Anybody buy it? Any opinions? My 991 will reach Davisville RI tomorrow and it should be at the dealer soon. I am considering this coverage even though I usually do not buy warranties or such coverage.

 

I have the 20" wheels and we have a lot of pot holes in Texas and the new larger tires are very expensive so I bought it-$1200.

ChuckJ

 

$1200 sounds like a good deal

 

$1200 does sound like a good deal. How many years? My dealer prices at $1800 for 3 yrs, and $2100 for 5

 

I look at like my AMEX card....don't leave home without it. Mine was $850 for 5 years. It covers tires and wheels, replacement not repair. It also covers tires and wheels for cosmetic damage.

I had it on my 997.2 and had 3 rear tires replaced. No questions asked. Covered everything (tire, shipping, and labor) 100% and the dealer even gave me a loaner car during the repair.

 

I think the Dealer offered 5 years or 50k miles of insurance for wheels, tires, dings to the vehicle, key replacement etc for $1300

 

5 years. Dealers have a lot of mark-up on these items. I have not had sufficient problems with tires / wheels in the past to warrant it, but the high cost of the wheels and tires convinced me to be covered.

ChuckJ

 

It's like any other insurance. The odds of you "winning" are less than the insurance companies. Sure, some people will get lucky and benefit from the policy, but the odds are in favor of the insurance company.

Make sure you read the fine print very carefully. When they are trying to sell the coverage to you, they will tell you that it covers damage to wheels. Read that portion carefully. Most policies exclude damage to the wheel unless it is damaged to the extent that the tire will not hold air.

 

My dealer had similarly high prices when I bought. They were willing to negotiate.

 

I don't know guys, I don't see how the math makes sense --

You can buy tire insurance from Tirerack for something like $30 per tire (on replacement ones, obviously). Flats costs about $50 to patch from the inside.

In the highly unlikely event that you hit a pothole so hard that you actually damage the wheel, and assuming it couldn't be repaired, a replacement shouldn't cost more than $1000 if you shopped around a bit.

So the way I see it, at $1200-$2000k, you're basically counting on some combination of ripping a sidewall (which of course you can't patch) or damaging a wheel just to break even.

 

My claims were for punctures. Two were scres and one was a nail, all through the tread. Never a though of a repair, just replaced with new. I would hate to buy a replacement wheel from Porsche for this car and with all of the potholes here in the northeast I felt it was a good investment.

It is a personal choice and one I have been happy I made.

 

I have Fidelity Warranty Services delux contract for both wheels and tires for a 5 year period. It doesn't cover curb rash, but it does replace the rim for damage that caused / that requires a tire replacement (pot holes). Because these are 30 series tires, the odds of damaging the rim in a pot hole is higher. That said, I wouldn't have bought this at the retail price.

ChuckJ

 

Peace of mind has it's own price, so I appreciate that.

I'm curious though what you guys with warranties do if, say, you get a flat in one of the rears after 7500 miles. So you have one tire ~halfway through its life, and now you have a brand new one from the dealer. Do you just replace the other rear at that point (at your own expense) or do you continue with mismatched wear?

 

I think most people would recommend replacing the other reat tire also, although as you stated, it would be at your expense. You used the example of having flat/puncture in a rear tire with 7,500 miles. Keep in mind that most of these tire warranties have stipulations on tread remaining for them to replace the tire under warranty. Depending on how you drive, you might have enough read left to get a new tire out of them, but it might be close. They put those remaining tread life limits in the fine print so that people won't wait until their tires are almost worn out, then put a screw or nail in a non repairable area of the tire so they can get new ones.

Bottom line is the tire and wheel insurance is good for the finance guy at the dealership trying so hard to sell it to you, and the insurance companies, and not so good for you.

 

I must disagree. The insurance has been very good for me. For my 997.2 I paid $695 for 3 years, covered tires and wheels (even curb rash). In those 3 years I had 3 tires replaced. the average price for a 305/20-19 was $570 (tire Rack) for PS2, not including shipping. Add to that the labor to install, the ability to call the dealer and they will come collect my car at the house on a flatbed and drop off a car for me to drive until the tire arrives and I think that I am way ahead of the insurance company on this one.