Schedule Maintenance Question

[RustyScoop]

Anyone have recommendation on where to take your Subaru for major schedule maintenance (30, 60, 90, 120K...)? Does it worth it to take it to Dealer's shop? They seems to charge a lot more than other regular shop. I looked at the item they services, seems straight forward and I could have done. I have a 96 Impreza L Sedan and 120K is coming soon. I live in Bay Area, CA and I needed the most econ way but not to a point they just look at the car and say everythings ok. Or should I just focus on what attention item need to be fix and go from there? Any advice?

Thanks.

[nipper]

You dont have to go to the dealer to get the glove box lubricated (old joke). Just tell the shop what your in for, show them the manual, and keep the receipts just in case you have a major warrenty issue.

The first maintanence (oil change) should be the dealer.

 

nipper

[mattocs]

Find a nice mechanic who has a good reputation and has good prices. Everything should be fine then.

[RustyScoop]

Well, I have been to many shops that are not Subaru Dealer, even looked on cartalk.com for recommendations. They all end up telling me to fix something that I don't need. The worse part is that they charge you for the time they test drive your car, look underneath it... if anyone can recommend me a honest shop I would be really happy, since I am coming down with an illness of not being able to trust mechanics lately with my Subaru : ( A

Anyone in North California can recommend me a shop or think they can help me out, please let me know.

So for a big job like Transmission, I would take it to Subaru right?

[nipper]

Well thats the deal with the oil changes, to get you in the shop. They are there to make money, and you can always say no.

 

Do you belong to AAA. Look for one of thier shops.

 

I would personally take the car to the dealer only if it was a computer problem of some kind, and that would be only after giving it to a local shop first.

 

nipper

[WAWalker]

Well, I have been to many shops that are not Subaru Dealer, even looked on cartalk.com for recommendations. They all end up telling me to fix something that I don't need.

The scheduled maintenance is "Preventative checks and maintenance". That means fixing things that are not broken, in order to prevent inconveniant break downs. If you only want to fix a broken car, drive it till it brakes, have it towed, and repaired. Forget the Scheduled maintenace.

 

The worse part is that they charge you for the time they test drive your car, look underneath it...

There are a lot of people on the "information super highway" that fell this way. I'm sure if you all put your heads together and figure out how a shop owner could pay the overhead of running a repair shop and not have to charge for time spent on customers cars, you would be highly sought after buisness consaltants.

[RustyScoop]

Well thats the deal with the oil changes, to get you in the shop. They are there to make money, and you can always say no.

 

Do you belong to AAA. Look for one of thier shops.

 

I would personally take the car to the dealer only if it was a computer problem of some kind, and that would be only after giving it to a local shop first.

 

nipper

 

Thanks Nipper, that is so true. The only problem is that I have a local shop that suppose to know a lot about Subaru checked my car, it came down to VC (viscous Clutch) that I agree, and some other problem that I don't think's wrong, I wondering if I take it to Dealer, they might have better warrenty, know how to do it right, and save me hassle in long run by spending more?!