Leased a Cayenne S with OEM rims. Find out they're replicas. What now?
 

Hi everyone,

I recently (6 months ago) leased a 2011 Cayenne S that was fully loaded with Air Suspension, 18 inch GTS rims, sport exhaust...etc.

I leased my car from an authorized Porsche Dealer and it included another 2 years of warranty plus it went through a "42 point inspection" - whatever that means.

Now the backstory is this:

2011: the old owner ordered this car with 18 inch GTS rims
2011: the car arrived with 18 inch Cayenne S rims, old owner did not want the car and walked away. Manager freaks out and orders 4 REPLICA rims from China. Old owner picks car up thinking they were Porsche Cayenne GTS 18" Rims.
2012: Chinese replicas break while being driven, and old owner takes it back to the dealer. Manager changes rims for Korean quality rims of the same look.
2014: Old owner sells car to dealer

2015: I lease this car from Porsche and they write "18" Cayenne GTS OEM Rims". I go to change my winter tires now and I somehow find out that these rims are REPLICAS. Manager owns up to it.

What do I do now? Any ideas?

Was the vehicle a "Porsche Certified Pre-Owned Vehicle" ? If so, I don't believe it can be certified with the extended warranty if the vehicle has any non-Porsche parts including tires that are not N0 rated. If they did they are in violation of Porsche's policy, in which case don't let it drop.

Thanks for the reply. Yes, it was Porsche certified pre-owned. That's interesting I didn't think about the extended warranty in that way.

Basically, they don't want to order GTS rims and they want to put on 4 new replicas again. One of my rims has a bent/crack. I guess from what I understand I should be persistent with it.

Thanks again.

I would check Porsche Canada's website or call them to clarify.

Bottom line, it sounds as if you have the upper hand since the manager fessed up.
What they did is serious, blatant and deceiving.
Installing non-OEM parts, and then certifying, should have significant ramifications for this dealership.

I would email the manager politely describing the issue, asking his ideas for possible resolution.
Get him to respond to the email (vice phone), so you get it in writing in case he tries to back out or change his tune later on.

Then, push for a brand spanking new set of OEM rims (at a minimum) or you will be forced to contacting someone at a higher level describing the chain of events.

This could get real messy since the "history" is all second hand. It would help matters if you had something in writing from the dealer regarding the history and the fact that the car was leased and CPO'd with non-Porsche parts. Do you have your CPO checklist from the dealer? What does it say? I hope you prevail in this - good luck.

I deal with another dealer in Canada. I can tell you that if I trade in a Porsche with non NO tires they will deduct from my trade-in value the cost of putting Porsche approved tires in order to resell it as Porsche Approved. This dealer has a problem, I would get the correct information from Porsche Canada and then go back to the dealer and give them the opportunity to correct the oversight. If they refuse, I would go to Porsche Canada and pursue.

Any follow up?