Voided All Warranties (merged threads)

[GV27]

So you bought a DP with a high flow cat in it? Remember, it's not enough under the law to just leave one cat in. The car came with three, so it has to still have three - in their original positions - to remain legal.

OK, I looked at the attachment. It says what you said. I agree that it shouldn't effect things like suspension. But again, if you don't have three cats then the car is illegal for highway use and at that point they probably have a leg to stand on.

[drtaka]

I just wanted to make point for the warranty issue.

If they go the nasty route to fight about this issues, I'm sure notify everybody about their nasty habits.

I like to solve this problems as quiety as possible, i'm not seeking huge profit or anything from them.

I know my car is nothing wrong except gasket and will not cause major prob later.

I just want get new gasket. That's all I'm asking for and nothing more.

Taka

[str]

If Subaru was smart they would visit this site and see how popular after market parts are for the WRX. they should spend some time in learning about it and then offer to do to installs. they would make money and more people like us would buy WRX's.

[YSRex]

If it comes down to legal guys, the gloves will come off, and the pummeling will ensue. I say try to push the customer satisfaction side of the equation and pointing out your lack of faith in further purchases. Your last chance of victory in this issue, I think. IF you make clear your intentions to spend much money with them over many years and several cars, you paint a different picture. Dealership owners care a lot more about that stuff than service managers and SOA. IMHO.

[drtaka]

Yes, this is my second subaru.

I used to drive 93 impreza SW (my first car) and I loved it so much.

I never had any problem with that car and run perfect.

Now I'm driving WRX Blue Wagon b/c of good experience I had before.

I even thought bring STI wagon from Japan since my parents still live there and not hard to do so ($2000 shipping charge to LA port). Also, new or used car in Japan is pretty good price.


As I'm Japanese, I'm very sad to see that good Japanese Company treat customer badly over small things.
I always believe that we provide best customer service and quality products in the world.

Anyway, I really like Subaru despite all warranty BS.

my 2 cents

Thanks

Taka

[is2scooby]

Boo... Hiss... To those of you "fighting the good fight", keep us posted!

[MisterX]

I bought an Outback VDC (read $32K) and my rex within a few months. The sales guys are concerned. I'm not so sure of SOA.

misterx

[drtaka]

here is update.

they offerd me two choice.

this is decided by district manager.
1.go back to stock to do warranty work.
2. i pay the whole thing my self.

But I won one thing, they agreed to change wording on the invoice "vehicle warranty is voided by engine modification" to
"only engine part warranty". which means nothig to do with suspension,brake,........etc.

I will not go back to stock to get $10 gasket replaced by warranty.

I also know my engine will not go out any time soon and should last for long from how I drive.

P.S. They told me that I have to pay the whole diagnostic cost if I want to prove the failuer cased by aftermarket parts.

I guess federal law (M-M law) did not help me any (I felt they don't have to prove cause of anything) in my case.

One last thing: Engine modification will not void whole warranty besides engine warranty it's self. But they can BS thats why they hire lawyer for the company (like how we try to get A from teacher).

end....................!


taka

[GV27]

HEY! Good news. Congrats.

I can tell you're not quite 100% happy but it seems like a fair deal to me. Certainly a lot better than the alternative.

Sounds like you did a good job reasoning your way through their BS and ended up a lot better off than where you started. Good job.

Chris

[is2scooby]

I agree that it's a step in the right direction... But the fact that they want to "void" your whole engine warranty is still preposterous!

Are they trying to say that if you develop an oil leak 10k miles from now that your "power mods" were the cause?

Are they saying the gasket that they are refusing to replace was damaged DIRECTLY due to the installation of your downpipe or intake?

That still shouldn't matter!

As a service consultant for the Lexus dealership here in Honolulu we had a tough fight if we wanted to deny ANY sort of warranty claim. We'd catch some pretty serious heCK if we couldn't prove direct accountability of tampering/modification as a cause of failure.

i.e. We had many cars that were lowered/harshly sprung. We wouldn't cover things concerning noise,vibration,harshness of course (don't come to me crying about rattles in your dash since you sprung the car stiffer 10k miles ago!) but we wouldn't dare think of denying coverage on the swaybar, or rim fit/finish, or the rest of the suspension/powertrain.

I hate having to hear about your tribulations. Taka, I think they DO have to prove to you that the modification you made was the cause of your failure and the denial of warranty (ala M-M act).

Good luck, My Friend!

[drtaka]

Are they trying to say that if you develop an oil leak 10k miles from now that your "power mods" were the cause?

- Accordind to SOA. I think so


Are they saying the gasket that they are refusing to replace was damaged DIRECTLY due to the installation of your downpipe or intake?

- they don't say exactry and they even won't inspect the car.
- they keep saying car has to be exactly like the car came off assenbly line (which means stock).
- Any aftermarket parts = No warranty.


As a service consultant for the Lexus dealership here in Honolulu we had a tough fight if we wanted to deny ANY sort of warranty claim. We'd catch some pretty serious heCK if we couldn't prove direct accountability of tampering/modification as a cause of failure.

- According to SOA it sounds like they don't have to prove failuer at their cost. (Customer has to pay themself to prove the cause)

i.e. We had many cars that were lowered/harshly sprung. We wouldn't cover things concerning noise,vibration,harshness of course (don't come to me crying about rattles in your dash since you sprung the car stiffer 10k miles ago!) but we wouldn't dare think of denying coverage on the swaybar, or rim fit/finish, or the rest of the suspension/powertrain.

- this will be the out of question for them. (car must be exactry stock to hornor warranty work)

I don't know if this is true.

-Toyota (Lexus) is #1 car campany in Japan.
-Lexus target high class people and car is at least twice as expensive as subaru.
-SOA is not popular as Toyota so they can not absorb extra cost/risk.
-GM owns most of subaru stock.
-Toyota is trying to build fifth factory in North America.

All comes down to is the money. They have to make profit to make stock holder happy.

this is my opinion.

I was tired to fight over $10 parts and labor. Also, my car won't (I hope) break for long time.

I want hear from every body's opinion.


thanks

[GV27]

That's interesting is2scooby, what is the relationship between the dealer and Lexus like?

I worked at a BMW dealership years ago and the service department loved warranty work - they got paid basically the same rate for labor as they would charge a customer. So it was a money-maker even if they didn't get to make a profit off the parts (actually I think they did, but it was small - just to offset the parts department's costs). I don't think I ever heard of any warranty coverage being denied and I know of several instances where they went ahead and did work for a customer and charged BMW back for it after the warranty had expired - they just fudged the mileage a little. Now of course certain things, like a blown motor for instance, required a rep to sign off on it before they did it, so if somebody had come in with a modded motor the only option they would have had would be to help the customer make it stock before they showed up. I doubt they would have gone THAT far though.

Apparently Subaru's manufacturer/dealer relationship is different.

Chris

[drtaka]

OK

Why don’t we make suggestions to the Subaru?????
Since they can’t change their quality of service them selves.

I'm sure SOA is looking site.

I’ll start new thread.

[is2scooby]

Warrant labor rate is much lower than customer-pay (at least at the dealership where I worked). The time that the mechanic gets paid on warranty work is also much less than for customer-pay jobs. In addition to that, we had to justify the repair (obviously we were spending Lexus/Toyota's money and they wanted to know if the repair was really justified) and anything that threw up red flags would get us an audit by the distributor. If during the audit we couldn't show the removed/failed factory part and provide a satisfactory cause of failure/reason for replacement we would not get paid for the repair and basically "ate" it.

Even with that mentioned - we felt it was good customer service and good business in general to perform many repairs even though we knew they would get "kicked back" and we would have to eat them because you can't really put a price on goodwill with your customer.

I guess that the local Subaru dealerships, or even the distributor/mfgr. don't feel the same way. A shame really.

I believe Taka is right though - Toyota is a big company with a lot of money and a sterling reputation at stake. Subaru is not in the same boat.

Plus Lexus' exhibited some great quality control and the actual factory defects were few and far between...

I just want to make sure that when/if I break something on my car (spring a valve cover gasket leak before the powertrain warranty is expired for instance) that Subaru won't deny my claim because of the exhaust on the car. That's preposterous.

Sounds like BMW owners that serviced at your dealership had it made, Bro!

[dookiebob]

I can't comment on all of the other problems written about here, but I brought in my WRX to the dealership because my highbeams and foglights were not working. To make a long story short, they would not touch anything in my car because I had "aftermarket headlights," even though they were made by the same manufacturer (Sylvania) as OEM. I put in Silverstar headlights approximately one month before the incident, and the dealer refused to do any work until I agreed that I would pay for labor because I had aftermarket headlights. Of course, I did not agree, and I took the car home to see what was wrong with it. Turns out one of the fuses had blown, and that needed to be done was put in a fuse which cost me less than $3.

This dealership could have just checked the fuses and replaced the faulty one for me for a measly $3 for my happiness, but they did not. I personally think that is bad business, because I know I am never going to take my car in for service there ever again. I have to even think twice about buying a car from the same dealer ever again because of this minor incident.

If this dealership was this worried about aftermarket HEADLIGHTS, then I can only imagine how they would react to any other modifications that I have since made (exhaust, intake, wheels). They just might void my warranty because I have the STi aluminum shifter trim on my center console...

Sounds silly, but I wouldn't put it past them.