[jrumsey]

Ok so I was at the dealership today getting the dart detailed (they owed me one) and i asked about modifications and the warranty, as I just bought the car a little over a week ago and I have an extended warranty. Anyways, they told me that if you put on an aftermarket part it only voids the warranty for that part, For Example, if you put in an aftermarket suspension, the warranty is void for the suspension, if you put on an intake, the warranty is void for the intake etc...

Just thought I would share as these are all "new" cars and I know I was not the only one concerned about modifications and the factory/dealership warranty.

 

[un4givn85]

true story right there
however if a modification of any kind causes a certain part to fail, that part is not covered as well.
just an fyi

 

[jrumsey]

^ right on thanks man

 

[whitedart13]

I have also thought about aftermarket parts and warranty issues couldn't you just keep your stock parts and put them back on before you take it to the dealer?

 

[jjizhere]

Thanks for the info... good to know

 

[un4givn85]

whitedart13, you could in theory do that, tho they may be able to tell regardless

 

[whitedart13]

You are probably right...but still it couldn't hurt to do that just in case they don't figure it out

 

[un4givn85]

just be careful with it, some dealers might refuse service on the whole car if they thought you were doing that

 

[whitedart13]

Yeah definitely don't want that I'm not going to do anything serious to my car my wife wont let me,the most i could do is a cold air intake and maybe a tuner that shouldn't mess up anything or void the warranty?

 

[AEROdart1]

An intake won't void a warranty or at least my dealership said it would not, but heed my words about a tuner. When I first bought my truck the first thing I did was throw a programmer on it and it voided all ecu/pcm/electrical items on my truck.

 

[OrangeGT]

honestly, mods are a risk that you take on your car. although, the warranty is not void UNLESS the mod caused the problem you are having. me, i dont care. i have had cars without a warranty that it doesn't bother me too much.

 

[Dennis Dittmar]

A word to the wise, I would not do too many mods to my Dart. I had quite a few problems with my Dart, all minor so far. However, the first thing the dealer service manager asked me was...... Okay what mods have you made? This was the best dealer of the two I have tried. He explained that people who have Darts, seem to have bought them to change them as soon as they get them, into an upgraded car or try to make them into mini Chargers, challengers, or even Vipers. He also told me the technology and engineering of this automobile, which is made by FCA not Chrysler, does not handle a lot of mods very well. He made this statement........ If the Dart was designed to handle all the mods and upgrades, the factory would have Models with all the mods and upgrades available, and upgrade the price of the vehicle accordingly. Makes sense to me.

 

[OrangeGT]

A word to the wise, I would not do too many mods to my Dart. I had quite a few problems with my Dart, all minor so far. However, the first thing the dealer service manager asked me was...... Okay what mods have you made? This was the best dealer of the two I have tried. He explained that people who have Darts, seem to have bought them to change them as soon as they get them, into an upgraded car or try to make them into mini Chargers, challengers, or even Vipers. He also told me the technology and engineering of this automobile, which is made by FCA not Chrysler, does not handle a lot of mods very well. He made this statement........ If the Dart was designed to handle all the mods and upgrades, the factory would have Models with all the mods and upgrades available, and upgrade the price of the vehicle accordingly. Makes sense to me.

i think that guy dont now anything about modding. a lot of ppl have been modding their darts for some time and have been getting fairly good results from them. even despite the weight of the vehicle. the car produces some promising results. with drag radials, i have seen the 1.4(stock) run a 15.2 so that guy is just a fuddy duddy.

 

[Dennis Dittmar]

No we just have a difference of opinion and mine is based on what I was told by people that are certified to service and repair the Dart. I would trust his opinion before I would trust the opinion of a Shade Tree mechanic, looking to turn something into something its not! Good Luck my friend

 

[OrangeGT]

dude, how can you trust a group of guys that cant even jack the dart up without doing damage to the rocker panels. dodge certified? really? do you even talk to these ppl at the dealer? they dont know crap outside the training videos. in fact, they are basically glorified parts changers.

 

[Dennis Dittmar]

Maybe your dealer is that way, but it took me 2 tries to get this dealer and as I said they straightened this car out right the first time. I don't know what the dealers where you are at are like. But the service manager and the techs at this dealership are knowledge able and interact well with their customers. I don't really get where you are coming from. On the one hand you say that the buyer should beware and expect issues with a first year car and be ok with many issues as long as the dealer fixes them under the warranty. Then you say the dealer doesn't have the ability to diagnose or repair the vehicle and even will damage the vehicle. I guess only you who purchases a Dart can make it perfect by upgrading it to your own specifications whatever they be at any given moment. Or perhaps you enjoy being obstinate for the sake of disagreement with others, and any dealer that doesn't agree with mods, is an idiot, lol

 

[quarky42]

An intake won't void a warranty or at least my dealership said it would not, but heed my words about a tuner. When I first bought my truck the first thing I did was throw a programmer on it and it voided all ecu/pcm/electrical items on my truck.

The dealer has to prove that the tuner caused the damage. They can't just say, well you tuned it, now all your electrical items aren't covered because of the tuner.

I've had a PCM replaced under warranty because the DEALER tried to flash it and it failed.

Of course, if there was a real tuner available for our cars then you could always restore it back to stock tuning before taking it in for other issues and to prove that it wasn't the tuning causing the problem.

 

[RallyeDart]

I currently run a Unichip PNP, and it gives my car an impressive amount of power. HPSI Motorsports is coming out with a handheld device in June and I'm considering giving it a try. There are real tunes available right now, you just have to wanna pony up the bucks to get them, trust me, my Unichip was the biggest bang for the buck I've done to my Dart, but if the HPSI set up in even better (I'm sure its gonna be higher priced) then I'm gonna give them a try soon. Still having a flat 15 second car after spending 2K+ on performance parts on my car is rather embarrassing to have to tell people, but working with such a small turbo and so little as far as displacement goes does mean your starting out with a huge disadvantage compared to other engines in other cars.

 

[darttime]

If you have a new car under warranty it is best to limit mods. Today they are looking at any reason to not cover repairs or void warranties..and yes, they can tell if you have been under there changing things around...then its 100 per cent good bye warranty...its not good karma to do that anyway.

 

[RallyeDart]

I started modding my car when I still had several months of warranty left. Pretty much had it a full bolt on's car by the time my warranty expired back in March. Dodge isn't impressive about warranty work, and quite frankly I wouldn't want a dealership touching my car unless it was something I absolutely know nothing about (like a front wheel drive clutch replacement).