Epilogue 2018 Forester Differential Failure
A few months back I made a post about AAA service center performing improper maintenance on my Subaru drivetrain where 75 weight gear oil was replaced with CVT fluid, causing a catastrophic failure.
The maintenance occurred on October 7, 2025 and the failure occurred on March 28, 2026. AAA did not want to admit fault. I documented everything and finally got an insurance claim number out of the district manager who gave me the general number for the insurance company and it took me over 30 minutes to get to a claim representative.
The insurance company sent a claims adjuster to dealership where he had the car towed each day after the failure, on April 28th. The adjuster supervisor indicated there was a question of fault. I found an attorney through a local Bar Association who was very helpful.
I was advised to give the insurance company covering the claim 10 days to make a determination or we would file a complaint. On the 10th day, the insurance company admitted fault, and coughed up a repair estimate for over $10,000 and a list of available parts from various dealers. This was $2000 less than the dealerships estimate for OEM.
I gave the greenlight to go ahead with the repair cause I wasn’t gonna get any further with the insurance company. They were not going to cover the damage to the rear bumper caused by the tow truck driver when he bounced my car off the flatbed tow truck at the dealership since the front wheels were locked. So I gotta go after the tow truck company to try to get compensation.
I’m gonna to try to get a refund for the maintenance services done to my transmission and the $30 towing charge I had to pay. Already tried a dispute through the charge card company, but they only go 120 days.
So I’m curious how the car will work once it’s repaired which I’m expecting will probably be sometime next week. I am thinking about trading at him for a new car and taking a $2500 loss on maintenance services. I had done within the last six months, and giving up on the 80,000 mile Michelin Defender 2 tires with less than 10,000 miles on them. Sigh