996 major service & warranty advice needed

Hello just joined 911uk forum. Just paid a deposit on my first 996 C2, private purchase. The agreed sale price includes the seller installing a new set of rear P Zeros, in addition to, the seller, myself & the car taking a jolly trip to Hatfield OPC at the end of May for the car's due major service at the sellers expense, 'with any significant defects to be rectified prior to sale completion" & a new MOT. It's a 2000 model, 1 owner car 87k miles & has been serviced on the nose every year at the same 2 OPC's... Hatfield, for the last 3 years. The last service was May 07 at 79k miles. It's never had any paint, not even the front bumper. I have spoken to Hatfield on the phone about the car & they told me 'it's been looked after". Seems to me the agreement for 'any significant defects to be rectified" is fully in my favour & is a chance for me to try to get as much done to the car as possible before I hand over the cheque to complete the sale. I figure that for a major service, Hatfield will do a pretty thorough check on the car? I have told Hatfield I want to buy a Porsche warranty before I drive the car away & I think they are going to do a warranty check as well. 2008 is the last year Porsche will sell a warranty on this car, (they won't sell a warranty on 996 when it turns 9 years old). Would 996 owners out there be inclined to stump up the £900 for a 12 month warranty, which can't then be further extended? Or would you save the £900 to put toward servicing in the future? I only do 3-4k miles a year. When I inspected & test drove it, I noted the clutch has never been changed, though it still feels light & smooth & definitely not slipping, (seller said majority of miles are motorway) & the RMS hasn't been changed either. I noticed some dry oil staining underneath the car in the area of the RMS...these issues might point to future expense. Does anyone know if the RMS could be changed under warranty?...so many questions...comments most welcome.

I would definitely buy the OPC warranty even if it is for only one year. Since you do not know the car very well that would give you some protection.

I am far from being an expert (or even that knowledgable) however I just bought a 996 from an Indy and have just got an OPC warranty. The condition of buying the warranty is that any work identified on the pe-warranty check is carried out and paid for by you before the new warranty is provided. Therefore if the car needs an RMS now, then you'll have to pay for it to get done before you can buy the warranty. That being said, if the seller is going to pay fo it then great!! I bought the warranty for peace of mind because I didn't want to be faced with the huge bills you hear about. If you have the warrant there is always the suggestion tat the next time you put the car in for a service (while under warranty) you could possibly get them to check for any warranty work that may need doing. Steve

I agree. Definitely worth having the next service done early before the warranty runs out. OPCs have a habit of finding warranty faults when they service them. Let's face it, the extended warranty is an insurance product which guarentees paying out.

Well....you pays your money, you takes your choice. My OPC wanted the thick end of 3K to get the car to warranty standard (not including the 900 quid for the warranty)!! Add on another 2 years of 900 quid and that's the thick end of 6K which is going to pay for pretty much anything that goes wrong including an engine rebuild. I took the car to a specialist and they told me that the only thing NEEDING doing was the spark plug tubes (on one bank) and a rear suspension bush. Total bill 163 quid. The RMS needs doing but I was told it is weeping so little oil that theres no point whatsoever doing it until the clutch needs done at which point the bill will be less than 600 quid (for clutch plus RMS). So, to cut a long story short, I've got no warranty and I'm not overly concerned about it - my engine goes pop and I'm no worse off, if it doesn't, I'm 6K up.

RMS is done under warranty. So is the IMS usually at the same time. Just get the warranty and drive it like a demon to draw out any weaknesses. I think I had £4K worth of warranty work done in my 1st year. Seems solid now though. :thumbs: