Warranty time.........

Mikomotor · Feb 22, 2005

.....is here.

First time round for me, with my 3.2 MY03 coming out of Warranty early next month.

Porsche have quoted me £725 pa and I've asked for the Policy conditions, whilst doing the same thing with an alternative warranty company (Warranty Works) who have quoted £650 for 3 years, with a £2,500 ceiling per claim.

Now you can all just guess how much I'm looking forward to spending a few hours comparing the various wordings - but what do people think about saving a few quid (well, that's 1500 quid in this case!) and stepping outside of the Porsche fold?

Whilst the Porsche policy will probably get me off to sleep a bit quicker at night, aren't our cars wonderfully built so that (wording permitting) a £2,500 event ceiling should offer a fairly reasonable proposition?

Apart from seeking views on the above, has anyone had experience of taking out (and claiming under?) a non-Porsche warranty?

Ta,
Mike.

JCB.. · Feb 22, 2005

The Porsche warranty covers just about everything including the RMS.

The £2.5k ceiling is about 25% of the cost of new engine.

If you don't mind spending another £725 pa on insurance it has to be the Porsche deal.

JCB..

GreigM · Feb 22, 2005

The Porsche warranty covers just about everything including the RMS.

Unfortunately John I am finding out today that this is far from the case. I am currently under the Porsche Warranty scheme, and have a major coolant leak. Took it to the OPC expecting it to be covered under the term "Cooling system" as mentioned in the warranty booklet, but I am told that "simple" things such as seals (which this seems to be, a leaky seal somewhere) are not covered - even when it involves 6 hours labour to replace the part. Indeed, looking at the warranty booklet it seems that very little of this "system" is in fact covered.

And its catch 22, it takes 3 hours labour to find out the cause of problem and for the OPC to decide if it is or is not a warranty issue - so in order to have a chance of claiming under warranty you have to take the car to an OPC, but if it isn't warranty work then you could have had it performed elsewhere at 1/3 of the cost.

I also remember when my engine blew on the boxster the OPC admitted they spent the first day or so under Porsche instructions examining the car, looking for excuses to NOT pay a warranty claim - and that was under new car warranty and not the extended warranty.

Don't be fooled into thinking that the Porsche extended warranty gives the same peace of mind as the original warranty - my OPC has told me at least 5 times over the past 2 days that I have "only" the extended warranty.

38F3E1 · Feb 22, 2005

ORIGINAL: Mikomotor

... aren't our cars wonderfully built so that (wording permitting) a £2,500 event ceiling should offer a fairly reasonable proposition?

Not even close.

JCB.. · Feb 22, 2005

Unfortunately John I am finding out today that this is far from the case.

Well I did say "just about everything".[&:]

JCB.. · Feb 22, 2005

I also remember when my engine blew on the boxster the OPC admitted they spent the first day or so under Porsche instructions examining the car, looking for excuses to NOT pay a warranty claim

Greig

If that is the case given the circumstances that isn't entirely unreasonable! [

]

JCB..

GreigM · Feb 22, 2005

ORIGINAL: JCB..
Greig

If that is the case given the circumstances that isn't entirely unreasonable! []

JCB..

Not entirely unreasonable, but I just want to point out that the Porsche warranty is no cast iron guarantee that you won't be faced with large repair bills and people should plan for some level of additional expenditure to keep their car in the best condition.

channella · Feb 22, 2005

Does anyone know why the Porsche warranty in the US is 4 years? Presumably the cars are sourced from the same factories and are the same as those sold in Europe. If that assumption is correct then why do we only get 2 years in the UK?

Andrew

JCB.. · Feb 23, 2005

Does anyone know why the Porsche warranty in the US is 4 years?

I believe it was pushed through by the CEO of Porsche Cars USA who was promptly relieved of his position. It may well be an urban myth.

JCB..

Booman · Feb 23, 2005

so in order to have a chance of claiming under warranty you have to take the car to an OPC, but if it isn't warranty work then you could have had it performed elsewhere at 1/3 of the cost.

not the case, the car has to be serviced at an opc, in order to get the stamp and the warranty inception, but the work can be carried out anywhere YOU wish. they dont tell you that do they[

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my boxster had work on the transmission carried out by local porsche specialist. the car was examined by the official porsche warranty man on their premises, and authority granted. work completed to my satisfaction, and warranty paid out over one thousand pounds.[

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had the problem not been covered under the terms of the warranty, i would not have had to pay opc prices to have it fixed. imo, i prefer to have my specialist, work on my car, far more experience in their workshop, than i ever see in an opc, and a lot cheaper as well[

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Mikomotor · Feb 27, 2005

I've now had a chance to compare the Porsche and Warranty Works offerings. I've also mulled over the comments above - thanks, guys......

And, of course, it's not straightforward. In some areas, the WW conditions win out - for example, the clutch is covered and so is my sat nav. Sat nav doesn't feature per se in the Porsche wording (although I guess it might in fact be covered -I'll check) and, somewhat strangely, Porsche specifically exclude the clutch (why?).

However, there's one part of the WW exclusions which may be the decider. Whilst it specifically covers "all major oil seals and gaskets", a general exclusion reads:

"......nor any item or part which can be considered as having inherent design faults or are subject to a manufacturer's recall". So I guess that if I have an RMS problem, I'm going to be in trouble!

(Greig - re. your "work carried out anywhere" comment. Whilst I'm sure no-one in their right mind would use a firm which were not acknowledged Porsche specialists, if you did, just to confirm that it seems you would then potentially lose the Porsche warranty cover. The key, apparently, is that to maintain warranty cover going forward, any earlier "repairs, maintenance or service" (warranty claims or not) must have been carried out by a company "recognised in this capacity by the manufacturer". I guess this means that everyone would do well to check that a company enjoys such recognition if any work at all is not to be carried out by an OPC).

Mike.