Does an accident void warranty?

The accident actually happened in my girlfriend's brand new 09 pontiac car at the end of last year (hit a deer.) It was repaired at one of the preferred/authorized(? not sure what they call them exactly) repair shops that work directly with the insurance company. Everything was repaired with OEM parts back to stock. They said she has a lifetime warranty on everything that the collision place repaired now as well.

About a year later now.. she's having some electrical issues and the car is dead. Battery seems to be dead, it will take a jump but doesn't charge back up. She was having other weird issues like her windshield wipers not working randomly as well, so it's not just a dead battery.

Anyway, main question is, who would be the one that should be covering these issues under warranty? We just dropped it off at the dealership the other day and they are looking at it. They don't know it was in an accident. I am afraid if she told them upfront that it was repaired from an accident that they will just use that as an excuse to not do the work. If they end up seeing something odd and asking her, she certainly won't lie about it. We didn't go out of our way to mention it because we have no clue what the issue is yet.

Poking around online, it looks like GM should cover anything unless they can prove that the issue is a result of the accident, which it should then be covered under the collision shop's warranty.

I'm just waiting to see what the dealership says at this point. Who knows if the issues are even related to the accident but the fact that they replaced some electrical parts where the deer hit makes me worry that it is.

 

I would say it would still be under warranty unless the repair shop did something with the electrical

 

They did replace some of it.

 

I would say that is exactly right... GM should fix it unless they prove that the shop put it back together wrong in which case the shop should fix it.

Good luck.

 

X2

 

Hopefully you guys are right

 

Dealerships make a good chunk of their yearly income performing warranty work. They don't look for reasons to not have the work covered under warranty.

 

I agree.
I'm guessing it has nothing to do with the accident. Most everything now is plug and play so I'm guessing you have a bad ground or a harness is bad. Make sure the engine block to the firewall ground is clean and tight. Lot's of electrical problems are due to bad grounds. Check the connector plugs, make sure they are pushed in all the way and are tight. Check all the connections where the car was damaged, you may have to follow the harness to see where it was unplugged farther up.
I would start with the dealer and wait for them to blame the body shop. Have them put in writing what is wrong and why it is the body shops problem and then go to the body shop.
I am a big fan of taking notes, lots of notes. Get names and dates of what people said and did. Keep all of your paperwork and receipts together. If you ever have to go to court on this you will be prepared.