Certified Porsche - What does it really mean?

[RandallNeighbour]

Downsides:
You will pay far more for the car than if you bought the same car with the remainder of the factory warranty on it and no factory-extended warranty from a reputable source like Richard (BruceLee). Richard, my bird dog check should be sent to 10055 Regal Row, Houston, Texas.......

If you plan to race the car on a track and they find out, the factory warranty remaining and any extended warranty on the car is dead.

The last downside is that if you put on a bunch of aftermarket intake/exhaust, chip it, or put on anything they can use against you in a court of law, they'll not repair the car. (ie, you lower it and your control arms go out prematurely and they may not replace them under warranty saying your non-approved coil-overs did the damage when this is not really the truth).

If you don't plan to race it or mod it a lot, I think you'll enjoy the upsides...

Upsides (potentially huge in my not-so-humble opinion):
The service guy will certainly tell the mechanic to hunt for any kind of repair he can make to your car when you bring it in for something simple like an annual oil change. Your service paperwork will be five feet long because Porsche is paying and the service advisor is making lots of commission off it if he discovers worn or broken parts on your car.

The other upside is that Porsche doesn't usually certify Porsches for this program that have known problems they haven't already fixed or are unwilling to willing to fix for you should you find them. Abused and neglected cars are supposedly auctioned off and not allowed to sit on a Porsche lot as a CPO car.

I've bought other CPO cars (a 95 Lexus LS400, for example) and I am bound and determined to buy my next Boxster as a used CPO car from a dealership with a nice long warranty on it, which I will pay to extend as many years or miles as is legally possible under the program. Then I'll finally be able to sleep good at night and not worry about big repair bills because I've already shelled out 10~20% more for the car than from buying it from an auction reseller.

I say if you can afford one, you won't be dissappointed when and if you need service down the road because it's covered and not eating you out of your vacation cash.