another graph

This one was created to answer the question: is the local Subaru dealer making me do more work than necessary because I'm a woman and know nothing about cars?

Ever since this one particular service when we were in the depths of the recession and the guy said his boss would give me a discount if I did a bunch of work that would be needed soon TODAY, and I had the money, so I did it, I've been worried that they think I'm an easy target.

Now, apparently, the head gasket on my car is starting to seep, and it's "a Subaru thing." Head gaskets only cost about $400, but they're located in the very center of the entire engine, so basically the car has to be disassembled to get to them. And that labor costs $1600.

In the course of contacting Subaru to make them pay for (part of) it, because I only have 57,000 miles on my car and things that are that expensive shouldn't break that soon, I brought in the entire pile of receipts that were living in my glove compartment. And then I realized that I could easily make a SPREADSHEET of car maintenance costs per year, since I save all the receipts because you need them to prove you've done the maintenance, or something.



This is it (the first year is really a half year, and it was obviously under warranty for 3 years.) The huge spike is the first time I brought it to the dealership here, but that also coincides with its five-year service- which would have been expensive anywhere. My average maintenance cost per year has been $437, which (although it seems about to go up) is not really that bad. I'm also a little bit more tolerant of the cost because I get 3% rewards on my credit card as Subaru bucks, and I bet I've gotten at least a thousand of them over the years. So I probably only pay $300 or so per year out of my own pocket.

More importantly, the two years after the five-year service match the two years before I moved to Illinois- so they don't seem to be ripping me off here. At least not more than they did in New York.