Warranty and Autocross
 

Does anyone know what Toyota's warranty policy will be on cars that are autocrossed?

I only ask this because I know some other manufacturers have voided warranties on cars used at autocross events. I know that Mitsibishi actually had someone checking autocross results for people driving EVO's and then voided the warranties on them. They didn't find out until they went in for service.

I know quite a few of these cars will be autocrossed (at least) and I wonder if Toyota is going to support the autocrossers or deny claims. Anyone have experience with this yet?

-Justin

Most warranties have a catch-all for "abuse", and it seems most manufacturers would consider any form of racing as such. I know Jeep would void warranties and Ford voided warranties on the Raptors. I imagine if they find out, they'd get you.

Interesting...Chevy voided my son's warranty on his Cobalt because he took it to the local 1/4 mile on street car night.

I thought i had read somewhere that scion will pay 1000$ to anyone who won first in their class... seems to me like they advocate grass roots racing.

It's entirely plausible that they'd do this, then turn around and deny any warranty claims. When it comes to sports cars, automobile manufacturers wanting to have their cake and eat it too is nothing new.

I noticed that some of the other cars at the local autocross had painters tape over their license plate. I was told that they do it so that manufacturer and insurance representatives who come out to scope will not be able to ascertain who actually owns the car. They can always check the timing sheets online though, but they usually don't have any data besides a name, the car, and the color.

Click HERE for a related thread that has been a STICKY within the Tracking / Autocross / HPDE section.

... And I'd really dislike for Scion / Toyota to give a hard time for even High Performance Drivers Education events... :( Hope they don't give a hard time though, but that's all I can do... Hope.

Just dont tell them about it. Plain and simple.

yeah its kind of a stupid backhanded way to go about things since thats kinda what they built the car for. i always hear about how hyundai is really good with warranties. mazda will even give you discounts/special access on parts if you prove that you go to at least two events a year

Actually, Mazda may not be as friendly as I even thought / expected of them to be from my very recent experience... But that's another story. :sigh:

Subaru used to give out a free scca membership, then canceled your warranty if you used it. They also spent spies to autocross events to record plates and VINs.

I remember the stories of the WRX's with SCCA membership packs in the glovebox and then the voided warranties for taking advantage of it.

I hope some local SCCA chapters will allow you to keep your name off of any published results. Of course, your anonymity would go away if you want to compete on a larger than local level.

I'm not an autocrosser, but I had considered taking the FR-S out to one or two next year. I would hate to get screwed on the warranty on my first trip out.

-Justin

Cover / remove your plate at the event. Don't tell the dealer or your insurance company. As you can see, the owner of the car in my sig did that. What an unscrupulous person.