Porsche Wheel & Tire Insurance - is it worth it? what's a fair price?

fanman888

About to close on a 911. Purchasing at an Official Porsche Dealership.
Was offered the 5 year Wheel & Tire Insurance. It covers all tire damage, all wheel damage, and refinishing of scrapes on wheels for 5 years. Free replacement of tires that can't be fixed as well as free replacement of any dented or cracked wheels.

I was offered this during the finance phase so I wasn't prepared with real numbers.
They offered it to me $2,700. Questions...

1) Is this a good price?

2) And if I am overpaying, what price should i be targeting for fair deal?

3) What did you pay?

Given how expensive PZeros are as well as Porsche OEM rims, I can see how this can pay for itself if you even just replace one tire a year and just one rim.
Just want to make sure I'm paying a fair price for this option.

Thanks in Advance

texases

$2,700? Yikes. You might ask this on a Porsche forum, see what folks there have done. What part of the country are you in? Is rim damage likely?

Mr_Shiftright

Well a Porsche OEM wheel can set you back $1,200 or so, and a PZero for your car is what? maybe $300---so one good smack is Ka-Ching----$1500 bucks.

This presumes of course that you totally destroy the wheel. Often wheels can be repaired for much less.

I'm with texases on this one---it really depends on your geography. Kansas? Not a problem. SF Bay Area, with roads equal to those in Pakistan---a problem.

Nonetheless, it's pretty hard to dent or crack these wheels---however, curb rash is pretty easy. Maybe you need to ask around what aftermarket shops charge to refinish a wheel---if it's $300, that gives you 9 wheels over the life of the car.

In any event, if you decide to go with it, I'd bargain the price down. This is, after all, a profit-maker for the dealer. All insurance is a bet---so they are betting you don't smash a wheel and you are betting you do. Since they make lots of money on this package, one presumes that the house wins the bet most of the time.

fanman888

Live in Southern California - so roads are not as bad as SF and not as good as Kansas.
Price definitely seems high. Wanted to get a going rate average of what a win-win/buyer-dealer price for something like this.
I am leaning towards getting it due to the high cost of OEM Porsche 20" and PZeros. Would lie to make sure I'm getting a fair deal.

texases

Socal folks on Porsche forums should be able to tell you if/what they paid, and the frequency of tire/wheel problems. Like @Mr_Shiftright said, wheel repair is always an option, and much cheaper. I'm sure there are some great wheel repair shops in the LA area.

kyfdx

I'd guess those 20" P-Zeros are $500+ each.

My biggest issue, other than the cost, is how easy is it going to be to make a claim on the plan? Insurance companies make money by denying claims. (no offense to any insurance company employees.. lol)

texases

How much is paid for tires? Is it adjusted for miles? How many? The actual payout might be small.

Michaell

texases said:

How much is paid for tires? Is it adjusted for miles? How many? The actual payout might be small.

Good point - if you ruin a tire with 500 miles on it, you'll get pretty much full replacement cost, but the same tire with 15,000 miles on it is probably due for replacement anyway and the amount you would be reimbursed would be quite small.

stever

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charlie747

ABSOLUTE RIPP OFF, NEVER WANT TO PAY FOR NEW OR FIX WHEELS, tires they pay for, WHEELS IVE GOTTEN THE RUN AROUND FOR 4 days now. NEVER BUY THIS WHEEL TIRE PACKAGE. EVER