After Market Warranty Cover

I am at that time when considering taking out a new warranty on my car. The warranty I had from the dealer I purchased my car from has now expired and I have been looking into the possibility of other third party cover as "˜ifs' and "˜buts' with the OPC cover and mixed satisfaction reading through this forum have put me off it. I should point out, I didn't entertain a renewal from the dealer I had the warranty with as they made a very simple mistake which has shaken my confidence totally in them. There are various snippets of comments on warranties in various forum groups but hoping sharing some of the wisdom of fellow 996 drivers will shine a light for me. Looking through the options there are a few main covers I came across: - AA Warranty, this was what my previous dealer provided although never claimed under it, so not sure on how it fairs. Seems to cover all the main things you would want including air con and Turbo chargers (factory standard of course). It seems this can only be bought from a dealer who is signed up with them. - Warranty Wise ( www.warrantywise.co.uk ), found this one on the Boxster forums and quotes extremely well on my 996TT of under £700. Haven't spoken to the company yet but don't think they will operate with this premium price and no excess. - Autoprotect ( www.autoprotect.net ), seems to offer a good package under Premier Plus cover upto the value of £5k per claim. This doesn't cover the cost of a new engine, but am told rebuilds fit into this budget. They have been picking on certain claims, but I don't know anyone having a cover from these guys on a Porsche. - WMS Warranty ( www.wmswarranty.co.uk ), similar to Autoprotect having no excess, £5k limit per claim, unlimited claims, and 2 day turnaround on payment of repairs so garages like that side of it. Policies cost just under £900 so fairly well priced, especially compared to the OPC one. - JZM ( www.jzmachtech.com ), apparently these guys do their own warranty, admittedly not got round to calling them but will do so this weekend hopefully. Does anyone have any experience of any of the above companies and able to share any of these along with pricing? Or even if you have other companies you have used perhaps? Thanks. CB

Hi ... there is a lot of discussion both on here and Pistonheads re alternative warranties. From my personal experience on two separate occassions and that of two separate friends, 3rd party insurance-type warranties are not worth the paper they are written on unless you suffer a catastrophic component failure that cannot be attributed to 'wear-and-tear'. (I had a 'drive shaft failure' on an XR3 cabriolet 15 years ago, and they wouldn't pay out as it was deemed wear-and-tear!!). These companies will use every trick in the book to avoid paying out and blame most failures on wear-and-tear or pre-existing. Also watch out for limits on hourly rates which are often only 50 GBP per hour which would not cover OPC rates or good indis. From reading all the forums it seems the most highly rated warranty are actually maintenance schemes from either Baz at Hartech or Mike at Sports and Classics. Details of their schemes can be found here http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=48&t=620413&mid=66877&nmt=Porsche%20Warranties HTH

I have just renewed the Porsche warranty on my 03 Targa and although it has gone up in price they now claim it is bumper to bumper cover so I think it is the way to go.

Would be interested in this scheme for my 2004 Boxster which I might take out of OPC warranty/service this July. They're not far from me. Please do let us know how you get on - there's many of us interested in finding good 3rd-party warranties!

... I was a supporter of the OPC warranty until they changed it. The problem now is that it is a) very expensive and b) restricts you to never having any 3rd party servicing done or having any 3rd party replace any parts (even if they are not parts covered by the warranty).

"These companies will use every trick in the book to avoid paying out and blame most failures on wear-and-tear or pre-existing. " yep-this has indeed been my experience of OPC!!![ ]

I spent hours last year trying to find a warranty that would get somewhere close to the old Porsche warranty and failed. Paragon, who are close to where I live have a decent one but like all the ones I tried there was no-one willing to cover the engine further that 5k. I'm going to have to bite the bullet if I want the level of cover I have had in the past and I will probably end up going to the OPC. With the new Porsche warranty I'm a bit miffed as I expect I will "fail" their inspection as the CDC has been swopped for the Dension 500. The one I have fitted didn't cater for the CDC being alongside although Dension have now uprated the 500 and the CDC and the Dension unit can now live together but that means another £350 to uprate. Its all starting to stack up. RB

I looked at a number of warranties when my OPC warranty ran out and decided to run the risk of no warranty given my mileage. However my husbands subaru is with Warranty Wise and they have been very good, just paid out for a full clutch when the bearing went and damaged the clutch assembly under their consequential loss para. Claim settled within a week. He has already had more than the cost of the warranty back Hope this helps?