Should I buy a warranty?
 

Just got a 2000 2.7 with 115k miles. Car is in great shape but I'm getting paranoid with all the IMS horror stories on the interwebs. I found a drivetrain warranty plan for 5 years for $4000. Does a warranty make sense?

First let me say that I am speaking from my experience. I had Huge expenses and got jacked around for 6 months before they finally paid......

I can promise you with 115K miles you have 10+K worth of repair work at this very moment.
The problem is will they pay for it? It may be in the contract, plain as day, but they will try every angle not to pay.

things that you could repair.
.......all suspension parts-because the bushings are all crap, Shocks are worn, motor mount (guaranteed it is broken), water pump (bet the bearings and the impeller are starting to go), AOS (if there is a fine mist of oil on the motor...it is on its way out). CV joint boots (bet they are cracked), Cam cover gaskets (bet they are leaking), Chain tension pads (bet they are worn), stuck lifters, IMS replacement, MAF, O2 sensors (60K miles is all that is recommend), Many small random internal plastic trim parts ( bet you can find some that are broken), Coil packs ( bet all six are cracked and shorting out to some extent), Cracked rotors (if you have the S rotors-look close at the holes- there will be cracks and if they connect hole to hole it could break). Top mechanism cable (check it out- bet it is frayed and will break at some point).


My point is there is a lot of stuff that can be fixed.

It took me 6 months but I got the bastards to pay for every thing listed above sans the top parts and the AOS.
They put up an epic fight until the end. I often wonder if they will ever insure another boxster. They even offered to replace the whole motor so that they did not have to pay for the internal parts. In the end it comes down to the mechanic and how much they want your business. Will he fight them and prove the repairs are needed.

If you do it - make sure it is an iron clad agreement.

Most non-dealer warranties aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

For $2,000 you could simply have the IMS bearing replaced if you're really that worried.

+1
 

For $4k I'd just save it in a repair fund and keep adding to it. Hopefully you'll never have to use it all at once. Go to Mike Focke's site on warranties and read up on it. I went through all this same anxiety a few years ago and ended up not getting one. So far no regrets. Well, actually really no regrets.... Any warranty I would've purchased would have been expired by now.... sooooo???

sean

No - you'd be spending a large percentage of your car's present value on a benefit that you probably won't need. Your car has already lasted 115K miles. If it was going to blow, it probably would have by now. Even if it did blow, the car still has some value as a roller. If you sold it for roller value and put it with the $4K you saved by not buying the warranty, you could afford to get another car. Plus, doing it this way preserves all your options and leaves your money in the bank in case of emergency.

An extended warranty makes more sense for a newer vehicle where the cost of the warranty is only a fraction of the car's value and the replace-or-repair cost is much higher.

The previous posters make a good point.

Unless you plan on replaceing everything that is broken asap, the cost is too high.

If you can do what I did and get them to rebuild the entire car for 4K$, (2k in my case) then go for it. But be ready to fight anything more than a leaky cam cover.

Can I ask what major maintenance has been done to your car?
Clutch, flywheel, IMS upgrade, shocks, etc? any typical Boxster repairs like the AOS, coolant tank? regular Boxster maintenance for a car with more than 80K miles like 02 sensors, catalytic converters, MAF, rotors, pads, axle boots. Unexpected repairs like starter, alternator and of course tires.
I just spent about $10K on all this over the last year for my 70K mile 2000 S.
I doubt an aftermarket warranty would have cover more than $1K worth since most were regular wear and tear items or things that most warranty companies won't touch like the IMS.

advice: change the IMS instead of spending money on a warranty. And do it right away. A Porsche specialist can do the job for $1200 if you do the clutch while you're under there.

If you don't mind and tell us how much you paid for the car? $4k, is it worth it?
Did you do a Pre inspection before you bought it?

I paid $7500. Pre-inspection was me! Seller did have some records which showed fairly regular maintenance at dealers, but records are incomplete. But yeah, $4k is over half what I paid for it.

I look at warranties the same way I look at insurance policies. The company issuing the policy is there to make a profit. They have a whole bunch of really smart people that figure out how much they have to charge so that the odds are in their favor of making a profit. In other words, they anticipate spending much less in repairs on your car that the amount of the premium they are charging.

That says to me that the odds of me benefitting from buying the policy are slim to none, and so I usually opt to sef-insure. The only exceptions I make to that are the fire insurance on my house and collision/liability insurance on my cars. and really, I don't have a choice about either of those as the mortgage company insists on the fire insurance and we cannot legally drive without auto insurance where I live.

A similar scenario was when I operated a service van and looked at insuring the tools and materials in it. I found that if I went 4 years without a loss I would be ahead of the game if I had to replace everything after that. It was a bit of a gamble but it paid off and I saved about $6000 over the seven years I did that job.

It was fairly well maintained according to the sellers records which are incomplete. I'm in the process of trying to get the service records from 3 dealers in 3 different states, wish me luck.

DME, MAF and a couple of O2 sensors replced in the first two years. Axle boots good, brand new tires, new rotors and pads in the last 5k miles, new top w/ glass. I'm a fair wrench, so I plan to do most of the repairs myself.

I will definitely do the IMS bearing, but I'm going to wait for the original clutch to wear out. My fingers are crossed!

You make a lot of sense. I paid $7500 for the car, doesn't make sense to spend over half what I paid for it for a warranty.

jhandy,who is the warranty company you used ?

I bought the warrenty direct at 20K miles for bumper to bumper coverage/ 100$ deductable for 2,000$ lasting 7 years or 70K miles.

I used them a few times here and there, no problems, but the repairs rarley went over 500$.

So time pasted and i was at 65K miles. I read the contract over and over, and then sent the car to a shop and asked that they repair everything, and I mean everything that could be done under warrenty.

I even got the IMS upgrade paid for. Chain guides replaced. Lifters replaced, and a whole bunch of other stuff.
They fought like I was stealing from them, I was just going by their contract and using it against them. They could not even find part numbers for the motor internals in their database.
finally they paid after i contacted headquarters and threatend a lawsuit for delay of payment. The shop fought for me as well, they had all the parts out for inspection and showed them what was broken.

My total repair cost was ~15K. cost me 100$ and a few more for a clutch. Now I have a rebuilt 2002 S.

Wow. In your case it was definitely worth it! Now you've got me leaning towards a warranty. Which company did you use?

More the exception rather than the rule............

You said it, spending over 1/2 the purchase price for a warranty doesn't make sense. If you have a major problem, the car becomes "disposable", move on to another, starting with the 4k you put in the bank instead of a warranty.

The company I used was called "warrenty direct"
I really got lucky and it was a huge ordeal and
hell of a fight with them and I did not have a
car for six months.
Lucky for me the mechanic enjoyed the challenge
of a good fight.

I am sure I was the cause of sweeping policy change
and a change in wording of new contracts.