So, my wife is heading home from shopping and pulls onto the highway, but the car slows down and eventually she pulls off the road and stops. She can't get it going again, saying it "won't stay in gear." And she's complaining of a bad smell. I'm at home an hour's drive away, so I call a tow truck company for her.
Tow truck company A shows up and asks her if the car is front wheel drive, my wife says four wheel drive. They hook up the car somehow and start pulling away. A few seconds later, somebody says "Oh $h!t" and the Subaru is seen plowing into the ditch on the side of the highway.
Lots of unimportant stuff happened after that. Police. Tow truck company B. Rental car. blah blah blah.
Physical damage looks (from teeny cell phone pictures) to be front bumper, front driver quarter panel, possibly front driver door, and god knows what else underneath.
My wife doesn't think they put anything under the rear wheels, and Tow Truck Company B made a point of saying that Tow Truck Company A didn't hook up the car right. What are the chances that some major components of the drivetrain were damaged by this towing episode?
As for the mechanical trouble, my guess is clutch. It's a 5sp 2003 Outback Sport with over 200k kms. I had the clutch replaced under warrantee at 40k due to slipping, and I had noticed starting to slip a little bit on cold take-offs recently. However, my wife now drives the car more than I do. She has said it's been acting funny lately, with what sounds like the car revving too much.
How much does a clutch replacement cost typically? What are the chances the towing episode damaged so much of the drive train that the clutch gets replaced as part of the Tow Truck incident?
I guess on Monday an insurance adjuster will look at it and decide what parts to fix first.
This has been a strange day ...
Chicobiker