I was looking for a used '05 STi I went to the closest Subaru dealer about 20 min from my house (RK Subaru, Vineland NJ). They had none but said they could find what ever I wanted. They asked if i would be trading in my 99 F-350, I wasn't sure but they talked me into just appraising it.
When the salesman got into the truck he must have not known how to drive a ZF 6 speed and tried to force it into reverse. I did not realize this until I later drove off the lot and my truck would not shift into 3rd and 4th gear. The salesman broke the shift fork inside the tranny. I called the dealer right away and they told me it didn't happen on the lot and the salesman didn't do anything wrond. I had to get the truck fixed out of my own pocket for $1200. This alone would have been enough to make most people sick.
But the drama doesn't end there. I later found an STi forsale in Pa. From a private seller. I purchased the car with 29k miles it had an up pipe and TBE along with a set of lowering springs. The car was in excelent shape with no problems at all. At about 32k miles (still under warranty) the turbo stopped making boost and was making a whining sound. I called another Subaru dealer about 40 min away (Subaru of Cherry Hill NJ) the service manager said over the phone that the exhaust modifications wouldn't be a big deal and they could fix it under warranty. When I dropped the car off he looked it over and again said it wouldn't be a problem to fix. I was very happy at this point and felt confident that the dealer could do the job.
I left and was about half way home when the service manager called me and said they wouldn't be able to fix my car unless I paid them out of pocket to take off the aftermarket exhaust and install the original exhaust. They wanted 7hrs labor to do the job. I said no way and they were supposed to cover it under warranty. They told me to come in and pay or pick up the car. So I picked it up and and I'll be doing the work myself.
The dealer has now attached a note with my VIN# saying the car has exhaust modifications and suspension modifications and any future warranty work may only be done if the car is completely returned back to stock. So now I basically have no warranty on a car that isn't even 4 yrs old yet and only has 32k miles.
-In all I've have nothing but trouble with Subaru of America and I doubt I'd ever buy a new Subaru just because of the experiences I'v had with the dealers and the warranty issues.
-Just as a side note my brother also has an 05 STi still underwarranty, the rear struts are making noise, he went to the same dealer I went to (Cherry Hill) to ge the warranty work done and they told him they wouldn't work on the struts because he had exhaust modifications and they would have to charge him to put the factory exhaust back on before they worked on the car. [email protected]
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