Will it void my warranty? *

[SouthernHotrod]

“If I install this part, will it void my warranty?” I get this question a lot.

Here are a few things that I would recommend.

• Get to know the ‘Service manager’ at you dealership
• Also, get to know your ‘Service writer’ and if you can, a good ‘Technician”
• Spend a few dollars in the ‘Service Department’ (oil changes, tire rotations, etc…)
• Fill out your ‘Dealer Surveys’, and let them know it!

“Why do I need to know my ‘Service Manager’?”

The reason that you should get to know your ‘Service Manager’ is, most of the time the ‘Service Manager’ is the one who will make warranty decisions for your vehicle.

“Why do I need to know my ‘Service writer’ and/or ‘Technician’?”

The ‘Service writer’ is your direct link to the ‘Service department’.

The ‘Technician’ is the one who will have is hands on your baby. Hopefully you can find a performance minded Tech.

“I just spent thousands on my new car or truck, why should I spend more now?”

The first thing a ‘Service Manager” will look at when they are going to make a decision on a warranty issue is your ‘Service History’. This is where spending a few dollars in the service department will pay off. When the ‘Service Manager’ looks at your ‘Service History’, he or she will see if you had any “Customer Pay’ work done or just ‘Warranty work’ done. If you have had ‘Customer Pay’ work done, the ‘Service Manager’ will be more likely to make a favorable decision for you.

Remember, if you install aftermarket parts, the dealer can NOT completely void your warranty. It is against Federal law to do that.

Example:

If you install a Catback exhaust system, the factory warranty will be voided on the Catback exhaust system, NOT the whole vehicle.

Follow this link to read more about this issue.

http://www.sema.org/main/semaorghome.aspx?ID=50096

Hope this helps!

[Sevenernine]

SEMA Link is broken.



Very useful information, otherwise.

[QuickRT2SRT]

It does help a lot to have a good rapport with your service writer. I recently had an SRT8 differential and axles swapped into my car. It was a low mileage unit with only 2i miles on it so I didn't have the seals changed on the install. The shop that installed it didn't swap out the tone rings from my stock axles so they had to pull the axles/ hubs back apart and remedy that. The result of all this was they apparently nicked the right axle seal one of the times they put the axles in and I ended up with a leak that only happened while driving it. I had just under 36k miles on my car at the time so I took it in to my service dealer figuring it was at least worth a shot to get them replaced under warranty rather than to have to go back to the shop that screwed them up to begin with and try to get them to make good on it.
The end result was that my dealer went ahead and replaced both axle seals on the SRT8 differential in spite of the fact that it was not the factory unit and they did it under my factory warranty.
End result? Cost = $00.00 and no more leak from the differential... Of course I am sure that my new expensive Royal Purple lube got replaced by OE lube, but then that is a cheap price to pay for good seals installed.

I kept waiting the whole time they had the car to hear them say - sorry, not covered under your warranty... but not a word was said except that they had to keep it an extra day to reorder the correct seals for it.

The point of my sharing this is simply to demonstrate that you shouldn't just assume your mod has voided a warranty - especially if you have developed a good rapport with the service guys like I have done.