Caught out by warranty

Porsche 996 c2 1999. Just had my car in for service and asked for the garage to check the aircon system which was underperforming. They said that a new condenser was required. Asked the garage to check with my warranty providers whether this would be covered under the warranty. Here's where my problem starts. I bought the car one year ago end of Feb 08. The warranty is dated starting the same time. The dealer arranged/supplied the independant warranty. The warranty providers turned down the application as the garage had documented the last service as being November 07 when they aquired the car. I bought it in Feb 08. Now, while the warranty company can legitimately duck out of the situation given their written terms, what is the situation regarding the dealer? Do I put it down to experience and not reading the small print adequately or is it fair to assume that a 12 month warranty from purchase means what it says? The rediculous thing here seems that had I asked the dealer to check the aircon after the warranty is renewed and the car serviced, I would now more than likely be getting the costs covered. Because they now know about the fault I'm stuffed. Where do i stand? There's probably a moral position here, balanced by my own possible stupidity in not understanding the details. Opinions and advice gladly received.

forgot a key issue.... The conditions of the warranty say the car has to be serviced under the Porsche prescribed intervals. i.e. I should have had the car serviced in November. Not 12 months since I bought it.

It doesn't have to work out that expensive. If you get the Porsche part number and google it you'll find several suppliers here in the UK. The OEM is Behr and there is also an alternative third party unit. I'd be inclined to change both. It's not really that difficult to change - you have to remove the front bumper aka PU. Instructions are available on this site. Once installed you'll need to get the system re-gassed. Kwikfit can do this for cira £50. I changed mine last summer and was delighted with the outcome. The whole job cost less than £600, the condensors are quite a bit more expensive on my C4S, so yours will be circa £500 if you do it yourself. Any competent mechanic can do this job as long as they take care not to scratch your PU. Ray :thumbs:

Thanks Ray. I've been looking into this. Prices for the condesenser do seem a lot cheaper on the web than list. I'd be more than prepaired to take on the job but the car's on the street here in London. Not having the luxury of offstreet parking and the space to do the job properly kind of rules it out as a practical option unfortunately. Might look into buying the parts and having someone fit them if that's possible. To be fair the dealer's quote for both is not much over £600 anyway. I'll probably end up biting the bullet and getting it done but after a load of silly stuff that needed to be done as well I've decided to wait a few months till I sort it. Luckily the weather we're having right now requires major use of the aircon!

Certainly a lot cheaper than OPC. I'd still investigate the cost of the parts and then negotiate with the dealer. I've just done a quick google and you can get your condensers for sub £300 for both, so you should be able to get the job doneunder £500. It's not a complex or time consuming job. :bye:

I think that's definitely the route to take. Would probably have had the work done but was all a bit much on top of the rest: two rear tyres, service, mot, various tubes and bushes. The condenser (and the cost of doing the sensible thing and replacing both) added half as much again.