Warranty Direct + awesome Porsche dealer = very happy customer

[J-RAD]

Originally Posted by Wintermute

So this last weekend my future father-in-law and I decided to tackle the 60k service on my S. He has a nice shop with full lift that makes getting under and working on my car a cinch. We replaced the spark plugs, serpentine belt, oil and filter, cabin air filter, wipers, topped off the coolant, and checked all the belts and hoses for cracks leaks, checked the brake pads (plenty left), etc. It was hard work but worth it since Porsche had quoted me about $1200 for the service. Anyway, while we had the tires off we noticed that all 4 of the CV join boots were split. The joints themselves looked fine. No unusual noise or movement and still had plenty of grease so it hadn't been long. But I was not relishing the thought of how much this would cost to get fixed. It had to be done, so I made an appointment with the dealer for Tuesday.

I had bought a 4-year, 75k mile extended warranty from WD when I bought the car, and looking over the contract it appeared that this should be covered. After dropping off my car, Russ from the Scottsdale AZ Porsche dealer called me and said that it was mostly covered. They covered all the expensive stuff, but not stuff like axle nuts and clamps, and they would only cover 4 of the 6 labor hours and only up to $120/hr of the $125 the dealer charged. So not great, but better than nothing. Russ told me he had argued with them to try and get them to cover the full $125 or at least cover 5 hours of labor, but no dice. What he did do was split the difference with the labor charge, 5 hours instead of 6, and only $120/hr instead of $125. I was impressed.

Well when I picked up the car and paid my bill, I was floored by A. how much the total cost was (about $1100), and 2. how little I paid ($240, including the $100 deductible for the warranty). This made me very happy. So I just thought I'd share with you a happy story of extended warranties and dealer service departments.

And you know what? I bet you still would be well ahead of the game if you had passed altogether on the warranty at purchase and just paid for the repairs out of pocket.

[Perfectlap]

^ @JRAD...."Past Performance is No Guarantee of Future Results"

[Wintermute]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

^ @JRAD...."Past Performance is No Guarantee of Future Results"

Exactly. :-)

[rick3000]

It's refreshing to hear a story about a dealer that doesn't try and take you to the cleaners. Extended warranties are a must have, my had saved me almost $4k in the last six months, on repairs that the car needed when I purphased it and the PPI didn't catch.

[Wintermute]

At this point, that's true. This is the first repair I've had done to the car since I bought it about a year and a half ago, so if I had passed I would have still saved money. However, the peace of mind for the "what if" scenarios is well worth the cost of the warranty.

I've also never had an accident, or had my car damaged, broken into, or vandalized, so technically I could have forgone all but the minimum on my insurance and I would indeed be ahead of the game. Think of all the money I would have saved! But that's just silly.

Extended warranties are just insurance policies and like any other insurance, you may never use it and it will feel like money wasted. But...what if?

[Perfectlap]

I've only had one non-maintenance repair in 30K+ miles, so I've done well also.
If they were willing to come down more than $1K per I would have sprung for the WD policy as well.

Sometimes I want to kick myself for not at least insuring the drivetrain. I'm not sure I would dish out $6K+ for a new engine if that were necessary. I would hate to part with my Boxster over something like that but I don't have emotional attachment to it and I highly doubt I would consider doing a 3.6 transplant.

[J-RAD]

Originally Posted by Wintermute

At this point, that's true. This is the first repair I've had done to the car since I bought it about a year and a half ago, so if I had passed I would have still saved money. However, the peace of mind for the "what if" scenarios is well worth the cost of the warranty.

That's the only thing that matters - that you're happy with the decision.

I also purchased an extended warranty. It covered me on a RMS issue - the only issue I've ever had (knock on wood). Even with that I would've saved $1800+ (that's an extra set of track wheels and tires) had I not purchased the warranty and covered costs out of pocket.

I don't think it's completely correct to look at a warranty in quite the same way one looks at insurance. For one, you're required to carry a certain amount of insurance. More accurately, it should be viewed in the context of what you expect your repair costs to be over a stated period of time (ie. the warranty coverage period). Essentially, look at it as pre-paying your repair costs for that duration.

With this in mind, the idea is to estimate your expected costs over a stated period and mitigate that risk through the use of a warranty as needed. If you use more services (more repairs), your cost per repair goes down. If you use less, your cost per repair is higher.

I've found that very rarely can an extended warranty really be justified.

But, as you indicated, for some it's more about the perception of piece of mind.

Also, FWIW, having lived in AZ for a while, I too can attest to the fact that dry rot from the heat poses real problem with the rubber components (ie. belts, hoses, etc.) in many vehicles there.