[mateommm]

Was in a bit of a bind and about to go on a long road trip and with steering wheel shudder at highway braking, turns out I needed new front and rear brakes. Never been to this dealer before and feel like I might have gotten ripped off at just shy of 2k for my 36k service + brake job. Invoice attached. Thoughts?

 

[mateommm]

At your relatively low mileage, I would have thought they could have resurfaced the rotors instead of having to replace them. If it they couldn't, it doesn't seem like you got much life out of those rotors unless your driving conditions require frequent braking, ie stop and go driving.

Fairly severe driving conditions in NYC stop and go traffic for the car’s first 30k miles; dealers don’t generally offer resurfacing, or so I am told.

Are you asking if the brake job was too expensive or the 36k mile service was too expensive or ...?
…
Short answer - no you did not really get ripped off. It's expensive to do work on a newer vehicle at a dealership.

Really asking about both. Thanks for the feedback, and glad to know this is par for the course for a dealership. I’m not complaining, more just wanna make sure that there are no funny games as I would like to use this dealership moving forward. This is the first major out-of-pocket expense I’ve had on this Forrester.

 

[mateommm]

That's twice what pay for an oil change in Seattle.
Not sure where you were on time & mileage as brakes are covered under the 36/36,000 warranty.

I am beyond the 3 years but at 35,397 miles. I have Gold Plus. My understanding is that only the original warranty covers brake pads within the 3/36k term and that Gold Plus covers “brakes” meaning the ancillary systems and components that make them work.

 

[mateommm]

. . .
Back to the original post and the invoice/receipt, I'd question about the 15-buck oil additive and the 10-buck "supercharge II" item...

yeah that really annoyed me BUT IATA for signing off on it (it was on the statement of work and I didn’t notice). Probably more annoyed by those two line items as a matter of principle, than the exorbitant cost of the brake job lol.

 

[mateommm]

Looking at the BG website, it looks like the oil additive is a "viscosity improver." I'm not sure I'd want a thicker oil running in an engine in a cold climate and Subaru specifies 0-20 oil in the owner's manual without any mention of the need for viscosity improver. My impression of the product description is that it's similar to an oil stop leak formula since it states that it conditions seals. One can check the recent video on youtube from project farm on oil stop leak additives that describes how well those work...

yeah, don’t understand why TF they gave me that nonsense. never again. After responses here and checking with another local dealer, I think I’m fine with the brake job cost — as many have said, it’s dealer pricing. Lesson learned and I won’t have to deal with it for another 4 years. But the padding with this additive crap really boils my blood. Wonder if SoA even recommends this crap? Or even worse, wonder if they specifically recommend AGAINST it?

 

[mateommm]

Agree. Something I’d expect from a national lube chain. Arg. 🤬