Red Circle of DEATH

[Jonathan S.]

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[Tooney]

"In retrospect, an extended warranty purchase would have been wise."​

+1

Anybody know what "replace rear power electronics" means? Wiring harness, ecus, motor?

 

[whitex]

"In retrospect, an extended warranty purchase would have been wise."​

+1

Anybody know what "replace rear power electronics" means? Wiring harness, ecus, motor?

In retrospect, playing the winning set of numbers in a lottery prior week would have been even wiser.

Everyone has 20/20 hindsight. Whether or not you should buy the extended warranty depends on your approach to insurance (since a warranty is just another insurance policy), and perhaps the probability of experiencing problems, though the latter is often hard to estimate.

I generally look at it like this, if the repair is not going to break me financially, it’s not worth insuring. Why? Because insurance guys are much better at estimating the odds of things breaking and pricing the insurance policies such that they make money on it (statistically, over all sold policies). So, if I self insure for things I can afford, I also will come out ahead over the course of my life. For example, if I add up all the refundable plane tickets I didn’t pay for (by buying non-refundable tickets), it way more than covered the one time I had to cancel a trip and couldn’t get my money back for the ticket. Same goes for phone damage protection, all the premiums I saved for all of our family devices more than paid for the 2 repairs I had to pay for (which would have had a deductible to pay as well) over the last three decades. This also applies to higher insurance deductibles - save money on policy but pay higher deductible should you need to use it.

Of course, the “pay for catastrophic insurance only” strategy may not be for everyone. To some people, the comfort of not ever having any uncertainty is worth the cost of all insurances. Hence there are so many insurances.

 

[Jonathan S.]

^ That’s exactly my reasoning. Except for the Taycan. I’m kind of freaked out by the prospect of a nearly $18k repair bill. Sure I could pay it, but that potential just … freaks me out. I really wish I could buy a service plan with more like a $2k deductible. Even $5k. So more like Taycan catastrophic repair bill insurance plan rather than a service plan.

 

[Fish Fingers]

^ That’s exactly my reasoning. Except for the Taycan. I’m kind of freaked out by the prospect of a nearly $18k repair bill. Sure I could pay it, but that potential just … freaks me out. I really wish I could buy a service plan with more like a $2k deductible. Even $5k. So more like Taycan catastrophic repair bill insurance plan rather than a service plan.

I also think the Taycan is the one thing that may really benefit from an extended warranty.

I know the insurers are there to make a profit on extended warranties, but the Taycan one seems to have just been grouped in with existing cars on price (Panamera?) from memory.

I bet the amount of 'claims being settled' is vastly different between the two models.

 

[whitex]

I also think the Taycan is the one thing that may really benefit from an extended warranty.

I know the insurers are there to make a profit on extended warranties, but the Taycan one seems to have just been grouped in with existing cars on price (Panamera?) from memory.

I bet the amount of 'claims being settled' is vastly different between the two models.

Your claim here essentially amounts to "insurance companies are losing money on Taycan warranty". While reading internet forums, which tend you highlight bad experiences, might lead you to such a conclusion, any insurance company which misses such a pattern would not stay in business long. The theory that the insurance company is averaging over all Porsche cars, or perhaps even all brands and all models, also doesn't makes sense from an insurance company point of view - it would be line an insurance company offering life insurance at the same price to all regardless of their age and health condition. Insurance companies look very hard to identify statistically significant groups of clients, so your car insurance premiums even on the same car will very depending not just on your car and its age, your age, your gender, your driving and claim history, annual mileage, but also on where you park and drive your car, and in some places even your credit score and history. So they really do know how to compensate for a wide variety of variables - missing a car model category, especially one so distinct as a Taycan (different drivetrain that other Porsches) is extremely unlikely.

 

[Leccy61]

I just took an extended warranty out and was pleasantly surprised it wasn’t more expensive than other comparable models. Perhaps Porsche has subsidised the warranty premiums for Taycan (unlikely) or more likely because battery issues are covered by a separate warranty and the majority of other troubles Taycan’s have had are recalls means Taycan warranty risk is in line.

 

[Fish Fingers]

Your claim here essentially amounts to "insurance companies are losing money on Taycan warranty". While reading internet forums, which tend you highlight bad experiences, might lead you to such a conclusion, any insurance company which misses such a pattern would not stay in business long. The theory that the insurance company is averaging over all Porsche cars, or perhaps even all brands and all models, also doesn't makes sense from an insurance company point of view - it would be line an insurance company offering life insurance at the same price to all regardless of their age and health condition. Insurance companies look very hard to identify statistically significant groups of clients, so your car insurance premiums even on the same car will very depending not just on your car and its age, your age, your gender, your driving and claim history, annual mileage, but also on where you park and drive your car, and in some places even your credit score and history. So they really do know how to compensate for a wide variety of variables - missing a car model category, especially one so distinct as a Taycan (different drivetrain that other Porsches) is extremely unlikely.

When the Taycan warranty was first launched (in the UK) they just added on an extra column and duplicated the same pricing as the Panamera.

I have just checked the Porsche UK website now and it's still the same (pic).

I would be amazed if the Taycan isn't more costly than a Panamera for the underwriters?

 

[whitex]

When the Taycan warranty was first launched (in the UK) they just added on an extra column and duplicated the same pricing as the Panamera.

I have just checked the Porsche UK website now and it's still the same (pic).

I would be amazed if the Taycan isn't more costly than a Panamera for the underwriters?

If you’re right, those underwriters are incompetent not to catch this in over 5 years now. So are they going to become insolvent, and those policies go with them?

Or, perhaps the actuaries are basing the current prices on data which shows Taycans are no more expensive than Panameras?

 

[Fish Fingers]

If you’re right, those underwriters are incompetent not to catch this in over 5 years now. So are they going to become insolvent, and those policies go with them?

Or, perhaps the actuaries are basing the current prices on data which shows Taycans are no more expensive than Panameras?

I've no idea.......but it does seem odd.

The cost only came out when the first UK Taycans were nearing 3 years old (end of UK warranty term) and have stayed same as Panamera since, which is why an extended warranty 'may' be a better consideration here than elsewhere.

 

[turtletaycan]

Since I have the free EV charging, I'm gonna try contacting Porsche NA to see how they can make this available on my loaner (or if they compensate in other ways).

Update on this, free charging works on the loaner!
Obviously the plug and charge doesn't work, but I just have to open MyPorsche app and initiate the charging there. In the 'Start charging session' screen it shows it's for my Taycan GTS, so I was worried that it will not recognize the Macan but it had no problem.

 

[whitex]

Update on this, free charging works on the loaner!
Obviously the plug and charge doesn't work, but I just have to open MyPorsche app and initiate the charging there. In the 'Start charging session' screen it shows it's for my Taycan GTS, so I was worried that it will not recognize the Macan but it had no problem.

I did a mini road trip over the weekend down to Oregon coast. On the way there I was able to use plug-and-charge at EA in Kelso, WA no problem (managed to reach 204kW IIRC). On the way back however, at EA in Lacey, WA my plug-and-charge refused to work (tried plugging in 3 times). First time since I've owned the car that PNC failed at EA. Using the app however enabled the charging session though (reached 248kW from the get-go too, charged even more than needed in the 12 minutes I took to swing by the nearby Fred Myer). Really enjoying the Taycan's 200kW+ charging rates while traveling. When I did the 3,500mile fly-then-drive in 2023, most EA's were unable to provide above 150kW, a lot were stuck under 100kW.

 

[turtletaycan]

Just heard back from the dealership that they will be undergoing a cell/module replacement and not a complete battery replacement. I tried calling Porsche NA to see if I can escalate this issue (given that this will be the 2nd module replacement) for a battery replacement, but they told me Porsche NA cannot supersede the technical decisions made by the service center.

 

[whitex]

Just heard back from the dealership that they will be undergoing a cell/module replacement and not a complete battery replacement. I tried calling Porsche NA to see if I can escalate this issue (given that this will be the 2nd module replacement) for a battery replacement, but they told me Porsche NA cannot supersede the technical decisions made by the service center.

How many modules replaced last time, how many this time? Any overlap (same module being replaced for the second time)? Do you know the module numbers?

 

[Sar]

I have an update on my situation and will provide a quick recap in case others have this issue in the future:

About a month ago, my car randomly gave me the red circle after I hadn't driven it for 13 days - it would still drive just fine, but it beeped at me angrily. The error magically went away after leaving it "on and idling" for about 30 minutes plugged into my garage charger. Drove just fine for the next few days. Then I went about 5 days without driving it and the error came back when I got in next. Idling trick worked again, and then the car has been fine this past week (I have driven it at least once every 2 days).

Due to this, I originally thought it might be a 12V battery issue. I decided that since the error came back again, I should schedule a service visit to be safe. I told them my timeline of events in great detail and they actually found the issue! I was so worried it'd be a phantom problem with them saying "if we don't see the error while we have the car, we have no idea what's causing it."

Here's what they said:

1. Technician needed to know what home charger I have, because they "found faults for charging socket over-charge causing the system to shut down." I have a Tesla universall wall charger and sent them pictures. They never followed up on this specific point thereafter.
2. Next morning they said "Technician did find a fault for additional coolant pump low-temperature circuit so we have that on order from Germany."

It'll take about a month for that part to come here, so they're handing me a loaner once one is available (I'll post here if the loaner ends up being a cool car).

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