The Subaru Used Car Story
 

Local mechanic shop.

Ordered 4 new tires. Had them installed.
Cooper CS-5. An excellent tire with good grip in all weather conditions. Yes, I buy tires from my local independent mechanic/shop.

In the waiting room.

Lady sitting there. She had a used Subaru. Looked real nice.

She tells me her story about this used Subaru that she purchased at one of the new car dealers in Laconia. (this is what prompted me to tell other story - different post).

She did purchase an Extended Warranty. And as we all find out - few actually READ the Extended Warranty. As verbally, salespeople state that an Extended Warranty is the best thing since sliced bread.

The engine failed on that used Subaru. The new car Laconia dealer replaced the engine under the Extended Warranty. The "new" used engine came from Bow Salvage. The lady not knowing much about cars drove home after all was "fixed". Except the "new" engine was leaking fluid.

The Laconia new car dealership had replaced her used engine with another used engine. She went back to new car dealership and she was told that engine is leaking from one of the coolant hoses. And that the dealership had nothing to do with the coolant hoses. That it was her problem. Not covered by any Extended Warranty. But she was intelligent enough to know that in order to change an engine - coolant hoses needed to be connected to car.

With lots of tugs and pushing and a lot of phone calls and time she gets hose leak fixed at no charge.

Then short time later she finds out that oil is leaking from "new" used engine. Back to the Laconia new car dealership. The oil leak is a "wear item" and not covered by the Extended Warranty. Lady asks if replacement engine has "any" warranty. Note - she still has the Extended Warranty. Laconia new car dealership states that maybe her old engine leaked oil too.

Terms such as head gasket, valve cover gaskets, oil pan and such were discussed.

Back and forth. Attempting to get her nice Subaru used car fixed from the Laconia new car dealership that sold her the used car and also sold her the Extended Warranty.

Presently, she is contacting state bureaus in Concord to seek relief.

I don't know this older lady and all of above information came directly from her.

For what it’s worth, probably the same Laconia “new car dealership” used a
salvaged tailgate to replace the one on my F150. Maybe that’s standard practice but I expected a brand new “looking and appearing” tailgate with the proper aftermarket (Line-X) coating which was approved by my insurance. The day comes a week later to drive over and swap the “refurbished to new looking” tailgate onto my truck and it looks great...until I open the tailgate to inspect the Line-x job. There was no new line-x coating on the tailgate but what the “original” owner of the tailgate (salvaged) had on it, which was dirty, battered up and peeling off in places.
I went back inside to ask why the Line-x work wasn’t done and the guy says “the tailgate was already Line-xed!”
I told him that my insurance approved the new Line-x work and that’s what I wanted and was paying for. He then said “you can take the Line-x cost off your deductible”
I said no, i want the Line-x work done so it matches the rest of my almost perfect line-x in the pickup bed.
Long story short, they rescheduled the line-x work and I finally got the finished product as expected. I no longer go there for service or anything.

Too many people involved that are not really involved.
But, nice story bro.

I meant to post this on the other thread about the Laconia new car dealership. My bad.

Those aftermarket extended warrantees aren't worth the paper they are printed on, biggest rip off in the used car market but the dealership and sales person makes a good commission on them. Now if you can get a factory extended warrantee then that is backed by the manufacturer of the vehicle.
When someone comes into my shop with one of those aftermarket warrantees expecting service I tell them to go to the dealer because of the hassle involved.

Smart Shopper
 

You have to be diligent when getting service and repairs for any automobile, used or new. Buying is a different story.

Neal's Garage on South Main Street is my go to guy for service and repairs. New or used. Stop by and you see brand new cars in for service. All makes including the German cars.

As for auto purchased. I'm a financial planner and NEVER bought a car less than 5 years old. Depreciation is your worst investment. I would find a car I like on line, enquire if my garage can go over it before the sale. That alone will pick out the honest from the dishonest. Skip King and Young's auto sale always let me allow the vehicles a go over and even let me take them for a ride to Concord. The new car dealers won't even think of it!

So don't complain, just move on!

The Subaru or ... ? :laugh:

Must have been the lady because there aren't any Subaru's that "look real nice".

Mine looks quite nice.

It is a silver Forester, much like all the others in every parking lot I’m in!