Home Finance Can You Modify a Financed Car – Top Advice and Basic Tips To Note

Can You Modify a Financed Car – Top Advice and Basic Tips To Note

Talking about modifying a financed car, is one of the hottest question asked among car owners and beginner, to uncover this, see our tips below...

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Can You Modify a Financed Car

Before you make your decision on getting those wheels to your care, you might want to ask yourself this; can you modify a financed car?

Basically, it is possible to modify your car if you have a loan on it. Depending on certain factors, even with all modifications the lender still holds the ownership of the vehicle until you’ve made the last payment, and then the car becomes your property.

When you make modifications to a leased car, you must make sure you remove any form of the modification before you return it to the dealership at the end of the term.

Most lenders do not accept modification of any kind, but some do. This is why you must check first before you make modifications as some modifications are hard to reverse.

Now to the real talk, you came here for.

Can You Modify a Financed Car?

As mentioned earlier, the answer simply put is Yes, but this depends on several factors. Can you Modify a finance car? Yes, you can but you need to hear what it requires before jumping on it.

We’ll discuss these factors, there are different levels to modifications, some modifications range from a few tweaks such as changing color, adding engine boost, window tinting, and others.

When official modifications are done by the automaker, they are automatically covered by a factory warranty and the installations or modifications won’t affect the terms of any lease company.

You are automatically covered for such modifications, let’s take a look at how some modifications are made to Jeep suspension lifts with shocks and springs so as to improve off-road capacity, this is in no way violating the terms of a lease or loan.

If you can’t go through those processes, seek out some dealerships that offer a range of aftermarket modifications, you’ll be transferred to their service department and have the bill added to your monthly payments, some can result in a loss sometimes if you are unable to pay fully.

Before making such decisions, confirm from the dealership if the parts have their own warranty, and whether it’ll cause any harm to the car’s factory warranty, just to be safe.

If you are ever in doubt about your decision, take some time to read through the paperwork or get in touch with your lender while explaining the kind of modifications you’d like to make and their conditions. This will help keep your mind at rest.

Read Also: How Long Can You Finance a Boat – Actionable Tips You Must Know

Factors to Consider when Modifying a Car on Loan

Can You Modify a Financed Car

A smart car

Here are the answers to your question “Can you Modify a financed car”, before you go on about modifying that financed car, check out these quick factors to note:

Loan Terms: Make sure to review your loan agreement for any kind of restrictions on car modifications so as to avoid breaching the contract.

Budget: Be sure to have enough funds to cover both the cost of modifications and the monthly payments for the car in question.

Resale Value: Review and understand that some modifications can lower the value of a car when trying to resell, this can affect your financial return on sale.

Warranty: You must take note of the warranty policy, and check out if certain modifications can void your car’s warranty, which will leave you as the one responsible for fixing it.

Insurance: As it is very important for every car to have insurance, it is crucial that you check with your insurance policy if they cover custom modifications.

Quality work: This is the part that also thinks about you as the owner and other people, it is important that you deal with professionals directly to avoid issues with modification that can render the car useless as well as endanger your life and others on the road.

Legal Compliance: Some modifications to a car are considered illegal in some countries, depending on your country, you might want to contact the local authorities about the laws and regulations to avoid legal issues.

What’s the deal on Warranty Coverage?

If you ever think of lowering springs for sports cars, shopping for suspension lifts for trucks, or upgrading the chips of any vehicle, you might want to check out what modification can affect the warranty.

The popular Magnuson-Moss Act requires that vehicle manufacturers notify of anything that could affect or violate the terms of a warranty. There are some conditions in which you’ll have to pay for the damages made to the car for example, if you have a defective power window motor and you have installed aftermarket wheels the automaker may refuse to cover the damages made by blaming the performance that modifies the vehicle’s engine control unit (ECU) behavior caused the premature failure of a transmission.

Depending on their warranty, they may leave you to pay for all damages, including the dealership labor fees.

The cost of the simplest new-car failure item can cost from $500 to $600 to repair, depending on the country you live in. Living in America, you’d have to follow the rules as made by the American Automobile Association (AAA). The cost of all repairs may sum up to $10,000 depending on the level of damage done to the car.

Modification Affecting a Car’s Value

Generally, modifications do not hold or improve the value of a car. As we have mentioned earlier, selling your car later for the nearest in value it was bought might not be as easy if some extreme modifications were done.

The new owner might not be interested in such modifications, hence the reduction in resale value, the only way you can get the nearest in value is when the buyer has the same taste as you do.

As we all know, some modifications are hard to reverse, if they’ve gone too far, something changes like a rear spoiler, paint job, etc. Can make the car look less valued as it is different from the factory look it came with.

Replacing a car part should be done with care, make sure you keep the stock pieces just in case the new buyer doesn’t fancy the existing one. You can offer the stock ones if the buyer isn’t a fan of the existing one, this can boost the car’s value in a way.

Take your time before you make a decision to make changes to a financed car, I hope this article answers your question “Can you modify a financed car”.

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