Florian Feuser wrote;
This is true in some areas, but totally false in others. AllData is not cheap and if you are just making it by, then you are going to cut out things like AllData first and go back to the books which are cheap and in plentiful supply on the used book market.
Several reasons, the only tool any manufacturer has to coerce a dealer is money. Solving one problem can hurt five other customers.
Example, say a customer is in warranty but has an unusual problem and has to have the dealer do some serious engine work on his car. Five days later, the engine blows up.
The dealer rebuilds the engine under warranty since he sees no relation between the new failure and his work. (Not a great example, but you get the idea!)
Now I have been having a lot of trouble getting this dealer to be honest with customers and I have an opportunity to teach him a lesson. So when I come in, I look at the old broken parts and tell the dealer I'm not paying him for rebuilding the engine because it failed because of the work his mechanic did on the car. Therefore, it is not a warranty problem and he cannot charge the customer either.
Think it would do any good? No, it doesn't, they just screw the next five customers that much worse. That is about all service can do, spend or not spend money.
Either they are a good dealer, or they are not, or they fall somewhere in between. You have to scope them out, then decide to deal with them or not.
So, how about sales? The law now provides that all dealers must be treated equally by the manufacturer. Long ago, you could treat your good dealers by giving them your new models and limited editions first, or even exclusively. Dealers really paid attention back then.
When you hear on TV that a dealer made a special deal with the factory, and got 200 cars at a special low price, that is pure BS and against federal law. Don't believe a word of it.
So sales has no power over the dealers either.
As you can see from above, it is not Subaru or Honda or Toyota etc. It is politics.
On this forum, I see often that people say they have a problem with Subaru, or Subaru doesn't honor it's warranty, etc. when what they need to understand is that they have a problem with a "Dealer", probably not Subaru or Honda, etc. Often what the dealer tells the manufacturer is quite different than how he tells you he presented your warranty problem that got rejected. The dealer makes more money if you pay for the repair.
The factory tests how long repairs should take and creates a factory flat rate manual. Then another company comes along and their selling point to buy their manual (maybe an "emanual" now) is that all the times are doubled.
When I was a mechanic, I used the "popular" flat rate manual to estimate jobs. One day a guy came in selling a manual where all times were 3 times the factory times. I passed. But that is how it basically works.
Law now requires factory pays same hourly wage, but factory time. Dealer can charge "popular" flat rate times, plus shop supplies, plus service fees, plus parts disposal fees, etc.
A friend of mine the other day said he called Ford to find out something about the differential in his old car. Having been a rep, I had to ask about 6 questions to get through to him that he had not spoken to "Ford", but rather to the service manager at a Ford dealership. People do not seem to understand that these two are completely separate from one another.
Perhaps it would be better if the big "Ford" or "Honda" or "Toyota" signs were not out in front of every dealership, since it makes people think that the dealer is part of the company whose product it sells. Of course, that would never work, but you get the idea.
thermostat replaced at a cost of $550 at Milea >Subaru in the Bronx (a 1hour train ride for me). The service guy tried >to do me a favor and decided to grease all door hinges. He overlooked >that in the hot weather here, the clearance between the spoiler on the >hatch and the roof caused the edge of the spoiler to catch and bind, >forced it open and broke off the front of the spoiler, denting the roof >in the process.
Well, FF, accidents do happen, and I was not there to see how exactly how the dealership handled their mistake. But lies are not mistakes, and I don't know where else you can get your car worked on but there have to be some good Suby mechanics closer than 1 hour from where you live.
In "general", and I said I was not there, if a dealer does not greet you with an appology when you walk in the door, before you find out about this on your own, what do you think their attitude is when they are doing serious work on your car? Your satisfaction means nothing to them.
I would not even put it past them to set you up for future work, and I have seen this done as regular policy, by sabotage to some other part of your car by loosening a bolt or adding a liquid here or there or whatever.
If the service manager knew about this in advance and did not tell you, or if he did not try to resolve this to your satisfaction once he found out about it, I suggest you never go there again. Other Subaru dealers can also perform warranty on your car if needed. Some brands, not sure about Subaru, even let non dealers perform some types of warranty work, might be worth checking out with the factory, but don't call a dealer about it.
The other very valid problem I see that you have is that the shop that repaired the head gasket did not check the cooling fan, what the heck kind of a job was that? Makes you wonder what else he didn't do? And, was there a check up before the blown head gasket where someone should have checked cooling fans and the likes?
Good luck, Subies are still great cars, I have 5 sitting outside right now!
RedCrow