Maintenance Plan cancelled due to modifications?

[RussianPete]

Originally Posted by mose121

Let's be clear, the only people who have the legal power to void your warranty is BMWNA. No dealer can void your warranty. All they can do is call BMW and report their findings, which really never happens. It's too much of a PITA for dealers to take the time to mess around with that stuff. There's too much grey area and it's not making them any money to argue over your warranty. If anything dealers can refuse service just like any other business can to limit their liability. That hardly means your warranty is void. But they do have to be careful because as the "administrator" of BMWNA's warranty they are required to fix defective parts under warranty. So they don't want to get in hot water by refusing legitimate warranty repairs either. Which is why unless you've done something crazy like supercharged a N/A car or something like that they usually just do the repair and move on. I've been in the car business for 15 years and worked for several high line dealers. I was with BMW for almost 9 years and now manage a Porsche dealer service department. I have never in my 15 years seen a manufacturer void a warranty with the exception of cars that were totalled/salvage titles. I was the Dinan Performance Specialist at the BMW dealer and have been an enthusiast myself modding cars for many years. I will tell you from my experience that Dinan's quality and customer service is second to none. They also design, test, and manufacture most of their components themselves where as most other companies farm everything out and slap their name on it. We sold one of the first carbon fiber air intake kits for an e60 550i to a client. He had an intermittent rough idle on cold starts and the CEL would come on. In just a few days Dinan had traced it back to the way air was flowing inside the intake tubes causing turbulence and reducing air flow under very specific conditions. They 3D printed a new prototype (this was in 2006!!!), over nighted it to me, installed the next day and verified it fixed the issue, then Dinan had a brand new redesigned carbon fiber part in my hands two days later. Steve Dinan called my client personally to apologize for the inconvenience without any urging from us to do so. Then they sent him a complete suspension kit that retails for almost $3,000 for free. I don't know another tuning company on the planet that could have physically achieved that level of support and customer service let alone cared enough to do so. Dinan lost a couple grand but they made the client a customer for life. I've dealt with many companies over the years and some of them won't even talk to you. Any issues that people try to attribute to Dinan are almost never on Dinan's end and are usually a result of the dealer/service advisor not knowing how to properly handle the situation and nothing more. As usual, the Service Advisor will make or break your experience so it's important to choose wisely or ask the manager who you should deal with. In the end you get what you pay for and that's not just the tangible product you can hold in your hands. Sure we can complain about the higher cost but it is certainly justifiable in every way. As far as maintenance goes, it's free money for the dealer. They would be fools not to just do the service and modifications should have nothing to do with it. The warranty and maintenance "contracts" are two separate agreements so mods shouldn't effect anything on the maintenance side.

+1 great info, OP read this. On top of everything here, you always have the option of working with a service tech at your bmw and tip him out....little cash will go a long way, or just remove the mods before going into a service.

[MN2///M]

Technically, the warranty is a legal agreement so the Dealer nor BMW NA can "void" it. Obviously if you mod the car, they are not obliged to cover those modifications. Beyond that, it becomes a legal fight as to whether the modification caused the failure you are seeking coverage for.

These links may interest you:
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blog...ord-warranties
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blog...nty-compliance

And of specific interest:
https://www.ftc.gov/policy/advisory-...opinion-09-3-0

You may end up having to sue the dealer and BMW to obtain the coverage and you may or may not lose, but the decision will be made by a jury at that point and not a dealer or BMW NA. On the bright side, you may be able to then sue the provider of the aftermarket part/modification depending on their claims.

[tareemaa]

Find a mod friendly dealer, is shouldn't be a problem with things like intakes, downpipes, exhaust, suspension. No if you have a issue with your motor and they find you tuned it, your screwed. There is no way they are gonna say down pipes caused some sort of failure to your motor if that were to every happen. Most of the dealerships know nothing about the aftermarket world, I have yet to walk into a dealership and talk to someone there that doesn't sound like everything they know about the M3 is from a one page document they reviewed when the car came out.

[MN2///M]

Originally Posted by darge82

How about just remove the aftermarket software which takes up to 30mins and avoid conflict? Instead of wasting time and $$$ for legal battles you may lose and lawyer costs. No reason to go through all that trouble.

Pretty sure there would be some residual footprint; like the date the software was last flashed. But unless the issue was caused by the computer, be hard for BMW to argue when their software is what is in the computer. If this was a concern, I think I would keep the car's original computer for "factory service" and obtain another computer for the modifications if possible. I've done this on older cars, but not sure if it would be possible with current models.

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by tareemaa

Find a mod friendly dealer, is shouldn't be a problem with things like intakes, downpipes, exhaust, suspension. No if you have a issue with your motor and they find you tuned it, your screwed. There is no way they are gonna say down pipes caused some sort of failure to your motor if that were to every happen. Most of the dealerships know nothing about the aftermarket world, I have yet to walk into a dealership and talk to someone there that doesn't sound like everything they know about the M3 is from a one page document they reviewed when the car came out.

Most do know, and have dealt with the ugly side of it. Hence, not wanting any part of it. If a tech discovered an O2 was dropped, triggered a CEL, mounted incorrectly, or an exhaust leak was present - it can certainly lead down this road if there was an aftermarket set of downpipes installed.

Some dealers will let minor areas slide, others are strictly by the book. The best way not to have any warranty issues is to remove aftermarket mods before service, or prepare for the risk if something does happen. Guaranteed way is not to mod at all.

Most bolt-ons can be removed in a matter of a few hours, why even take the risk if you don't have to? Warranty is surely more valuable than a couple hours of labor.

Originally Posted by MN2///M

Pretty sure there would be some residual footprint; like the date the software was last flashed. But unless the issue was caused by the computer, be hard for BMW to argue when their software is what is in the computer. If this was a concern, I think I would keep the car's original computer for "factory service" and obtain another computer for the modifications if possible. I've done this on older cars, but not sure if it would be possible with current models.

PUMA case can see this, but there would need to be probable cause to even go down this route.

[SakhirM4]

Why do people on this forum keep confusing free maintenance and warranty. They are not the same thing. this thread was about maintenance plan not warranty.

[brian30tw]

Originally Posted by SakhirM4

Why do people on this forum keep confusing free maintenance and warranty. They are not the same thing. this thread was about maintenance plan not warranty.

In post 5, the OP changed the topic, which seems to have been a huge mistake! It created a thread which has been discussed ad nauseam.

[MasterP]

Mods don't impact maintenance unless you change something. Like clearly your BBK isn't covered under maintenance. And melting your stock brakes once a month because of your track days is deniable because of owner influence. Or filters on your AWE intake, etc. Fluid changes because you cooked or boiled them at the track won't count either. Maintenance is maintenance. Warranty is warranty. Keep the topic separate.

With so many dealership employees lurking on the boards it shouldn't be hard to find one that knows how to maintain a car with mods under factory maintenance plan.

Catless downpipe, jb4 with meth and intake on coilovers doesn't impact your brake fluid and wiper blades does it? Of course not.