Recently I had some brake issues and had my car towed down there for an estimate. They called me back, said I would need 4 new rotors, pads all around and a new right front caliper and gave me a $1500 estimate. I told them not to fix it and that I would find someone else. Gagan offered to help me out and change my brakes for me, so when he came over and looked at the caliper all I needed was a new bolt, not a whole new caliper, so either someone down there has no idea what they are doing or they were trying to rip me off and charge me $250 for a $5 part. Either way they were trying to screw me, just letting you all know about Downtown Subaru and their questionable business practices. Im thinking about calling SOA on this one.

 

Huh -- from what I read they were actually okay. Of course I've never been there (car just went over 1000 miles this weekend, so it'll be awhile), so I can't say either way. But it is the closest dealer to me, so I was hoping they'd be good. Any other opinions on Downtown Subaru?

I'm surprised they let you drive off with the car since, from the repairs they claimed needed to be done, the car wouldn't be safe to drive at all.

 

I dont trust them either, when I was approaching the 30K maintenance I asked what gear oil to use for the rear diff. Some guy said with a major attitude "WHAT are you doing messing with that stuff??? Just leave it alone!" A tech then told him it was required

morons

 

They had issues with my car as well - tried to tell me that an electrical problem that i had the same day i bought was due to an aftermarket stereo installed 5 days after the problem started.

 

oakland subaru is sh*t** i'll never take my car there any. they hella ripped me off. i had an gasoline leak from the fuel pump and they didnt cover it under warranty

 

I had it towed to my house. It was undriveable. Do not take your car there, they will rip you off.

 

Most Subaru dealerships do not and are not offered select parts, most of their parts come as a complete assembly. When my brakes were sticking, I needed new calder pins, but every dealership did not have them, nor could they find a part number. Dealerships can only give you what they get from Subaru, they're not going to part out an entire assembly for only one part, especially if it doesn't even have a part number.

Don't expect SOA to do anything on changing anything. I'm sure you all know how crappy Livermore Subaru is, and I've complained only to get an e-mail saying "Thank you for your reply about our dealerships, we're very sorry about this and the dealership has been notified." Only to one of the normal letters after you take a your car to a dealership saying "You have recently taken your car to (insert name) Subaru Dealership, and we hope your visit was satisfactory"

Only thing is, the Service Department Manager laughed at my face in front of me, because I asked him what he meant by "You need new brakes." I just like how he shut up as soon as I asked him, do I need the whole assembly, the rotors, pads, calipers, etc and was like wtf? and told me to talk to the tech.

 

No, they sell caliper bolts. I know they do cuz I had to go buy one to replace the one from the caliper I bought to put on that I didnt even need.

 

weird, I called Walnut Creek, Livermore, and Santa Cruz and they all told me they had no part number for a calder pin. Are we talking about the same part?

 

He needed a bolt, not a pin. The parts department was nice to me when I needed a new window motor. I showed up at 5:05 with cash and part number in my hand and they graciously got it for me.

 

Caliper, not calder.

 

I've bought new calder pins before. Try www.subaru parts.com

-Gagan

 

Also, big ups to Gagan in this thread as well, he drove out to Berkeley from Union City to do my brakes for me with minimal compensation. I owe you big time, if there is anything I can ever do for you be sure to let me know.

 

no problem dude.

I'm just sorry I couldn't get the brakes bled totally. I dunno why when I do it on my car, it's usually fine, but on others, I always get a soft pedal!



-Gagan

 

Alright, Downtown Subaru is out. Guess I'll be taking it to Carlsen or Santa Cruz if I need service...at least until those maintainence coupons run out.