I recently purchased a low-miles 2010 Cayman S from a dealer in Orlando. Car still has 9 months/33k miles on the factory warranty. They offered the CPO option, but I explained that if I decided to do that I would rather the money go to the dealer that I'll use for service. The Orlando dealer understood that approach and left me with the clear impression that subject to the required inspection, that shouldn't be a problem.

I drove the car back to Charlotte and explored the CPO option with two dealers in the area. Hendrick Porsche in Charlotte quoted me $250 for the inspection -- and it would be credited towards the $1,000 CPO price if I proceeded to purchase that 'coverage'. They also quoted me discounted (who knows for certain!) pre-paid services for the next 2-3 years.

I then cruised up to Hickory, NC to talk to the dealer there. I was much more impressed with the attention/lack of pretentiousness of the folks at the Hickory dealership. But here's where it gets really weird. They insisted that they COULD NOT offer CPO coverage unless they owned the car. They could offer it on cars they were selling, but not on one I had bought from another dealer or from a private seller. Their finance mgr checked with the regional Porsche finance people who confirmed that no dealer should be offering CPO on cars that are owned by someone else - which is another way of saying the dealer has to decide whether or not to perform the inspection/extend coverage while they are in possession of a car they're selling.

I reached back out to the folks that sold me the car and explained what the folks at Hickory were telling me -- they indicated that there was some 'gray area' regarding Porsche N.A.'s policy on this. The folks at Hickory responded that there's no gray area at all.

Any one else had any experience with this?

 

From my experience, To CPO a car it has to be in the dealers inventory. They can sell you pre-paid maintenance package or a aftermarket extended warranty at anytime though.

 

Agree...........to the best of my understanding,dealer CPOs the car to you. Other dealers of course will honor the CPO coverage.

 

CPO cars can be service at any Porsche dealership..

 

Thanks for the responses guys. There was never any doubt about who can provide service once CPO coverage is in place - the same dealer network that manages standard warranty claims. There was also never any doubt about who provides/'sells' the CPO coverage -- same dealer network.

The question was really about 1) who can 'own' the car when the coverage is issued and 2) when the coverage can be obtained.

From this post and postings in a couple of other forums asking the same question, a few things 'seem' clear.

1) Porsche N.A. has rules that indicate that the dealer has to own the car in order to CPO it.
2) Those rules also dictate that the dealer is supposed to make the decision to CPO or not within 24 hours of 'owning' the car.
3) Dealers take a great deal of liberty with those rules -- some offering to certify if a prospective buyer is interested in that and some offering to certify for someone like me who has already bought the car. This may be tied to an offer/purchase of prepaid future service. This may also be tied to the owner (in this case me) having to pony up $ to the dealer for anything NOT under warranty that needs to be made right as a result of the pre-CPO inspection. Said another way - the dealer finds a way to benefit beyond the CPO sale as a result of selling other services concomitant with the CPO sale.

As I said on another site, it would seem that the Porsche dealer network is not immune from operating with business practices that make most people conclude they'd rather have a root canal than deal with a new car dealer.