996 Warranty

Hi there - new to the forum and Porsche so looking for some help. I have little knowledge of the 996 but have read some buyer guides and understand the engine problems, although I also understand they are rare. However, I have a limited budget for purchase and initial 12 months of running so want to hedge against any unlucky major event with insurance or warranties. Has anyone used or aware of any warranties that cover the well publicised engine issues for the 996?

Andy! As you know, I haven't ever had a warranty on mine, but I'm sure others have non-Porsche warranties. Anyone have any ideas or recommendations for Andy?

I took a 2yr auto protect one out on my 996 but to be honest not had any major reason to use (touching wood as I type). If I had to do this again I'd put money aside every month. Other only option I'd do is monthly plan with Hartech or with Mike at sports and something.. But as they're too far that wasn't an option for me. Thx Roy

The vast majority of pre 2001 cars are trouble free and there's not much/anything you can do to predict and/or prevent an IMS or cylinder lining failure. If the worst happened there would be quite a good residual value in your car without an engine. They usually sell for 5 or 6k less than if they had one, roughly the price of a recon engine. So you could take the hit on the selling price and cut your losses or bite the bullet and fit a recon engine. This is a good article http://www.autofarm.co.uk/pdf/Total911_July06.pdf Sorry, the original link didn't work - it does now.

Hi Andy I had a 12 months Gold Policy with APA Customer Protect. Low and behold I had to claim for a replacement water pump that not only was totally mashed inside but didn't hold water so the car was not drivable, on phoning the company for advice as to where it should be transported to for repair I was told that transportation costs were not included in the policy and I would have to get it there myself. The repairers that they and other companies use are Halfords. Now no disrespect to Halfords but on talking to the Manager of my local branch he was asking me what tools he would need to use to carry out the work and if it wouldn't be better to take the car to a Porsche Specialist or to a Main Dealer. The policy only covers for £50/hr labour and the repairer can use any manufacturer of parts that deem necessary, they used a refurbished starter motor on my wife's Audi that I wasn't very happy about but was told that it's the norm to try and keep costs down. So you guessed it, in the end I carried out the repair myself as it was quite an easy job to do, cost me £220 which was less than the Warranty! If you are going to buy a warranty have a list of questions to ask them before you buy or like me you would have spent good money for no reason!!! Hope this helps with your decision. Regards Nick

Hi, I had a Porsche warranty with my Turbo for 5yrs and are now with Warranty Direct. I negotiated up to £200 per hour for labour costs and that they pay the full cost of genuine Porsche replacement parts (its normally 50% if car over 10yrs), so I can have an OPC carry out the works. Used it once so far when my car was in at Porsche for a major and it needed two coil packs. They paid out without any hassle, in fact kept emailing me and calling to ensure I was happy with the service. I think it cost around £1000 for 12 months and its £50 per claim? Call them at the end of the month to negotiate a better price (that was the salesman's comment). Good luck, Donald.

Warranty or not - always a conundrum. I initially purchased a 3 year warranty when I bought the car (an 03 C2) from Paragon. Worked fine except I had to pay for any warranty work upfront and claim it back which took longer than I would have wished but I could use the OPC, Porsche parts etc. After the warranty expired I looked around (the car was too old by then for a full Porsche one) and decided against renewing and run my own warranty savings plan. Not perfect, but I put aside each month what the previous one had cost me and so far have dipped into it twice for small item 'warranty' work. I agree that it will not cover the major problems but that is a risk you take unless you go to somebody like Warranty Direct and negotiate a labour and parts deal that will cover OPC labour rates/Porsche parts prices/maximum one-job cost and pay the appropriate annual cost. Most people have no need of a warranty as the car is generally reliable but it all comes down to peace of mind and any insurance is about that and nothing else.