magnusson warranty act

[raggamuffinz]

California

I bought a used car and an aftermarket extended warranty. The warranty company has rejected my warranty claim as their policy states that they will not pay any claims if I installed modifications to my car. The modification i made is installing a cold air intake and the issue with the car is with an intercooler leaking coolant into the supercharger.

I was told that CAI could not have directly caused the issue.

My question is does the magnusson warranty act apply to a car that was purchased used and with an after market warranty? Also, how should I approach the warranty company, with a lawsuit or contact them and inform them of the warranty act?

thanks for your help,

ragga~

 

[You Are Guilty]

California

I bought a used car and an aftermarket extended warranty. The warranty company has rejected my warranty claim as their policy states that they will not pay any claims if I installed modifications to my car. The modification i made is installing a cold air intake and the issue with the car is with an intercooler leaking coolant into the supercharger.

I was told that CAI could not have directly caused the issue.

My question is does the magnusson warranty act apply to a car that was purchased used and with an after market warranty? Also, how should I approach the warranty company, with a lawsuit or contact them and inform them of the warranty act?

thanks for your help,

ragga~

MM applies to the OEM warranty; your issue sounds in contract law - your claim is that the aftermarket company breached their contract with you by failing to cover a claim that they are supposed to pay. Absent a thorough reading of the aftermarket contract, it is impossible to say whether your claim has any merit to it, however, if the contract reads as you claim, the company may very well be justified in denying the claim despite there being no relationship between the CAI and IC.

Therefore, I'd start by politely calling the warranty company and seeing if you can't convince them the damage is unrelated to the intake. If that fails, you can try filing a complaint with these folks (it's free):
http://www.dca.ca.gov/consumer/complaints.shtml

If that fails, depending on the value of the repairs needed, you might want to sit down for a consult with a local contract lawyer to see where you stand vis-a-vis a lawsuit.

Good luck.


PS: Out of curiosity, what vehicle do you own? (Not too many with liquid ICs these days, and if it's a Lightning, certain model years have known leaky IC issues, so that may be helpful in your negotiations with the warranty company).

 

[raggamuffinz]

Hi,

Thanks for the input.

Here's an excerpt from the list off of the exclusion list.

This vehicle policy provides NO coverage or benefits for the following:

"If any alteration have been made to your vehicle or you are using, or have used, your vehicle in a manner not recommended by the manufacturer. This will include, but not be limited to, the failure of any custom or add on part; any frame or suspension modifications; lift kits; oversized/undersized tires or wheels; trailer hitches; and or modifications to the engine, emissions or exhaust systems."

Not sure if the CAI can be considered a mod to the engine or emissions, if that, and would this be enough to deny the claim even though from my interpretation of this exclusion, just having the mod is reason enough. So no causation is necessary.

Maybe there's something to the part of "... in a manner not recommended by manufacturer." (ie. if the manufacturer does not explicitly state in their owner's manual to not install a CAI, then i have counterpoint?)

I have an SRT6.

 

[Zigner]

Based on your post quoting the relevant portion of the contract, it sounds like the warranty company is well within their rights to deny this.