Some car modifications can cause more trouble than they are worth (No mods might be the best mods)

Hello Loyal Beaverton Readers: For this month’s article, I will share with you an unfortunate experience from Ron, a Beaverton resident.

Before I had met Ron, he had gone to a high-volume Subaru store where the dealership is known for modifying vehicles to look more rugged and off-road capable. They hope to attract a younger crowd with lift kits and bigger wheels or tires, for example.

Ron, not thinking too much about it, ended up purchasing a pre-owned certified Subaru Hybrid Crosstrek with a good looking lift modification. He had no idea about the trouble this would cause him.

Fast forward a few months. Ron hears an abnormal noise under the front of the vehicle and decides to return to the selling dealership since the vehicle was under the certified warranty. A few days later, they told him that the front axles, being far too short to accomodate a lifted vehicle, caused damage to the transmission (transaxle) as well as the axles in the front. They quoted him a high dollar amount to repair the damage that the lift had caused. Mind you, this Subaru only had 50k mile on it.

Ron, of course, tells them that he bought the car from them with the lift modification that they installed. He told the service advisor how this could not be his fault, and what were the next steps? They only told him that this car, being a hybrid with a lift kit, broke the warranty.

Ron escalated his case up to the general manager but without success. It was in the fine print and that was that. “Hybrid vehicles are NOT to be lifted as the added weight from the Hybrid batteries would certainly cause issues”, or something to that effect.

After paying the large bill for the diagnosis and removal of the lift kit (which Ron says he did not ask for), he decides he’s had enough, called me and we got his vehicle towed to a trusted shop I recommended. Here, we discovered that the front axles and rear differential were in bad shape and it would cost $5800 just to get it operable so it could be sold (the dealership quoted him double that amount).

Long story short, Ron is now the proud owner a new 2025 Subaru Forester which I had delivered to my house so Ron could have zero contact with another dealership.

The moral of the story? Beware of buying a modified vehicle from a franchised dealership. Until next month.

Please let us know if we can help with a new or used vehicle purchase or lease. If you have vehicle you wish to sell, we can help with that too. Call Larry at (503) 930-1493, email fergusonautobrokers@gmail.com or visit fergusonautobrokers.com