Lease Inspection and Wiring/Tune

[DAEMANO]

Originally Posted by ThornhillSubaruOwner

Hey, thanks for the info. Was mostly interested in the level of detail they actually went into inspecting the car. So I guess as long as they work like OEM, they won't notice.

The headlight itself isn't changed, it's the wiring behind it.

No problem.

My guess is that if it's not abundantly obvious from a visual inspection of the engine bay that there is modded wiring AND that the headlights function the same as OEM from behind the wheel, then it should be fine.

If both of the above are not true, then they'll probably say it needs fixing. Since you know exactly what was done, chances are you can reverse it without much work. Safe bet would be to do that prior to your inspection.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by DAEMANO

They won't be able to detect the OFT tune, and probably won't be able to check for it. I returned a lease last year (Fiat Abarth) and the 3rd party company hired to do the lease inspection didn't get anywhere close to that level of detail.

The headlights, they'll check to see if they function as expected. They're safety equipment, so they have to. I doubt they'll check the wiring, but if you're worried about it then simply buy someone's stock headlamps used (on this board or ebay) and install them in your car. The cost will be less than $200 (maybe even much less.) Then sell your modded headlamps for roughly the same amount. All done.

This ^. They will be far more concerned about chips in the paint and tears in in the seats then if it was tuned or had different lights at some point. Depending on how many miles it has they may not even resell it but simply ship it off to auction without even a glance.

[ThornhillSubaruOwner]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

This ^. They will be far more concerned about chips in the paint and tears in in the seats then if it was tuned or had different lights at some point. Depending on how many miles it has they may not even resell it but simply ship it off to auction without even a glance.

I've only put 9000 kms on it so far in a year. Never even seen Winter. Hopefully they'll drool at that and forget my mods

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by ThornhillSubaruOwner

I've only put 9000 kms on it so far in a year. Never even seen Winter. Hopefully they'll drool at that and forget my mods

Don't think there will be much drooling but at that low a mileage they probably won't take much more than a glance at it. All my trade ins have had such high miles in a short period of time that they pretty much had them on a flatbed before I even left the lot with my new car.

[wparsons]

Some dealers will even take it back with mods, just talk to the dealership ahead of time. Don't mention cutting the harness, they'll never look into that unless you tell them.

[Amatsukaze]

I talked to my dealer about this the other day when I was in for a service, my front bumper is getting pretty rough and I mentioned I was thinking of getting an aftermarket one, the guy said if I was buying out my lease I can "Do whatever the hell you want to it" and they're not going to care about. Which I plan on doing anyway, so works for me. I'd talk to the dealer, like others have said, most of them are fine with it as long as you are keeping it, or bring it back in stock.

[Gforce]

Your insurance company can also void your insurance if you fail to inform them about any modifications you make to your car.

[ThornhillSubaruOwner]

Originally Posted by Amatsukaze

I talked to my dealer about this the other day when I was in for a service, my front bumper is getting pretty rough and I mentioned I was thinking of getting an aftermarket one, the guy said if I was buying out my lease I can "Do whatever the hell you want to it" and they're not going to care about. Which I plan on doing anyway, so works for me. I'd talk to the dealer, like others have said, most of them are fine with it as long as you are keeping it, or bring it back in stock.

I'm not too worried about returning it anymore. I'm actually trying to get someone to takeover the lease.
I'm afraid the warranty may have been voided because of the tune. I hear different things from different people. Some say that you could just claim that your battery died which resets the ECU. Not sure how true this is. Wish I had someone experience this first hand.

[Gforce]

In theory, any modification of the car voids your warranty in Canada. There is no consumer protection legislation on warranties other than emissions controls and panel rust through.