I came in for a routine oil change and left needing a new car. While I understand car repairs are getting more expensive, I was shocked to be charged $900 for a simple oil change and a single tire bolt. To make matters worse, they provided a repair estimate for $14,000—even after "negotiating" it down to $11,000, it was nearly triple the value of the car. It’s hard to trust a shop that charges luxury prices for basic maintenance and follows up with an estimate that essentially totals a functional vehicle. If you’re looking for a fair price and a realistic assessment of your car's health, I would suggest looking elsewhere. I ended up walking away and buying a new vehicle instead of feeding into these absurd costs.
Marisa, I must admit, I was taken by surprise by your recent review. We appreciate the opportunity to clear up any confusion during your visit, and we had no indication from you that you were unhappy with our service. We felt we had demonstrated our value to you during your previous visits in 2024 and 2025, but if we failed to properly communicate our recommendations, we need to work to improve that. We take great pride in our transparency and communication here at Swedish Automotive. While receiving potential bad news about a vehicle is never welcome, it is our responsibility to be honest with our clients about what their vehicles need to continue to be safe and reliable. Your recent visit (which was much less than the $900 you stated) included many items, including the annual oil and filter service, a tire rotation, new cabin and engine air filters and repairing a damaged wheel stud and lugnut. Head gasket leaks are much too common on Subaru engines, and we unfortunately found evidence of a leak on your vehicle and your cooling system was low on coolant as well, so we needed to inform you of that – along with some other needed services and repairs that added more expense – so that you could make the best-informed decision for yourself and your car. We also discussed the benefits of replacing your car vs. repairing it with you and I see that you ultimately chose to purchase a vehicle. The last thing we want to do is, perform some potentially expensive repairs without also giving you the full, comprehensive inspection results that may affect your decision and leave you feeling like you didn’t have enough information to make the best choice. We realize the full estimate of what we presented was unexpected and we are always happy to take as much time as needed for you to fully understand what may be needed immediately, compared to services that could be planned for later. The choice, though, is always ultimately up to our clients – our goal is to present you with the facts and let you choose the best path. In this case, replacing the vehicle was likely the better option for you and we just hope you are happy with your new vehicle and have trouble-free driving for as long as possible.
- Swedish Automotive