Looking for first person story: My warranty denied because of oil used

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Yes one of the Stealership outs I'd guess the easiest and the most used!


I think there has to be two observations here. One is that the oil looked like it had not been changed in a while based on condition. The other is lack of receipts.

If the dealership is invoking the warranty just based on no receipts then that’s not right.
 
I think there has to be two observations here. One is that the oil looked like it had not been changed in a while based on condition. The other is lack of receipts.

If the dealership is invoking the warranty just based on no receipts then that’s not right.
What if you lost the receipt(s)? Would an excel file with records and with pictures of the oil jug/ filter along with pictures of odo be enough? Or they will try to wiggle their way out too? I'm not particularly good at storing paper junk around. (especially if that was oil bough in significant amounts years ago on clearance).
 
What if you lost the receipt(s)? Would an excel file with records and with pictures of the oil jug/ filter along with pictures of odo be enough? Or they will try to wiggle their way out too? I'm not particularly good at storing paper junk around. (especially if that was oil bough in significant amounts years ago on clearance).


The prudent thing to do is to take pictures of the products along with the receipts. Keeping receipts has its problems too as they fade.

In my case I take pictures of the oil and filter with the receipts. The picture is time dated. I include this in my Notes app on my iPhone along with the date I performed the change.
 
....and I traded in a number of vehicles and do you know what no one has ever asked me? For ANY evidence there was ANY maintenance performed.
 
It's AZ, a step up from a 20 grade needed there for sure.

A few months ago I had a Chinese friend read the owner's manual for the 2018 Honda Spirior Si since it has the K24W7 in my 2018 TLX.

Low and behold they approve 10W-30. Grrr... resource conserving BS.
 
The prudent thing to do is to take pictures of the products along with the receipts. Keeping receipts has its problems too as they fade.

In my case I take pictures of the oil and filter with the receipts. The picture is time dated. I include this in my Notes app on my iPhone along with the date I performed the change.
Well, problem is, receipts are long gone... Majority of oil was bought when Autozone had massive clearances at the end of the year(s) to move unpopular oil...
 
Federal law requires that the manufacturer shows that your choice of lubricant caused a failure. Good luck with that.

I saw a dealership GM (at least try to) deny a warranty because the customers Kia engine grenaded and they hadn't changed the timing belt according the maintenance schedule, even though it had nothing to do with the failure. Feel free to tell me what dealerships will or will not do if they think there is a chance they aren't going to get paid by the manufacturer for repairs....
 
Correct. It's a moot point regardless. If it gets to that point they are realistically going to void your warranty for whatever reason they can come up with.

You may not even lose, even if you win it's going to take months if not years of haggling...
 
Yeah, like 10-degrees.

But yeah if you use 5W-30 in your naturally aspirated Ford-Lincoln instead of 5W-20, I doubt they'll deny a claim based on that as even a UOA might be very inconclusive. But other oils not SN+ ACEA A5 and meeting the Ford WS-xxxxx spec's are at least an open question...
No engine that specs xW-20 is going to be harmed in any way by running a xW-30 ... the 30 will actually give more protection (more HTHS, more MOFT), especially in very hot climates.
 
When working for a VW and Mazda Dealership in Michigan they weren’t putting VW Spec oil in their VW oil changes. They were using Mobil 1. I asked them about it and they got permission from VW corporate, which I thought is odd. So I called a few Wisconsin VW Dealership Garages pretending to be a customer asking what oil they use to put in a newer VW. They told me kinds that didn’t have the VW spec. I told them that, that’s not VW Spec oil. They ALL transferred me to their supervisors and told them they use VW Spec oil and that the last person was mistaking. This is back in 2019, I am still very surprised even today and how they can do that.

So how can anyone even make a claim if stuff like that is going down when the Dealerships aren’t even using the Spec oils they should be using themselves.
 
I keep a spreadsheet of all the maintenance done on my vehicles. Warranty or not.
Same, I call it a log book. I have one for each vehicle I work on (Mine, Family, GF etc.) it has everything that has been done and also future to do’s. Everyone should have one if you do your own vehicle work.

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