“Can you extract this bolt for me?”
New cars generally come with warranties. Ideally, you’ll never have to use one. But there’s a safe feeling knowing that unexpected issues may be fixed at no cost to you.
A dealership mechanic is warning people against making a common mistake that could void their vehicle’s warranty. TikTok creator Mozalez Auto Repair (@mozalez_autorepair) recently posted a video about a customer who learned this the hard way.
“You know what’s the fastest way to void your warranty?” he asks. “It’s not taking it to another shop. It’s putting your own dirty hands into the mix.”
He says his customer decided to start poking around under the hood. “How are you going to send me a picture and say, ‘Can you extract this bolt for me?’” he says. “And when I check it has to do with the timing that I just did three, four months ago? What do you do? No, I can’t fix the bolt. I’m so sorry. Nope.”
The law protects car owners with warranties who use third-party mechanics for routine services. This stops manufacturers from dictating where customers get their maintenance done. So, no, you can’t have your warranty voided just because you changed your own oil.
When it comes to work on the car’s engine, transmission, emissions and other safety systems, the answer is slightly more complicated. These are jobs that can easily go wrong and therefore the manufacturer can, in some cases, void the warranty if those systems are touched by someone who isn’t authorized by the company. A DIY mechanic messing around under the hood at home can absolutely fall into this category, particularly if they botch the job.
Of course, this isn’t automatic. Manufacturers still have to prove that an improper repair led to the damage they are deciding to not cover under the warranty. So they can’t just say, you had someone properly work on this a year ago, your warranty is therefore void.
In a Reddit thread posted to r/hyundai, a car owner said their warranty was potentially voided because they had an independent mechanic work on a piston issue. “Is this true? Where would I be able to read about this?” they wrote.
One person wrote, “I don’t know where you are, but if you are in the US, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (a 1975 federal law) protects consumers by making it illegal for manufacturers to deny coverage simply because a car wasn’t serviced at a dealership. Unless that third party work caused the issue.”
A second person said the work described in the original post wouldn’t constitute “service.” The person wrote, “If you replace the cylinders, then, yes, the warranty is voided. C’mon, guys, you should know this.”
Another person said, “For them to void your warranty, they have to prove the work did by the other person or yourself is directly responsible for the failure.”
Motor1 contacted Mozalez Auto Repair via TikTok comment and direct message for comment. We’ll be sure to update this if he replies.
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