Advise needed: Extended Warranty through US Porsche Dealer - too good to be true?

I have a 2003 Carrera that I purchased with CPO about 20 months ago. As the CPO coverage is about to expire, I received an offer from Porsche dealer in Tucson, 4 years, I recall 48k miles for $2300, fairly comprehensive coverage. There may also be additional warranty packages, I am just beginning to research, but this is the prelim info that the dealer's finance manager offered me. Given the car is a 2003, 4 years seems frankly, longer coverage then I would expect would be easily available. The car has 20k miles, and even if I got 28k more miles of coverage spread over 2-3 years (to a maximum of 48k), I would consider $2300 a bargain in terms of 3 years protection. My experience with Porsche Tucson has been positive. My CPO car had the engine blow (IMS) at 11k miles and they did a flawless job replacing it. The maintenance since has always been perfect. So they have been reputable to date. The question is, if they sell coverage, and it almost seems too good to be true (4 more years on a 2003 model year), is there specific research I should do to see if giving them $2300 results in robust coverage? To me the peace of mind is worth it, provided if some serious mechanical problem develops that the dealer stands behind this warranty. I'm not worried about the $500-$1000 bills, but I want peace of mind in terms of the $15k engine bills as the car ages. Any thoughts / recommendations / questions to ask if you were weighing this decision? thank you, John

If you've found a Porsche dealer with reliable service I say buy the coverage. It sounds like a good deal. Hell, I may just ship my car out there for service as I haven't found a local stealer that I'm real happy with so far.

FWIW - my warranty was purchased from the dealer (EasyCare, I think), and it has made the process a whole lot smoother when I've needed it. My ignition switch went out about 1 month into ownership - and they replaced the whole assembly etc... $800 repair plus rental car for 5 days, cost me $150 co-pay. Worth it I'd say. Of course, the downside is that you then must (or at least are heavily inclined to) use the dealer for most maintenance - just "in case" they find something additional that would be covered. Ex: I need my clutch replaced... its going to be at least $500 more at the dealer, but what if they find something while they're in there... then I get the benefit of possible warranty coverage. The Indy wont take the warranty. I'd say go for it. Good peace of mind.

Quotes source post: 6778772

I bought an 03 Turbo in June this year with 9400+ miles on the and received a CPO warranty that extends coverage out to June 2011 and for 100K miles. Problems arise from miles driven, not elapsed time so a warranty provider is just playing the odds the warranty coverage will expire on time and not on miles and thus there is little chance of any claim being filed. The extended warranty (service contract) is insurance and you want to be sure you can trust the company offering it is reputable, and well-positioned to be around for the duration of the coverage period to settle any claims you might have. Be sure to get copy of the contract and read the fine print to see what's covered, what's not covered, and what you are required to do to keep coverage intact. Sincerely, Macster.

Check to see of the warranty covers an ADDITIONAL 48,000 miles from the current odometer reading or until the odometer hits a total of 48,000. My guess is that it would be an ADDITIONAL 48,000 from current mileage or 12K mile per warranty year.

$2,300 sounds about right. My local Porsche dealer quoted me about the same. If you're dealer has done well by you this far, I'd stick with 'em.

Js, I think the main questions would be: 1. What company are they offering the EW thru? 2. What is the fine print. Find out what carrier they use, then poll the board to see what member's experience is. It could be the greatest dealer in the world, but if they are offering a sh*t EW carrier...well, you get the picture.

For an easy comparison, have a look at http://www.insurancepoliciesonline.c...ewarranty.aspx to get a quote with various types of coverages and lengths. You can get a quote without giving personal information. Although I've had a policy with this company for a year and a half, I have no idea whether they are any good because I have had no claims. I hope it stays that way.

Well, from what I've read in general magazines, newspapers and boards the answer seems to be: Warranties offered by the manufacturer are generally "OK". (There are many notes on the fact that they use the word "OK"; Not "Good", "great", "excellent", "outstanding", etc etc. Just "OK") Warranties from 3rd parties are usually not worth the paper they are written on, because, quite frankly, they don't like giving out money (like any other warranty or insurance company) - their motivation is to their shareholders, not their policyholders. ..this is from what I've read. My personal experience in dealing with a 3rd party warranty company suggests the articles/columns/posts are right.

Whoever is getting these quotes around $2,500 from dealers could you please pm me with a contact so I can call them? Thanks!

Quotes source posts: 6881775, 6881546

I paid around $2,500 for a 5 year 60,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty on my GT3. It was offered through my Porsche dealer, and all it took was an inspection. In my experience, prices are typically based on miles and not year model. FWIW, my last extended warranty (less than $2500) more than paid for itself with a new engine - not including any other repairs. And I have already broken even with my GT3 warranty after the first repair. What was your personal experience, and what claims were denies? Can you point us to these articles and the things you've read? I am sure some people feel they are mistreated, but I seriously doubt it is a situation of the contract not being worth the paper they are written on. IMO, the sentiments you have simply reflect typical internet complaining. You get a few people crying sour grapes and then others start recycling the same BS information. In my experience, if you meet your contract requirements (oil changes and manufacturer's scheduled maintenance), then they have a hard time denying a legitimate claim. They'll ask for an inspection to be sure the repair facility isn't simply making a false claim, but if your repair is legit, they will pay it directly (not you pay it and try to get reimbursed). I have been denied on one of my claims, but it was for a component that was contractually not included. All of my warranties have been through 3rd parties. There are hoops to jump through to get your claims paid, but if you have a good dealer, they do the jumping for you. All you are out is time. -td

Wow.. how time flies... Sorry it took so long to get back to you, himself... I'm not ignoring you, I'm just a busy cat... My engine showed oil in the coolant not too long after I bought my car. The 3rd party warranty company was very quick to try to avoid making a payment. Once the engine was taken apart (something they won't cover...you see, they won't pay you back for the work done to try to determine the "cause" of the problem, just the problem itself), and it was determined that there was a crack somewhere in the block, the warranty company was more interested in how they could say "no" legitimately. In this case, they zeroed in on the words "Stress cracks" which were under the "exceptions" clause of their policy. right. Never mind the maximums that they put down in their policies (6 grand) per problem, and how much does that really cover in a Porsche problem? Despite the mechanic, the dealer, and I all arguing over the fact that this is a design flaw and not cracks caused by stress (it's arguable to state that an engine is a high-stress environment anyway, thereby making the clause valid for all cracks, when you think about it), I was really only able to squeeze a relative pittance in comparison to the cost of rebuilding the whole f*&$ing engine... conversations with other owners, shopkeepers, and mechanics suggests that I did pretty well considering (!?!) So, no, I'm not a fan of 3rd party warranties.