?

Zurich American Insurance Company, Overland Park, KS.

Only parts of the engine are covered.

I believe I will pass.

Thanks for the help.

[WhipE350]

Good choice Phil, you just took delivery on that car, who knows in 4 years and 20k miles later you might want a 2015 turbo 2.0 liter Boxster

[PhilNotHill]

Originally Posted by WhipE350

Good choice Phil, you just took delivery on that car, who knows in 4 years and 20k miles later you might want a 2015 turbo 2.0 liter Boxster

Indeed.

I do get attached to cars tho. Our 84 986 S was totaled after 4 years (some woman hit us at 50 mph while stopped at a light). We really loved that car.