dealership service issues

1313 Views 10 Replies 6 Participants Last post by ntotrr, Oct 12, 2018

SubieDubieDu

Discussion Starter · Oct 5, 2018

Timeline of events:

Buy used CPO 2016 Forester 2.5i Limited in April from Dealer A. ~ 30k miles. CPO means 50% or more left on brake pads.

Get flat tire in May. Go to trusted mechanic who sends me to Subaru to get a matching tire because he can't get exact same. BTW he says, you need brakes on this. ?!

Go to Subaru dealer B for tire. Ask them to check brakes. Brakes measured and are fine. (No measurement noted on receipt.)

July, go to Subaru C for oil change and free multi-point inspection. Brake pads all in the green. 36k miles. End up getting charged for tire rotation that didn't happen. (Or happened improperly.)

Yesterday (October) hear and feel bad brakes. 41k miles. Go to Subaru dealer B for oil change, tire rotation, and check about brakes.

They want $425 for rear brake pads and rotors. I need a car, so I told them to go ahead and do it. I also told them that I need to know how to escalate this because Subaru needs to pay for the difference in parts and labor for replacing the brake pads vs. brake pads and rotors.

Am I off base here? I don't drive like a moron. 70 miles a day, 60 of that is highway. I've NEVER had an issue like this with any of my other vehicles. I feel like even if I keep the car, I can't trust ANY Subaru service dept. Thoughts please?

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SubieDubieDu

Discussion Starter · #2 · Oct 5, 2018

and update

Dealer B recommends that I go back to the selling Dealer A. No can do. I am in NJ. (Subaru B is across the street from Subaru corporate.) Dealer A is in Vermont and they could barely get their heads out of their "blanks" to sell me a car.

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Kevin

· #3 · Oct 5, 2018

SubieDubieDu said:
I feel like even if I keep the car, I can't trust ANY Subaru service dept.

Unless proven otherwise this is the baseline for any service department regardless of brand!

Your argument seems reasonable so you should take it up with SOA.

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FozzieBalou

· #4 · Oct 5, 2018

In another post, I refer to the oddity of some Subaru dealers. Mind you, my experience is only with my local and current dealer.

Bought my Forester new in 2013 (an "early" 2014 model). Sales guy went above and beyond to work with me to get the right color (yes!) and trim (yes!).

I've never had an issue with the service department. Except....

I've had a noise from the engine for a few years now. I have just about 32K miles (5 years old)... It sounds like knocking (bad gas? bad plug? timing?)... Even the service manager could hear the noise. Tech says "it's normal engine noise"... OK. Fine. I'll (grumble-grumble) accept that.

I was just in there (August) had had control arms/bushing replacements. And multi-point inspection. I'm told I'll need tires soon and that also front and rear brakes - pads AND rotors.

Tire measurements? 5/32. Still quite good. Bought 2 years ago at just under 20K miles to replace the nearly bald stock Yokohama Geo's.... The tires I bought are Nexen N5000Plus units, with a 65K mile warranty. Was told by one service adviser that "Nexen are off-brand tires". Really? They've only been around for 70+ years.

Next? I was told about brakes. 3MM remain in front, 2MM in rear. No wear on the rotors, no scoring. But around $1100.00 for front and rear, pads and rotors! Insane!

Most brake places will NOT charge you for rotors unless they are scored badly or warped. My rotors are perfectly OK.

Sometimes, dealer service is excellent and sometimes it is not.

My 2 bits.

GingerBear
2014 Forester 2.5i Limited
Fozzie Balou

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mach_six

· #5 · Oct 6, 2018

I guess you're in Cherry Hill, their corp office is moving to somewhere else in NJ with their new warehouse not too far from there.

I got a 2015 new from a north Jersey dealership and has almost 50k miles on it. I don't see that I need new rotors or even brake pads yet and I drive to NYC and such so sometimes I tend to brake a lot hard because of some aggressive driving. My wife mainly drove the car on a 40 miles daily commute but now it's a daily local driver for schools so it's getting even less usage and wear.

But for the price, I have to say that's pretty reasonable if that includes labor though I find it weird your front brakes and rotors aren't the first to be changed? If you don't trust them, I always ask for the parts back, I which you can have your friend check or a brake shop to verify that the rotors are worn to need a replacement.

I'm leery of dealerships too so I only take it for warranty issues or things I can't fix myself.

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SubieDubieDu

Discussion Starter · #6 · Oct 6, 2018

Pretty much my feeling about dealers as well. (x3 for Subaru service.) I probably would have gone to regular, trusted mechanic yesterday, but since I've already had THREE dealers tell me that my brakes are fine, I figured we need to follow through with that.

I did give my timeline and complaint to a gentleman at Subaru corporate. He will "see what Dealer B recommends". I told him their recommendation, and he thought that didn't make sense either. I think/hope he understood that they are all finger pointing.

Thanks for responding!

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SubieDubieDu

Discussion Starter · #7 · Oct 6, 2018

Thank you for that! Yeah, I figured that since I have a dealer by home, and a dealer by work, it couldn't hurt to see if I preferred one over the other for necessary trips.

Ouch! Yes, sounds like they really tried to upsell you GingerBear. I'm usually easy in that department. I don't know much about vehicles, and I want to be safe and maintain my vehicle well so it lives long. Trusted mechanics are worth their weight in gold.

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SubieDubieDu

Discussion Starter · #8 · Oct 6, 2018

Yes, Cherry Hill. I think they are moving down the road to help revitalize Camden.

They are giving me the parts. It can't hurt, but as I explained to the service writer, it's not that I disagree that this needs to be done. Oh, I definitely need rear brakes and at least one rotor. But after THREE dealers have told me that my brakes are fine (most recently 2.5 months and 6k miles ago), how did I go from over 5mm to 0mm? In 2.5 months? Either some folks can't measure properly, or we've got some seriously hungry, brake pad eating rats in our 'hood.

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to read and respond! I will update with how I make out.

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pliddle

· #9 · Oct 6, 2018

Not wanting to sound hyper-critical, but it should be pretty easy to break loose lug nuts (I know, not always), jack up vehicle, remove tire, and use led flashlight to look at pads in place and run forefinger across rotor to check for smoothness. I'm well into senior status, but I don't find this procedure difficult.

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SubieDubieDu

Discussion Starter · #10 · Oct 10, 2018

update

@ pliddle -- I hear you. My skill run more towards home improvement. Aside from wipers, air filters and fluid top offs, I usually leave the rest to the professionals. See where THAT got me?

And now for the update:

I got a call back on Tuesday asking me to email a copy of my bill. I did so, and this morning I received an email letting me know that they would be sending me a check for the entire amount of the brake job. Very impressed with the promptness with which SOA addressed this. I do hope that each of the 3 dealers is made aware of their part in this mess. I'm sure that at SOME point I will need to return to a dealer for some maintenance or warranty work.

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ntotrr

· #11 · Oct 12, 2018

SubieDubieDu said:
Yes, Cherry Hill. I think they are moving down the road to help revitalize Camden.

They are giving me the parts. It can't hurt, but as I explained to the service writer, it's not that I disagree that this needs to be done. Oh, I definitely need rear brakes and at least one rotor. But after THREE dealers have told me that my brakes are fine (most recently 2.5 months and 6k miles ago), how did I go from over 5mm to 0mm? In 2.5 months? Either some folks can't measure properly, or we've got some seriously hungry, brake pad eating rats in our 'hood.

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to read and respond! I will update with how I make out.

Just a side note: it's not unusual that the rear brakes wear out before the fronts. That happened on my last three vehicles including my current one which is a 2014 Forester.

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