Interesting tuning related legal question

[tomtom11]

My car does not have a warranty so this does not apply to me, but I was having a discussion with a buddy of mine and an interesting legal question came up. If I were to buy a certified pre owned bmw and brought it in to get the turbo replaced or something engine related and the dealer said the car has been previously tuned. If the previous owner tuned and removed it before you even bought the car would the new owner be responsible? My guess would be that the dealer would say too bad it's not their problem, but curious to know if anybody actually knows the answer to this. Thank you

[Jaymax85]

Originally Posted by tomtom11

My car does not have a warranty so this does not apply to me, but I was having a discussion with a buddy of mine and an interesting legal question came up. If I were to buy a certified pre owned bmw and brought it in to get the turbo replaced or something engine related and the dealer said the car has been previously tuned. If the previous owner tuned and removed it before you even bought the car would the new owner be responsible? My guess would be that the dealer would say too bad it's not their problem, but curious to know if anybody actually knows the answer to this. Thank you

Bmw will not cpo a previously tuned car. Part of cpo process is ecu data is sent to BMW for review.

[tomtom11]

Originally Posted by HELLOimJ

Bmw will not cpo a previously tuned car. Part of cpo prices is ecu data is sent to BMW for review.

Ahh got it! Well that answers that question ha! Thank you

[tomtom11]

Originally Posted by tomtom11

Ahh got it! Well that answers that question ha! Thank you

I did a lot of searching on the forums for people that have actually been flagged by a dealer for warranty work after a car had been tuned, but haven't seen any. I have seen a ton of posts that say friends of friends have gotten their warranty revoked etc but haven't seen any first hand accounts. Does anyone have firsthand experience of a dealer denying a warranty claims after a car has been tuned?

[MisterEm]

Originally Posted by tomtom11

I did a lot of searching on the forums for people that have actually been flagged by a dealer for warranty work after a car had been tuned, but haven't seen any. I have seen a ton of posts that say friends of friends have gotten their warranty revoked etc but haven't seen any first hand accounts. Does anyone have firsthand experience of a dealer denying a warranty claims after a car has been tuned?

My wife's vin for her 2011 X5D was flagged for "software modifications" for convenience features and additional coding (one touch key functions, added BT and adaptive headlights, updated iDrive, etc). They denied a warranty claim on the SCR temp sensor last month (system has a 10 year, 125,000 mile warranty).

Our SA fought back and eventually got it repaired after I showed them my dealer toolset and how it was coded. She said the VIN was flagged when the diagnostic data was sent to BMW NA. It was not a dealership decision.

HTH

[tomtom11]

Originally Posted by MisterEm

My wife's vin for her 2011 X5D was flagged for "software modifications" for convenience features and additional coding (one touch key functions, added BT and adaptive headlights, updated iDrive, etc). They denied a warranty claim on the SCR temp sensor last month (system has a 10 year, 125,000 mile warranty).

Our SA fought back and eventually got it repaired after I showed them my dealer toolset and how it was coded. She said the VIN was flagged when the diagnostic data was sent to BMW NA. It was not a dealership decision.

HTH

Interesting so it wasn't for a tune it was for coding? Haven't seen that before. I thought coding was fine since it is basically re-enabling features that come with the car in other markets

[MisterEm]

Originally Posted by tomtom11

Interesting so it wasn't for a tune it was for coding? Haven't seen that before. I thought coding was fine since it is basically re-enabling features that come with the car in other markets

To be clear, the flag said "software modifications." No delineation between a performance tune and other software changes.

Only engine change was cold start duration (the D is loud on cold start..)


There was no distinguishing between a "tune" and other software alterations at all. Non approved BMW software on the car when uploaded to NA is the issue
Cheers,
Mike


On a side note, my e46m has been in this same dealer many times over the past decade plus of ownership for recalls and other warranty work. Many tune revisions (ESS, Discovery Automotive, Evolve, and TTFS) and extreme modifications....(cams, headers, ews delete, CSL box, SAP delete, 8500 rpm redline). Never flagged in its history. Uploaded to NA just last month during the driver side airbag recall

[tomtom11]

Originally Posted by MisterEm

To be clear, the flag said "software modifications." No delineation between a performance tune and other software changes.

Only engine change was cold start duration (the D is loud on cold start..)


There was no distinguishing between a "tune" and other software alterations at all. Non approved BMW software on the car when uploaded to NA is the issue
Cheers,
Mike


On a side note, my e46m has been in this same dealer many times over the past decade plus of ownership for recalls and other warranty work. Many tune revisions (ESS, Discovery Automotive, Evolve, and TTFS) and extreme modifications....(cams, headers, ews delete, CSL box, SAP delete, 8500 rpm redline). Never flagged in its history. Uploaded to NA just last month during the driver side airbag recall

Thank you for the clarification, you said "for convenience features and additional coding (one touch key functions, added BT and adaptive headlights, updated iDrive, etc)" so I interpreted that as coding. Was the car coded and or tuned?

[michaelalex17]

I hope there haven't been any issues with coding and warranty since I am planning on getting this done next week haha

[MisterEm]

Originally Posted by tomtom11

Thank you for the clarification, you said "for convenience features and additional coding (one touch key functions, added BT and adaptive headlights, updated iDrive, etc)" so I interpreted that as coding. Was the car coded and or tuned?

I did the coding and software changes with ISTA. I brought my laptop down and showed them what was changed and how.

Really shocked the e46m never got flagged. Not that I cared...i just asked the S.A. why the M3 never got flagged. It clearly is heavily modified and the data was uploaded to NA very recently. No answer given.The D is stock and over maintained during our ownership.. Kid hauler and mom mobile only.

All the emissions work covered in the end but it wasn't easy. Flag on the vin is gone now too.