Quote:
Originally Posted by UCF w00t
Your car will not lose it's warranty no matter who does the work. For example, if you install headers (no matter if they're GMPP or ones you somehow made yourself) on your car and 6 months later the ECU dies. They would have to replace/fix it because there's no way in hell that failure was caused by your headers. They have to PROVE that your parts caused the problem. If your aftermarket work did cause the problem, of course you're on your own.
This is all thanks to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. |
They do not have to "prove" that the added parts caused the failure...read the following. There are several stories by "Ford Fusion" owners who had warranty work denied due to suspension modification, engine bolt ons (e.g., CAI, etc.), or new wheel/tire combos.
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My brother was a zone manager on the sales side of the car business (basically someone who wholesales the cars and trucks to the dealers) and for the last two years has done so on the parts and service side of the business. Myself? I am in the industrial fabrication business on the service parts side (among others) and as an Amsoil dealer (not very active), I am very familiar, to the point of nausea, with the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act. Plus my wife works for Michigan's largest law firm, involved in product liability defense for Daimler-Chrysler. She's familiar, to the point of nausea, with Magnuson Moss Warranty Act.
Now that those qualifiers are out of the way, I'm going to post an opinion of the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act that ain't gonna thrill too many people. The Magnuson Moss Warranty Act is, in many cases, for the average car buyer, not worth the paper it's printed on. It gives you a whole bunch of legal rights in the event of a warranty dispute with the car manufacturers. On paper. In real life, you, the car owner, will have to prove that the aftermarket part or modification had nothing to do with a particular failure. Despite what the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act says. All the dealer and the company zone manager have to do, to make your life miserable, is deny the warranty claim. Your car stays out of service, and YOU have to provide your own transportation. YOU have to pay the "experts" to dispute the dealer and auto company's assertions of violating the terms of the warranty. YOU have to hire an attorney, and take them to court. My brother has binders of denied warranty claims, with the majority claiming Magnuson Moss Warranty Act violations. Their cars are out of service, no one is providing or paying for a loaner, and those people are S.O.L., representation by big, fancy lawyers notwithstanding. In fact, the way my brother talks, the more you the car owner talk about the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act, the more likely they'll deny your warranty claim out of shear spite, and when I met several of my brothers colleagues last year at his wedding, those very sentiments were repeated over and over.
They, the dealer, don't have to do anything. All they have to do is be obstinate. You, the car owner, will be the one S.O.L. Just ask the hundreds, if not thousands, of Toyota owners who's cars were affected the oil sludge problem a few years ago, changed their oil religious at a quick oil change shop, had records, and were still S.O.L. pending litigation.
Think about that carefully before doing anything aftermarket on your car.