Warranty..to renew to not to renew

Its warranty renewal time on my 6 year old Carrera 4 and I've got the quote from Porsche. The car is only doing <= 3K miles per annum but the thing that I like with it is the Porsche Assist. I've got RAC cover for another car. I'd appreciate your thoughts on if continuing the warranty is REALLY worth it... Thanks

Less than 3K miles a year is the very reason you should get the extended warranty; they are built to run, so things are more likely to go wrong if it is stored up and only given a run once in a while. Not scientifically or statically proven, just my opinion.

Definately, based on my experience anyway! As you know, you get all the 'goodies' with it but as the car gets older, naturally more things will start to need attention so in my opinion the warranty is even more important now! RMS's are covered as well! I have also had a new Tiptronic Gearbox, Air Con Condensor, Window Motor, Alarm, AMS etc. So for me, its proved great value!

I suppose it boils down to how much you want to pay for peace of mind. I've put 7000 miles on my C4 in the last 6 months and haven't had any expenses that would have been covered by the warranty. That's over 2 years' motoring for you. I suppose Porsche need about 15 people with warranties not to make a claim to fund one replacement engine. You are more likely to get people posting on the forum to say that they have had a problem fixed (or indeed, not fixed) for free under the terms of the warranty than people posting to say they've had a trouble free year and that the warranty had been a waste of money. I personally think the warranty is rather expensive insurance which is not fully comprehensive - my car has PCM and Bose fitted and neither of those are covered - and have not chosen to buy one (famous last words) . In view of the quality of advice available on this forum, I would be disappointed if I needed to spend more than the cost of the warranty on repairs over the course of the year. On the other hand, if I had the funds spare, the peace of mind would be nice.

THX911 and Rob, your posts appeared whilst I was writing mine! My experience seems to support THX911's theory. Rob, your's doesn't!

One has to think of insurance fees like any other investment, that is you invest if you can afford it and you have to wait for it to mature.....[ ][ ]

You do need warranty, not until your engine goes pop. its deal or no deal time[ ]

Thanks to all for your replies. It making more sense to renew than than to "risk it", also for any possible sale, it should be advantageous.

If you ever wanted to sell your car privately, it's much easier if the car is still under the official Porsche warranty.

On my last 2000 996C4 by the time it had done 36000miles it had 2 air con condensors, 2 RMS, 1 fuel injector all in last 18k miles.Unfortunately I had chosen not to renew and stood the not inconsiderable cost. Probably broke even over the period. However when the warranty expires on my current 996tt I will definitely be taking up the extended warranty. Not everything is covered but the most important expensive bits are covered, giving peace of mind.[8|]

I would on past customer history at work renew.......a repaired/replacement transmission alone would make it worth while along with peace of mind[ ]

I know not everything is covered under warranty, but I think it is worth while as you won't tend to worry about every little odd noise that you hear while driving. This year at my service I definately got my money's worth. With a 911 it doens't take much to go wrong to cost more than £900

I'd like to present the case for the opposition. [ ] This is a personal opinion, and you can call me a fool, but I took the decision to self-insure. My car is coming up for 9 years old, and I bought it just over 3 years ago. If I had decided to go the Porsche warranty route, I would have shelled out £3400 in premiums. I have also saved a considerable amount of money by doing work myself on the car, and taking it to an independent for servicing, probably in the region of another £1500-2000 or so (at least £600 on disks and pads alone), so let's say I'm £5000 up, for argument's sake. If I had a total engine failure, I'd get a second-hand unit from a breaker (with less miles than mine) for around £3000 plus fitting, probably around £400-500. That's the worst-case scenario for me, as something like a gearbox problem can be fixed by a rebuild. Items like aircon rads don't cost a huge amount to replace if you use an indy, and Porsche do wriggle out of common faults, like the coolant tank (which would be covered if they had morals). Therefore, I reckon that I've taken the risk, and I'm now on the winning side, or thereabouts. I am fortunate enough to be able to fund a £4-5000 disaster should it happen, but if I couldn't then I may think differently. (Now popping out to find my flack jacket).

£6,500 for my tiptronic box! If I didnt have the warranty it would have been loan/captain credit and then an advert on Autotrader [ ]

Yes, but if you didn't have the warranty, would you look for the most expensive way possible to fix it? A used transmission would cost less than a third of that, and a decent independent may have been able to repair it. The problem is that Porsche just fit new or exchange units - they never fix anything.

I took a similar view to Richard partly because I didn't fancy paying the OTT OPC servicing prices. I know you can legally have the car serviced to OPC spec at an Independent and not affect your warranty but that just sounds like trouble to me. I choose the Hartech Lifetime maintenance plan (www.hartech.org). The beauty of this is that I pay them ~£80 per month (so similar cost to the Porsche Warranty) but for that the car gets serviced twice a year 'free', they do the annual MOT 'free' and they cover the cost of ALL labour for virtually everything INCLUDING wear and tear - I just pay for parts. So for example, when the brakes need replacing I pay for the pads, they fit them free. If, as in Richards example, the engine goes pop I'll have to pay for the replacement/2nd hand engine but they won't charge the labour to fit it. To give you a real world example, my engine did go pop and I was convinced it would need replacing (this was a year or so ago at appx 85,000 miles), the car was towed to Hartech (£59 per year breakdown cover with Europe Assistance/Quoteline Direct including full European cover) they stripped it and found a broken valve spring. Whilst it was in bits they replaced all the springs and did a few more bits while they had it all apart. I got the car back running better than ever with a bill for the springs (a couple of quid each), oil and bits - a couple of hundred quid if I remember. It would have been cheaper and easier for them to have just swapped the engine but they do the job properly. Lucky for me they are also developing fixes for the 996 3.4 engine which significantly reduces the cost of repair even if there is the dreaded cracked liners etc. I think I've got the best of both worlds!

Very true, I wouldnt have paid for a new transmission but looked around for a decent used one. + fitting. Out of interes, Porsche Tiptronic boxes were/are sealed and weren't serviceable until fairly recently - thru OPC of course.

Hi Paul, Thanks for that. This plan sounds excellent, especially coming from someone who has actually had cause to use it in anger as it were. I will look into this as my OPC warranty expires next month. Do you know what the age/milage limites are on this plan off hand? Failing that I will look it up! Thanks for the advice!

I don't think thaere are age/mileage restrictions - they offer the same deal for 944s or indeed most models. I think that before you can join their lifetime maintenance plan they require the car to have their major service and for you to have them repair/replace anything they advise upon - they have to accept the car onto the plan. Presumably it would be commercial suicide for them otherwise if you turned up with a car needing a new clutch, RMS, discs and pads etc. Their website sets out all the details.

Rob There's no maximum age or mileage. Mine is a 99 model and has done 93000 glorious miles now They do a full service before putting it on the plan and as Rob says, if any thing needs doing at that point they will either ask that it is done or exclude it from the cover until it is done. In your case, if you had this done before your OPC warranty expires if there was anything that needed putting right before it went on the Hartech plan you could have it done under the warranty first!! If you've got any questions don't be affraid to give them a call, they are really good people to deal with. Barry Hart who set the place up is one of the most knowledgable and enthusiastic people I have everspoken to.

The Tiptronic gearbox for the earlier cars is made by ZF, and Porsche still will not repair, only replace them. A good indy or ZF specialist would be able to repair them, as they would any other auto box - they aren't "sealed". I must say that Paul's Hartech solution seems like an extremely good deal to me.