Nissan 370Z Forum - View Single Post

pgrmstr · 03-05-2010, 02:04 PM

I had heard of similar spy tactics by insurance companies a few years back, supposedly coming to autox events and recording plate#'s and such and canx policies....so much so that a lot of clubs stopped publishing the car type in online results, and you'd see blue painters tape cover license plates and vins...as well as rumors of Mitsu doing it for the EVOs...

heck, years ago I had a Mini Cooper S that I autox'd, had koni yellow sport shocks, and the clutch went at 27,000 miles.....NO WAY attributed to autox or a rookie with a clutch, haven been driving nothing buy standard trans for 20+ years. Anyway, the dealer called me and said they would not cover it because the car was obviously raced and beaten on....based solely on the fact I had Koni sport shocks installed.

I did have an ACE up my sleeve however. That particular Mini dealer was involved in motorsports, historically from the BMW side of the shop, but none the less, I knew the director of the motorsports division, was a fellow autoxer as well as one of the head mechanics. About a couple months prior, they held their own autox for their customers, brought out a few of the shop cars off the showroom for fun runs, and asked me to bring my car and play instructor for the day, offer codrives, even letting them take my car out with customers in it while I was instructing customers in their new Coopers, etc. So I called the service manager and asked if they typically beat on their customers cars? He was like, NO....and to which I replied asking why then why was I asked by the dealership to instruct their customers...."beating/racing" their cars at an event sponsored by them....and in turn why their employees beat/raced MY car while entertaining their customers! Back peddling began with an I'll get back to you....followed by a call from the owner about 30mins later saying he had the service manager look at my clutch and it wasn't as burnt and abused as their mechanic lead them to believe and that he would be replacing it under warranty....

At the end of the day, these things are best kept quiet as you don't want to have to have that battle....don't rely on some "act" or "law" to protect you. They say NO and it's you that has to deal with trying to prove and fight it....

03-05-2010, 02:04 PM	#14 (permalink)
pgrmstr Base Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: PA Posts: 131 Drives: 09 BS 370z Sport 6MT Rep Power: 16	I had heard of similar spy tactics by insurance companies a few years back, supposedly coming to autox events and recording plate#'s and such and canx policies....so much so that a lot of clubs stopped publishing the car type in online results, and you'd see blue painters tape cover license plates and vins...as well as rumors of Mitsu doing it for the EVOs... heck, years ago I had a Mini Cooper S that I autox'd, had koni yellow sport shocks, and the clutch went at 27,000 miles.....NO WAY attributed to autox or a rookie with a clutch, haven been driving nothing buy standard trans for 20+ years. Anyway, the dealer called me and said they would not cover it because the car was obviously raced and beaten on....based solely on the fact I had Koni sport shocks installed. I did have an ACE up my sleeve however. That particular Mini dealer was involved in motorsports, historically from the BMW side of the shop, but none the less, I knew the director of the motorsports division, was a fellow autoxer as well as one of the head mechanics. About a couple months prior, they held their own autox for their customers, brought out a few of the shop cars off the showroom for fun runs, and asked me to bring my car and play instructor for the day, offer codrives, even letting them take my car out with customers in it while I was instructing customers in their new Coopers, etc. So I called the service manager and asked if they typically beat on their customers cars? He was like, NO....and to which I replied asking why then why was I asked by the dealership to instruct their customers...."beating/racing" their cars at an event sponsored by them....and in turn why their employees beat/raced MY car while entertaining their customers! Back peddling began with an I'll get back to you....followed by a call from the owner about 30mins later saying he had the service manager look at my clutch and it wasn't as burnt and abused as their mechanic lead them to believe and that he would be replacing it under warranty.... At the end of the day, these things are best kept quiet as you don't want to have to have that battle....don't rely on some "act" or "law" to protect you. They say NO and it's you that has to deal with trying to prove and fight it....