Loan cars

If they're under warranty then yes. That's what ours do when we bring our Subies in for warranty repairs. You could simply call the Subie dealers in your are to check under what conditions they provide free loaners. Ours also let us have an Outback 2017 for 3 full days for free, plus we got a $25 gift card from Subaru for drive testing their car. Just had to fill out some paperwork. The 3rd day was terrible weather (ice and heavy snow) and they said it was okay to return on the

4th day (after the roads got plowed, salted, and sanded). We bought that car model (they had to get it from another dealer to match our color selection) and they twice had a rep train us on all the features which was easier than reading the weighty owner's manuals (2 of them). Every dealer is different. Some are very interested in customer satisfaction, especially for loyal Subaru customers: we had 3 (1992, 2002, and 2005), totalled the 2005 in a crash, down to 2, and got a new one so back to 3.

Dealerships vary a lot on their view of customer satisfaction plus their financial status dictates what they can do "for free" (i.e., at cost to them) for their customers. Some are just too tight on budget to be doling out free stuff. Some do very well and can afford to dole out the freebies. Walking around the dealer to talk to the reps, managers, parts, and service folk can let you know what goes on there and if they treat their customers as dumb mutts or prized revenue sources.

After the warranty, we have a different and independent shop (all master mechanics) who are a bit cheaper (not the cheapest but we don't trust those shops) and faster, plus they will tell you when something doesn't have to be repaired now that they happen to find rather than make it sound critical and can sometimes find a cheaper way to repair, like knowing a guy that will replace the spring for a turn signal lever in the steering assembly rather than buying a whole new replacement. They have free rentals, too, although they aren't doing warranty work but they have only have a couple rentals. If the job takes over an hour, I usually just have them give me a ride home, wait for them to call, and get a ride back (typically their parts runner guy does the customer hauling). The dealer isn't bad on their repair prices but they do everything by the book. Not where I'd get a car blueprinted which this car shop did for my Mustang but they recommended another place for the carburetion work. I like a place that says "Nah, don't bother doing that" or "Wait until you get done and then do this so you gain economy in the combo repair."

There's another independent shop that will give me rides for free to and from home but car rentals are not free there; however, they are often cheaper than the other car shop except there are some repairs I don't trust them to be as expert plus I query them on what parts they intend to use. For example, they wanted to replace the front exhaust header but just a gasket had blown out because one stud was missing and another had a loose nut - and our favorite muffler shop took care of that at a tenth the cost, the same place that replaced the entire exhaust system from exhaust manifold to tail pipe, under my direction, because they do their own custom bending and were a fourth the cost of the dealer using Subaru branded parts). Yet this 2nd car shop did the head gasket repair, timing belt & pulley replace, coolant flush, oil change and filter, and timing (maybe more but don't recall now) for two-thirds of the other shop (who was very close to the estimate of the dealer) that that end cost was two-thirds of the *estimates* by the others just for the head gasket repair. None of them re-plane the intake manifold so that was an outside job at fixed cost. I did have to take the car back immediately because I knew there was a problem with the ignition and exhaust valves which took another 2 days for them to tweak out (we couldn't afford a valve job, too).

Depends on the dealership. My nearest one has a free shuttle. I've never asked about loaners because I've never needed to leave the car for more than a few hours.

Even Honda has free shuttles, but it usually doesn't apply beyond a few miles. I thought free loaners were a corporate policy, not that of individual dealers.

It is totally dealer dependent. The dealers locally all have shuttle service anywhere in town (Twin Cities) Some VIP customers, on prior approval, may get a courtesy car from some dealers under certain cercumstances. When I was service manager it would have taken a fleet of over a dozen courtesy cars to provide all customers a car. That would have been prohibitively expensive. If a car was tied up for 2 days or more for warranty repairs we would occaisionally provide a used car off the lot - but plating and insurance became way too much of an issue.

It is some years back, and things may have changed. But just a few days after we bought a 3-year old Outback (1997, 2.5, auto) we started on a trip, stopped to pick up the entry ticket for the Indiana Toll Road, and when I next hit the accelerator there was a loud bang and no power. There had been a brief startup moment of power that got me moving, and I managed to roll to the margin of the road. There was coolant running out of the air intake, not a good sign...

Used cell 'phone to track down nearest Suby dealer, in Gary, Indiana. Called there, they arranged to have us towed in. Starting with that, through the rest of the story, Subaru of America picked up all the costs, despite the fact that ours was a used car (bought with no additional warranty) with its warranty at the end, slightly over warranty time. We did have to do a bit of waiting around, but otherwise everything was pretty much perfect.

When we got to the dealer they did a brief inspection, decided there was no way it would get fixed right away: Part of that was that their Subaru guru (mostly a Buick dealer) was away, in South America, not due back for quite a while.

They provided us a fairly new Buick to drive for the rest of our trip, a couple of thousand miles and a couple of weeks. When we got back home to Wisconsin our car was still not ready, they said to keep the loaner Buick. A week or so later the car was fixed. I drove the Buick to Gary, picked up our car, drove home. No dollars out of my pocket!

Now the engine problem had been that the number four piston basically disintegrated. A bad day at the forging plant? We'll never know. There were bits of piston spread all through the bottom end (I don't know what better to call it on a pancake, boxer, flat, H4, engine, that's what I would call it on other layouts: The region with the crankshaft, let's say.) When their Suby expert got back he convinced them it needed a new short block, i.e. everything in the main engine assembly except the heads and their contents and maybe the water pump.

The dealership had not been sure at first how much SoA would cover, and I don't know what bargaining may have gone back and forth between the dealer and SoA. So it might be that the dealership had some great negotiator working on SoA and our treatment was not standard, but I don't know why the dealership would be motivated to do that.

So your mileage may vary, but they really took care of us! Bob Wilson

Depends on the engine. The 4 cam EJ25 is a hybrid interference engine. The valves cannot hit the piston, but if the belt slips and the cams get out of time the valves can hit each other. As noted, the EJ uses timing BELTs.

There are other Subaru engines that I am not personally familliar with.

As noted, it varies from dealer-to-dealer. Every dealer I've bought a car from offers loaners. Since the number of loaners is limited, it's suggested that you make a service appointment far enough in advance so that you can secure a loaner.

My Subaru dealer offers limited types of service on Saturdays which is convenient for They'll do routine maintenance and I've gone there for the oil & filter changes and tire rotations as part of my 3-year or

36,000 free maintenance program.

That's quite a story Bob, happy to hear you were treated so well. Not only did Subaru step up but that dealer did also.

Several local dealers have an arrangement with economy car rental to provide a rental car at reduced rates when your car is in for service.

Good thread. Prompted me to check my Subaru dealer and he does it. Wife and I retired with 2 cars, no problem anyway and I am more pleased with his service pricing.

But it is exctly then when interference engines are a problem; when the timing belt slips or breaks.

Except on the soob EJ25, if the belt breaks the cams stop turning so the valves can't hit each other, and they can't touch the valves. regardless - so it's a total non-issue. If it just jumps a few teeth, the valves can hit each other, bending valves but not doing any serious damage to the engine (Pistons, Rods, Cyls, etc)

Hm, interesting. Thanks.