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Ask a Subaru Dealer

159K views 714 replies 194 participants last post by  TheWolverine 
#1 ·
Hi Guys,
As some of you may know I am a Subaru Dealer in North NJ. Quite few people asked if I could answer car buying questions for them so I thought I would put together a thread to help you guys out! Let me know what questions you may have. Lets keep this civil please and please no thread jacking, if you have advice for folks make your own thread, I dont want to be associated with other people's mis-information. So... Go ahead ask away!
 
#2 ·
I would think, considering the regular debate on this forum and others, that your insight on modifications and their impact on warranty would be much appreciated. Does a stage 1 ECU tune (AP or the like) matter? Do dealerships bother checking if the ECU has been flashed? How are modded cars looked at from a service perspective? Has your dealership denied any claims based on mods?

Any insight on the issue would be widely appreciated.
 
#3 ·
Why is it that most dealerships look down on younger people (under 25) trying to buy instead of treating us like regular customers? It has always bothered me any time I walk into a dealership.

Back story: I was treated like utter trash by 5 local dealerships before finally buying my car from one an hour and a half away.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk
 
#4 ·
good question bigdaddyrex. This one really depends. Some dealers are way more mod friendly than others. My dealership has a lot of young guys with modded cars so we tend to be cooler about mods than most. It also has a lot to do with your relationship with the dealer. If you are a regular customer and make a point of being nice to the guys you work with at the dealer, and have a good relationship with the dealer in general you will get preferential treatment in many ways including warranty issues. Bring your service writer dunkin donuts once and watch your bills shrink at the service counter :) Most people act like dicks at the dealership so we do appreciate the nice ones. If your mod directly caused the problem there is no way they can overlook it though, like we have had kids start car fires with improperly installed neon light kits and such and there is no way we can look the other way on something like that. In general, nitrous, turbo upgrades, any internals are all going to void the warranty. Thats not to say we wont look the other way if you bring it in for a window regulator and you have a big ass front mount intercooler, they will fix the window and ignore the mods. Cobb AP and some bolt ons would not bother us but if you develop an issue caused by those parts we can't cover it. We don't check if the ecu has been flashed unless there is a reason to at my dealer but I can't speak for others. Can't you just divorce those cobb tuners quickly anyway though?
 
#6 ·
Thanks for the thorough response.

Can't you just divorce those cobb tuners quickly anyway though?
Once the map is applied you can disconnect the AP and leave things as you set them. You can reflash the original map before going to the dealer if you want. From what I've read, though, it is still possible to see (on the service end) if the ECU has been flashed (though I guess a battery disconnect could also read the same).

I'm content with the Stage 1 level I'm at, but down the road, as in post-warranty, I'll likely go Stage 2. Though I may cave before then ... ;)
 
#5 · (Edited)
XFallenX, Salesmen are not on salary so they are only paid when they sell a car. When dealing with the under 25 age group you have maybe a 5% chance of selling them a car, vs like 30%+ for a customer in their 30s or older who wants an outback. It comes down to them not wanting to waste their time and lose money by being with you when they could be missing another sale. Although you are part of the 5% who actually buys a wrx, I can assure you for every one of you there are a zillion kids who think the dealership is six flags and just want to test drive an sti. If you are young but seriously interested my advice is to go with your mom/dad and let the sales guy know up front that yes you are a young guy but you are serious and are willing to buy a car right now if you get the treatment and the price you deserve (and do your homework and know what you want and what you want to pay for it too, don't just bs the guy he will know) Don't sit there and tell him that you're also looking at the speed 3, the camaro, the genesis coupe, the mustang, the g37 and the blah blah blah. You're just telling the salesman his 5% chance of selling you the car isn now a 1% chance if you're lucky. I'm not trying to make excuses for bad salespeople, I am always courteous young wrx customers and treat them as one car guy to another, but that is why it happens.
 
#7 ·
Cool thread idea.

We don't have too much dealer input around here since a member by the name of GraysonSubaru stopped posting a few years ago.

I always figured that about the sales people. Its crappy that it comes down to that, but it's true. I lucked out at Coleman Subaru in Ewing, NJ when I was 24. I came in looking at an STI Limited and the salesman (older guy, about 60yrs old) and the 30-something year old Sales Manager were nothing but incredibly nice to me. Certainly made for a great first car buying experience.

What dealership are you at if you don't mind me asking? I also had a great test-drive experience at Wayne Subaru in Wayne, NJ. More great people up there. That was what convinced me to buy an STI. It's just unfortunate I was only up visiting the area that weekend and only stopped in to look, otherwise I would have bought from Wayne.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Yeah it sucks, I remember being treated like garbage at dealerships when I was younger too. When I was 22 I wanted a neon srt-4 (looking back on it Im glad I didn't get that car!) I drove in with my 99 civic Si so I figured they would at least give me the time of day but nope, not at all... I had one salesman tell me "you flat out have no business with this car", and another guy at another dealer tell me to come back Wednesday and he'd take me for a test drive. When I got there on the following Wednesday I was told it was his day off! I am reluctant to say what dealer I work at because I've already had a ClubWRX member find out where I work and call my store n my day off and buy a WRX from another salesman here for the same price I gave him! So I do all the work and offer the great price and get screwed over because he couldn't wait 12 hours to factory order a car from me. But anyone can PM me and I will give you my contact info at work.
 
#8 · (Edited)
rexxx0486 said:
XFallenX, Salesmen are not on salary so they are only paid when they sell a car. When dealing with the under 25 age group you have maybe a 5% chance of selling them a car, vs like 30%+ for a customer in their 30s or older who wants an outback. It comes down to them not wanting to waste their time and lose money by being with you when they could be missing another sale. Although you are part of the 5% who actually buys a wrx, I can assure you for every one of you there are a zillion kids who think the dealership is six flags and just want to test drive an sti. If you are young but seriously interested my advice is to go with your mom/dad and let the sales guy know up front that yes you are a young guy but you are serious and are willing to buy a car right now if you get the treatment and the price you deserve (and do your homework and know what you want and what you want to pay for it too, don't just bs the guy he will know) Don't sit there and tell him that you're also looking at the speed 3, the camaro, the genesis coupe, the mustang, the g37 and the blah blah blah. You're just telling the salesman his 5% chance of selling you the car isn now a 1% chance if you're lucky. I'm not trying to make excuses for bad salespeople, I am always courteous young wrx customers and treat them as one car guy to another, but that is why it happens.
I bought my STI @ 20. The salesman at the Subaru dealership I went to basically told me to take a hike :shrug:

I bought the one from my cousin @ a Nissan dealership
 
#10 ·
^^^ Well that's pretty crappy of that member! I don't condone that!

Perhaps I'll shoot ya a PM :cool:
 
#11 ·
yeah it comes with the job I guess... LMK if you need anything dude.
 
#12 ·
come on nobody wants to know why we all wear plaid suits and pinky rings??:p
 
#13 ·
Great thread idea - thanks for posting. I was wondering if you could provide a little insight on Subaru's distribution process for factory-ordered WRXs. I'm leaning towards ordering as I've been looking for a '12 the past couple of months and have found that they're pretty rare in the southeast, and almost non-existant at dealerships in my area.

Anyway, I was talking to a dealer recently, and he mentioned that ordering certain colors (like Lightning Red) usually resulted in a long wait for delivery. He mentioned that the factory in Japan simply manufactures a bunch of cars and puts them on a boat, and the cars are then distributed based on pending customer orders and dealership needs. Do you have any further insight/amendments to how this process works? Do some colors typically arrive faster than others, or is delivery speed based on what the factory is cranking out when the order is placed? Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I'm curious as to how this works.
 
#14 ·
drgonzo80, Yes that is pretty much the way it works. NOW BE PATIENT!!!! :DThere is nothing the dealer can do to speed these orders up and there is no way to give you a tracking number or tell you where the car is or how much longer it will be. We have the best cars in the business and the worst ordering system in the business here at Subaru. Just a side note, why doesn't anyone order lightning red? One day I bet they are going to be the most sought after of all WRX's cause they are like non-existant...seems like 90% of everyone orders swp or dgr.
 
#15 ·
I'm really surprised there was such little interest in this thread!
 
#16 ·
I don't think that there's little interest...I think things will come up as time goes on...not everyone has questions just off the top of their head.

Well here's something for you though...And I think the answer is pretty obvious...but is your dealer opposed to just doing labor for parts that I would provide? For example...I compiled rotors and pads that I wanted on my car, yet my local dealer wouldn't do it because they didn't source the parts. Obviously it's a liability issue, but if the parts are as good as OEM or better, and I don't have any kind of outstanding warranty, what's the big deal? And if it were really a matter of them covering their asses, why couldn't I just sign a waiver?
 
#19 ·
I have a question. I have been wanting a WRX for some time and looks like i am getting close to pulling the trigger. When i started looking about a year ago before teh disaster, most dealers had two to 15 wrx /sti on the lot. Even as recent as two months ago dealers had several on the lot. Now none of the dealers here in colorado have any on the lot. Even during the disaster some dealers had some to offer. Do you know why this is? are they just prepairing for the new model? is there a problem with production or the 2012 cars?
 
#20 ·
My question is related, and if true may answer tke467's question.

I noticed the same thing in my state. When I went in to order my STI 2 weeks ago the salesman said that the reason for the lack of cars was due to Subaru's efforts to produce less WRX's and STI's this model year. He went on to state that Subaru would only produce 8,000 WRX's and 3,000 STI's for this model year, as these cars get less MPG's than the other Subaru models. By producing less of these cars Subaru can improve the overall fleet MPG economy for the model year (which in some way benefits them.. how im not sure). Due to this the 2012 MY models are going to be the rarest WRX/STI's yet.

By chance do you happen to know if there is any truth to that?
 
#23 ·
yep I have been busy working on becoming an authorized vendor and we just got it done today!
 
#26 ·
Not sure yet... let me know when you find out because the internet will know before the dealers as usual I'm sure!
 
#28 ·
As far as I know all mazda dealers get speed 3s and all subaru dealers get wrx/stis. Any Subaru dealer should be happy to work on your wrx/sti and any mazda dealer should be happy to work on a speed 3.
 
#29 ·
Rexxx, I am about to begin negotiating locally with dealers for a Base WRX, but your deal is very interesting. I am going to try to source the car locally first, for convenience sake, but if they won't play ball I might be interested in purchasing long distance from you.

I have family in Northern NJ, so going to pick up that car would not be too big of an issue as I could probably talk my parents into going with me and make a weekend trip of it.

That being said, I live in New York. What would it take to be able to drive this car off of your lot and home? I would assume that this is an issue you have faced before being in the tri-state area. If you could give me temporary plates (the paper kind I have seen hanging in people's windows in NJ) that would probably work, then I would just have to register the car in NY when I got home.

If that wouldn't work, do you know if sending the title via mail to me would be possible. Then I could got to the DMV and register the car/get the plates and a 10 day inspection sticker.

I would have PM'd these questions to you with more specific details, but I figured that these questions may pertain to others on the board and should be visible for everyone. If you want more specific details feel free to PM me.

Thanks for your help, and all the information that you have already put forth.
 
#30 ·
Hey Jas,
Thanks for bringing that up, I'm sure you're not the only one with that question. We would give you a 20 day temporary plate and do all your DMV work for you. When your DMV stuff and 10 day inspection pass comes back you could pick it up or we would mail it out to you. (there is a $23 charge to ups overnight mail it, just a heads up) The title would then be mailed to you via ups overnight mail. We actually are only 3 miles from the ny border so I do a lot of NY deals here. Hopefully it'll make sense to buy it through the ClubWRX program, I am of course counting on support of club members like you to keep this thing going!
 
#31 ·
Here's a question I got through PM that might be useful for others:

"Hey man im looking at a wrx 02 bugeye a dealer has for 8G's it has one accident in the carfaxs with 93k miles wondering if it would be a good sale i got some money for a down payment looking to finance only thing its one of those dealers that has about 20 cars in a small lot and has only one location any in sight and please lmk if u have any on ur lot. thanks"
This is my response:

Eh, I dunno man, my co-worker just sold his very clean 04 wrx with 110k for 8k and it had zero accidents and zero problems. I think Those small dealers with the chain link fences around them are usually bad news. Basically if I took in a really beat up car on trade in here at my dealership, I would send it to an auction and one of those places would end up with it. They usually have all the reputable dealers reject trade ins at those places. You might get lucky but by and large my advice is to keep looking to make sure you cant find something better... don't just fall in love with the first one you see. Also you may have trouble financing a vehicle that is that old. A lot of banks won't finance a car 10 yrs. old or older. you might have to get a loan through your credit union or something. Let me know if you need any other advice.
 
#33 ·
My wife and I are planning to order a WRX premium wagon as we're having a difficult time finding exactly what she wants in anyones inventory in the country. Ive heard that it can take anywhere from 6-12 weeks for delivery. Ive also heard that adding some options (like the short throw shifter) requires the car to be built at the factory, then shipped somewhere else for the sts to be installed. If this is true it would extend the time before we get the car right? By how long, days or weeks? I wouldn't have a problem taking the car earlier and installing some of that stuff myself.
Thanks, Jim
 
#34 ·
Jim, Just because rexxx0486 isn't online right now, I figured I'd put some info in here. If he's able to concur, that'd be great.

There are several options that are considered "dealer installed accessories". The last time I heard.. the STS (short throw shifter) is considered one of them. That means that if you order a vehicle with a STS, it gets shipped with out the STS, but installed by the factory certified techs at that dealership. Last I heard, the majority of the SPT/STi accessories are this way. That includes things like the footwell lamps, homelink mirror, wheel locks, etc.

Hope that clears things up. I've heard that since the vehicles are so far behind... some dealerships are getting cars in, and people are taking them without the dealer installed accessories, and then the dealerships are setting appointments to install the accessories.

There is enough customization that goes along with purchasing a car these days that it's more cost efficient, and accurate for the dealership to do the majority of the accessorizing.

I'm pretty sure rexxx0486 will concur on this. Hope that helps.

-Kevin
 
#35 · (Edited)
Actually no, Sinister is incorrect on this one. The short throw is done at the factory. Very few accessories would be done at the dealership if you are ordering a car from scratch. The only things I could think of that we have to do at the dealership are certain SPT parts like the SPT exhaust. Most are either port or factory installed. Adding parts really should not increase the order time. I think Sinister would have been right 3 years ago but now the factory does it.
 
#36 ·
hey i have a question, with my car ive noticed how horrible the paint is, i already have some chips and dings taken out of the car where now a little surface rust is starting, within 6 months. would i call the dealer and can they do anything to fix this so it doesnt get worse. I always try to do my best to keep the car clean and protect it from the elements, but theres only so much i can do
 
#37 ·
The subaru paint is a bit soft, you have to be careful with the rock chips and whatnot. I'm sure any reputable dealer would be happy to throw in a bottle of touch up paint at least. If there is a defect in the paint job you do have a 5 yr unltd. milage warranty against paint defects and such. Not sure if it would help in your case as I have not seen the car in question.
 
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