Warranty Direct - Just Purchased!

[dharrisonwu]

Hey all,

Just purchased the Warranty Direct "Major Ticket Items" policy for my 2002 Boxster, 32 K Miles. With a $100 deductible and coverage for 4 years/75K miles, cost was $1,374. Sounds like a great deal to me - - especially after reading the forum and all the issues with the RMS leaks, intermediate shaft problems, etc, etc, I figured the price of the warranty would be made up in a single major repair.

Anyways, wanted to pass this information along in case any of you were considering extended warranties.

I keep thinking some entrepreneurial person on this Forum should start their own Warranty Company for 986forum members (with a paid sponsorship)! Let's see...7,000 members and growing at about $1,500 a pop...that's over $10MM. Even if only 1/2 purchased the warranty it's a big bizz, with several new members each year.

[djomlas]

if that warranty is anythign like the warranty i had on my other cars, u guys can all send me the money, and when ******************** goes i bad i just tell u that its not covered, but everythign else is, and then when something else goes bad, i say the same thing
i got so screwed over w warranties that i dont think ill ever buy one again

[dharrisonwu]

I had the same misgivings regarding extended warranties...with warranty direct, it looks like a pretty good product. Unlike other warranties, they actually administer their own claims but they're not true "warranties" so to speak. They actually are selling an insurance policy (mechanical breakdown coverage) which would fall under the auspices here, in where I live, under the California Department of Insurance.

Out here in California, its pretty stringent and the fact that they are licensed here bodes well for them.

I've searched the other boxster forums as well and warranty direct was hailed as being an excellent product.

[RandallNeighbour]

Originally Posted by dharrisonwu

I've searched the other boxster forums ...

Well! Have you no shame? Why would you need any other forum aside from this one? :dance:

PS - I got turned down by Warranty Direct. Said my car was too old and had too many miles on it.

[ohioboxster]

I think the wnted like 2500.00 for 2 years and 24k miles for my car and that was before the SC unit. Im sure they would turn me down now too.

[z12358]

Originally Posted by dharrisonwu

Hey all,

Just purchased the Warranty Direct "Major Ticket Items" policy for my 2002 Boxster, 32 K Miles. With a $100 deductible and coverage for 4 years/75K miles, cost was $1,374. Sounds like a great deal to me - - especially after reading the forum and all the issues with the RMS leaks, intermediate shaft problems, etc, etc, I figured the price of the warranty would be made up in a single major repair.

Anyways, wanted to pass this information along in case any of you were considering extended warranties.

Regarding previous discussions we've had about Porsche reliability and repair costs...
Unless this company is negligent, fraudulent, inexperienced, incompetent, or just plain run by idiots, this is saying that the total expected (i.e. average) repair costs over 4 years for an average 4 year old Boxster must be less than $1,374 -- or else the company would have gone (or will go) bankrupt. Or am I missing something?

Z.

[seventythree]

Originally Posted by z12358

Regarding previous discussions we've had about Porsche reliability and repair costs...
Unless this company is negligent, fraudulent, inexperienced, incompetent, or just plain run by idiots, this is saying that the total expected (i.e. average) repair costs over 4 years for an average 4 year old Boxster must be less than $1,374 -- or else the company would have gone (or will go) bankrupt. Or am I missing something?

Z.

Actually, you are almost on the money with your assessment. More precisely, the net proceeds after paying commissions and administration expenses would be less than half of that figure. So, for ~$700 on average, to cover claims over a 4 year period, one can safely conclude that the plan in question is not designed to cover much!

[z12358]

Originally Posted by seventythree

Actually, you are almost on the money with your assessment. More precisely, the net proceeds after paying commissions and administration expenses would be less than half of that figure. So, for ~$700 on average, to cover claims over a 4 year period, one can safely conclude that the plan in question is not designed to cover much!

Thx. I'm not familiar with the premium break-down for a typical warranty/insurance company but if we assume (as you say) that $700 would go for commissions, expenses, profit, etc, then the more comprehensive $2500 plan says that the average 4yr repair costs should be around $1800 (2500-700) -- which is in the same ballpark.

These numbers look low but we all may be emotionally biased by reading posts of people who have had problems, and not considering the majority of the ones without problems. If this warranty sticks and if they have done their research, the market (as an aggregator of all data -- good and bad) is saying that projected average repair costs are lower than what most of us expect.

Z.

P.S. Haven't read the fine print but if it covers most porblems, the $2500 4yr warranty still looks like a good deal for Boxsters coming out of factory warranty.

[Bob O]

Of course warranties are priced to give the company a profit over the expected pay-outs. (If the company doesn't make a profit, they won't be there when you file a claim...there are LOTS of examples around of this very thing happening) They're dealing with averages and statistics. For all those Boxsters that have NO repairs during the coverage period, there are those that incur claims well above your cost of the warranty... hence the concept of "average". Do YOU have the average Boxster?

There appears to be three possibilites with purchasing a warranty. One; you incur repair costs less than the cost of the product. Company wins. Two; you incur repair costs exactly equal to your cost. Company wins (slightly), due to investment gains on your premiums (assuming you don't incur those costs in the first month or so of coverage) Three; you incur repair costs higher than your premium. You win. That looks to me like a 1 in 3 chance of you winning and a 2 in 3 chance of the company winning, from your perspective. (From the company's perspective its a totally different analysis.) So the company has 2 to 1 odds of winning. How much of a gambler are you?

I'm a CPA, and I did the math before purchasing Warranty Direct in November, 2005, just before my factory warranty expired, taking into account some of the more frequently reported potential repair costs. Could I invest the average expected repair costs somewhere, and maybe (big maybe) be money ahead. Sure. Is my car "average"? Who knows.

I don't remember the cost exactly, but it was somewhere around $2400 or so for complete coverage for four years up to 100,000 miles. You have to weigh the odds of your car suffering a catastrophic failure of something, (or, more likely, several smaller issues which add up to quite a large repair bill over time) and you being on the hook for it, versus the peace of mind the warranty gives you to cover those potential biggies.

So far, I haven't had to use the warranty (knock on wood). (Maybe I have a better than average Boxster! ) BUT... if something DOES happen, I'm covered, and, for me anyway, that's more important than going bare. It's just one less thing in my life to have to think about. But that's just me

Bob

[Perfectlap]

I got a $3600 quote for my 2000 S with 32K miles. 1/3 of that due up front and the rest paid in 10 installments. Kind of steep me thinks for a car that has been basically trouble free. But for $1,200 a year with a well known company it might be foolish to turn it down since i can transfer it to the new owner for $50. That might help in selling the car a great deal.

[seventythree]

Originally Posted by dharrisonwu

Hey all,

Just purchased the Warranty Direct "Major Ticket Items" policy for my 2002 Boxster, 32 K Miles. With a $100 deductible and coverage for 4 years/75K miles, cost was $1,374. Sounds like a great deal to me - - especially after reading the forum and all the issues with the RMS leaks, intermediate shaft problems, etc, etc, I figured the price of the warranty would be made up in a single major repair.

Anyways, wanted to pass this information along in case any of you were considering extended warranties.

I also have a 2002 Boxster with 20K miles. I got the same exact quote from them for the exact same coverage, MajorCare MBI, 4 years 75K miles. Needless to say, at less than $1/day, I was compelled to pull the trigger on it. However, on another forum, somebody pointed out that it was TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE! Thankfully, I checked the fine print, and the MajorCare MBI gives you pretty meaningless coverage on engine/transmission failures. According to a local Porsche specialty repair shop, for all practical purposes, engine failures would be covered only if caused by an oil pump failure!!
So, do yourself a favor, research the issue, and if I am correct, switch to their SecureCare MBI plan before it is too late. I decided against it, because I figured the ~$2,500 they quoted for the REAL plan, sitting in a liquid investment account, compounded over 4 years, will cover a lot of potential repair bills.

Regards