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188 Posts
Hello All.
2006 OB, NA, 174K.
I've been getting water in my reverse light after it rains. When I open the gate, it drips out the access panel.
As someone on here indicated, it's probably the gasket. Easy fix, right?
I brought it to Subaru today. I like this particular dealership. They do good work, and I believe them to be fairly honest, if a bit overpriced.
However, they told me that the nuts and bolts inside the panel are all "corroded." When they take it apart, everything will break, so they'll need to replace everything: both reverse lights, all the guts, and the entire panel that holds them, of course. And it will have to be painted the color of the car. Of course.
$900 for parts, $200 for labor. And this includes a discount. Yeah, $1100 to fix my leaking reverse light.
When I asked for someone to show the corrosion to me ('so I can see what I'm paying for'), the mechanics were "too busy."
Interesting.
When I got home, I pried out both panels. I even used a flashlight. It's clean and pristine in there.
Well, what do ya know.
I went back to Subaru, and showed it to the manager. He's a very nice guy, and I think he knew he was in a tight spot. His explanation was basically this: 'Based on past experience, the parts we can't see (inside the panel) are probably corroded. This means that things will probably break as we take it apart. And the panel will probably break too. This should have been explained to you more clearly.'
"I understand," I said.
Reading between the lines, I think I have isolated their logic:
With this particular job, there is a likelihood of things breaking. Because there is a likelihood of things breaking - and because we don't want to pay for things that get broken during a job - we are charging you for broken things BEFORE we break them.
I immediately asked for a refund on the $900 worth of parts that I ordered.
The manager then told me 'We can try to do the job, and hope that we don't break anything. If nothing gets broken, it will probably cost around $300.'
Thoughts on this situation? I understand their thinking, but I'm not thrilled with the ethics on display here.
Also, how difficult is it to replace a gasket on a reverse light? Is this something that a generic garage can do? And what do you think it should cost? (I'm not a gear head.)
Many thanks.
2006 OB, NA, 174K.
I've been getting water in my reverse light after it rains. When I open the gate, it drips out the access panel.
As someone on here indicated, it's probably the gasket. Easy fix, right?
I brought it to Subaru today. I like this particular dealership. They do good work, and I believe them to be fairly honest, if a bit overpriced.
However, they told me that the nuts and bolts inside the panel are all "corroded." When they take it apart, everything will break, so they'll need to replace everything: both reverse lights, all the guts, and the entire panel that holds them, of course. And it will have to be painted the color of the car. Of course.
$900 for parts, $200 for labor. And this includes a discount. Yeah, $1100 to fix my leaking reverse light.
When I asked for someone to show the corrosion to me ('so I can see what I'm paying for'), the mechanics were "too busy."
Interesting.
When I got home, I pried out both panels. I even used a flashlight. It's clean and pristine in there.
Well, what do ya know.
I went back to Subaru, and showed it to the manager. He's a very nice guy, and I think he knew he was in a tight spot. His explanation was basically this: 'Based on past experience, the parts we can't see (inside the panel) are probably corroded. This means that things will probably break as we take it apart. And the panel will probably break too. This should have been explained to you more clearly.'
"I understand," I said.
Reading between the lines, I think I have isolated their logic:
With this particular job, there is a likelihood of things breaking. Because there is a likelihood of things breaking - and because we don't want to pay for things that get broken during a job - we are charging you for broken things BEFORE we break them.
I immediately asked for a refund on the $900 worth of parts that I ordered.
The manager then told me 'We can try to do the job, and hope that we don't break anything. If nothing gets broken, it will probably cost around $300.'
Thoughts on this situation? I understand their thinking, but I'm not thrilled with the ethics on display here.
Also, how difficult is it to replace a gasket on a reverse light? Is this something that a generic garage can do? And what do you think it should cost? (I'm not a gear head.)
Many thanks.
