So, in Kansas City this weekend (see event summary in a post to come later today) we had a guy running around the event with a quickly acquired disposable camera who appeared to be taking photos of 350Z's and their license plates. He was overheard stating that he'd found a customer's car he no longer had to do warranty work on. Then later was heard saying he was a bounty hunter for voiding Nissan warranties for cars that were raced. This was concerning to quite a few folks, I think myself and another guy scared him off, before he took a photo of my car. Though my warranty will be up in less than 700 miles (55k drivetrain warranty, I've been over 36k for almost a year now) so I wasn't too concerned about it.

I did however email a contact I have with the following email.

Here's the reply I received. Don't ask me who this email is from, I have been asked to not use a name or position for this person.

 

I wouldnt doubt this! Most dealers will do anything possible to get out of paying for things covered under warranty.

 

Quite Interesting. More stuff to do before I drive....
Thanks for posting

Don't know why a dealership would want to turn away warranty work? They get paid by Nissan to do it.

 

I heard rumors of this being done by the Mitsubishi and Subarus some time back. Last year, before my first AutoX, I went to talk to the service dept manager at the dealership I bought my Z from. Personally, he had no problem with AutoX or Track events and he told me there was no Nissan policy in effect with respect to them either. His own feeling was that these are high performance sports cars and are meant to be driven in these types of events. To quote him - "there's a 'track' model, so that must imply that you are able to track the car".

Also, if you read the warranty book that comes with the Z, there is no specific prohibition related to Autox or Track events. Some other manufacturers specifically prohibit participation in "timed events", so that's their justification for voiding warranty. If I remember correctly, it was Suburu that prohibited it in their warranty while at the same time they were giving out SCCA information to new car purchasers.


The service manager did tell me if something specific breaks due to abuse, regardless of whether it occurred on the track, strip or the street, Nissan would have the option of refusing to repair it under warranty.

I don't think Kevin's statement is true - dealers do get paid from Nissan for warranty work and they do want you to get it done. Naturally they can make more off of you "out of warranty" and there are some less-than-reputable dealers out there would may try to get out of performing warranty work. But those are probably an exception rather than the rule.

BTW, at the last two AutoX events I attended, I saw a Suburu with the license plate taped over and a new Scion with its plate covered. I also parked next to another Scion that was owned by a manager from a local dealership. Both he and his daughter were racing it.

 

I'm not trying to create a stir over this, just make people aware. I can't say I've heard of anyone having problems yet, just trying to help people avoid problems in the future.

 

Chris,

I actually think the first postings that I saw on this subject were on your solo2.org board. I agree with you that there's probably nothing to the rumors and there's no reason for people to get worked up. It probably not a bad idea to be discrete when dealing with this subject and your dealer.

I made a request and got our local SCCA chapter to post results by first name and last initial only. That way it wouldn't be so obvious if somebody from a dealership was doing a little internet snooping to see who was racing their cars.

 

thanks, ill have to take my plates off next time i go out.

 

Never had a problem at the dealer and the service rep knew I was autocrossing. He was pretty interested in how I was doing.

 

1. Someone would loose a camera, their film, and possibly the use of their knees if I caught someone doing this to me.

2. Sure sounds like an interesting court case that would gather Nissan lots and lots of "great" press about how they were actually paying a guy to spy on people driving their cars. I would figure it would cost them a few million dollars in sales across the years.

 

1) How would you know?? At every AutoX I've been to, there have been dozens of people taking pictures, some were competitors, some were spectators. You'd risk assault charges because you suspected somebody of spying on you? Unless SCCA is prohibiting camera at events, you have no way of stopping somebody from taking your picture.

In the story about the Subaru owner and his run-in with the dealer, supposedly the dealer found out about it by doing as web search and finding his name in the results of an AutoX event. They don't have to send somebody out to photograph you.

2) And that's probably the very reason that Nissan is NOT doing any such thing. Both Mitsubishi and Subaru got bad press for the few recorded incidences where they tried to deny warranty service. Unfortunately for the owners, they were within their rights to deny it. Their warranty policy explicitly prohibits racing, etc. Nissan's doesn't.