to warrant or not to warrant that is the question?

i have just purchased my first porsche. it's an x reg 2001 996, 30,000miles, two owners, FPSH. the dealer has offered a warranty for £925/annum that aparently covers all parts including the clutch. the cover is provided through a company called auto protect. porsche east london quoted £725/annum for their approved warranty (no clutch cover included). i discussed this matter with a previous 911 owner and have read a few sections, within the forum, and another popular option appears to be to put the money asside each year for repairs and avid the warranty altogether. any thaughts, as i'm a bit lost by the way the car is amazing!....i dont realy fee worthy.

My advice would be to spend the £725 and buy the warranty from Porsche. I've had reason to be grateful for their cover recently....2001 Boxster S, 12k miles, full history etc etc blew its engne. Repair costs circa £12k...how many years would I have had to save £725 to cover the repair cost!! Not sure who the other warranty you mentioned is provided by?....usually 3rd party warranty companies limit the amount they will pay per claim, usually around £5k...bit of a shortfall for a replacement engine! And no doubt you'll have to pay upfront and then claim from the warranty company....and warranty Co's are known to wriggle! I'm sure you get the picture. £725 buys a rather comforting blanket of security! Jackie

I agree that Porsche warranty for £725 would be a good option even if it is only for the first year after then you may think that it is not worth it but at least you shall have the piece of mind while you get use to the car. I have just purchased a 996 C4, they offered me a warranty which is cheaper than the Porsche warranty and sounded very detailed but i think that if there was any proplem with the car, and as i want to get it serviced with OPC to keep up its full OPC history, then it could cause problems if any claims have to be made, that are through a none Porsche warranty. As this will be a weekend car i shall run it for a month or so and get it serviced and add on the warranty then. I had the car checked out by Strasse Porsche specialist so feel confident that a warranty can wait a few weeks, but it is pieces of mind to have this under your belt. Phil

On the subject of OPC warranty, could someone tell me if I can purchase the OPC warranty on my 2000 C4. It currently is fast approaching the end of the years warranty (non- porsche) given with the car from a non-porsche specialist where I bought the car from. (I have had my moneys worth with a new clutch and flywheel fitted a couple of days after purchase!!!) Will my OPC cover me if I or the previous owners have not extended the original warranty on this car?

Does your car have OPC service history ? I belevie that you do not need to of had extended warranty before, my local OPC told me they would want to do a 87 point check that would cost in the region of £185 to make sure it was all ok then i can take out a Porsche warranty at the cost of £750, i am also not sure if the car has had to have had full OPC hsitory as well? PHIL

Phil, The car does have a full OPC service history and I would request that the warranty started from the next service (which does happen to be the 48K Biggy) do you think they will attempt to squeeze a further 185 quid out of me (I think I know the probable answer to my own question here!!!!) RB

I went for the Porsche warranty, I'm glad I did because the MAF sensor went within a month of ownership and it would have cost in the region of £450 to fit a new one without the warranty, which is pretty outrageous really. Independent warranty companies in my experience try and wriggle out of paying, get the Poker one for piece of mind.

thanks for the advise everyone, i think i'll go for the porsche warranty and have the piece of mind. just a note for clarification, i did not purchase the car from porsche east london, however it had been supplied from them when new and the first owner subsequently traded it in again after 7,000 miles and then owner 2 purchased the car from them. the car was also servised there, on all three occasions. i was also advised that i would require an inspection prior to them accepting the warranty

I believe there is an inspection (c.£200), plus any defects need to be addressed, then the cost of the Warranty, which I thought was nearer £840. The benefits are marginal. Yes, it would give you peace of mind, but both Porsche and the underwriters will be hoping to make a profit out of your premium.

If your Porsche waranty has expired you will need a pre-warranty issue inspection before the OPC will sell you a new one. I think a lot of people get the OPC to carry out the inspection then get an independant specialist to carry out any remedial work (cheaper) The OPC will then issue the waranty when satisfied the work has been completed. Not sure if the car needs a full OPC history to qualify for a warranty, but it will certainly need to have it's services carried out by an OPC during the period of the warranty Jackie

[&o]You could bank the money for a rainy day that hopefully won't happen to early in your travels together or if you buy a Porsche warranty remember you will face the same Q&A 12 months down the road ... In meantime enjoy your 1st Porsche and Socrates mine will be a Vodka & orange Are you going to take your new toy to the Ace Cafe on Monday night 22/11/04 for the Porsche Performance Meet?

RB I think the question has already been answered but even if OPC do a full 48K service i bet they will want the inspection to be carried out as well as they will not sell the warranty without it which seams mad as they will be doing an inspection and then a 48K major service and in theory they are duplicating a lot of the work, i will have the same problem as i will need a Service on my car + i want to take out a warranty, and the car had a 118 inspection by an indpendent specialist before i bought it to make sure it is a good one. But i guess if you buy a car from OPC then they will do this all for you, but you will pay a very high premium anyway, so doing it this way you shall save, hopfully anyway. Good luck and enjoy your 911. Phil

I have checked out the cost of the pre-warranty 111 point inspection with OPC Lindbrook of Tonbridge with a view to re-applying the Porsche warranty after a couple of years out. The cost was not as expensive as those prices quoted above (£100 + VAT = £117.00) but it has to be done seperately to the service (as we thought)

Thats Funny, as i recntly took my car in to my local opc for a 24.000 service i mentioned to them at the time that i wanted to take out a warranty which was quoted at £720. They told me that if i was having the service I would not need the inspection to carry out the warranty as they would be covering those check points. I got the service done and could not take out the warranty as i have the rear main and internal shaft seals leaking, not at all badly but they have to be done for me to have a warranty not good considering Strasse an independt speacialist checked the car over before i bought saying all was fine. The seals shall be replaced and i will take out the warranty for a bit of piece of mind as this is my first 911 experince, not starting so well. Phil

I know what you mean Phil, When I first got my car, 24 hours after picking it up from the dealer (indy) I had a clutch failure which stood the dealer £1600 to rectify using his warranty. That has now expired and I definitely want to give myself some sort of piece of mind somehow but it is not as easy as you think is it? I had a real scare last week when driving back from my local OPC Boxster launch party, I lost 1st, 3rd and 5th gear and had to limp home using what was left. Luckily for me it was a selector cable and it was an hours labour to put right but I spent the whole week-end worrying it was going to be as serious as a new gearbox!! And you know what? The irony was not a half hour before I had just had the conversation regarding extending the warranty with the Porsche staff - I think someone is trying to warn me of impending doom. RB