Revealing License Plate Numbers on Forums

[175K911]

Originally Posted by rbuswell

175K911, I'm sorry but defrauding car manufacturers and insurance companies may be a good reason to not show your plates but when someone does this sort of stuff and expects other Audi owners or policyholders to pay for it, that just isn't nice. All major car companies and insurance companies, of course, have actuaries that predict outcomes based on likelihoods. Illegal or unethical behavior can only be taken into account marginally. The rest of it results in higher costs for all of us.

I say, do the right thing, have the right coverage, don't file a claim or submit a warranty request if you don't follow the rules or have the coverage, then you don't have to worry about whether your plate is on the web or not.

I totally agree with you. In my case, I'd painted my front calipers red, the dealer saw the pics on a forum, and just jumped to the conclusion that I had "modified" brakes on the car and refused to honor my warranty for a suspension problem. When I pointed out that the caliper was simply painted, they apologized and honored the warranty claim. But the moral of the story is that dealers do follow the threads.

And my insurance agent is of the same mindset- identify the stereo equipment, wheels and tires etc, so that everything is legitimately disclosed. I'm sure my insurance costs more as a result, but everything is properly disclosed and insured. The 911 is insured for stated value to avoid these kinds of problems.

Unfortunately there are a lot of people who try to slide things by and it affects all the rest of us. The Audi 2.7L twin turbo engine was a fantastic engine but had one of the worst warranty claims history of all their engines. Because of the engine? No, many have said it's because of all the people who chipped them, then blew turbos ($5000 repair) they expected replaced under warranty. Then there's the trans problems that result from boosting torque from 258 to 350+. I'm sure there are a lot of 996TT and 997TT owners who did the same thing and then expected Porsche to pay the bills when something broke.

Worry if my reply gave the impression that I was encouraging being dishonest. My only point was that some will hide their plates for that reason. My personal concern is the theft aspect. But even so, I've posted pics of my 911 with the plates exposed and hope for goodness of others.

[rbuswell]

Originally Posted by 175K911

I totally agree with you. In my case, I'd painted my front calipers red, the dealer saw the pics on a forum, and just jumped to the conclusion that I had "modified" brakes on the car and refused to honor my warranty for a suspension problem. When I pointed out that the caliper was simply painted, they apologized and honored the warranty claim. But the moral of the story is that dealers do follow the threads.

And my insurance agent is of the same mindset- identify the stereo equipment, wheels and tires etc, so that everything is legitimately disclosed. I'm sure my insurance costs more as a result, but everything is properly disclosed and insured. The 911 is insured for stated value to avoid these kinds of problems.

Unfortunately there are a lot of people who try to slide things by and it affects all the rest of us. The Audi 2.7L twin turbo engine was a fantastic engine but had one of the worst warranty claims history of all their engines. Because of the engine? No, many have said it's because of all the people who chipped them, then blew turbos ($5000 repair) they expected replaced under warranty. Then there's the trans problems that result from boosting torque from 258 to 350+. I'm sure there are a lot of 996TT and 997TT owners who did the same thing and then expected Porsche to pay the bills when something broke.

Worry if my reply gave the impression that I was encouraging being dishonest. My only point was that some will hide their plates for that reason. My personal concern is the theft aspect. But even so, I've posted pics of my 911 with the plates exposed and hope for goodness of others.

I'm glad you got it worked out with the dealer. I really am surprised that dealers actually look that closely at forums. I've got to guess it was because the dealer/forum member was also an enthusiast and happened upon your car and recognized it. To think someone would spend the hours upon hours to look at the hundreds upon hundreds of threads and pages to find warranty cheaters just doesn't sound right to me. It just seems like it's counter to everything I know about dealers when they are typically hurting for warranty work and the manufacturers only spot check the bad parts. Further my impression is that manufacturers are looking for good parts that were replaced unnecessarily more stringently than abused cars. I could be wrong. And of course a big engine rebuild of a 997TT trumps everything on this thought.

BTW, I bet the real cost is nearly zero in your premium to fully disclose and cover accessories etc.. The big money in car insurance claims is liability. What they pay in injury claims and hospital bills far outstrips any cost for the cars themselves. Repair bills and loss of time (or worse, death) of the human machines makes the cost of our cars seem like chump change.