Servicing Modified Cars

[DanoGTI]

Hadn't the chap quite obviously modded the car - I mean "excessively"?

Maybe the dealership had taken exception to the chap's attitude - not saying that was the case, but *something* must have kicked off for them to play that particular hand.......

regardless of how it happened though, it DID happen. At great expense to put it all right.

[jmspear]

This is a seperate issue to servicing and warranty work. Servicing no issue that I see or have experienced. Warranty work, if necessary reverse mods before it goes in, but only if Mod could be argued to have caused the warranty failure.

If the car is leased or on a HP style finance package, including persnal lease contract, you DO NOT OWN IT, the finance company does, therefore you can't mod it as you are modding someone else car.

Basically same as hiring a car from Hertz for a week and modding that

This is probably why the Seat guy got hammered. If the finance company have to repossses because you stop paying finance in their eyes it will be worth a lot less because it has been modded (will lose big value at auction) and will require remedial work to revert to standard. They will therefore have you if they find out, I suspect that the garage don't care who owns it when they service it, but they could be instructed by a lease company to alert them to mods if would alter the servicing cost, or if the lease company / finance house was VW finance??? But again I think unlikely. So if you own the car Mod away, if you don't, don't be surprised if the people who do own the car find out you have modded it then take you to the cleaners for modding their car.

[Poverty]

Hadn't the chap quite obviously modded the car - I mean "excessively"?

Maybe the dealership had taken exception to the chap's attitude - not saying that was the case, but *something* must have kicked off for them to play that particular hand.......

regardless of how it happened though, it DID happen. At great expense to put it all right.

It kicked off because they couldnt fix it and so took the easy route out 

Dealers have been known to write off warranties for not fitting genuine VAG bulbs, or this one guy who constantly had issues with his engine cover coming off and breaking the sensor head on the HPFP.

[vRS Carl]

This is a seperate issue to servicing and warranty work. Servicing no issue that I see or have experienced. Warranty work, if necessary reverse mods before it goes in, but only if Mod could be argued to have caused the warranty failure.

If the car is leased or on a HP style finance package, including persnal lease contract, you DO NOT OWN IT, the finance company does, therefore you can't mod it as you are modding someone else car.

Basically same as hiring a car from Hertz for a week and modding that

This is probably why the Seat guy got hammered. If the finance company have to repossses because you stop paying finance in their eyes it will be worth a lot less because it has been modded (will lose big value at auction) and will require remedial work to revert to standard. They will therefore have you if they find out, I suspect that the garage don't care who owns it when they service it, but they could be instructed by a lease company to alert them to mods if would alter the servicing cost, or if the lease company / finance house was VW finance??? But again I think unlikely. So if you own the car Mod away, if you don't, don't be surprised if the people who do own the car find out you have modded it then take you to the cleaners for modding their car.

That all depends on how much of the finance you have paid.

If you have paid more than 66% of the car off then actually even if you do stop paying it the Finance company can not reposes the car without a court order as you now hold the majority share.

Few people are in a position to buy a brand new car for cash etc so majority of us will use finance or get a second hand car within budget.

The same could be said about modifying your house then. The bank effectively owns the house until your mortgage is paid off but it doesn't stop people decorating them or adding extensions.

So TECHNICALLY speaking and if your finance company wanted to be an arse then yes they could go spaz at you modding it. But as long as you keep up the repayments i doubt they care very much.

Carl

[RedRobin]

@ Carl:

That's the key to it: No real problems as long as you keep up the payments. Whatever the % paid off a Court Order wouldn't necessarily be difficult to obtain and if you want to contest the issue, unfortunately the leasing/finance company has much deeper pockets than you do. But that's just the worst case scenario. We just need to be aware and make our individual decisions accordingly.

[RedRobin]

If the car is leased or on a HP style finance package, including persnal lease contract, you DO NOT OWN IT, the finance company does, therefore you can't mod it as you are modding someone else car.

Basically same as hiring a car from Hertz for a week and modding that

....Back in the day I hired a big Ford Grenada for a week from Hertz Heathrow. Drove up to Worcestershire to spend a weekend with friends.. Hit black ice.. Drove into a hedge to avoid a tree.. Went down a steep bank and rolled.. I just hung there in my safety belt laughing. The car was somewhat 'modified' by this event.

[berttie21]

All,

Many thanks for your thoughts, I have decided to go ahead with the TBE tomorrow but my concerns over any VW finanace giving me issues has lead me to get a loan and buy myself out of the finance, this has actually worked up saving me £3.5K as the VW finanace and Ballon payment worked out at 14%!! whisls the banks will loan at 8%.

Cheers

Ben

[stealthwolf]

^^^ This is why I'm about to do the same. Then once the insurance expires, I can MOD!!!

[RedRobin]

^^^ This is why I'm about to do the same. Then once the insurance expires, I can MOD!!!

....   This is going to be interesting!