Carmax sells Porsche warrantee

[baxster]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

put that money into a money market account and kick in another $100 every month (at least). If you read the fine print of those warranties they are chock full of 'get out of paying you for catastrophic claims" language. They'll require all maintenance be done by a licensed mechanic, and I mean everything, no matter how minor like chaning the air filter (5 minute DIY) and you can't miss or be late on a single service item. When you add up how much this will cost you it negates the value of the warranty. I bought one of those when I first picked up this car because it was so cheap I thought what the heck. I opted to pay over several installments. Almost immediately I had a problem, top wouldn't come down. I brought it to the dealer and they said "$4 switch but we have to charge you $140 labor". Fine I said I'm covered "bumper to bumper". The Porsche tech comes back an hour later "you're warranty will not cover it". A $4 switch. So I stopped making the payments and allowed them to cancel the warranty. Glad I didn't pay all up front.

Did you find the language in the b2b warrantee that excluded that job?

[Perfectlap]

I went through the language almost word for word with the phone rep. I asked him part by part from engine to brakes, to HVAC, lights, all that, whatever wasn't mentioned in the fine print. He either said yes or no. I was a real pain in the arese. Anything not mentioned explcitily I figured they'd chalk up to 'normal wear and tare". THat's a pretty clever clause to throw into a service agreement. A sort of catch all for them. When you think about it, what isn't getting worn and torn to some degree when you drive it? There was a forum member here who had a warranty with probably the best known of the firms (Warranty Direct) when they were still covering Porsches and his engine let go, IMS I think it was. They denied his claim and he had to take them to court. I think he won but most people wouldn't show that kind of tenacity. Point being the guys who write those contracts make sure their lawyers put in the right words to avoid a really big pay out. Only a judge can force them to do otherwise.

[Banana S]

FWIW, I have the CarMax Maxcare warranty on my Boxster S. It's already paid for itself in the 2 years I've had the car. CV boots on both sides, a bad camshaft position sensor, front motor mount, and a couple other things that I can't recall at the moment. What I like about it is:

1) You have the option of bringing the car back to CarMax for repairs, for a $50 deductible each time, or taking it to the shop of your choice for a $75 deductible. (Which means that every time I need a repair, I go straight to the local Porsche dealership. No way the CarMax service techs are EVER going to touch my car.)

2) You can cancel the Maxcare warranty at any time and get a refund of the amount you paid for it, prorated for the greater of the miles traveled or the time left on the warranty. (Did that with a previous CarMax car that I decided to sell before the warranty was up.)

I'm happy to say that I can't answer your question of whether Maxcare would warranty an IMS failure. I know that my service writer at the dealership would fight for me to get them to do so, but frankly I hope I never find out. (And he is actually a big supporter of HPDE's, performing a free tech inspection for me before every event. It helps that the dealership sponsors the events through our local PCA chapter.)

[Perfectlap]

^ How much did you spend?

[Banana S]

Edit: The cost was $2,089.00 to warranty the car for 5 years from the day I bought the car, or to 99,561 miles, whichever comes first. (The car had 39,561 miles on it when I bought it in October 2008.)

[jditom]

Good to hear you are using it. The cost is based on the year of your car, how many miles on it and what kind of deductable you want.

I do all my own work and will do a IMS upgrade but not until next winter. I wanted something to CMA until then so I got a 5 year up to 75000 miles with a $200 deductable for $1400. Cheap piece of mind.