question about warranty

i am looking at a 02 c2. called 800 porsche, they gave me 2 different answer on warranty. 1. warranty started at 11/15/2001 2. warranty started at 10/02/2002 carfax shows first record on 10/03/2002 my guess is this is a demo. car., according to 800 porsche, if this is a demo, then warranty started on date 1 (the date car went to dealership), otherwise, it should start on date 2. and i have to ask the org. dealer for this. anyone else has similar experence? is it going to be a problem if i show up in a diff. dealership for warranty work later on?

My 2002 was first sold in June 2003 with 9200 miles on it. Car was first sold to dealer in December of 2001 who put it in service as a company driver or demo unit. The cars warranty begins with the first day it was put into service, which is the earlier date. The car you are looking at probably has a warranty date that ends on 11/15/2005. Carfax is showing you a date of 10/02/2002 when the car was first registered with the motor vehicle department. By the way, Carfax, Autocheck, so on, are only as good as the information they can obtain. Mostly from state motor vehicle departments. When was the last time you reported your car being wrecked in an auto accident to the motor vehicle department? If you are dealing with the first owner, then ask him under what conditions he bought the car? If he bought it as a demo, executive vehicle, brass hat car etc. then the warranty date starts on 11/15/2001 no matter what the dealer told him when he first got it in 10/02/2002. I know that the individual I bought my 2002 from, was told by Beverly Hills Porsche, that his warranty starts from the day he purchased it with 9200 miles on it in June of 2003. That's simply Bull-Sh#t. Tom L 2002 C2

thanks for sharing. however, i calle porsche twice and got diff. answer. will call them 3rd time tomorrow btw, u feel diff. giving that your car was a demo. car?

Do you have ANY service paperwork on the car? It will say on the invoice the "inservice date". If not, call the dealer NOT 800Porsche and ask what they have on file since that is what they are honoring. It all comes down to what is in the dealers computer as the inservice date since that is what they go by.

If you read the warranty manual, it will tell you that a cars in service date is when the car was first sold new or leased, or put into demo service by the dealer. Many cars are driven by sales personel and family members of dealerships and begin their in-service date then. Not when they are first sold and titled. PL, to answer your question, I consider a Demo just another used car. When you can buy it for a good price, and the product is in good shape, I don't really care if it was a demo. I spent over fifteen years in the automobile business, and I am always looking for the best value for my money. This particular car was not only a demo, but was leased for two years. I bought the car from a person who was bailing out on his lease agreement. Most people would say that they would never buy a leased vehicle, let alone a demo. Well, they are only kidding themselves unless they buy their vehicle new off the showroom floor. A used car is just that, used. You will never, I repeat never know exactly what you are buying until you have lived with it for awhile. PPI, Carfax, so on, can make you feel warm and fuzzy, but you just need to have that gut feeling that everything is good to go. If you like the car, go for it! Tom L 2002 C2

Working for a premium brand automotive company, I can tell you what we do. It does not matter what the dealership says, all that matters is the in service date. We have 15 cars that we use on a daily basis, drive up to 12,0000 kms, then turn and sell to dealers. Even though they have never been registered with the Ministry, the warranty begins when the car hits the road. We sell them as demo units, but they qualify for New car rates and programs, they are registered new at the Ministry and treated as new car, except for the warranty. Go with the first date, since that is when the vehicle was first plated and driven, whether registered with the Ministry or not.

Those 2 dates proably indicate the inservice date and then the first date of title. Does it say on the Carfax report after those dates what they are??? As pl said, the first one is probably the correct one but the dealer has the 'real' date in their computer. Any piece of service paperwork that you can read will say what the inservice date was and that is what you will be held to.

carfax's first date is 10/02/02 talked the service guy, and he seemed to indicate in-service date is 10/02/2002 as well. does that mean this car was a floor deco. for 11 month? any way, i will ask the service fax me the service paperwork tomorrow just to verify the in-service date in the dealer's computer. also, go back to my org. question, if i show up in my home town porsche asking for warranty work, how my home town dealer verify this? they call porsche, and porsche call the org. selling dealer for the inservice date?

tom, i love the car!! here's the history of the car. build date 11/2001 demo until 10/2002 first owner leased for a month, putting 1500miles on the car, returned the car to the dealer. second owner brought, and traded in a few month ago in a local non-porsche dealership. the engine was replaced at 9K, owner complained about transmition at 15K, but tech found nothing wrong. would u buy a car like this with 1K less than edmunds private party price? giving this is the color/option combo u want. thanks

After hearing that, I would not buy it. Too many 996's out there to settle on one with a questionable history.

for those who is interested in the mystery. made a quick call to the service manager of the org. dealership. confirmed the following: 11/25/2001 is the delivery date. 11/30/2001 is the demo start date. 10/02/2002 is first time the car sold/leased. warranty started at the demo date. 11/30/2005 some rep. in 800porsche has less knowledge compare to others, that's the confusion from. i decided to pay for a PPI and if there's no problem i will go ahead.

Glad to hear somebody finally gave you a straight answer!

PL, As I said earlier, the warranty start date begins when the car first goes into service. In this case demo service. Glad you finally were able to get the right info from someone. Unfortunately, that means your warranty is gone at the end of this month. Something I would use in negotiating a price. My guess is that the 9k engine swap was due to a RMS issue that could not be fixed. Depending on how many miles are on the car now, I would consider the engine swap detrimental to the vehicles value unless it has more then average miles on it, or if you plan on keeping the car for a long time. Once again, a negotiating item. As far as the Edmunds value on the car, I live in California, the only book dealers use here is Kelly Blue book. I wouldn't pay anything more then KBB private party "good", even if the car is absolutely mint. I would want to pay closer to wholesale book (Trade in value) on a car that has had an engine swap. Depending on your part of the country, I would take a look at KBB, Edmunds, and NADA to get a grip on what things are worth. Better yet, call a local car dealer or two and ask them what book they use? Any flaws in the car should be deducted from the book price. Any options that are not in the book should not be taken under consideration, or if you feel they add real value to the asking price, add no more then 50% of their original value. Good Luck, Tom L 2002 C2

tom, i done w ppi on this car already. according to the service guy, the engine was replaced due to "internal failure", guess those guys really demo this car hard. the car is 20Kmile now, PPI said no sign of any oil leak. hopefully not rms. i haven't decided yet. price-wise, this car is fairly cheap. if you search on autotrader.com, none of the cars will even came close to 55K. i will talk to the dealership who did the PPI for me, to see if i can get extended warranty for reasonable money, then i will feel more comfitable putting 50K on this toy.

Depending on the equipment level, I would not go any higher then 50k. I recently paid 46k for a 2002 coupe, 6 spd, with PSM, PSE, 18 in. Porsche lt. alloy wheels, cd changer, colored caps, and 26k miles. What I would consider pretty much a plain jane. But it was what I was looking for. This car was bought from a consignment lot, although I knew who owned the car before I made the purchase. I found my car on Autotrader also. Pretty much used that and Cars.com to track down a vehicle. Both Autotrader and Cars.com have for the most part, people asking ridiculous prices for their cars. I never take to much into consideration what a person is asking for their car. The reason being, is when they can't sell it for the outrageous price their asking, it is much easier to bust them with book values and market logic. When I first contacted the individual who had the car I eventually bought, he was asking $57,995. This price of coarse is ridiculous unless you are a big time dealer and are offering a certified vehicle. Even then, the price is too high. It took this guy over three months to realize that this car was not going to sell anytime soon, even though he had lowered the price four times. When reality caught up with him, he ended up selling it for 11k less then his starting price, and had to pay a consignment lot to boot. Guess what I am trying to say is, never let the asking price turn you off. Decide what vehicle you want, make a list of pros and cons, and hit them right in between the eyes with a very low offer. Tell yourself before hand, what is the maximum I am willing to pay, and walk away if it can't be had for your maximum offer. I find that about 95 % of the people who are trying to sell their cars, ask ridiculous prices. The reasons why: 1. They are still in love with their cars. 2. A dealer tells them what they would ask for it. Usually full retail. 3. They look at the other high prices people are asking and not getting. 4. They think that their used car must be superior to any other vehicle out there. 5. They are smoking to much dope. On the other side of the coin, you can never ask to much. You can always come down in price, but never go up. Have fun, and good luck. Tom L 2002 C2