[hmck]

Unfortunately I paid an independent repair place $363 for bushings on differential member. Later found out warranty covers it. Called corporate Subaru and was told too bad, that I should have gone to dealer and he offered to pay for parts only $116. Subaru woke me up 6:30am in California to tell me. My Forester is 2007 with 31K miles on it. Should I keep trying to get reimbursement. My local dealer said I should be able to get it.
hmck

 

[crewzer]

This is probably the relevant language from the 2007 Warranty:

Obtaining Repairs

Warranty claims must be made as soon as reasonably possible after a defect is discovered, but before the end of warranty coverage on the particular part. It is recommended that warranty repairs be performed by the Authorized SUBARU Dealer who sold you the car, although warranty service will be performed by any Authorized SUBARU Dealer anywhere in the United States. When a warranty repair is needed, your car must be brought to an Authorized SUBARU Dealer's place of business during normal business hours. A reasonable time must be allowed for the dealership to perform necessary repairs. Within the New Car Limited Warranty period, if any part needed to make repairs is temporarily unavailable anywhere in the United States, you may be eligible, under the terms of the Subaru Owner Assistance Alternate Transportation Program, for a substitute vehicle during the time your car is out of service for warranty repairs. See your Authorized SUBARU Dealer for additional details.

Towing

SOA will pay the cost of having your car towed to the nearest Authorized SUBARU Dealer if it cannot be driven due to a defect covered by these warranties.

Emergency Repairs

In case of an emergency in which there are no Authorized SUBARU Dealers open for business within a distance of 75 miles, minor repairs needed to ensure the safe operation of the car may be made at any available service facility. SOA will reimburse you up to a maximum amount of $500.00 for any such emergency repairs that are eligible for coverage under this warranty. However, SOA is not obligated to reimburse you at a cost for warranted parts replaced which is higher than SOA's suggested retail price or for labor charges which are higher than SOA's recommended time allowance for the repair multiplied by a labor rate per hour appropriate for your location. To make a claim for reimbursement, you must present all replaced parts, your copy of the paid receipt and a written description of the emergency situation to any Authorized Subaru Dealer within 15 days of the emergency repair. Once verified, the dealer will submit your claim for processing and you will receive reimbursement for all approved claims directly from SOA within 60 days. SOA reserves the right to have all emergency repairs inspected when a claim is made and assumes no liability for the workmanship of the repair facility or for any non-genuine Subaru parts or accessories used in the repair.

IMHO, the warranty language states that you're not entitled to any reimbursement at all. However, having the bushings fail so early should be pretty embarrassing for Subaru. You might try pressing them for 50% reimbursement ("Look, your parts failed early and I now understand that I didn't follow proper procedure, so how about if we split it?"). I would think that something like that would be a good customer satisfaction incentive.

HTH,
Jim / crewzer

 

[lfdal]

True, most companies want you to give the dealer a shot at determining if its warranty work first. Only exception that comes to mind is if you've had something that wasn't under warranty repaired, either at a dealer or indie shop and the company later issues a recall on the failed part. Those expenses are **usually** recoverable regardless of where the repair was made.