Modifications and Your Warranty

[psi chick]

There are always tons of questions about how modifications are going to affect your warranty, so here are some simple guidelines to remember when deciding to modify your car.

1.Nothing outright voids your car’s warranty. It doesn’t matter what the guy behind the counter in the parts department told you.

2.What can happen is that your car’s warranty can be RESTRICTED. This is different from voided. What this means is that before any warranty work is done on the car, it must be approved. This does not mean that warranty work cannot be done at all.

3.No part outright will restrict your warranty either. If you install a part on your car and it causes another part to fail, then the warranty on the failed part will not be honored. Example: If you install solid motor mounts and they cause the power steering pump to fail, the warranty on the power steering pump will not be honored (so that means that you pay for it). If you install those same mounts and your headlight switch goes out then that is still covered under warranty.

4.Will every dealer be lenient about modifications? No. Some will blame anything that goes wrong with the car on any modification that you have done, related or not. Not all dealers are like this, but unfortunately there are many stories of dealers restricting warranties for parts unrelated to the issues the car has.

5.Mopar and Mopar Performance are NOT the same thing! There is a major difference between the two. Mopar parts are OEM parts. Mopar Performance is considered an aftermarket company as far as most dealers are concerned.

6.Any dealership can refuse to work on any car at any time. Dealerships are independently owned and operated, and not under the direct control of DCX.

So what can you do?

1.Make sure to get to know your service advisor. Be sure that you know your dealers’ policy as to warranty work on cars that are modified before modifying the car. (Side note: Many dealers are telling customers that if they install the parts on the car, they will be covered under warranty. This is not necessarily true. Be sure to understand exactly what will and what will not be covered before paying your dealer to install parts)

2.If your dealer is not mod-friendly and you wish to modify your car, try another dealer in the area. You do not have to have your car serviced at the dealership that you purchased the car from.

3.Become familiar with the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. This is the federal law that protects you, the consumer, from denial of warranty work based solely on the presence of aftermarket parts.

4.Understand that Dodge is not going to repair your mistakes for free. If you modify your car and something goes wrong, there is a good chance that you will be paying for repairs. Do not EXPECT your dealer to cover all repair work under warranty.

I hope this helps to clear up some of the confusion!

[kgmdawg84]

niceeee amy!! lookin good

[flyboytb]

thanks for the good information PSI Chick.

[mysrt4]

thanks girl! what to get the beast fmic but afraid to void warranty.

[N2MB]

thanks for the good information PSI Chick.

flyboy i absolutely love your sig!!

[Too Tall]

very good info