You have no recourse and any court case would probably be tossed out in nano-seconds. No factory warranty covers any aftermarket part or any damages caused by an aftermarket part. If a piece of that intake went clean inside the engine and blew it to pieces warranty would not pay a dime towards it and that’s as it should be.
Are we to believe that in 3 years of ownership that your son had no clue about what’s been added to that car, has never tinkered with it, and never sat around with the other guys bragging about the power gains (?) from the CAI and exhaust system?
You state that the dealer has a responsibility to know what they’re selling. That cuts both ways because it’s also a buyer’s responsibility to know what they’re purchasing; even if they have to spend money to have a pre-purchase inspection performed.
If you bought the car from the dealer with a manufacturers warranty or contract, then it’s dealers responsibilty to make sure that the vehicle meets the specifications of the manufacturer before the vehicle is sold with said warranty or contract. Failing to do so is a breach of contract on the dealers part.
One cannot expect the dealer to know the vehicle like the back of thier hand. It’s possible the dealer did not know that aftermarket parts were on the car. Just because they sell cars does not mean they are omniscience concerning them.
Have you ever hung around a car sales person? Some don’t know much about them and thats ok. Just saying they dont know everything.
Also, how are they suppose to know that you did not install these parts? You have been driving it for 3 years now. I’m not saying you did but simply how ar ethey to know?
After 3 years and possibly 36k miles I think the OP is SOL. I’m not personally aware of any law or policy that requires a dealer to return a car to factory stock even if they’re aware of any modifications.
Since an air intake system is involved, whose to say that during any servicing of the car that someone did not break the air intake while changing an air filter, induction cleaning, etc?
Unless of course the car was not maintained at all, never touched during those 3 years, and which then brings up lack of maintenance issues.
I am not sure it was a K&N or not, but you can not expect a dealer to look at every part on a car and make sure it is OEM… There are litterally 1000’s of parts that make up a car. If this was a factory looking aftermarket box, then I would not hold the dealer accountable.
And even if it was an obvious aftermarket item, as long as it was legal (upstream of the air flow measurement, etc.) there’s nothing the dealer is going to do. What, is he supposed to put back in the stock parts? No way. But the maker is NOT going to warranty the aftermarket parts, nor should they.
Actually, I would go farther than to say it cuts both ways. The seller of the used car has no responsibility whatsoever to know if aftermarket parts and/or systems are in the car. He only has an obligation not to misrepresent the car. And that’s only for a dealer, and different state to state. A private seller can lie until his head explodes. Actually, so can a saleman at a dealer, but he’d be more subject to fraud charges should one want to pursue them. Courts can look at car dealers with a hairy eyeball.
Ok4450, you made an excellent point. I’d bet lunch that the OP’s son knew the stuff was in there. No disrespect to the OP, but I was a kid once…and have two of my own, now fully grown.
I kind of doubt you can do more than present your case in the most dis favorable of fashion to the owner about how you will tell all the people you know never to buy from them, because certified pre owned left out information and now your telling me what? I always recommend an independent analysis from a second party, and now need to include in that list any after market changes that might void warranty coverage. Good luck!
If the son didn’t do the changes, I agree it is pretty low class to sell a car with 4,000 miles on it, and represent it as having a lot of warranty, when the warranty is spoiled. IF I sell a house which turns out to have black mold in it, the fact I didn’t know it had it does not take me off the hook for the black mold. Dealer should eat it, or you should not do business with him again. Do be sure your son didn’t do this.
No disrespect, but it seems odd that someone would have purchased the car, done these modifications almost immediately, and then sold it before 4000 miles elapsed.
If the son did do the add-ons and all of a sudden it comes to pass there’s a problem that warranty won’t cover because of those add-ons it should not be assumed that a young man would automatically be forthcoming and admit to doing those mods.
“It was like that when I got it…”.
I’m still curious about maintenance during these 3 years and who knew what about the intake and exhaust.