Kelly Subaru Mitsubishi

Warning! Do not take your car to Kelly!

Do not take your car to this dealership for service! Almost ANY other repair shop in Chattanooga will give you MUCH better service and unlike Kelly, the work will be done right the first time. If you have major work that needs to be done, find a shop in Chattanooga you can trust or have you car towed to one of the professional dealerships in Atlanta. You will save yourself so much time, effort, and money. Kelly’s Subaru/Mitsubishi mechanics are terrible and their management is unprofessional.

My original Subaru engine failed a few years ago at 23k miles. I had the work done under warranty at Kelly Subaru. It took them 2 months to repair the car. After getting the car back I noticed a strange sound. I took it back to Kelly and was told that the noise was harmless and meant nothing. I drove it for a week and the noise still sounded damaging. I took the car to Kelly again. Again they told me the noise was nothing. I was stuck with a noisy engine. 60,000 miles later, my engine failed, again. They denied my claim on another rebuild under warranty.

Like one would expect a dealership to do, Kelly Subaru never made note of the detrimental noise when I had brought the car in previously. Trevor, a warranty rep @ Subaru of America told me that part of the reason they denied my claim was because there was no record of me bringing the car in for the noise after the rebuild. Kelly’s mistake ended up costing me $4500.

The only reason I went to Kelly again is because they are the only Subaru dealership within 100 miles and I assumed that being a “certified Subaru dealership” they would do a better job than other repair shops. I also assumed the work would have been covered under warranty. I was completely wrong... When I got the car back (a week later), I took the car to a Subaru dealership in Atlanta to have them look over the work. They found that there were several bolts missing in the exhaust, and that they left off two pieces to the turbo. When I questioned Kelly about the missing parts, they said “the parts must have been missing before”. This was a complete lie; I remember seeing the parts on the car before I took it in. They eventually put bolts back in and gave me the parts to the turbo so I could put them on.

I also had them diagnose a clutch clicking noise. They charged me a half hour of labor to diagnose it. They told me it was the clutch switch and that it would take an hour of labor to replace it. I purchased the part myself and replaced it in less than half an hour (I’m no mechanic; they just overcharge for their labor). THE CLICKING NOISE WAS STILL THERE. So, I took the car back and asked them to look at it again. They told me that the clutch pedal assembly needed to be removed and lubed. They said that it was going to cost 2 and half hours of labor to fix it. By now I was 100% doubtful of their work on simple jobs so I took the car home. Using a screwdriver, I pinpointed the noise to the clutch master cylinder push rod. I lubed it up with a $2.50 can of lube and the noise was gone (and hasn’t come back). That took me around 30 minutes to find and fix (The original amount they charged me for diagnostics).

A day or so later, I noticed what sounded like an exhaust leak. Assuming that it could have been something that they had forgotten to bold up, I took it back to Kelly. They told me that there was a crack in my downpipe. I took the car home and 5 hours of hard work later, I had the downpipe replaced. The exhaust leak was still there.

At this point in time, I was SICK of driving to Kelly. So, I took the car to “Midas” on Brainerd Rd. They found the leak for free and showed me exactly where it was coming from. It was coming from where the Uppipe meets the header. I haven’t had a chance to take it apart, but I suspect that Kelly forgot to torque down one of the bolts all the way.

I also talked Kelly’s general manager Ron Sharp about the problems I was having with his dealership. Ron was of no help. I had to fight for him to help slightly. Something I feel he should have done gladly after his dealership cost me $4500 in repairs...

In conclusion, I hope I have saved you from wasting your time and money at Kelly Subaru/Mitsubishi. I could continue on to tell you other things the dealership has done wrong and other unresolved issues but I haven’t sorted them out yet. I just wanted to get the facts out. If you have minor work to be done, Midas will do MUCH better work at a better price. If you have major work, take your car to Brandon at Allpro Subaru near Atlanta. You will get a better price and you will get quality work that is done right the first time.

- Thanks for reading.