In theory you are one hundred percent correct. The actual facts are a lot of dealerships will not hesitate to claim your mods caused the issue and you will have to prove that they’re incorrect. That’s why a lot of people attempt to hide their mods as long vehicle is under warranty. Of course you could always sue them, but most folks don’t have the expendable cash to afford to do it or the time.
That's true. Luckily I found a great service advisor and dealership and they don't care about any of that - to them the thought process is - it doesn't cost us any money, and usually we actually make money, so we'll always push on your behalf. Some are less cool about things though
This is 100% how it goes. I put heavy duty rear springs in my Raptor to offset the weight of my bed rack and cover, without altering the ride height, and the dealer used it to justify denying a warranty claim. The rear pinion seal failed, the fluid leaked out and my diff ended up being toast. They claimed the springs changed the geometry of the drive train, claim denied, and if I wanted to take it to court I was more than welcome to. The lawyer I spoke with advised that while I would probably win, it was going to be north of 20k to fight what was essentially a 5K repair.
Wait a second, wait juuuust a second. Are you telling me that if I were to take my Z into a dealership to trade it in they wouldn’t give me what my car plus mods are worth? As bat crazy as that is if so, are you also saying that if I told them I was suffering from some sort of hissing sound like a vacuum leak, they’d (to my face?!?) attempt to lean at the culprit being all of the boost/vacuum related aftermarket parts or heaven forbid the complete hijacking of OEM tuning via EcuTek?
True! They won’t care what mods you have. Nissan bleeding cash now will gladly pick up that warranty tab, because the customer is always right.
Same. I bought a sport to build out and be better than a performance for less. Which I can do. But I can't beat out a build like this build. Quality parts and SOHO built for $50k? I can't dream of beating that
In the end it only takes one to find value enough to buy. I don’t doubt he has done a ton of high quality mods and he has the proof to back it up.
A lot of folks love to holler Magnuson-Moss, but didn’t really read the small print. True they can’t deny your warranty claim for unrelated mods. What this act was enacted to do was prevent the buyer from being forced to go to the dealer for work. An example you added aftermarket oil, air filters and lights and your motor fails. Now if you added bigger turbos new cams reprogrammed the ECU and the motor fails even though it might not be the cause there is no way that most dealers will even attempt to do a warranty claim hence why many look for undetectable ECU flashes. Of course like I stated earlier you can go to court and might win, but what is that going to cost you? When I use to mod my cars and motorcycles I figured that was a cost of doing business and always went to professionals I trusted.
For sure. The main thing in my mind with Magnuson-Moss is that while, yeah, sure they can deny a claim, they cannot outright void your overall warranty. So if I throw a rod because of a tune, and my wheel bearings need to be replaced later or my AV unit goes out, they can't just say "no dude your warranty is void bc you tuned your car" it's still good - just on a claim by claim basis
Right unrelated items cannot be denied because of a tune or modification. That being said I willing to bet money anything closely related will be denied at most dealerships and you will have to prove it didn’t contribute to the failure in court.
I knew that car would sell fast!
