foremaw

Just a couple of observations. First, while its easy to beat up on GM, all new car warranties that I know of have the same clauses and potential penalties regarding mods. Obviously dealers have some leeway but they have to manage their own books. Second, the reimbursement to the dealer from GM is not a blank check. There are standard reimbursement rates, including labor, for standard work. Therefore, if the dealer exceeds those rates (especially labor) because of unanticipated problems on a modded car, he eats all the costs over and above the standard rate. When times are good, some dealers don't mind, it helps them keep customers. Times are not good.

CodyC6

Something doesn't make sense.

Why wouldn't the dealer call the customer, say it won't be covered under warranty and why, but they could address the shifting issues outside of warranty? Let the customer decide what they wanted to do.

Why do nothing, and make a note on the ticket for when the car is picked up?

That doesn't make sense. If dealers are having issues, wouldn't they still want to sell the service. If not, it sounds like they just didn't want to work on the car, and found reasons not to.

Harley06

"...08-06-04-033b id 2182477 has aftermarket program install and aftermarket clutch, supercharger, sway bars front and rear, brake hoses and rotors, and hood, programmer for the supercharger"

You have the above installed and you are actually complaining that GM is alienating you.

C6Brain

"Something doesn't make sense.

Why wouldn't the dealer call the customer, say it won't be covered under warranty and why, but they could address the shifting issues outside of warranty? Let the customer decide what they wanted to do.

Why do nothing, and make a note on the ticket for when the car is picked up?

That doesn't make sense. If dealers are having issues, wouldn't they still want to sell the service. If not, it sounds like they just didn't want to work on the car, and found reasons not to."


Thanks. My issue of a stiff shifter was never addressed. The dealer refused to do any work because of the mods.

Again, my whole point here was not to gain your sympathy or be the focus of your derision, but to caution those who are thinking of modifying their cars that there may be unintended consequences in the future.

Motorhead-47

Does anyone have access to the full content of this bulletin? I'd like to read it in it's entirety.

DonBuralli

What about just standard longtubes, exhaust and intake? Do you think they would reject me from warranty?

greenie99

Aftermarket clutch? Well, there ya go!

MikeyTX

We hope right ?

DIAMOND DAVE

I would advise anyone buying a used Vette from an auction house or anyone to make sure it has not been played with. I traded in an 06 Vert with 10,000 miles on an 08 Vert. The 06 had the headers and high-flow cats installed at the dealer and It was dyno-tuned with some other bolt-ons. It did not sell right away at the dealer so it went to the auction and was purchased by a private party through an auction buyer for him and had a very minor issue after a few miles with the idle and being still under factory warranty he took it in for the work. Mods discovered and the vin # is now in a data base and no warranty. As of 2 weeks ago the customer is planning on a full refund from the auction house and dealer. Don't think it is going to work and customer acknowledge he knew of some of the mods when he purchased it. Buyers beware, no more mods on the 08.

2006c6keller

I talked to a similar type service center that you mentioned and they REFUSED to do certain types of warranty work. I'm thinking that they didn't want to get caught on questionable warranty work and not be reimbursed. You really need to get it all up front and have service manager approve the repair and hope he keeps his word.

AORoads

To my knowledge, standard longtubes move the cats which is a Federal no-no. But beyond that, again to my knowledge long tubes may not be considered a minor addition like the CAI (if that's what you mean) and cat back exhaust. There could be an issue down the road.

AORoads

I also think this is a very important post, and one to be noted by everyone thinking about buying (or selling) a Corvette.

Tom/99

MNVette

The mentality of the OP and others is simply amazing.

To begin - GM has been cracking down on mods because they spend BILLIONS per year on warranty repairs. It is very clearly stated in the owner's manual and warranty book that mods void the powertrain warranty. When the OP took his car in for a powertrain warranty claim, they noted all the mods. The service department put all those notations on the repair ticket because they entered them into the GM warranty computer system so that other dealerships will see it and understand that the area rep won't authorize the warranty repair. A local dealership has NO authority to authorize a warranty repair - that's up to the area rep. So, the OP will now never get a warranty powertrain repair. And, GMPP won't cover it either. Those service contracts specifically bar mods as well.

Now, for those of you who fail to understand this - let's be clear. ANY powertrain mod VOIDS the warranty. The only things that make the cut are a simple exhaust and, maybe, a CAI. Anything else voids the warranty. Headers? Void. Tune? Void. The computer logs ALL tunes, even when you re-tune to the original tune. Any GM scanner can pick this up, so don't bother to try to hide it. Obviously, a supercharger, clutch, etc. voids the warranty as well.

If you choose to tune, accept the warranty being void as the price to play. Believing anything else is simply stupid.

2006c6keller

I think that they didn't want to open a "can of worms" because of mods and any remotely related problems. They were probably afraid that a "fix" would come back to bite them later, they wanted to play it safe and they did.

VettedCandidate

It could be that he just didn't want to mess with it. Maybe he felt that if he did the work that the OP would try to force the warranty issue with GM and he didn't want to waste his time getting into something that might be a no-win situation.

I have long stated that mods sound great but often create problems. THE number one reason that I am very thankful for this forum is precisely because I have learned this lesson before making a big mistake I would have regretted.

Mods are great but I personally wouldn't buy a modded car if I could help it, because so many of them appear to create more problems in the future. Buyers beware!

2006c6keller

MNVette

They did this because the dealership is OBLIGATED to inform the GM warranty system that a customer's car is modified so as to alert other dealerships/area reps not to approve a warranty repair. The OP could still pay for the repair himself - nothing stopping him from that. He's pissed because GM won't pay for it.

MNVette

I couldn't disagree more. There is nothing inherently bad about mods - they are simply harder to sell because (a) of the voided warranty, and (b) they are usually done to an owner's taste, and that's hard to resell.

VettedCandidate

I never said there was...in fact, I said they were great! I simply that I wouldn't buy a car that was modded if I could help it. I also think there is a huge diff between external and internal mods as to how problematic they can be in the future. Internal (which equals PERFORMANCE in this case) mods create more mechanical stress which creates the potential for more problems. That's all.