Dealer wants to charge me 500 bucks to do a 30,000 mile service. Nothing much except changing said fluids. IS this really necessary? Car has 30,000 miles.
thanks.
Sounds a little high but my Acura needed the differential fluid changed at the first 10,000 miles then with the trans after that. I think it was $120 or something like that.
What does your owners manual say regarding the 30k service?
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With the exception of the long-life coolant, I change all of the fluids in my Outbacks every 30k miles.
Is it absolutely necessary?
Perhaps not, but I tend to keep my cars for ~10 years, and with this type of maintenance regimen I have not had to do any repairs on my last two Outbacks. (The first one needed to have the head gaskets replaced at ~110k miles, but that had nothing to do with lack of maintenance)
If you are the type of person who trades-in/sells his vehicles after just 3-5 years, then perhaps you might want to skip that service. However, if you tend to keep them for the long term, I would advise that you do it.
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I assume you change your oil sooner then 30k miles?
It’s usually cheaper to do proper maintenance than to ignore it and fix what breaks as a result. If your owner’s manual says to replace certain fluids, then my opinion is that you should do it.
You don’t have to use the dealer for basic maintenance, though. Have you priced a good independent mechanic for this work?
If an example to the contrary exists, I’ve certainly never seen it. 
Yes, of course.
My oil change schedule nowadays is every 5 months, which equals 4k miles.
To be more specific, I change trans fluid, differential fluid, and brake fluid every 30k miles.
While Subaru now specifies a coolant change at something on the order of 120k miles, I will probably do it sooner.
Even the dealership–which pushes for trans fluid, diff fluid, and brake fluid changes every 30k miles–doesn’t recommend a coolant change until 90k miles.
Not yet, thanks I’ll check it out.
$500 just for changing just the rear differential fluid seems a little pricey. Do you have a front differential too? This is a 4wd in other words? There may be a transfer case fluid change involved too then. If so, for both differentials and the transfer case, that price sounds more reasonable. 30K miles seems on the conservative side for differential . Suggest to trust Subaru tho, as they are the ones that designed the vehicle. How many miles between fluid changes is car design specific. If the owner’s manual says 30 K , then that’s when to change it. And be sure to use the exact fluid Subaru recommends. The gear shapes in differentials are complex and require the proper fluid. Usually they require a special hypoid gear oil for that reason. And they may require a special friction modifier.
Were I in your situation, and the new car warranty is still in effect, and I didn’t want to do the job myself I’d probably let the dealer do it for the fee they charge. That removes risks of warranty issues. If warranty issues are of no concern, I’d ask fellow Subaru owners in my area who they use for inde shop work, somebody who specializes in Subarus preferably, and have it done there. I’d expect you’d get some $$ discount at an inde shop vs a dealership.
BTW for what I can see here the recommended interval for normal type service for differential fluid is indeed 30K , but that looks like it means only an inspection of the fluid, not replacement. Suggest you double check if replacing the differential fluid is really necessary to maintain your warranty at 30K.
ALL Subarus have a front differential.
No, they are not 4WD.
They are all AWD, and as a result, there is no transfer case.
However, there is a Center Viscous Coupler, but it doesn’t require maintenance.
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If there’s no service required to the coupler, doesn’t $500 seem a tad expensive to replace the differential fluid fore and aft? On my truck’s rear differential I admit it is a bit of a chore, requires removing a bunch of bolts to drain it out (if you do it the correct way) but even then, not $250 worth of a chore.
The price quoted is for a 30,000 mile service, not a differential service.
is what the OP said.