Third Party Warranty Repairs When Tuned

[trentr98]

Has anyone successfully gotten engine warranty work through a third party warranty while tuned? I have a 2018 S5 with a CNA Carmax warranty and want to tune it. I know a lot of shops other than dealers are authorized service centers, but I'm worried about rocker arm failures and expensive items being required to go through a dealer. The warranty's language doesn't require a dealer to service it, but wanted to see everyone else's experiences before tuning.

[ninjamanRS5]

Trade your car in for something else that won't catastrophically fail and cost you $$$$$.

[trentr98]

I mean the warranty will definitely cover engine replacement if not tuned, so just thinking about the effects of tuning on third party warranty outside of dealers

[JohnEnglish]

Third party warranties are even worse than dealers when looking for reasons to deny your claim. They will absolutely not cover anything if your car is tuned.

[VVG]

Has anyone successfully gotten engine warranty work through a third party warranty while tuned? I have a 2018 S5 with a CNA Carmax warranty and want to tune it. I know a lot of shops other than dealers are authorized service centers, but I'm worried about rocker arm failures and expensive items being required to go through a dealer. The warranty's language doesn't require a dealer to service it, but wanted to see everyone else's experiences before tuning.

3rd party warranties (like Insurance) are in the business of making money. They will find any reason possible to deny a claim. I would not tune a car that is 5 years old. There is already a degree of fatigue on the parts. I no longer tune my cars (if it isn't fast enough stock, then I just should have bought a faster car), but I did for many years. Usually, I tuned the vehicle after the first few thousand miles after I was reasonably sure there was nothing really defective from the factory. However, I also went back to stock after about 4 years, knowing that my car's parts were more prone to failure as they got older. I wouldn't tune any car unless you are prepared to pay the cost of any damage that may occur. Of course the odds of catastrophic failure are still somewhat low, but you are playing the odds, nonetheless. The real issue, however, is if you have a problem that has nothing to do with the tune, but since you are tuned, coverage will be denied. Good luck finding the time, energy, and money to legally fight that one.

[Domina]

Third party warranties are even worse than dealers when looking for reasons to deny your claim. They will absolutely not cover anything if your car is tuned.

An indy shop isn't on Audi's network and won't report a TD1 back to HQ. A good shop should work with you in the event you need extended warranty work done as it benefits both them and you. Shop I deal with has done this several times for other Audis.

[KLX]

I agree, I had my APR stage2 S4 and I had a third party warranty, I just took it to a qualified mechanic. They would send the info to the warranty company after ordering the parts, and completing the work and they got paid.

[trentr98]

Thanks for the input y'all, It makes sense that both the customer and the shop have no vested interest in denying warranty repairs and will work together to do the work.

I agree, I had my APR stage2 S4 and I had a third party warranty, I just took it to a qualified mechanic. They would send the info to the warranty company after ordering the parts, and completing the work and they got paid.

Did you have anything major done thru warranty and did the warranty ever send an appraiser to see the car in person? Did you ever have issues where the warranty tried to push you towards bringing the car to the dealer? my biggest concern is if I ever need something major/expensive then these things will come into consideration.

[JohnEnglish]

I’ve had some bigger work done with 3rd party warranties and they straight up said they wouldn’t approve the warranty work until a full scan of the car was done and they had a chance to review the scans. I’ve heard the same from other people too.

[KLX]

Water pump changed twice, thermostat..they never sent anyone, the shop just called the company and they sent the funds to cover the work. This was at two different shops.

[trentr98]

Thanks for the feedback yall.

I’ve had some bigger work done with 3rd party warranties and they straight up said they wouldn’t approve the warranty work until a full scan of the car was done and they had a chance to review the scans. I’ve heard the same from other people too.

This is exactly what I was afraid of, appreciate the input. I’ll stay away from tunes for now I think


Enviado desde mi iPhone utilizando Audizine Forum

[Z06Corey]

Self-insure, put the money away every month that the warranty would normally cost you and then when you have a repair you've got that bank. I've never purchased a warranty before and most of my cars are often outside of warranty when I buy them. I always get them tuned!

[zac3707]

Self-insure, put the money away every month that the warranty would normally cost you and then when you have a repair you've got that bank. I've never purchased a warranty before and most of my cars are often outside of warranty when I buy them. I always get them tuned!

this only works if you end up securing enough savings to cover it. if you put away a few hundred a month and your engine fails 6 months after warranty expires, you'll be wishing you had put that money toward the warranty

[a4audi4fun]

@trent98 - basic question; if you are knowingly applying a tune that adds more stress to the factory engine, why would you expect a 3rd party warranty to cover it in the event of failure? It's your decision to do that so why should someone else cover your possible problem unless of course they are explicitly agreeing to cover the modified engine.

[trentr98]

@trent98 - basic question; if you are knowingly applying a tune that adds more stress to the factory engine, why would you expect a 3rd party warranty to cover it in the event of failure? It's your decision to do that so why should someone else cover your possible problem unless of course they are explicitly agreeing to cover the modified engine.

Because it’s reasonable to assume that a tune might exacerbate or speed up other issues that the car already had. For example, with rocker arms, that’s really a non-tune issue with the car that may present itself earlier with a tune than without a tune. I’m warrantied until 125k miles and if my rocker arms go bad tomorrow, it’s very reasonable to think they probably would’ve gone out without a tune by 125k (or in the next 55k miles since I’m at 70). Same with other “common” faults with this engine. Obviously, a dealer wouldn’t warranty that because the tune technically contributed to it but I was just wondering if anyone’s dealt with third party warranties in similar situations.

[trentr98]

Self-insure, put the money away every month that the warranty would normally cost you and then when you have a repair you've got that bank. I've never purchased a warranty before and most of my cars are often outside of warranty when I buy them. I always get them tuned!

I’m usually in this camp as well but this car came with a pretty solid Carmax exclusionary warranty (previous owner purchased it from carmax) that I’d rather use. I’ve gotten all my past cars tuned as well but it feels like I’m wasting the warranty this time if I do