Warranty or 'Certified'.......
 

The salesmen will present you with a gift basket of all sorts of things you get with a certified (I even saw the salesmen's training flip chart..) but, from my perspective, it boils down to the addition of 2yrs extra warranty - up to 100K. Most of the other items seem like the policy riders for a metorite that crashes thru the roof into your dishwasher.

I don't think I've seen any 98's Certified, so they could have probably made it 200,000mi with no impact on anyone - Porsche included.

The question I'd like you to ponder, because of my limited mental resources, is: Is it better to go for a Certified 01, or simply buy an 02 with mileage in the 20k's where the warranty will still have 1+ yr?
....assuming, you'd probably never max out either mileage ceilings..

As an aside, it appears that the Cert. program is a way for Porsche to throw a bone to their dealers and still dump a lot of cars in the open dealer market. I don't know the car business, but I can't think that the dealers would be willing to take all the lease returns... Thoughts?

Jim
Salisbury MD

...my wife wants Seal Gray if you see one.

800 825 1245 (weekdays)

I agree with your conclusion that Porsche dealers don't necessarily want lease return cars. I think most of them have too much mileage to make them attractive to a dealer. In my experience they only want low mileage ultra-clean cars for which they can charge a premium.
I expect that most of the lease cars go from the leasing companies into the wholesale and auction markets, and end up in the hands of non-Porsche dealers.
Not sure what to say about the Certification program, other than that it seems to be an attempt to make prospective purchasers feel a little better about the premium dollars a Porsche dealer expects to get for a used Boxster, and to lessen fears of major $$$ if something breaks. The Boxster bears the cross of being the cheapest product in the lineup, but fixing one isn't much less expensive than the models costing twice as much.

I'd go for the certified for a peace of mind, otherwise, look for cars from your nearest Boxster club or PCA. Most of these owners are likely to have well taken care of their cars.