I had my car flat bedded to motorcars infiniti in cleve today to get a new starter. The nissan rep said even though I have a 7 year 100,000 mile extended warranty, they will not honor it because my car is modified. In fact he said they will fix nothing on the car under warranty even if the power windows didn't work. I will be calling a lawyer tomorrow and see if anything can be done! Anybody else have any similar experiences??

 

....what kind of mods do you have?

 

nothing much.

 

Did your mods cause the failure?? If they didn't you have a case. Even if your mods did THEY have to prove that the mods caused the failure. good luck.

 

All I can say is damn! I hope you have a good lawyer.... good luck.

 

That waranty issue does not sound right to me because I recall reading somewere that if a part breaks and it is not in direct coralation with a mod then the broken part must be fixed under waranty.Try calling Infiniti and ask them how it works,also if there is another Infinit dealership near by try them before getting involved it a legal battle.BTW do you have any pics of your hood louvers yet? I'm still dien to see them.

 

Maybe there is a problem w/ starters. My '96 Max had one put on under warranty at about 15 K miles.

 

Since the starter is bad, you may be able to get them to honor the warranty. The only grounds you have are that there is no way that any of the mods could have effected the longevity of the starter and starters are known to go bad early in the life of the car. My starter went bad at 60k miles and was replaced under extended warranty but my car was stock at the time. I did have to pay a $50 deductible anyway. Many guys have had their starters go bad around 60k miles or less.

Warrantees are a rip-off, IMO. If the Maxima wasn't as reliable as it is, it might be necessary but I consider the $1k I spent on the ext. warranty to be money I just threw into the dealers pocket with nothing to show for it.

Keep in mind that a new starter will run about $350. If the lawyer's fee is more than that then just have it fixed. BTW, until you decide, don't let the dealer even look at your car. If they do, you could be liable for a diagnostic fee equal to about 1 hour's labor.

Jim

 

Law and reality are two different things.

Morgan's Act states the dealer has to prove the failure is caused by aftermarket parts in order to void the warranty on that part only.

Here is what happened in reality, in my case.
My car was towed to dealer for non-starting problem(which eventually was determined to be an elctronic glitch). Dealer refused to honor warranty.
Me: how would my power mods effect eletronics??
Dealer: don't know but anything is possible.
Me: by law you have to prove my mods caused the failure to dishonor the warranty.
Dealer: (laugh), no no no, you have to prove your mods did not cause the failure.
Me: I have a lawyer friend, I think he will find this interesting.
Dealer: feel free to talk to him. but we won't fix unless you pay, and your car stays here for 1 day, we charge you storage for one day.
Me: .........................

So, if I was gonna fight for this, I would have to do this:
1) Pay to get the car towed to a 3rd party shop.
2) Pay that shop to check the problem and have them write an affidavit, stating, the problem has nothing to do with my mods to the best of their knowledge.
3) pay the shop to fix the problem so I can have a car to drive.
4) Go to local small claim court to file a suit against the dealer, pay the fee.
5) If I am lucky, a year or two later the court date will come. Take time off work again to go to work, possibly more than one time.
6) If I win, I might get all or partial of my claim as judgement to my favor.
That's why I didn't even bother, just paid the $100 to get it fixed.

Thus my point is, even though there is law in your favor, in reality it's not that easy to apply. The dealer has the control, they don't fix the car will stay broken, on the other hand you might need to car to work and live your life. So you are the one that can't afford to waste your time, energy, and putting more money down upfront, to earn the chance of suing them later on.