Looking for some advice here. A little context, my wife has been happily schlopping around in her Subaru for close to 150,000 miles now (bought it new), and plans to stay in it until it dies. We’ll be getting a minivan to replace it.
In order to keep the car going, I think we’re going to have to put some money into it, which I’m fine with. I don’t think she’s done a great job keeping up with routine maintenance, to be frank. I plan to take her vehicle to an Indy the specialized in Japanese vehicles during the holiday break.
How would you recommend explaining this situation to a mechanic? I do not want to get completely gouged, but do want the vehicle to get a good tune-up so it can last us another 50,000 miles or so.
Or, would you recommend something else, like just put the minimum into the car?
It’s hard to give a recommendation on something like this without seeing a car. I’ve seen cars with more miles and in perfect condition and I’ve seen cars with 30K that are about to fall apart. You also didn’t mention what Subaru it is and what powertrain is in it.
Step one is to take it to a mechanic that knows these cars, not necessarily someone who specializes in Japanese brands as Subaru is in a class with Subaru.
You need to at least have some understanding of what needs to be done before hand. If you give a blank check to any mechanic, even the most trustworthy ones will have hard time resisting adding a proverbial blinker fluid.
If you are just asking them to “check it over”, the best way to phrase it in my experience has been to say that you are taking a trip out of town and want to make sure everything ok. Make sure to understand how much this check is going to cost if you elect not to do any work, and if you do decide to do work, will the price of the check up itself be waived, different shops have different policies on this.
If you do decide to perform any repairs
get a written estimate and make sure there is a clause that any adds have to be idscussed with you and authorized. So if a situtation arises where they take out an oil filter and see metal shavings, they don’t replace your engine without asking (this is obviously an exaggerated example to make a point),
ask what parts will be used (OEM, aftermarket, etc), what is the warranty on the parts and labor and make sure it’s in writing.
if they are proposing to replace a part that you can’t easily see, ask them not to dispose of the original part as you’d like to see it after replacement. If they tell you they can’t as they have to send it back or something tell them yout don’t want to keep it, just see it. If they are adamant about not showing you what they will take out of your car, go to another shop.
know what’s a good idea and what’s not a good idea ahead of time based on the maintenance that was done to the car before. For example, if transmission was never serviced on some if not most cars it’s better to leave it alone with 150k miles, flushing it will cause nothing but problems. Chemical engine flushes are almost never a good idea. Just some examples of what can be offered and probably shouldn’t be done.
Expect that honest mechanics to tell you a large number
Expect that dishonest mechanics to tell you a large number
Expect that really dishonest mechanics to low ball you , do nothing and you will have a broken car later.
That’s how I found my last independent shop - on yelp. Granted that was before 2015, when they told us that one of the cats went bad, and they recommended replacing all 4 on a California emissions Pathfinder for around $4k. That’s when we just started leasing, to avoid having to deal with being gauged for car repairs. Service costs have gone through the roof for everything. Even for oil changes - we used to pay $80 at the dealer, and they used to not even charge for tire rotations. Now it’s $200 every 5k miles for oil change and tire rotation.
Back then maybe, now it’s just useless for most things. Too many Karens bitching about non-existent issues trying to scam the businesses out of free shit to remove /.modify reviews. Businesses faking reviews, just a complete garbage of information.
For all things local, it’s best to ask around in person. Especially when it’s someone driving a car of similar vintage and same broad origin category (Asian, domestic, euro).
Real people are much less likely to provide a fake or paid review face to face.
Another strategy is to give any potential shops you’re thinking about using a trial run.
So rather than showing up and asking them to fix everything that needs fixing, just schedule an appointment to get one or two specific items serviced (that are hopefully relatively minor).
If you get a good feeling and they do a good job, don’t overcharge, etc. then you can consider turning them loose on additional work. If not, move on to another shop.
Make a budget, and explain to them that you have a budget, and let them give you advice on how to prioritize. Hopefully, you’ve been getting oil changes regularly. You should probably look at your service manual to see what it needs, but here is a list:
engine air filter, cabin air filter, windshield wipers - you can do this yourself
oil and filter - hopefully you’ve been doing this on schedule
spark plugs
flush brake fluid
flush coolant
transmission and differential fluid - not sure if Subaru shares a single fluid
You’ve probably had your brake pads and tires replace already, probably more than once. You might need new brake rotors. Brakes are pretty important, so I would prioritize brakes. Same with tires.
If you tell them that you have a budget, and you didn’t tow your car in, they should be able to give a breakdown of what they think should be done now vs what can wait.
I may have missed one or two preventive maintenance tasks, but most of the things like AC or light bulb, you just fix as they break.
Thanks for the input. I know my wife keeps up with oil changes. I’m less confident about the less regular service interval items, some of which you mentioned
