7 Steps to Car Mod Bliss (Minus the Stopover in Warranty Hell)
The only thing more exciting than buying a new car is planning what you’ll do to it next. Lift it, wrap it, boost it, chip it, you want to make your new ride even cooler and you want to make it your own. For most enthusiasts, as soon as new car keys are in hand we’re headed off to mod ourselves silly. This all sounds great, until you show up to get your car serviced and the guy tells you “Sorry bro, not with that mod.”
Huh? What? Is that possible? That’s not fair, all you did was ________. It then goes from bad to worse, you burn out of the guy’s service bay and hit up the next dealership. They’ll be cool, right? Wrong again. Your “bro” at the last shop marked your VIN’s permanent record, so no dealership will touch your vehicle. Complete buzz kill. The good news is that with a little prep and some common sense you can avoid this nightmare scenario – allowing your warranty and your ride to co-exist just fine. Follow these seven steps to modded car bliss:
7. Know Your Warranty
It sounds about as sexy as watching grass grow but if you want to ensure you’re playing the game, it’s important to know the rules. So read your warranty, it is a critical step before you embark on any large scale mods. Remember, every model is different, some cars that are prone to extensive modifications have specific language in the warranty discouraging any change that would alter the car and its performance.
6. Be Prepared
After you’ve read the warranty and feel like you know what you’re dealing with, make sure that you save all of your service records. This will prevent the dealership from re-creating history in their favor. Regularly documented maintenance is great defense.
5. Be Careful
There are a few things you can do to avoid drawing unwanted attention to your project. Sometimes that means staying out of a national racing team—car companies have been known to access these databases and note the VINs of participants. Another safe bet is to hold on to your factory parts, in case you need to do a quick swap before a shop visit.
4. Be Realistic
Car dealerships don’t want to be in the business of disputing a warranty every time someone puts on a new bumper sticker. So if you really stop to think about what mods would make them nervous, the list is pretty straightforward. In short, the closer you get to the engine, the riskier the project. Wings and exhaust are one thing, chips and boosts are another. Very often people already know if what they’ve done is risky, they just pray they don’t get caught.
3. Know Your Rights
The federally mandated Magnusson Moss Act of 1975 protects consumers by ensuring that all warranties are honored when it is legally applicable. This law ensures that the responsibility is on the dealership to prove that the car modification was outside of the warranty agreement. More specifically, the dealership must prove that the car’s performance was compromised by your modification in order for them to legally deny coverage.
2. Know Your Options
If you do find yourself at the wrong end of a warranty dispute, you need not take it lying down. Consult with an attorney to review your options. Professional organizations like SEMA can be also be really helpful at times like this. Your project is their business too and they want to help you protect it - SEMA Action Network, or SAN, provides some great resources.
1. Make Friends at the Dealership
You can never go wrong by cozying up to a guy at the shop. What do you think they do in their spare time? It’s not bingo. They secretly love your mod – half the time, they’ve got a similar project at home. So buy them a beer, swap some greasy tales and once you get to know them better, ask! They’ll know who their bosses make them flag. Just make sure it’s not you.
