[KeithO]

There was an article in the printed version (I didn't see it on the website) reporting on people having their warranties voided when they go in for service and the dealer finds out that the owner has been autocrossing. The case-in-point was an Evo owner that ran the car in the local SCCA region. When he took the car in for repairs (admittedly significant), they told him that they knew he was autocrossing it (they wouldn't tell him how they knew) and that he was going to have to pay out-of-pocket for the repairs - $7k.

They also discussed the situation with Subaru where you get a year's SCCA membership with the purchase of a WRX so that you can "experience the full potential of your car".

In the grand scheme of things, I suppose this is fair, but it is something to keep in mind.

[2000Z-71]

I'll probably open up a hole can of worms here but oh well. I really see the stresses endured by a car in an autocross and a "racing" ie: open track session as being very different. The same stresses put on a car in autocrossing could also be encountered with agressive street driving. If a manufacturer is going to market a performance car it should be able to endure the stresses of aggressive driving. The manufacturers should stand behind their products, not try and weesle out from under their warranties.

The problem is there is very little recourse a consumer has against a dealer or a manufacturer in a warranty dispute. I had a very long batlle with Chrysler concerning warranty work on my Dodge pickup. I had the main seal on the trasfer case fail and puke fluid all over. The dealer refused to cover it under warranty leaving me with a $850.00 repair bill. Since there was a scratch on the skidplate the dealership claimed that the seal failed because I had driven the truck off-road. The line I got from the district manager was, "The Dodge Ram is not intended for off-road usage, any damage incurred from driving off-road is not covered under warranty." He didn't have an answer for why the truck had the "Off-Road" option package if it wasn't intended for that use or how the truck on the cover of their brochure parked in the middle of a boulder field had gotten there.

Bottom line, I ate the repair bill. I had exhausted all means of resolving the dispute short of hiring an attorney and filing suit. After that experience I will never buy another Chrysler product again, even if they do come out with a Charger coupe with the hemi and a t-56. Chrysler may have saved themselves a repair bill, but they've lost more in a future sale with me.