Dealer maintenance/warranty

[UBERMON]

Is it really mandatory that a BMW dealer do your service work to maintain the factory warranty? I have added a sidecar to my 04 Montauk and just had the first 6K service at a brand new dealer here in Miami, FL, and I just was not too impressed. I have a local mechanic who is excellent and would like to use him but do not want to invalidate warranty. Any help would be appreciated.

Ubermon

 

[dbrick]

Federal law prohibits a manufacturer or importer from conditioning its warranty on having the vehicle serviced by the dealer only. But you can imagine that the more you can show that you did, or had done, all the items listed as required maintenance on time, the more likely you'll get cooperation if you show up with a warranty claim. This means that if you have the machine worked on by others, their receipts should be complete and extensive about the maintenance they did; if you do the work, keep the receipts for the parts and oil that you bought. To forestall an argument about the suitability of parts and oil you bought during the warranty period, you might choose to use BMW parts and lubricants.

 

[globalrider]

I have added a sidecar to my 04 Montauk.

Wouldn't that by itself void a warranty claim...say a rear drive unit? Or is a sidecar an "approved" installation?