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      05-01-2012, 08:24 AM   #46
sickem
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Quote:
Originally Posted by benzy89 View Post
all i have to say is that dealers should show some appreciation for the tuning culture, its opened a whole new demographic for potential owners -- guys (and even some girls) that are really into their cars, expressing themselves and are willing to spend the money on performance mods, a new set of wheels or a bodykit. so long as the owner is making smart and well-informed decisions (running a tune thats within a "safe" boost setting, appropriately spacing wheels, etc.) dealers should be more interested in working with the customer.

it would not only be beneficial to the dealership by opening up a whole new revenue stream (doing aftermarket work on cars), but would also benefit bmw owners by creating a competitive atmosphere between dealership service departments and privately owned garages for customer loyalty.
Benzy, benzy...remember an important point here: we also suffer from availability bias on this forum. if you spend enough time on this site, you'll think everybody mods their 335. People who mod their cars represent probably 0.1% of people who own BMW's! It's a demographic they don't really care about...unless as Hemi puts it...it's going to cost them $$$...then they care a great deal! Plus, as an organization, don't you think the BMW service unit has to set some limits on what constitutes legitimate warranty work and what is the result of some knucklehead pushing the car beyond its prescribed specs? I can think of many analogies here where if you use something beyond the limits prescribed in the terms of the warranty you're transferring that risk to yourself. A warranty is a contract, which by definition binds BOTH parties to its terms. This is an inconvenient truth that many on here have learned the hard way.

Furthermore, who is to say what is a safe mod and what is not? I don't expect a multi-national, multi-billion dollar public company like BMW AG to take some tuner clown's word for anything on a car they've spent hundreds of millions testing and researching! The only way for BMW to be consistent is to deny warranty work if they see mods...or maybe look the other way if they think they have nothing to do with the issue at hand. they are covering their ass, plain and simple. I'd do the same thing in their shoes. Let's remember this is a for-profit company not a car modification advocacy group. Not trying to be argumentative here...i love tuning these cars but I also am realizing the risk I am assuming by doing so. I think you're being very naive here...just my two Lincolns...
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