Now I question everything (insurance, mileage, sell, replace)

[HarborRat]

Originally Posted by T. Damon

.... so the replacement was well warranted....

That depends on who you ask. I am a master mechanic myself, and I say otherwise. I've never seen a timing belt go bad before it's time, in mileage, no matter how old. I'm sure it could happen but....

[alpha_1976]

I can tell you "radiator hoses soft" is BS at least most times. They are supposed to be soft. I was told a number of times when I used to do go to these places (luckily I refused) and now I know they were perfectly fine. They don't even touch them. If you ask them if those are really that much soft -some of the little honest ones will tell you that they are just saying it based on mileage or year.

[HappyRider]

I still haven’t figured out what the OP is complaining about. They didn’t recommend that you change the timing belt? If they did you’d be probably suspect they want to scam you out of your money. I believe in fixing things that are actually broken.

[T. Damon]

Originally Posted by HarborRat

That depends on who you ask. I am a master mechanic myself, and I say otherwise. I've never seen a timing belt go bad before it's time, in mileage, no matter how old. I'm sure it could happen but....

With an interference engine, the could is enough for me. Sure they could go 250k miles, but that ain't gonna help most of us on a dark rainy night in the middle of nowhere with a destroyed engine.

My 02 WRX has only 57k miles on it and I just got all my belts, hoses and water pump replaced. Was I premature or paranoid in replacing these items before they were officially "bad"? Maybe, but I now don't have to worry about this ever again and that was worth it for me.

[draketrutta]

Originally Posted by T. Damon

My 02 WRX has only 57k miles on it and I just got all my belts, hoses and water pump replaced. Was I premature or paranoid in replacing these items before they were officially "bad"? Maybe, but I now don't have to worry about this ever again and that was worth it for me.

Officially bad? LMAO

You'll worry again (unnecessarily, due to your OCD) in another 57k miles, before they become officially bad the second time around.

[T. Damon]

^^^
And that will be in another 12 years at my rate- not feeling very worried or obsessed for a looong time.

[ciceropolo]

I think the first service department to do the following will be the first trusted.
1) Have those waiting have full view of their vehicle being worked on
2) Be given the labor price per unit up front
3) Be given the OEM parts cost up front
4) Negotiate an acceptable margin of profit from the service with an explanation as to what percent of their fixed costs are overhead.

I don't see that happening anytime soon.

So it's always a gamble. I bet some dealers treat certain customers well to get potential repeat business / goodwill, and then treat others as the sheep to make their higher margin goal$.

[Larry Caldwell]

Ditto on dumping the dealer. I take my out-of-warranty work to an independent shop that is well established, where I know both the owner and the mechanic who works on my vehicles. I can talk to the mechanic directly. I recently took my pickup in for 100,000 mile service, which was a little more extensive than the owner's manual recommends. I had them re-pack the wheel bearings. They noticed the brake pads were down to 20%, and offered to do both the brakes and bearings at once for a discounted price, since they only had to take it apart and put it together once. They also knocked a few bucks off of the brake fluid flush, since they were doing the front brakes. It saved me a couple hundred bucks all told. They use quality parts, and warranty their work. A year later one of the bearing seals started leaking and they replaced it free of charge. No "30 day warranty" BS, a bearing seal should run for years, and it was obviously defective. I have never found a dealer that would stand behind their work like that.

[iamweasel]

Originally Posted by ciceropolo

I think the first service department to do the following will be the first trusted.
1) Have those waiting have full view of their vehicle being worked on
2) Be given the labor price per unit up front
3) Be given the OEM parts cost up front
4) Negotiate an acceptable margin of profit from the service with an explanation as to what percent of their fixed costs are overhead.

I don't see that happening anytime soon.

So it's always a gamble. I bet some dealers treat certain customers well to get potential repeat business / goodwill, and then treat others as the sheep to make their higher margin goal$.

Of course that is not happening because what you're asking for is not realistic. Go ask Subaru to let you see your car get built as it goes down the line and they won't let you do that, either.

#2 and #3 should be provided before any repair is done and most good dealers or mechanics do this.

One thing that you and many other fail to consider when evaluating repair jobs is the number of hours it takes to do it. So many people come in asking "what is your labor rate" but don't ask how long they'll charge for the job. This is one are where I've caught independents nailing people to "get whole" so they can post a low labor rate at the door.

Shop A = $75/hour and 5 hours to do a job = $375
Shop B = $65/hour and 6 hours to do the same job = $390

Get it? There is more than one way to skin a cat. There are good dealers and bad just as there are good independent shops and bad. Simply saying avoid all dealers or avoid all independents is narrow minded thinking. Each person has to figure out (sometimes the hard way) which is the best option for them.

[CCc girl]

Martha Anne, where are you? Not specifically, just give me something close. I can try to recommend a shop.

I sell used auto parts for a living, was a professional dealership parts manager for twenty years, and DH is a retired master tech. Yeah, we are the family car go to people.