mazdaspeedjay
Member
I work for a mazda dealership as a tech and have had a few people pm me about this. basicly this is about modifying your MS3 or can even go with any car and having the dealership be difficult and try and void your warranty or make you pay or put back to stock before they'll work on it. here's just some tips to try and help you out from me as a mazdaspeed3 owner and also working for the company.
First: BE HONEST. don't beat around the bush or try and hide stuff be up front and honest cause when you don't lie they'll more likely to help you out. i can't vouch for other dealers cause i know there's alot out there that are pricks but basicly the way i am is if someone is honest and doesn't try and hide the fact that they've modified their car i'm willing to work with them and try and see if i can fix it without having to remove the part. It pisses me off when someone brings there car to me with a problem. tries to put it back to stock when i can tell it's been screwed with because of what they did caused the problem and then try and lie about it and say they never modified anything or don't know what i'm talking about when i'm also a car guy not just a mechanic.
Call the dealership before you go there or just go up there for a visit. see if anyone there is a car guy you can usually tell by looking at there tool box or area trust me you'll usually spot them if you see them. just go up there talk to one of the techs that seems cool and just introduce yourself and talk to them about what you have done or thinking about having done and if something happens are they willing to work with you on having your car worked on. OR Call them first. Just call first if you like and speak to the service advisor and try to be nice and talk to them about whats going on. they may say you have to put your car back to stock before service or they may say like me and just bring the car down i'll look at it and see what i can do for you. instead of wasting your time going down there just to be turned away. look around and call other dealers i'm sure there's more then one. to me a 45 minute drive to a dealership thats willing to work with you is worth then one thats 5 minutes away and givin you a hard time.
#2 Check yourself: Meaning. check what you just did to your car. did it start acting up after you performed what ever mod you just did. i.e. boost controller , gauges , CAI exhaust etc. 9 times out of 10 you probally did something wrong or installed it wrong or tuning it wrong or the car just doesn't like what you just did to it. These cars can be really really sensative to certain mods and don't like certains mods and the car will et you know that by throwing a CEL or running like crap. remove what you just put one and see if the problem goes away if so you just fixed it yourself and congradulations and find out why it happened. if it still happens after you removed what you modified then it's time to look into taking it into the dealer for work. There are some great cheap mods you can do but there also cheap parts out there that will just cause you head aches cause you try to save a few bucks.
#3 Research: This is self explained. ask around look around research. See if anyone else in your area has found or knows of a dealer thats mod. friendly so to say this is a easy way to find a dealership that you can take your car too and not worry.
All in all its all about finding the right place thats willing to work with you. i know some dealers in my area that the guys are really cool and will work and repair your car if the part you've modified didn't affect the other part that went bad. if something went wrong or broke or went bad cause of something you did or your own stupid fault no matter what that falls on you. but i know if for say your 02 sensor goes up i know your after market springs or K&N filter probally didn't affect it to fail. if you have and questions or worries feel free to pm me and i'll try and give you my best advice as possible.
First: BE HONEST. don't beat around the bush or try and hide stuff be up front and honest cause when you don't lie they'll more likely to help you out. i can't vouch for other dealers cause i know there's alot out there that are pricks but basicly the way i am is if someone is honest and doesn't try and hide the fact that they've modified their car i'm willing to work with them and try and see if i can fix it without having to remove the part. It pisses me off when someone brings there car to me with a problem. tries to put it back to stock when i can tell it's been screwed with because of what they did caused the problem and then try and lie about it and say they never modified anything or don't know what i'm talking about when i'm also a car guy not just a mechanic.
Call the dealership before you go there or just go up there for a visit. see if anyone there is a car guy you can usually tell by looking at there tool box or area trust me you'll usually spot them if you see them. just go up there talk to one of the techs that seems cool and just introduce yourself and talk to them about what you have done or thinking about having done and if something happens are they willing to work with you on having your car worked on. OR Call them first. Just call first if you like and speak to the service advisor and try to be nice and talk to them about whats going on. they may say you have to put your car back to stock before service or they may say like me and just bring the car down i'll look at it and see what i can do for you. instead of wasting your time going down there just to be turned away. look around and call other dealers i'm sure there's more then one. to me a 45 minute drive to a dealership thats willing to work with you is worth then one thats 5 minutes away and givin you a hard time.
#2 Check yourself: Meaning. check what you just did to your car. did it start acting up after you performed what ever mod you just did. i.e. boost controller , gauges , CAI exhaust etc. 9 times out of 10 you probally did something wrong or installed it wrong or tuning it wrong or the car just doesn't like what you just did to it. These cars can be really really sensative to certain mods and don't like certains mods and the car will et you know that by throwing a CEL or running like crap. remove what you just put one and see if the problem goes away if so you just fixed it yourself and congradulations and find out why it happened. if it still happens after you removed what you modified then it's time to look into taking it into the dealer for work. There are some great cheap mods you can do but there also cheap parts out there that will just cause you head aches cause you try to save a few bucks.
#3 Research: This is self explained. ask around look around research. See if anyone else in your area has found or knows of a dealer thats mod. friendly so to say this is a easy way to find a dealership that you can take your car too and not worry.
All in all its all about finding the right place thats willing to work with you. i know some dealers in my area that the guys are really cool and will work and repair your car if the part you've modified didn't affect the other part that went bad. if something went wrong or broke or went bad cause of something you did or your own stupid fault no matter what that falls on you. but i know if for say your 02 sensor goes up i know your after market springs or K&N filter probally didn't affect it to fail. if you have and questions or worries feel free to pm me and i'll try and give you my best advice as possible.
