I've been lucky that I've been able to avoid dealerships for years. About the only time I have to take my cars to a shop is to have the tires replaced or a front end alignment since I don't own these types of tools.
So I took my 2003 Subaru Baja in to have the defective Takata airbag replaced. Come to find out, mine didn't have the defective one. Wasn't even made by Takata.
But they did give my car a *free* inspection. I guess to drum up some bizness.
This car has 79,000 miles on it and I've done all the required maintenance to it myself.
Here is what they told me.
1) New timing belt and waterpump. Subaru says this isn't required until 100,000 miles. The dealer says every 10 years or 100,000 miles. The water pump is one of those (while your down there) items because it's driven off the timing belt.
2) New brake pads and front rotors. Yes the front end shimmies a bit under hard braking. I'm not sure why because I never recall overheating the brakes on this car. I always gear down when going down hills. I measured the thickness of the pads at 65,000 miles and they were 5mm / 4.5 mm front and back. The new pads are 10mm/8mm so I took them back to Advance Auto. At this rate I shouldn't need new pads until around 130,000 miles. Surely the pads cannot be worn out at 79,000 miles?
3) new wiper blades. I replaced these back in November.
4) New Tires. I measured the tread depth and they are still within spec. I may replace these before winter.
5) New battery. The battery was dead before I took it up to the dealership so the car only got recharged for 8 miles off the alternator. But yeah, it's probably bad.
OH, they quoted me $800 on the timing belt and $170 on a new battery.
Lets see I can get the parts for around $220 and a battery for $89. I think I'll do the job myself.
So I took my 2003 Subaru Baja in to have the defective Takata airbag replaced. Come to find out, mine didn't have the defective one. Wasn't even made by Takata.
But they did give my car a *free* inspection. I guess to drum up some bizness.
This car has 79,000 miles on it and I've done all the required maintenance to it myself.
Here is what they told me.
1) New timing belt and waterpump. Subaru says this isn't required until 100,000 miles. The dealer says every 10 years or 100,000 miles. The water pump is one of those (while your down there) items because it's driven off the timing belt.
2) New brake pads and front rotors. Yes the front end shimmies a bit under hard braking. I'm not sure why because I never recall overheating the brakes on this car. I always gear down when going down hills. I measured the thickness of the pads at 65,000 miles and they were 5mm / 4.5 mm front and back. The new pads are 10mm/8mm so I took them back to Advance Auto. At this rate I shouldn't need new pads until around 130,000 miles. Surely the pads cannot be worn out at 79,000 miles?
3) new wiper blades. I replaced these back in November.
4) New Tires. I measured the tread depth and they are still within spec. I may replace these before winter.
5) New battery. The battery was dead before I took it up to the dealership so the car only got recharged for 8 miles off the alternator. But yeah, it's probably bad.
OH, they quoted me $800 on the timing belt and $170 on a new battery.
Lets see I can get the parts for around $220 and a battery for $89. I think I'll do the job myself.
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