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      01-04-2009, 06:16 AM   #1
airhead
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Mods are bad...

Talking to a friend of a friend over the weekend who has a heavily modified 335. His dealer mentioned that BMW are not happy with people modding 135/335's and will be running random audits next service and voiding warranties.

I've not seen anything official backing this up so take with a grain of salt but could be bad news for some folks....
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      01-04-2009, 06:24 AM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by airhead View Post
Talking to a friend of a friend over the weekend who has a heavily modified 335. His dealer mentioned that BMW are not happy with people modding 135/335's and will be running random audits next service and voiding warranties.

I've not seen anything official backing this up so take with a grain of salt but could be bad news for some folks....
All trust the dealer...they 100% correct...
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      01-04-2009, 05:58 PM   #3
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They can only void the part that they can prove responsible for the damage. For example, your suspension mod may void the suspension part of the car's warranty but not the drive shaft, clutch or the engine.

If you tune the engine, may have void the warranty of the engine. But you are potential to void the clutch, gearbox or the driveshaft, if they can prove it the extra power causes the damage if not the faulty of the part itself.

For any make, the dealer will not try to void your warranty. The amount they charge to you or the head office, in this case, BMW Australia, is the same. There is no benefit to them beside losing a customer to blame on the mod and not trying to claim warranty for you, unless they cannot clearly write in their claim form about the faulty part. At the end of the day, it is the head office to decide the claim is valid or not.
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      01-04-2009, 07:07 PM   #4
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Never going to happen like this.

They don't get paid very well doing it like you mentioned.

Not likely!
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      01-04-2009, 08:12 PM   #5
airhead
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Quote:
Originally Posted by takahashi View Post
For any make, the dealer will not try to void your warranty. The amount they charge to you or the head office, in this case, BMW Australia, is the same. There is no benefit to them beside losing a customer to blame on the mod and not trying to claim warranty for you, unless they cannot clearly write in their claim form about the faulty part. At the end of the day, it is the head office to decide the claim is valid or not.
Just to be clear, this news came from the dealer, but not instigated by the dealer.

The dealer said *BMW* do not want people tuning their cars as they feel it reflects poorly on the brand and affects resale. Basically, they'd rather not have you as a customer. It may well be true as I know Audi are taking strong steps to stop people modding Audi's. Could also be complete BS

As for the specific mod needs to be found responsible for the issue caused... I just saw a case on an R32 where the conrod's had been bent, VW denied the claim because the guy had an exhaust on the car. Ask any mechanic and they'll tell you there is no chance the exhaust caused the bent rods....
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      01-04-2009, 08:39 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by airhead View Post
As for the specific mod needs to be found responsible for the issue caused... I just saw a case on an R32 where the conrod's had been bent, VW denied the claim because the guy had an exhaust on the car. Ask any mechanic and they'll tell you there is no chance the exhaust caused the bent rods....
That is right and that could result the fact that no one is willing to do the job. There is always a chance to be done under different dealers.

Some VW dealer may be incompetance enough so it will take a lot of time to change something other than bolt on and oil change.

To be frank, most dealers in Melbourne in all makes have no clues on diagnosing a car.

We should start a thread about how good the mechanics are in different BMW dealers. I know as a fact that ALL Mazda dealers except one or 2 are hopeless on RX-8s around Australia.

As 135 is a tubro and most are NA in BMW.... hmmm.... (you are thinking now how hard can it be..., but you are dealing with dealer mechanics).
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      01-05-2009, 03:15 AM   #7
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If you mod your car for the purpose of thrashing the sh*t out of it to beat the bloke next to you at the lights in his modded WRX then it's fair enough you lose your warranty claim.

If a dealer tells you they won't cover anything that happens as the result of a non-genuine part, think of the implications for other makes such as Toyota, Holden, Ford etc where you pick up generic parts from KMart etc.

Sounds like "third line forcing" to me.
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      01-05-2009, 06:10 AM   #8
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Mike, there is some truth in this. My dealer told me that BMW was extremely unhappy about my car and the regional manager came down to the dealership to look at my car. And guess what, my car is on their black list. But I said to them that I am ok with them not warrantying items I have modded, but try not replacing an unrelated part and I will see them in court.

Taka, BMW Melbourne are very knowledgeable about their products. There is a difference between Mazda and BMW when it comes to servicing the cars. Also I am not sure if you realise that the dealership you bought your car from is effectively BMW factory as the dealership is owned by BMW Australia which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Germany. So they train their technicians really well and send them to Germany etc.
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      01-05-2009, 07:19 AM   #9
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No WAY.... that is why I keep saying it is not my first BMW. I am sure the next car is either another BMW sport coupe or a spec'ed up X5.
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      01-05-2009, 07:27 PM   #10
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This is an interesting development. A mate of mine recently had the engine replaced in his MINI after the big end bearing failed. He had mods to exhaust and suspension, but nothing done to engine. BMW were very suspicious but after signing an affadavit to support his claims, BMW were willing to cover the engine replacement on warranty. Needless to say, he was very relieved!
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