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thewayneI need to have a component in my car replaced. It's not safety-related, and the car runs fine without it. But it needs to be done at some point, one of those nuisance things. And I can't safely do it myself.
I call the Subaru dealer in El Paso. And you'll love this: they want ME TO BUY THE PART ONLINE AND BRING IT TO THEM!
It's not an expensive part, $130-150. They emailed me the part number, and I've found three sites that claim they'll sell me the genuine Subaru OEM part.
This just rubs me wrong. Plus, you know they'd be adding 75-100% markup on the part, they're missing out on some pure profit! I'm quite capable of taking my car up to Albuquerque or Tucson or Phoenix for service if I must.
If I were asking them to install something, I could see me buying it. I could also see them asking me to provide a deposit or pay for a part in advance.
But THIS? This is really weird. I've talked to a couple of friends, and they're completely baffled.
I'm going to call a couple of other dealers and ask them for a quote for the same service and see what they say, not telling them what the El Paso dealer said. And then I'm going to call Subaru Corporate and see what THEY say! I'm not far from crossing the El Paso dealer off my list entirely for any sort of business: I'm really mad at them for never helping me with any sort of service when I needed a $2500 safety-critical part replaced.
I call the Subaru dealer in El Paso. And you'll love this: they want ME TO BUY THE PART ONLINE AND BRING IT TO THEM!
It's not an expensive part, $130-150. They emailed me the part number, and I've found three sites that claim they'll sell me the genuine Subaru OEM part.
This just rubs me wrong. Plus, you know they'd be adding 75-100% markup on the part, they're missing out on some pure profit! I'm quite capable of taking my car up to Albuquerque or Tucson or Phoenix for service if I must.
If I were asking them to install something, I could see me buying it. I could also see them asking me to provide a deposit or pay for a part in advance.
But THIS? This is really weird. I've talked to a couple of friends, and they're completely baffled.
I'm going to call a couple of other dealers and ask them for a quote for the same service and see what they say, not telling them what the El Paso dealer said. And then I'm going to call Subaru Corporate and see what THEY say! I'm not far from crossing the El Paso dealer off my list entirely for any sort of business: I'm really mad at them for never helping me with any sort of service when I needed a $2500 safety-critical part replaced.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-07 06:57 am (UTC)But when my partner had car repairs done last, I remember the dealership having to order the parts, and it taking longer because of that. Maybe by getting customers to order the part themselves, the customers have less reason to complain about how long it is taking. And the dealer isn't stuck with the part and expense if the customer decides to not get it done after all.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-07 07:09 am (UTC)My Subaru has their EyeSight system, which is a visual cruise control thing with two cameras aiding lane keeping and maintaining the distance between me and the car in front of me. Awesome system. Well, one of the two cameras failed, which KO'd the whole unit, whole thing had to be replaced. Some $2500, surprisingly quick install. Weirdly, the charge to overnight ship it to Phoenix from somewhere in California was on the order 25%! For an aluminum chassis that the whole thing weighs certainly less than two pounds! They base their shipping cost on the part cost, which makes sense on like an engine or something big, but not on something that weighs nothing! I don't know what's going on here, just too strange.