Off Road Issues vs Warranty Coverage

[Bobby Hank]

I have 7 yr 100k miles bumper to bumper.

No issues.

But let’s imagine… I’m out going for a BOH, and something breaks in the suspension, or transmission, or the oil pan is smashed…

Am I covered?

On one hand, it’s a trail rated Rubicon, able to do it all. Cover it.
On the other, I’m on the rocks in the woods or desert, being adventurous.

Opinions? Experience? Legal knowledge?

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[Old Dogger]

Warranties cover defects in parts and workmanship, from the factory assembly. Abuse is not covered. Extended insurance policies, may vary on this somewhat. So read your policy.

 

[Bobby Hank]

Warranties cover defects in parts and workmanship, from the factory assembly. Abuse is not covered. Extended insurance policies, may vary on this somewhat. So read your policy.

Makes sense.

 

[Poseidon20]

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...other-axle-from-the-insurance-company.138263/

 

[Ratbert]

My understanding is that if you stay on the trail then you're technically on road...and covered. About the only time you're off road would be in an off road park.

 

[autotragic]

I have 7 yr 100k miles bumper to bumper.

No issues.

But let’s imagine… I’m out going for a BOH, and something breaks in the suspension, or transmission, or the oil pan is smashed…

Am I covered?

On one hand, it’s a trail rated Rubicon, able to do it all. Cover it.
On the other, I’m on the rocks in the woods or desert, being adventurous.

Opinions? Experience? Legal knowledge?

So this is an interesting one on one hand if you have full coverage insurance any off-road accidents you have in theory should be covered by that.

However say you go on an off-road trip and you come back and you find out that your steering stabilizer is leaking out and now when you hit a bump your steering wheel starts shimmying... Technically you can have that steering stabilizer replaced under warranty. Now if the stabilizer has a giant dent in it because you smashed it into a rock that may or may not work out. But if it just leaked out because it's a piece of shit then it is what it is.

 

[Twisted10]

 

[yokramer]

Its going to depend on the dealer a lot as well. Find one that has a ton of modified Jeeps in the employee parking lot and you are a lot more likely to get covered even if its your fault.

 

[Nokones]

The result of a smashed oil pan is not a part failure. It is a result of a collision event. I doubt that any dealer would accept it as warranty repair. And if the suspension component(s) has/have evidence of colliding with a fix object may not necessarily be subject to warranty replacement either.

 

[hamiamham69]

Check your insurance policy as well to see if they are covering you or.. not. Even on the road you are not covered by warranty if you do certain things

 

[AcesandEights]

Warranties cover defects in parts and workmanship, from the factory assembly. Abuse is not covered. Extended insurance policies, may vary on this somewhat. So read your policy.

^^^^
THIS

Damage is not covered. Defects are covered.

 

[Bobby Hank]

Check your insurance policy as well to see if they are covering you or.. not. Even on the road you are not covered by warranty if you do certain things

That’s a good idea. We have Progressive and a full policy. I’ll call sometime soon and report back what they say.

 

[mgroeger]

I have 7 yr 100k miles bumper to bumper.

No issues.

But let’s imagine… I’m out going for a BOH, and something breaks in the suspension, or transmission, or the oil pan is smashed…

Am I covered?

On one hand, it’s a trail rated Rubicon, able to do it all. Cover it.
On the other, I’m on the rocks in the woods or desert, being adventurous.

Opinions? Experience? Legal knowledge?

Most likely you will not get warranty coverage on off roading damage. However your insurance may cover it. I've had to pull two claims for damaged axles with two different insurance companies.

 

[hamiamham69]

Better yet send a ln email. Then you have a document trail and there is less chance for misunderstanding.

 

[6.2Blazer]

Just like mentioned above, the difference is whether it's considered abuse or not. Simply going off-road doesn't automatically assume it's abuse. The commercials, webpages, sales brochures, etc... highlight a Jeep being off-road. A manufacturer can't openly advertise doing something with a vehicle and then turn around and deny warranty coverage because you were doing the same thing as shown in the TV commercial.
If the engine blows up and they find the oil pan is bashed in by rocks, it probably will be considered abuse. If it looks like you sunk it up the seats in mud, it's probably abuse. Just like if you wreck the vehicle and try to get warranty coverage because you smashed something in the ditch....warranty won't cover it.
The "trail" or being in an off-road park shouldn't matter in regards to the warranty. So if a farmer is out driving through his field and something fails they are going to deny warranty coverage just because of where he is, which is not on a "road" or "trail"?
I worked for a company that did a lot of work for Jeep/Chrysler/Ram/Dodge engineering back in the early 2000's, which included when they first introduced the Rubicon model. There were stories of some dealerships denying warranty work on Rubicon's because there was evidence they went off-road. However corporate Jeep overruled the dealerships because the sole reason behind the Rubicon model was to go off-road. Though the same "abuse" versus regular use failures pertained to it.

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