Track use and warranty.

[rash_decision]

So I was in my local dealership today and lifted a brochure for an M3. I recall reading my warranty documents for my current M3 (2008 E92) and it pretty much states that any track use invalidates the warranty. The brochure clearly promotes the use of an M3 on track!!! How can BMW promote their product for use on track, clearly selling their product on the merit of lightweight and powerful car!!

Has anyone had any issues with warranty claims and the dealership claiming their car has been used on track??? I'm sure BMW UK would have some explaining to do on the strength of this literature!!??

[sinizter]

How are they going to know you were on track ?

[Cheburator mk2]

sinizter said:

How are they going to know you were on track ?

To give you an idea - all the rental companies in Germany for example pay reward money for pictures of their cars being driven at the Ring. Then when you return your weekend rental you get charged accordingly.

I had a BMW dealer in the UK trying to tell me to take my Ring sticker off as I was asking them to investigate a fault under warranty. Needless to say I took my business elsewhere, to another dealer who appreciated that ///M cars' natural habitat is the Ring...

[ecain63]

Could you clear this up for me? Is 'the Ring' a track or is it still a public toll road?

[manand38]

ecain63 said:

Could you clear this up for me? Is 'the Ring' a track or is it still a public toll road?

thorny question - think that most insurance co.s in the UK treat it as a track.

BMW warranty really should have no issues repairing cars that have been tracked, as they are sold by using track promos! - think Porsche have similar issues...

[griff7]

BMW supply track day experience M3's to the ring brands oulton park bedford etc etc at i suspect very reasonable rates,and as has been said already used in the advertising literature.The new GTS has a brembo brake kit kw suspension and eibach lowering springs and still has a full warranty.I have 2 local dealers one that takes the ps about track use and the other that realises that M cars are regularly used on track and are very helpful indeed.The main dealer that is close to the ring spends most of the summer been visited by M cars and normal bmw's with warranty claims,and are extremely helpful and never ask if its been on track as it is pretty obvious where it has been driven.In fact their service was so impressive it puts most uk dealers to shame.A friend with a csl has been their 3 times now and on one occasion as they did not have the part and he was due back the next day booked him a flight home and took him to the airport and offerd to send the car back to the uk if he wanted,but he said he would go back the next weekend and have another blast so they arranged a taxi to his local airport and booked his flight back and picked him up from the airport and took him back to collect his car and it was all covered by warranty.He was so impressed with the level of service after the service he had in the uk he has never stopped talking about it.If it was a foreign owner at my local dealer they would just say go forth and stay in a hotel and we will ring when its fixed see you later

[Cheburator mk2]

ecain63 said:

Could you clear this up for me? Is 'the Ring' a track or is it still a public toll road?

it is a track, but during Tourist driving it is a public toll road. This is almost academic as in 99% of the cases the UK insurers specifically exclude cover. EU legislation means that regardless you will be covered 3d party, but it also means that the Insurance company can and most probably will come after you to recoup its costs once the dust has settled. If I were you I would not track the E61 there. One lap to earn a sticker, for sure, but the costs of repeated lapping in a uber funf - be it from any variety - can make a grown man weep.

[ecain63]

Cheburator mk2 said:

ecain63 said:

Could you clear this up for me? Is 'the Ring' a track or is it still a public toll road?

it is a track, but during Tourist driving it is a public toll road. This is almost academic as in 99% of the cases the UK insurers specifically exclude cover. EU legislation means that regardless you will be covered 3d party, but it also means that the Insurance company can and most probably will come after you to recoup its costs once the dust has settled. If I were you I would not track the E61 there. One lap to earn a sticker, for sure, but the costs of repeated lapping in a uber funf - be it from any variety - can make a grown man weep.

Don't worry mate, the E61 will live on a track free diet while it lives with me. My days of thrashing a tracked up 205 were enough to satisfy the bug and I'm happy pootling around and enjoying the odd blast when its safe to do so.

Eddie

[Skrambles]

Cheburator mk2 said:

ecain63 said:

Could you clear this up for me? Is 'the Ring' a track or is it still a public toll road?

it is a track, but during Tourist driving it is a public toll road. This is almost academic as in 99% of the cases the UK insurers specifically exclude cover. EU legislation means that regardless you will be covered 3d party, but it also means that the Insurance company can and most probably will come after you to recoup its costs once the dust has settled. If I were you I would not track the E61 there. One lap to earn a sticker, for sure, but the costs of repeated lapping in a uber funf - be it from any variety - can make a grown man weep.

Interesting topic this - I haven't bothered with track cover for a few years, but when I had my TVR, Norwich Union provided me with fully comp cover for road and track use; the policy was placed by a specialist broker.

Edited by Skrambles on Monday 24th January 09:28

[mmm-five]

Advertising material is no indication of real life - otherwise you'd have Nissan owners driving Qashqais along walls & doing stunts and then expecting Nissan to pay for repairs, and Continental tyre users driving on top of buildings.

I think you'll find almost every manufacturer has a similar 'no track use' clause - even companies like Caterham, Radical, Noble, Porsche - and there's a post on here about a GT3 that was refused warranty work as it'd done one track day.

You can drive it where and how you want, but if they believe there's been any abuse to the car (track or road) then they're likely to tell you to F.R.O. - and videos of you on track, hanging the back out, wheels spinning, bouncing off the rev limiter, won't help your argument that this is how it's meant to be driven.

However, they'd have to prove that the track use/abuse what what caused the failure, so excessive wear to suspension & brake components will show them how much track use it's seen and they should take that into account, but if you're using it on track every week, then I can't see them paying out if your engine/gearbox lets go.

[Slurms]

Cheburator mk2 said:

ecain63 said:

Could you clear this up for me? Is 'the Ring' a track or is it still a public toll road?

it is a track, but during Tourist driving it is a public toll road. This is almost academic as in 99% of the cases the UK insurers specifically exclude cover. EU legislation means that regardless you will be covered 3d party, but it also means that the Insurance company can and most probably will come after you to recoup its costs once the dust has settled. If I were you I would not track the E61 there. One lap to earn a sticker, for sure, but the costs of repeated lapping in a uber funf - be it from any variety - can make a grown man weep.

Yeah, stay off the ring unless you have insurance that specifically covers it... It's only going to be treated as a public road if your insurance is through a German insurer.