After-sales
Warranty & After-Sales
The whole of the warranty, not just the headline number: what is covered, how long, how a claim is decided, what CMST does when a claim is upheld — and what it does not cover, which is freight. Read the freight line before you quote a warranty position to your own customer.
What is covered, and for how long
| Product | Cover | Starts from |
|---|---|---|
| CARBON FIBER PARTS | Three months | The date the part is fitted to the vehicle |
| FORGED WHEELS | Five years | Confirmed at order stage — the published term states the period only |
Cover on carbon fiber parts runs from the date of fitting rather than the date of delivery, which matters for a distributor holding stock: shelf time does not consume the warranty period. Terms for FRP, ABS and PP parts are confirmed on the order — only the two lines above are published terms, and nothing beyond them should be quoted onward to a customer.
Making a claim
How a claim is decided
Four steps, and a clear division: CMST covers the product, the buyer covers the freight.
- 01
Report it
Contact CMST with the order reference and photographs of the part as fitted. Photographs of the fault in situ decide most cases without anything being shipped.
- 02
Liability confirmed in one working day
Technical support confirms whether the fault is a product quality issue within one working day of the report. That confirmation is the decision point — everything after it follows from it.
- 03
Quality issue: replaced or compensated
Where the fault is confirmed as a quality issue, CMST supplies the same part again or compensates the equivalent value of the product. Which of the two applies is agreed with the buyer.
- 04
Not a quality issue: chargeable repair
Where the fault is not a product quality issue — impact, kerbing, fitting damage, or wear — CMST can still repair the part, on a chargeable basis.
Freight is not covered. On a confirmed quality claim CMST supplies the replacement part or the equivalent compensation; the cost of returning a part and of shipping the replacement is the buyer's. This is stated here rather than in a footnote because it is the single term most likely to be disputed later — price a warranty position to your own customer with it in view.
Two things worth agreeing up front
Paint is not part of the product. FRP parts ship primed and are painted locally, and refinishing work carried out by a third party sits outside the product warranty. Photograph parts on arrival, before they go into the booth — a surface issue is much easier to resolve while the part is still primed.
Fitment on a car that does not match the listing is not a quality issue either. Model years and trim levels differ between the Chinese market and export markets. If there is any doubt that the car in front of you matches the listing, send photographs of the actual vehicle before ordering and the sales engineers will confirm it. That check costs a day; a mis-specified panel costs a return.
Before dispatch
What happens before a part is allowed to ship
Most of the warranty work is done before dispatch rather than after a claim.
- 01
Surface standard
Every panel is inspected against a written standard: no pits, no whitening, no waviness, no wrinkling, no print-through. Parts that fail go back rather than into a box.
- 02
Wheel testing
Forged wheels are load, balance and runout tested before packing — the checks behind the longest warranty term in the CMST range.
- 03
Trial fit before tooling
A 3D-printed master is fitted to an actual car before the mold is cut, so fitment problems are designed out rather than warrantied later.
- 04
Packaging photographs
Every order ships in CMST-branded packaging with a product label and a parts pack, so a shortage is evident at first opening. Shortage and transit-damage questions are freight-carrier matters rather than warranty ones.
Questions distributors ask
Does the three months run from delivery or from fitting?+
From the date the part is fitted to the vehicle. Stock sitting in your warehouse does not consume the cover.
Who pays the shipping on a warranty replacement?+
The buyer. CMST supplies the replacement part or compensates the equivalent value of the product; freight in both directions is not covered.
Do I have to ship the part back before you decide?+
Usually not. Liability is confirmed from photographs of the part as fitted, within one working day of the report. Only cases that cannot be judged from photographs need the part back.
The part was damaged in transit — is that a warranty claim?+
That is a freight matter, not a warranty one. Photograph the packaging and the part as received and send them with the order reference — that is normally enough to establish where the damage happened, and responsibility is confirmed within one working day.
A customer kerbed a wheel. Is anything possible?+
Not under warranty — that is not a product quality issue. It can be quoted as a chargeable repair.
How does this work if I bought through a distributor?+
Raise it with the distributor that supplied you; they hold the order reference. If you bought direct from the factory, send the order reference to the sales desk.
Something wrong with a part?
Send the order reference and photographs of the part as fitted. Liability is confirmed within one working day.