GSXRolla

Ok, yesterday I had a very odd experience, so I'm just going to share this all with you to show you what a tangled web can be weaved when it comes to warranties, used cars, and modifications. A little history. I bought my VIII about 3 weeks ago, and thus far have been quite happy with my purchase. I bought the car with 43k miles on it, and bought the extended warranty that was offered thru a 3rd party. Platinum warranty that covers almost everything, bumper to bumper. You know the drill. What led to this story was my interest in adding a few mods to the car, and what effect on the aftermarket warranty it might have. SO, without further adue, here we go.

I didn't have a whole lot of paperwork on the warranty itself, so I decided to call my mitsubishi dealership, and find out who it was thru, and what their general policies were. So, I get on the phone, call the mitsubishi dealership service dept, and they said they didn't know exactly who it was thru, but it was most likely CNA. They gave me their number, and I called them up.

When I got on with CNA, I proceeded to ask about aftermarket parts, and what effect an aftermarket exhaust and/or intake would have on the warranty. They said that as long as it's something basic like that, it shouldn't have any bearing on it at all. That the only real things that end up voiding warranties or claims, would be claims on aftermarket parts themselves, internal modifications to the engine, or piggyback systems that modify timing, etc, etc. That there would be no way they would deny a claim for a transmission failure because of an aftermarket exhaust or intake. They stressed that in relation to aftermarket parts, the aftermarket parts would have to have be a direct result of the claim to actually have the claim denied. I also found out that the CNA warranty services kicked in AFTER the factory powertrain warranty was up. No big deal. When diving a little further into the whole mods thing, I mentioned how picky mitsubishi was in relations to aftermarket parts and Evos, and how they'd void a warranty on their mother's car if they saw an aftermarket filter on it, which brought me to the question, "Being that Mitsubishi is so picky about having their cars stock, if they denied a claim because an unrelated aftermarket part was on it (assuming the factory warranty was still valid), would you guys cover it under your warranty?" The response was, "If mitsubishi denied the claim, we would too." Interesting information, which led me to call Mitsubishi again.

Called the service department, and asked if there was any valid powertrain warranty left on the car. LOW AND BEHOLD, there WAS! The factory powertrain warranty didn't expire until July of 09, or 60k miles, whichever came first. So, with all that in mind, I thank the lady, and get off the phone.

A couple minutes later, I get a call back from the same lady I was talking to at the Mitsubishi dealership. She said, after looking into my powertrain warranty, it seems as though there was a red flag on it. When I asked what for, she said, for "Customer Abuse." I freaked out! Customer abuse? WTF was the abuse?!? Of course, this is all news to me as they sold it to me bragging about how it was a 1 owner car that had been driven less than 10k miles a year, and what good of shape it was in. After getting over the initial shock, the gears in my head started turning properly again. "So what does this mean?" She said it means that any time they do warranty work on the car, they have to call in and get authorization ahead of time due to the flag. I said, "and that flag could have a direct impact on whether a claim was denied or approved, correct?" She said it could impact it, yes. I'm thinking "f**k!" So what happens if a claim is denied because of that flag on your end? The warranty company had already said if they denied a claim, that they would as well. She said that there was that possibility, and if they denied something due to the flag, that the 3rd party warranty would probably deny it too.

Ok, so now I'm pissed. I get transferred over to sales manager, who was familiar with me because I *****ed at him about warranty coverage when I bought the car, as he overall seemed like a dumbass. I told him about what had transpired, and he said, "I don't know exactly what's going on, but I'll find out as we'll cover you one way or another." And after threatening to return the warranty, I said I wanted to know exactly why that flag was on there as well. The guy said of course he'd try and find out, and we'd talk later in the day.

So I call the guy back later, and I actually start getting some answers. First off, my warranty wasn't thru CNA - it was thru JMNA. The primary difference between the two, was that CNA was an add on to the mitsubishi factory warranty thru a 3rd party. JMNA is a completely independant warranty agency, which has no ties to mitsubishi. Whether the factory warranty exists or not, they'll still cover the service as long as it's done at any ASE certified shop (which translates into... I can take it pretty much anywhere outside the mitsubishi dealership). GREAT! What I also found out is that they're mod friendly for the most part. Same as the other guys. As long as one thing doesn't have to do with the other, the claim won't be denied for modifications. AND... what was the abuse that they flagged the warranty for? The previous owner had an aftermart HKS blow off valve installed. Because the valve wasn't an authorized mitsubishi modification, they flagged the warranty, and listed it as customer abuse (which is f'd up in itself, as a BOV doesn't have anything to do with customer abuse, and if they felt that it HAD been abused, they should've switched it back to the stock one).

What have a learned from this little experience?

1) Mitsubishi will flag or void a factory powertrain warranty for almost ANY REASON, and then document their reasoning for flagging it as customer abuse. Messed up how modifications on your end, translate into abuse on their end.

2) Don't buy warranties that are extensions of factory warranties. A lot of them are like this, so make sure you ask. Mine didn't happen to be, but if it was, if mitsubishi had flagged my warranty, and denied my claims, I would've been SOL on my warranty coverage until my factory coverage was up. Make sure what you buy is independant from the dealer.

3) When it comes to 3rd party warranties, do your own research. Get the answers from THEM DIRECTLY, and forget what the person selling it to you says. Read the contract, and call them up. Ask SPECIFIC QUESTIONS. They're pretty straight forward with you. 3rd party warranties are really hit and miss. Do the research.

mrmefodman

iTrader: (1)

most people on this site already know this. you are not alone. there about a billion threads like this search. way too long to read all of this. thought it was important

Tarmacisback69

iTrader: (4)

**** it, anything ur getting fixed under warranty should get replaced with a better quality aftermarket part anyway!

W0459732

sorry man, this is one of the several reasons i keep mine bone stock.

GSXRolla

Way to go dude... nice contribution to a thread. I found it irrelevant to search as I wasn't LOOKING for information, but was simply stating MY experience with MY dealer. I just thought it was interesting how certain 3rd party warranties were dependant on the actual factory powertrain warranty, and how the effects of one can cascade into another, and how the effect of flagging or voiding a factory warranty can hinder 3rd party support because of pickiness on mitsubishi's end, which actually MAY be important to some.

But yes, it was unfortunate.

4Trouble

LOL Mitsubishi confirms that putting a HKS bov on a bone stock car is an abuse

fastkevin

iTrader: (11)

In the end the dealer would have been responsible to cover your car for a warranty-able claim, as that was what was represented in the sale. They sold you the "Flagged" car with a warranty. It's their responsibility to honor that warranty.

GSXRolla

LOL. Yep. The metal JDM oem one is on the way.