Question

Has, in fact, anyone been denied any kind of warranty service because there aftermarket parts. Trivial stuff don't count. I mean serious money where its going to hurt because the damage was caused by the aftermarket part.

I'd really like to know this answer

thank you

 

That's the risk you take with aftermarket parts. If they cause the damage, its not going to be covered under warranty. The repairs are all yours.

My concern would be more about dealships that use after market parts as an excuse for not fixing unrelated problems. For example, if they refuse to cover a power steering pump, because you have an aftermarket rear anti-sway bar.

 

I know they can't do that because the warrantly says it has to be related. For example, if the engine computer is having fits, I can't see them blaming you new Alta exhaust or whatever.

 

This is a helpful read...

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=32569

I have a few mods on my MINI and the dealership covered the faulty clutch/flywheel replacement because my mods had nothing to do with my mods (pls see below). The repairs would have otherwise cost about $2000. Hope that helps a bit.

 

I think that it is hard to make generalizations about dealerships and the whole warranty quagmire. If I've learned anything from having mods and reading various car boards on this subject it is that every dealership is different. They are each franchises, often have different service info, differing attitudes about things and different policies. Some are good with mods, some won't even touch an altered or non OEM part to get to a warranty repair. As a franchise and a privately owned business they can even refuse to work on your car for any reason. Short of a lawsuit even the Magnusen Moss act cannot make them accept your car into being serviced if they refuse to work on it as far as I know. I don't know if this varies state to state but I do know of dealerships in CA refusing to work on cars and even banning customers. I know that I have had my BMW in for service and had them refuse to do work due to aftermarket parts; I've also had things blamed on simple alterations. It has been a huge PITA over the years and certainly has made me think twice about mods to the Mini.

Basically, if you are lucky, you have with a good dealership who handles service logically and does not look for every excuse to deny warranty coverage.

 

another thought is what mods are you thinking of adding?

I am particularly interested in maintaining warranty. So instead of getting a pulley and intake to start, I am looking at wheels, suspension and exhaust first.

I figure once all these mods are done, the warranty will be close to up...

 

I have a pulley, CAI, and ralleye lights. Earlier this year, I had the shifter vibration/buzz that a few people have had. MINI San Antonio ended up replacing under warranty the entire transmission, the shifter and shifter cable, and the clutch. No problems at all, but clearly my car troubles had nothing to do with the mods on my car. I was, however, nervous going in and I did spend some time reading the Act.

 

I would do the intake without worry... and the other mods you mentioned.Thats smart thinking... Do the pulley last... towards the end of your warranty.... I plan on doing this... if I can resist long enough!

 

Hi, EVal! This is a good piece of info. Have you had any dealings with East Bay BMW/MINI?

 

The only personal experience I've had with East Bay Mini service is that they gave me the best price in the Bay Area for programming the key/alarm. It was a hectic Fri afternoon when I went there but they got me in and out pretty quickly, and I cruised the internet on their computers in the meantime. By the way, from what I understand I wouldn't assume that if a dealer is good in one brand, BMW/Mini, they are good in the other...

Cheers

 

My dealer (Concord, CA) tried to do this to me. I had the H&R springs and Koni shocks and complained of a rattle in the sunroof. When I told them it rattled before the H&R springs, they still tried to avoid it. I told the service guy (I think he was a guy) I wanted to talk to the service manager, suddenly they agreed to look at the problem. They said they fixed it. When I drove the car home, clearly, the rattle had not been fixed.

 

Yeah, Concord told me they wouldn't change a belt because I had a new pulley. So Bay Bridge got it done in 5 minutes.

 

The only hard core warranty denial I have heard of was by long beach mini. They had a S come in with low compression for the number one cylinder. They denied the warranty due to the fact that the car had a 19% pulley installed. Customer ended up with a hell of a bill.

 

i drove 12000 miles before i did anything, however, that was also 2 years, and i got all the bugs out of the car... Ie. new cluch, flywheel, squeeks, windows, steering rack, etc... i think if you give the car enough time to find whatever "defects" in build it may have, you will save yourself the issues of having to argue how the mods didnt effect the problems. Most issues that are defective will occur within the first 10000 miles, at least that to be the case in my car.