Need Advice - CPO Dealer Issue

It has been sometime since I have contributed anything worthwhile but I usually lurk through here a few times a week. I have a question for those with the answer: My mileage recently hit around 48,000 so I decided to take it in this morning to get the 45k service and have the sunroof looked at. A few hours after dropping it off the service manager called and said the sunroof motor will need to be replaced and my fog lamps were not working. He said the sunroof motor would be a little over $400 and at this time he did not know what was specifically wrong with the fog lamps. I then stated that shouldn't this be covered by the CPO and he replied that he had forgotten that my car was a CPO and he would call me back. He called back around 30min later and stated the sunroof motor is covered by the CPO but since we do not know what exactly is wrong with the headlights I would have to first authorize the "Diagnosis" which costs $105 per hr. If the faulty part is covered by the CPO then I do not pay any "Diagnosis" fees but if the part is not covered by the CPO I then have to pay for the "Diagnosis" and the faulty part. I then asked him what parts of the fog lamp system were not covered by the CPO to which he was unable to tell me of any so I then asked why do I need to pay for a Diagnosis of a system that is covered by the CPO? His answer was again a repetition of what he stated earlier and that until it is determined what exactly the problem is he cannot give me an answer. So is this standard procedure for CPO warranty service???? I am not happy about this Diagnosis charge when the item should be covered by the CPO in the first place.

sounds like BS to me....and a nice way for the stealer to make a couple of 100 bucks....come one..something doesn't work and you have CPO they should find out why and fix it.....if they discover you altered something (re-wired etc) you have to pay the full bill....but until then they have to figure out why it isn't working.....how about trying another dealer and write this one up to Porsche USA as scammers?

I think they suspect it is not a CPO issue and an aftermaket instalation screw up. Diagnosing an electrical problem caused by an aftermarket instalation can run into time=money$$ They just want you to agree to pay the bill later. Did the fog lights work and were they documented working on the CPO checklist? You should have gotten this when the car was delivered. Did you get something added on later??

I also have a CPO and I have never been charged any diagnostic fees, even for an item not covered by the warranty. I had a problem where the car wouldn't turn over in cold temperatures. Ended up dropping it off at two different dealers. The first dealer checked things like the battery and starter but couldn't duplicate the problem. The second dealer had it for a few days before calling to say "no problem" but agreed to keep checking it out. I suggested that they take a look at the interlock switch and they indeed found it to be bad. NOT covered under warranty but I only paid to have the switch replaced at $130.00 parts and labor total. Also, sounds strange that your dealer "forgot" your car is a CPO. I never had to mention that to either dealer as it is in the records tied to the vin.

Yeah it sounds like BS too. I have nothing aftermarket installed except the exhaust cans and the fog lamps were inspected for the CPO. I will be calling two other local dealers to inquire into how they would handle the fog lamps.

Zoo: Sounds like very typicall dealer BS, I brought in my CPO Boxster, mind you it was purchased new, to a dealer in Greenwich and they told me there was noise from the engine and call me up for prior approval since I only brought it in for oil change. So I say, yeah of course its under warranty, they guy was like OH.... long pause, hours later I'm told that the tech was mistaken.... HMM, I say put it in writing.... They put some very undescriptive thing in writing, I take it to another dealer, and it was a roller with bad bearing replaced in like an hour. I complained to the GM but nothing. So you can at least know you are not alone. LOL

I had a similar situation at a local dealer in Houston, TX. I took it in to have the car inspected. Paid $120 for the inspection. He came back with a list of things from hood shocks to oil leak and broken water pump even saying that my lugs nuts dont lock. I get to the dealer and mind you that he just wrote this on his yellow tablet. I tell him that I have warranty and the water pump and oil leak should be covered. He pauses and tells me to come back next week and they will re-write it up. I ask for the list of thing wrong in writing and he says it will take him hours cause the system is down to get me something official and tells me when I come back he will give me the list. So I go back to get my water pump and oil leak fixed. They keep my car for 2 days and replace the water pump and he tells me the oil leak was just some residue and nothing to worry about. Before he found out about my warranty he was pressing that I should not drive my car and have it fixed now! How come after my warranty he tells me to come back next week? I never got the inspection list cause his system is down again. They just lost a customer for life, the games these dealers play is just stupid.

CPO is not clear cut and what's covered and what's not really seems to be a black art. In my experience you need to have a decent relationship with the dealer when it's still under CPO. In my case that means that even when something might not be covered, they will write it up to make it covered. Of course you need to start with a decent dealer in the first place which is not always easy.....

My understanding is that CPO is the full factory warranty. My dealer used a book to look up part numbers, if the part number is listed then it is under warranty. I questioned why the interlock switch wasn't covered so they showed me the book. Interesting that my memory seat switch was listed, but not the interlock switch. When I called PCNA to confirm, they simply stated "whatever your dealer told you is what we support". Talk about black art.......

To be honest, I think you are lucky to get the sunroof covered under CPO. It is not on the "list" of CPO covered items that Porsche publishes. CPO does cover the big ticket items, however. It is not a full warranty. Some dealers are nice than others . . . Mine is nice but really by the book.

You are lucky you were only going to get tagged $105 for the diagnosis. I took my car into a SoCal dealer last week to have a CEL looked into, and their flat fee to look over a check engine light is a $310 diagnosis charge, flat rate (2 hrs @ $155/hr). If I would get whatever problem they found fixed there, the fee would be dropped and they would only charge me for the fix job. If it was something simple, or I didn't want to have them go forward with whatever they decided the cause was, I would be out the $310. Turns out it was a catalytic converter, so they called me up to ask me to authorize the charges...I then told them that the federal emissions warranty covers those for 8/80...the service person didn't say much other than they had to check into it, but called me back a little later and confirmed that. I would have been pretty upset if I didn't know any better, paid for it myself, and found out later it should have been covered. I will say the experience at the dealer other than dealing with a $155 labor charge (they found something else non-warrantied that I had them fix) was very nice (they provided a Porsche loaner, etc), so not all was bad.

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I recently had my sunroof fixed, under CPO - no issue.

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Congratulations! I paid to have my sunroof fixed . . . oh well . . .

Well, the service rep called me today and told me the problem with the fog lamps was a bad fuse and a related connection and it has been repaired under the CPO. I was not charged any diagnostic fee. Jon996 - The CPO warranty states that it pretty much covers most electrical related items including misc motors(windows etc). If you were under a CPO at the time of the sunroof repair I would want my money back. I did have them do an alignment for $199 as my rears are wearing on the inside.

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Thanks for getting back to me! I see what you mean about the electrical items being covered. My sunroof problem was a rattle, so I did not argue as it is not on the list. (also not very expensive) Sorry for the confusion!

I suppose I am luckier with the CPO than I realized. I have had rattles addressed by the selling dealer and never a charge. And, I didn't like the feel of my clutch pedal and I suspected a bad slave. Selling dealer said that the feel was typical so I took it to a different dealer and they were great. They said the clutch seemed to work fine, but they called PCNA and the tech had them bleed the system. When I picked up the car, and they gave me an Audi for a loaner, they said I should drive it and if I still wasn't happy I should bring it back. I took it on a road trip, still wasn't happy, so I brought the car back and good to their word they replaced the slave under CPO, and again provided me with an Audi as a loaner. I will say that after it was replaced they did agree that the new slave did make a noticeable difference. My total cost was for the gas I used with the loaner cars. Thanks to everyone for sharing their personal experiences.

I have had 2 CPO vehicles. While it is possible for a dealer to "massage" a little what is covered by CPO, in general, a full warranty covers everything but what is excluded (e.g., tires). The CPO is a "named risk" coverage and, technically, only covers what it lists. So, it can be odd than in a repair, some parts of the repair are covered while others aren't. I always treated the CPO as something that will handle the largest repairs. But for many medium & smaller ones, you're on your own. (You Did buy a Used car, right? Some of the money you saved by doing so may have to go into increased maintenance.) Years ago I bought a beautiful silver 275 GTS Ferrari for $7000. It was in very good condition. Yet, it was sobering to realize that parts & service were based on its new value--not used value. So, even on my 996, I keep in mind that parts & service are based on it being a $95,000 car--not based on what I paid for it. What a great world it would be if the cost of new parts & service would decrease with age of the car! I'd own some cars old enough they'd be Paying me to bring them in for parts & service.

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A very good point. I have no problem paying for repairs that are honest and fair.