If you can - find a dealership that sponsors a Corvette Club and develop a very good relationship with the service manager and Corvette Tech. A dealership will work with you on warranty repairs "if" you're reasonable regarding your coverage requests based on the mods done to your vette. I can't complain with the services I received.

 

I can see with a major repair like a blown engine however for minor repairs then I think you can get away with it.

 

I strongly suggest you read the threads/logic of post #9. It's your call. Regardless of what is said here, and even by your dealer/service dept. at this time, when the time comes, what will they say?

You tune, and put on headers and everything is fine, now. Something blows up later, you are rolling the dice with your dealer.

One of the threads has a post that says: "you-want-to-play-you-have-to-be-ready-to-pay" If you want headers and a tune, or even more than that, be prepared to pay for more than that. Or prepared to fight the dealer and GM.

 

The law is the law, and GM is well versed in how it works. If a dealer refuses to fix your dome light because you have headers, you are obviously at the wrong dealer to begin with.

With every mod you do to your car, you run the risk of something breaking and not being covered under warranty. If you don't have the stomach for that, you should leave your car stock and call it a day.

That being said, you also need to be smart about things. For instance, I have a great relationship with my Chevy dealer. I have bought 10 cars from them, and know the GM of the place personally. I could bring a car in very modded, and they would look the other way because they know me and know I will take my business and referrals elsewhere. Now I know not everyone here knows their dealer on that level, but there are other things you can do to make things easier. I have had customers call around and ask the dealers to do the work like header installs. Odds are you will find one who will do it...and they will warranty the work if you bring it back.

That being said..if I had my car modded signifigantly, and something engine wise broke...I would be taking it to a performance shop to get it fixed vs. trying to get a dealer to warranty it. You may be paying, but on a serious modding level, dealers will not have a clue.

 

Its not that simple and GM doesn't give dealers a blank check, especially for labor costs. The reimbursement system cross checks several factors against the dealer's claim. GM sets specific limits on labor time for each repair. So, if you have an issue (especially involving a mod) that the dealer believes will cost him more in labor than GM allows, he risks losing money.

 

I just called my Chevy dealer, they are also a sponsor of a local Corvette club, to ask the service manager about modifications and warranty. He said if I put an aftermarket CAI it voids the entire engine warranty, WTF!

 

find a mod friendly dealer, buy the extension from them, have them put on your mods, get receipt

 

I just know you are not suggesting fraud. (I would just tell GM that my mods were done after my repair.)


Reciepts. Reciepts have dates.


This discussion would not take place between the customer and GM. It is strickly between GM and the dealer.

 

Check with your dealership beforehand. My dealership aggressively denies warranty repairs to anything even remotely related to a modification. I wish it were otherwise but I understand why. GM spends a lot of money designing, manufacturing and providing warranty coverage on their products. When someone deviates from or alters GM's design specs, why should GM warrant the altered product? They shouldn't.

Why bite the hand that feeds you? IMO a dealership providing warranty service for GM has an obligation to be honest and try to comply with GM's guidelines and policies. Why wouldn't the dealership be honest....IMO trying to hide a modification to have a repair made under warranty is fraud...it's theft. If you hide a modification that affects warranty coverage you are in effect stealing.

If you have a tune and your dome light goes out.....warranty repairs to the dome light would be unaffected. There has to be a reasonable connection between the modification and the warranty repair (of lack thereof).

The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act is all fine and good but when GM denies a warranty repair due to a modification, it shifts the burden of proof on you to disprove GM. Good luck with that.

IMO the bottom line is that anyone contemplating performance modifications should be willing to assume the risk of losing significant portions of their factory warranty. If you install headers or performance tune your car....you should be responsible for your actions...not GM.

 

Except it doesn't always work that way and you know it.

If GM refuses to repair a car under warranty because of modifications made by the owner, they will have to take GM to court and fight it. This can be a long and expensive process and their car will be out of service unless they spend their own money to fix it while fighting GM.

You also know that more and more warranty work has to be approved by GM and not just the dealer. Your "mod friendly" dealer may not be allowed to repair the car or the friendly service manager may be replaced.

That IS the point. Many vendors imply that it is easy to force GM to repair a car under warranty by just saying the words "Magnusum Moss". If that were true, venders would be glad to tell customers that they would cover all warranty costs refused by GM because GM would always roll over on their back and pay for the repair. People should understand that if they add headers and a tune there is a good chance that GM will void their entire drive train warranty. Be upfront with this information and make sure customers are prepared for what may follow.

 

from what i understand... they get paid by GM for warranty repairs, but it's nowhere near the amount they would charge to a customer... i have a couple of friends who are service techs and they hate working on warranty work because they get paid about a third or half of what they would usually make.....

 

You can try and point fingers all you want, but the customer ultimatly accepts responsibility for any denied warranty claims because of mods THEY had put on the car. I posted the Moss Magnusun Act because GM cannot deny something like a dome light or radio issue because you have headers. That being said, I would hope that most people are capable of deducing that if the dealer wanted to be a *****, they could blame almost any drivetrain issue they want on headers. Does that mean that the shop that installed your headers is responsible if you blow you trans....obviously not. Most shops can only realisticlly warranty items they worked on. That being said, it is very rare something like an engine, or transmission will fail under reasonable driving conditions even with headers and a proper tune.

I tell people all the time...if you are concerned about your warranty don't mod...it is that simple.

 

On my 98 Formula I had a differential rebuilt under warranty even with intake, exhaust, and a tune on the vehicle. They didn't say a word but that was McNamara Pontiac (The owner had a 450+ hp Firehawk).

I'm thinking I could get away with a Vararam without any problems but I wouldn't push my luck any further than that.