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You can easily Check Your Cars Warranty Status by obtaining a Carfax Report or by using a Car Shopping Service similar to ours here at Autohitch.
What voids car warranties can vary, along with their ramifications. For example: Simply messing up one part under the hood doesn’t mean the entire engine is now void of any coverage. One sure way to know if you have voided your car’s warranty is to wait until it breaks and head in for service, but who wants to end up in that position? So, let’s dive in and address exactly what it means to get your car’s warranty voided, how it can happen in the first place, and how you can ensure it doesn’t happen to you.
One of the most popular questions I am asked, and that I see all across the internet, relates to if the dealership is the only place you can take a car under warranty. The Law doesn’t require you to get your service done at the dealership, but it does allow for the manufacturer or the dealership to mandate that you use only certain repair facilities. You see, what most people aren’t aware of is that the dealership isn’t simply “covered” for any work they do on warrantied cars.
One of the most popular questions I am asked, and that I see all across the internet, relates to if the dealership is the only place you can take a car under warranty. The Law doesn’t require you to get your service done at the dealership, but it does allow for the manufacturer or the dealership to mandate that you use only certain repair facilities. You see, what most people aren’t aware of is that the dealership isn’t simply “covered” for any work they do on warrantied cars.
Here is one voiding factor that is all over the place in terms of definition. Many out there think that simply adding a part not considered “Stock” or “Factory Built” is grounds for most or all of your warranty to be voided, and although many dealers would like you to think that, you should know that isn’t really true. Simply having a custom or aftermarket part installed on your vehicle isn’t the determining factor, the service department of the dealership must prove that the part was a contributing factor in whatever damage occurred.
Thankfully back in the 70’s (1975 to be exact) they actually passed a law [Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act]. This law stated that a dealer MUST prove aftermarket parts were the cause of any damage BEFORE being able to deny any aspect of a vehicle’s warranty. However, if no direct cause is discovered upon the initial inspection, the burden of proof shifts a bit, and now the dealer can charge you for a full diagnosis, which you are obligated to pay for. If the diagnosis uncovers that your part did not have any effect on the damage, you are covered and the cost of the diagnosis is refunded. If it is discovered that your parts did cause the damage, well, you know what happens…
Dealership service departments are constantly on the lookout for anyone tampering with a vehicle under warranty, and before anyone gets upset with that remember- It’s their job! If you want that custom K&N Air Intake for the extra 15 horsepower you need to consider if at the most it’s worth losing your warranties, or at the least it’s worth a struggle every time you have a mechanical issue.
Hard as it may be to believe, or maybe not, but there are people out there who never take their car in for service and go years without getting so much as even an oil change. Problem is that this type of thing leads to MAJOR problems and if it is discovered that a clear lack of care for the vehicle was at fault, or even that you just never paid any attention to the vehicles scheduled maintenance, it will be an easy decision to void your warranty and not cover any of the resulting damage.
This one isn’t so much of an issue anymore because so many more people just rely on the dealership for service during their warranty, but if you put brake fluid in the power steering fluid, or oil into the transmission, you will be the proud recipient of a voided warranty for the affected parts. Also, always use the correct Octane fuel (87/89/93) and be careful about the new ethanol mixes and the diesel pumps at the gas station.
If your vehicle was flooded or damaged as the result of any other great natural disaster, your warranty is voided. Additionally, if your vehicle was declared salvaged or marked down as a total loss by the insurance company, the entire vehicle’s warranty is canceled out.
We could get in the weeds a bit here, but generally, this refers to you using your vehicle in any way that could be considered “Outside of the norm”.
So if you take your Honda Civic off roading= Outside of the norm.
Sometimes this stuff only affects certain parts of the car, but if the damage was bad enough they can void the entire warranty. Probably one of the most common mistakes people make is street racing. You may have a vehicle with high-performance gear, but that may not mean they feel it within their warranty to take it to the strip and race for slips (Pink slips-Titles). And don’t be surprised if you find out dealers have access to race records in an attempt to see what you have been up to, because those records aren’t difficult to get along with tons of pictures, and they have been known to pull it off.
Another trap most car buyers are never made aware of until it is too late. If you think that buying a 4X4 Off Road means you can do anything off the road and be covered,
YOU ARE WRONG.
Edmunds even tells of a story where they were testing a truck in the desert and took it lightly off road at about 10-15 mph. Noticing it wasn’t driving the same on the way back they took it in for service and sure enough the dealership tried to say the struts (that were all blown) were used in excess and that they wouldn’t be covering the repairs. If in doubt, call the dealership before doing anything questionable, or I guess, even remotely questionable.
This isn’t the same widespread problem that is used to be, but if a dealer is able to determine something isn’t right with the odometer they will void out the entire warranty,
Only an accident that results in a salvage or branded title can void a vehicle’s warranty. That being said, if the shop that repairs your vehicle’s damage replaces any stock parts with aftermarket parts, a dealership may try to blame those parts for separate damage down the road which COULD result in a voided warranty. To avoid this I would alert the insurance company and/or the repair shop (In writing) to your warranty status so they can make proper arrangements to use only approved parts.
Absolutely! You may not void the entire warranty, in fact, you won’t, but you will certainly cancel any part of the warranty that is associated with the suspension.
Yes, just as with lowering a car, if you alter your suspension in any way or install any parts that exceed the manufacturer’s specifications, there is a good to definite chance that your entire suspension will have its warranty voided.
Yes, performance chips can and likely will result in your warranty being voided as they are designed to maximize or place added stress on certain parts of the vehicle. Although it could be argued that these “stresses” are still within the limits that the vehicle can reasonably handle, they will be considered to be outside of the vehicles “Normal everyday use” and that will make canceling your warranty easy in the eyes of the dealership/manufacturer.
This is going to be similar to air intakes as they don’t “REALLY” hurt the vehicle but, most certainly qualify as aftermarket parts that push the vehicle beyond it’s everyday use. The biggest hurdle for the dealerships service department here would be proving that an aftermarket exhaust really caused related damage somewhere else in the vehicle. Is the exhaust worth possibly losing a significant part of your hard earned warranty? That’s for you to decide.
Adult baseball and softball players (Some anyway) have a little trick they do to get a new bat for free- They buy a bat with a standard 365-day warranty, and just before that warranty runs out, they find a way to get it to crack. The result= New bat! Now, I’m not advising you to break your car! However, if your warranty is coming to an end and your car is still running fine, know that you need to take it in any way. They can and must repair anything wrong even if you are unaware of the problem. Why? Well, if God forbid something happens to you and it is the result of a defect or a repair they did not resolve and should have, they are in serious financial trouble. So, get in there before the deadline, even if you have to rent a car, it’s worth it!
This is one of the easiest ways to void your warranty, as we discussed in some length above. Most dealers are pretty good about reminding you of your service requirements, mainly because they want to get you back in to buy more stuff or even flip you into a newer car, but if those emails go to junk you need to be aware of when it’s time to head in. A good rule of thumb is to set a reminder for the 3k mile oil change. Many newer cars already signal an alert that you are at that mark, but sometimes people know these newer cars can handle longer intervals so they reset it and ride on. Convenience isn’t worth risking your vehicle’s warranty.
Anything you get done on the car should go directly into a file in your home. The first reason being to prove you had service done if there is a claim of neglect. The second to be to document what was done in case you went outside of the dealership for any additional work such as tires, oil, etc…
All that time you spend in the dealership? Use it to read over your warranty. Better yet, research each manufacturers warranty while deciding on a car. The best way to be caught by surprise is to have never known in the first place!
If you are still with me, I thank you! As always, I hope I have brought some level of assistance and knowledge to your car buying and in this case, car ownership journey, as it relates to voided vehicle warranties. As always- If you have any questions please feel free to leave them in the comments below or contact us using the general contact form on our home page. We do not sell your information to anyone! Thank you again, and happy car shopping!
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