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Comments
Kate: Carmax -- what is this place? Another choice is to take it to a consignment used car lot. You and the dealer agree ahead of time what the price of the vehicle should sell at and they take care of the rest. The downside -- you're not guaranteed a sale and you don't get $$ right away.
Ken
-mike
Still, I'd be interested to know of some first-hand experience from a trusted Crew member.
So, I'm voting YES on taller springs for Sandy. Think of it as high-heel shoes for your lady :-)
is a huge used-car dealer. They have many locations in the States. I've heard people were getting decent prices from them. Not a full Excellent-Condition-Private-Party price, but much better than Trade-In.
-Frank P.
Bob
No, she did not ask me to share the cost of the repairs, I guess she just wanted to share her frustration. Grrr. Who said Honda engines are supposed to last > 200K mi?
I'm so glad now that I've got Subaru Gold on my Forester (and plan to get one for WRX too). It would be very disappointing, to pay for the warranty, but not able to collect anything.
-Frank P.
Carmax is usually more than what the dealer will allow but less than what you will get selling the car yourself.
On longevity, my local Subaru dealer has 3 outbacks for sale and all are over 130,000 miles.
However if you have new car fever only one thing will cure that, good luck.
Cheers Pat.
-Frank P.
Ken
Bummer Kate, I read about that in another topic. Solid argument for a manufacturer's warranty (if you get one).
My cousin was offered $12.5k at Carmax, sold it private party instead and got $15k. This was on an almost 3 year old Outback, not bad, got 75% of what she paid back.
-juice
Steve
It is almost always better to find a way to deal your car yourself.
Cheers Pat.
Romain Subaru
3700 E. Morgan Ave.
Evansville, IN 47714
It's true that SOA can't tell or force the dealer to do anything so don't blame them. I am loath to suggest this but perhaps a letter from an attorney might capture the dealer’s attention.
-Frank P.
-mike
Anyway I sent my info to an Indy law firm that handles lemon law. Since it isn't SOA's fault I don't know if the lemon law can help.
I think what really makes me mad is that these people charged me $380 to damage my car in the first place and now want ot make more money off of me.
By the way the WRX I was looking at is a 2003 not a 2004. They keep it and another 2003 up front and keep the new 2004's at the back of the lot so someone will look at the 2003s first. The salesman admits that they really want to get rid of the Sonic Yellow one.
The Subaru dealer in Lafeyette IN is stuck with 5 Sonic Yellow WRX's!
TWRX
TWRX
-Frank P.
-mike
TWRX- Go to a reliable independent mechanic for everything but warranty work. You should get better service and it'll be cheaper too!
-Frank P.
-mike
Hopefully, you can get it below $4800 ... perhaps you can spin it as the dealer avoiding the aggravation and cost of getting your car fixed properly. They should think of all the labor and parts they will be putting in until they get it right. Giving you the Sonic Yellow WRX at your price might be a great savings for them!
Hope it works out.
Jim
Now you know which IN dealer you should not buy from!
Bruce
I'd pay the $4800 for the newer car and try to transfer that Gold warranty to the new car. Then you're in the clear for a long time. 30k miles is a lot of use.
That Gold warranty is worth over a grand, so really your cost is very reasonable. Subaru is showing good will by offering that, I say take it.
The dealer should be reprimanded for such shoddy work (and I'm sure Patti will and/or has), it's shameful. I'd find a good indy mechanic via references, and deal with that dealer only when I had to.
Sorry about all this, and I sincerely hope you stick around once you're happier in that new yellow one. :-)
-juice
I guess what I'm saying is make the best of a bad situation. I don't think your current car will ever be reliable, short of swapping the entire engine.
-juice
TWRX
You overheat an alloy block, and now it's hard (if not impossible) to get it right again. The subsequent problems are challenging to fix, even if he's good.
It's frustrating, I'm sure, but you can put it all behind you and end up with a nice, long warranty, which ought to give you piece of mind down the road. You'll also enjoy roadside assistance for the full 7 years, and a loaner car if ever needed (a nice new minivan in our case, not an econobox). The wife gets red carpet treatment when she flashes her warranty card. The cherry on top is you could sell it with 95k miles on it and still leave some warranty for the next buyer.
This may set you back a year, but like I said, in a year I think you'll be better off.
Or...what is the alternative? Keep it? Nah. Sell it at a huge loss and buy something else without the warranty? That seems to me like an even bigger risk.
My suggestions may be the "least bad" alternative, but still.
Turn something negative into something positive. Ask them if they'll transfer the warranty to the new car to make up for the aggravation, then if/when they aggree to offer you that gesture of good will...
accept it!
-juice (now stepping off his soap box)
TWRX
Personally, I wouldn't want to keep the car, even if it was fixed correctly and had a superb warranty. Every time I stepped into the car I would think about the frustration I went through to have it repaired properly. I just wouldn't enjoy the car anymore.
That's actually a situation I'm in with my '00 Legacy. In the last few months I've made a couple dozen trips to the dealers for new diffys, a new clutch kit, and new transmissions (yes, that's plural), and things are still not right. So for my personal situation, I'm going to force Subaru to fix the car right, so future owners don't run into problems out of warranty, and then sell it. I'll move on and start fresh with a new car, a car that won't continually remind me of the rather painful experience my Legacy has put me through.
Something to think about. Everyone's different. Most people probably wouldn't even give it a second thought once the car was fixed right, other than avoiding that particular dealer at all costs. I'm just one of those types that hangs on to extreme experiences like this.
AZP just did ~10 30k services this past weekend. Mostly WRXs, with 1 '01 RS thrown in for good measure. Only 1 of them did we have to remove the upper radiator hose, to back-fill the engine block and radiator on a wrx, this was found during our post-30k test which is to run the engine up to temp, and make sure the radiator gets hot and fluid is flowing.
The one that failed this was filled while the nose was up. During the test, the rad never got hot. We had to take off the upper hose and fill the block and engine with coolant.
I wonder what exactly those guys were doing.
-mike
-mike
-juice
Bob
I went to buy some bottled water yesterday, and all the stores were out. So, I got about 8 gallons of cranberry juice. Who needs bottled water anyway....
Think we're ready here, plenty of gas, batteries, and duct tape (and juice).
Craig
BTW, what is the deal on Bruce's post? We post links and names all the time to other lists, suppliers, etc. His problems are very real and legitimate. I think he did an admirable job of describing the issues without going overboard with emotion. Why was his entry singled our for deletion?
Steve
-juice
TWRX
They'll wholesale out the old car to auction, probably take a small loss, maybe a big loss. I'd be shocked if it appeared on the used car lot. I bet they'd be happy never to see that particular car again.
And remember, when you factor in the free warranty offer they're definitely losing money.
What could they do to please you? Tell them, at least. Give them a chance. I think the warranty is a huge offering of good will.
You drove it for 30k miles, it's just not reasonable to demand a brand-new car that's worth far more than yours is now (or even before the problems crept up). Maybe a same-year model with similar mileage, sure. 30k miles makes a car depreciate a lot, the bumper-to-bumper warranty is almost fully used up by then.
Is there more to this than I'm imagining? Are you super-attached to the current car? Was is your first new car or something?
I'm pretty attached to Sandy and have invested a LOT of personal time working on it myself, so if that's the case I can relate. But if my wife's car had 30k miles and I had a similar offer, there would be a shiny new Subie in the driveway, probably our first automatic.
-juice
It is reasonable to expect a replacement car when they have in essence made mine undriveable. If someone has destroyed your property you should be compensated for it. Lemon law lawyers I have contacted tell me that even though I do not have a lemon law case that I may a negligence case. As soon as I get the paperwork when this repair is complete I am faxing it to them to see if I have a case.
As to what would make me happy, that would be buying the car from me for the $24,300 I paid for it. That way I would never have to deal with their crappy service department again. As much as I love my Subarus I would move to another japanese brand to escape these people. If they do make me an offer good enough (somewhere in the neighborhood of the $1000 Subaru mastercard coupon my wife earned) it would be problematic since I will need to get the car serviced in Louisville. But I will accept that inconvience if necessary. I have told them what I want. I told the salesman after the $6000 offer that it would need to be near $1000 to accept it. Then I was hit with the $4800 offer. The service department admits that they caused the problem. The service tech that rode along with me yesterday admitted that the overheating could have damaged the block or heads. I can't keep the car but I can't agree to their terms.
Of course they will wholesale the car out to auction and not have it on their lot. Look at the implication of that. I am being told that the car is just fine and completely repaired but they are afraid to buy it from me and put it on their lot!
BTW it is the 3 Subaru between my wife and I. I have gotten 3 others to buy Subarus from this dealer. I am still sold on Subaru and pretty fanatical about the beauty of all wheel drive. Look at all the posts I have written in the past about the fun and security this car has shown me in the snow, its exellent gas mileage and its fun factor. Before this car I was posting constantly on the 4x4 vmag board trying to talk people into buying a Forester like my '98. I am one of the few that have actually taken a Forester in real jeep roads in Colorado. Went through 6" of sand on trails down to the confluence of the Green and the Colorado at Dino Nat Mon. Park visitor center folks were shocked as to what I made it down there in.
The funny thing is that I prefer no haggle dealing. If I like the deal I take it. Life is far too short. But now I am in this situation. I look at it as the same way and this is the aspect of the car business I find most disgusting.
I had no intention of trading in this car. So I am in an intolerable situation in till I can get whatever help it takes to get it right.
TWRX
There's one other possible course of action that I've heard can get fast results and that is to show up in front of the dealership on a busy Saturday morning holding a big sign stating that as a result of work they performed, your car suffered major mechanical damage (make sure you stay off the dealer's property or else than can get you for trespassing). Also be careful with your choice of words so they can't sue you for libel. In any case, this tactic is known to be extremely effective in getting the dealer's attention but should only be used if all else fails.
-Frank P.
<Edit> Bruce posted while I was writing this but my comments still apply.
-Frank P.