Because dealers are notorious about finding any excuse to void the warranty? Your transmission is bustificated? Must be that cold air intake you put on - sure signs of abuse. Your engine is all blowed up? Must be those aftermarket rims you put on the car - signs of abuse.
Work in a dealership for about 20 minutes and you'll discover that everything, including the water cooler, is a profit center. Warranty service, because of the rates the manufacturers pay, is anything but profitable for a dealership, and they are highly motivated to get everything the can not covered under the warranty and out of the consumer's pockets instead. Yes, there are laws that define that a dealer cannot blame things in this fashion, but they do anyway. They work on the theory that the average consumer is not as well versed in the laws as the people who post on messages boards as these are. And they are right to do so - the odds of success are in their favor. Don't believe what I am saying - sit in the lobby of your dealership some morning and watch the number of people happily paying $125 to have their oil changed and a "multi-point inspection" done on their cars...
EDIT - Bravo to CorkSport for coming up with a part like this, though. When my car comes out of warranty in not very long (I've put 11K miles on it in four months) I'll be buying one as well
Didn't notice this earlier. Aside from my military background, I've been in/around a dealership for 6 years (not saying much since some GM techs have 30+years), so yes, I've been there. Now on to your argument...
I don't know what dealership you've been in contact with, or going to, but I would strongly recommend getting the hell away from it. Don't believe what everybody says about a "stealership" yes, the parts prices and labor rates are VERY high in some cases. And $129 for an oil change? You work at Audi/BMW or something? We have a flat rate of 29.99 WITH a full circle inspection. It's there for a reason, to inform the customer whats wrong with there car, and to give somebody who is paid commission (ME) a chance to pay for my family. The economy is F'd up, and technicians should be making in the upper $45 per hour range, but sadly, we aren't. And as far as them doing everything to not cover it under warranty, that's a load of B/S at some dealerships, not saying some don't do it, but some do. My service manager tried to get tires and spark plugs covered under warranty today, WEAR N TEAR ITEMS! Man up, and pay to play.
Who's fault do you think it is that the dealerships try to find every way possible to NOT replace your blown piece of crap motor because you went out and took out every possible emission and exhaust restriction and "turned up the boost." Blame those sorry asses, not the parts manufactures, because most of the time their is a disclaimer that "this part may F your stuff up, in some way shape or form." I get really tired of hearing the excuse of people making every dealership out to be a bad one. It's OUR yes OUR fault that they are the way they are. The warranty is their to protect a factory car, and when you add anything to change a factory setting car IE intake, exhaust, ECU upgrade, stand alone etc etc (some crap like wheels/tires/suspension etc i don't see eye to eye with) YOU are taking full responsibility and SHOULD have to pay for your new part and it shouldn't be covered under warranty, PERIOD! I'm a huge believer or the law they just passed, but just to let you know, being in the car world and dealership as long as I have, i could EASILY convince a dealership/lawyer that an INTAKE or exhaust altered the car enough to where it changed fuel ratios or some air velocity BS story and we'd win, almost every time. Man up people, you put something on your car that alters performance, fuel ratios, how "quickly your car goes 0-60" and their going to fight. Especially with a factory car that is turbocharged. That s*** ain't cheap, and maybe THATS why labor rates and parts prices are as high as they are. END RANT!
^ lovemyrx7 works for a Mazda dealership. Can he give us any insight? I know when I had my Mazdaspeed3 I watched people get their warranties voided left and right for the most trivial of mods. I saw guys get voided WITH ONLY THE MAZDASPEED INTAKE. I love Mazda cars, but it seems you have to be very careful with modificiations if you want to retain your warranty. Maybe it's the economy's fault... who knows.
I also recall a local friend of mine with a Mazdaspeed had a transmission problem early on and the dealer denied him a loner car saying they discontinued that service. His GT had less than 10,000 miles on it at that point.
I still love Mazda, but their mod-unfriendly attitude scares me off from extensively modifying cars I still owe money on. Perhaps a REP can come in here and comment, but I doubt it.
Read above, not attacking anybody or on the dealerships side. I will personally mod my car to the extent that I willingly know warranty might not be there to cover my ass. And guys, the whole "oh I'll just throw the stock part back on there, they will never know!" isn't going to work after a year or two. For years dealerships have been able to track everytime your car has been started, fueled up, ran lean, ran rich, when you farted (not really) etc. But I've always said it and I always will...
HAPPY MODDING
