I am close to pulling the trigger on a 991 GT3, and I asked the dealer if my warranty remains in tact even though I plan to track the car regularly? I self imposed the caveats that I would not modify the engine.

Is everybody getting the same answer?

Have people here tested this in real life over past years? In other words, have you had engine/drivetrain issues on your regularly tracked GT3 and had them covered by warranty?

I just want to go into this eyes wide open as I would definitely track my car.

Do I need to get anything special in writing from the dealer?

 

The 997 GT3 manual is clear: track it and we void it. Actual practice varies from dealer to dealer though. I've had some dealers tell me that if it gets near a track, they'll deny claims. Others say track it; no worries. There is no guarantee on either though since major claims (motor/trans) usually require sign off by the district rep. Track at your own risk.

 

I specifically asked my dealer sales rep and he asked his manager and they said that track use would not void the warranty. BUT, based on the information I was reading on various boards, the warranty appears to explicitly carve this out.

I have a 2003 996TT now, so I went to my "Warranty and Customer Information" booklet and on page 9 under "This Warranty Does Not Cover:" there is the following bullet

"Abuse, accident, acts of God, competition, racing or track use or other events beyond the control of Porsche Cars N.A."

While this language is not from the 991 GT Warranty as I have not been able to locate that on line, it is consistent with the current CPO warranty, which I did find on line.

This is new news to me as I did not buy my 996TT new under warranty so I never looked. It also really changes how I feel about buying a brand new $160k street car that I would like to track 15 days a year. I was OK with me putting it into a wall, but I am not OK tracking a first year engine that has no history of track reliability and no warranty.

I won't go too deep into a rant here, but it is annoying to be marketed a car that the manufacturer consistently shows on tracks, and acknowledges that 80% of the owners track these cars, yet they walk away from warranty if you track it. It doesn't add up for me

If I have this wrong, please save me, otherwise it looks like I will be cancelling my allocation slot for a 991 GT3 RS.

 

Its all in how you phrase your wording when you take the car in for a claim. You were at a DE event....you never "tracked" your car or raced it, but rather just DE'ing it.

I had a friend destroy his tranny at Laguna in a brand new GT3RS 4.0 with less then 500 miles on it doing a 5th to 2nd shift going into T2. Claimed he was at a DE event and the dealership covered it!

Remember, you don't track your car, you attend Driver Education Events.

 

Warranty is with Porsche (PCNA) and not the dealer. PCNA will void warranty if they know you tracked the car.

However the dealer can influence certain warranty claims to be covered that does not require a PCNA zone rep to get involved. The dealer can fight for you to get a warranty claim but the final recession is up to PCNA.

 

If your dealer says that they'll warranty your car even if you track it, make sure you get it IN WRITING. Also be sure that you are very detailed in the breadth of the writing. If you plan on doing auto-cross and DE's, be sure to put that in writing. If you don't, they could say, you were racing your car, we only cover Driver's Ed events. Leave nothing up to interpretation. This way, even if PCNA denies your claim, you can prove in a court of law that while PCNA has voided your warranty, you have a binding contract with your dealership as a term of sale that supersedes the factory warranty and they have agreed to cover claims in which may result during track use which PCNA may not cover. Some dealerships are willing to do this, most are not. More than likely, you'll get a wink of the eye and they'll say they'll cover it, but can't put it in writing as it wouldn't sit well with PCNA, but not to worry. Not sure I would trust that, let's say service manager A. says don't worry we'll take care of you, then he get's canned and 9 months later, new service manager B. is hardcore by the books no exceptions type of guy, you may be on your own. BEST OF LUCK! Let us know what you decide and how it goes as other people would surely like to follow in your footsteps depending on the outcome. Probably best to leave the name of the dealership out so as not to "Out" a dealership that is willing to work with people. We want to reward the "good" guys out there.

 

RS4.0? Now THAT's a money shift. Ack!

 

So you're ok with picking up the tab for stuffing your car into a wall, but not ok with the possibility of a worst case repair of $25K (engine or trans)?

 

The car is marketed as a track car ... Porsche's own videos are almost exclusively track videos. Mild track use, even 15 times per year, would likely not be noticeable or, more importantly, provable. Tire and break wear would be a dead giveaway if you were to engage in heavy track use, but the car is built for that purpose and from a legal standpoint, it would be difficult for them to deny a standard claim given all of the track marketing. Having said that, I would be sure to stick to the recommended break-in policies and then go for it. Every video review I've seen has professional drivers beating the crap out of these cars on the track ... can't imagine any of us could do any worse.

 

This is very big and bad news to me. My goal was to eventually get a GT3 with warranty to track and get away from buying cars and modding them and voiding warranties... Now i hear one of the greatest manufacturer marketed tracks cars isnt covered under their own warranty? What a joke.

Would the dealer know if you tracked the car if you had a break down and just took the car back home and told the dealer you had a breakdown on the road somewhere near your home?

 

Ever seen what tires look like when they come off the track? Ever seen the little chunks of rubber that go up in the wheel wells? That's how. And if you have a roll bar and harnesses (once they release sport buckets), well, there's that too.

Again, it's all about the dealer. I've had good luck and never (knock on wood) been denied a claim. YMMV. I've always accepted the fact that if the car blows up at the track, there is a chance it could be on my dime. There are risks in every part of the track experience. This is just one of them.

And to those who think they could go after Porsche if they deny you warranty coverage, who do you think has deeper pockets: Porsche's legal dept. or you? Hell the simple cost starting that type of action would probably cost you more than the repair cost of a catastrophic event loss.

 

Interesting thread, I've come across discussions like this before. I always find it puzzling how some dealers won't warranty a tracked car yet they have no problem putting CPO on .2 GT3RS with a cage and belts still in it??? And of course charge through the roof for the vehicle.

 

The car will likely be fine for 10-15 DE days a year properly maintained. But if it's peace of mind you're looking for, you need to get track insurance to cover collisions or be prepared to pay out of pocket for any damage and cross your fingers with regards to mechanical failures. A good relationship with your service dept is key, but I would highly doubt they would ever put anything in writing for you.

 

They will point to the written warranty language, deny the claim and then it will be up to you to sue for remedy - difficult.

 

Chevy is warranting the Vette and Z/28 Camaro for DE's. FYI