Maintaining used cars can come with periodic expenses, but it’s unusual for the cost of maintenance to equal the value of the car itself. However, one Subaru owner found themselves facing this exact situation after a recent visit to a local service shop. What complicates matters is that much of the recommended work has already been completed, several of the suggested parts are actually downgrades, and the estimated labor cost seems to be significantly inflated, totaling over $12,000.
Notably, the person in this predicament is in Canada and so for him, the bill actually comes to over $17,000 CAD ($12,415 USD). From here on out we’ll quote prices in Canadian dollars just so that there’s no confusion. Shared on Reddit’s Subaru forum, user Undrscor says that he was considering selling his 2009 Subaru WRX STI. It has some 217,000 km (134,838 miles) on the odometer so the potential buyer took it to a shop for a third-party evaluation.
That’s where this wild bill came from. It includes new rear brakes, new lower control arms, new rear upper control arms, new end links on both sway bars, new front lower ball joints, new drive belts, an oil change, a differential fluid change, a coolant flush, a brake system flush, and an alignment. Keen-eyed enthusiasts might have noticed a few issues here already. Have a look at the actual quote in the two pages he shared on Reddit.
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According to u/Undrscor, the shop never contacted him to ask about any of these services and which ones he might have already done. He says that he’s already replaced all of the above-mentioned fluids two years ago, oil notwithstanding. He’s replaced the belt too. Beyond that, there are a number of wild numbers on this sheet aside from the total.
Take a glance at the end links again. The shop allegedly wants over $1,000 to replace them which is, as other commenters point out, about 10 times the proper amount for such a simple job using inexpensive parts. Then there are the ball joint charges. Notice that they’re for the lower front control arms which are also quoted but separately. Unless they’re using some sort of very strange control arms, the ball joints will come with the arm assembly, so why are they on here twice?
Finally, why is the shop charging almost $1,000 to do the rear brakes? Not only is that an absurd amount of cash for rear brakes in general, but they’re not even using the same Brembo parts that come stock on the car. Thankfully, the owner isn’t all that miffed about the situation. “They absolutely destroyed all hope of selling my car. Whatever I still love it, will have another fun winter with it,” they say. That’s the right attitude if ever we’ve heard it.
