Dealership Experience in the San Jose, CA area

Hi,

I am getting close to buying and as I keep cars a long time, the dealer is part of the long term equation.

Any feedback on the dealers approach, overall service and quality of service shop would be appreciated.

thanks

Best dealers in the area for price and service:

Carlsen Subaru, Redwood City

Santa Cruz Subaru

I would not recommend Stevens Creek Subaru. There have been some people who have had positive experiences there, but they tend to be the minority. My experiences there, including last summer when I purchased my Legacy, have been poor. The dealership uses old school tactics. I haven't been to their service department in years, but back then it was pretty awful.

Ken

I totally agree with Ken. Avoid Stevens Creek, the salesman walked away from me and said he did not want to sell me a car due to personality issues between me and him (All I said was, that I'm pretty sure the OB comes in auto tranny : /).

Ended up going to Carlsen and had a great experiance. The sales people put no stress on me and were honest in giving me info. I had to get a car cause my other one died on me, so it was nice to have someone working with me when I was already stressing.

Santa Cruz also seems like a nice dealership. I called them on the phone and they were very helpful. I would have gone there as well to look at cars, but Redwood City was closer to me and once I was at Carlsen, I bought my car.

Good hunting.

Max

Avoid Stevens Creek at any cost. They are gross and evil. Sale, Service, Parts, all of them. They are rude nad have no respect. Even a chick at casher is rude.

We bought LGT from Livermore Subaru. Not a super wonderful dreamy place, but ok for buying a car. I had a chance to talk to a few guys at Santa Cruz Subaru service dept over the phone. Very friendly and helpful. Have not had a chance to bring LGT in for service yet though.

Since I live near Santa Cruz, and knew I wanted a LGT, it was their sale to make or not. They blew it. When I walked in, sniffed around all the cars, sat in one, looked up in the air, around in the sales cubicles... nobody said "Hi", "fsck you", or "go to hell". Nothing. For twenty minutes. Hell, I wanted to buy my car there. If you go there my advice is take a siren or something to get the attention of the sales staff.

I bought from Warren Novak at Carlsen.

The two times I've been to Stevens Creek I have been irritated with the staff's aggressive and boorish (nyekulturny) deportment, and if my engine blew up in front of that dealership I'd have the car trucked to either Santa Cruz (which -does- have one hell of a service department) or Carlsen.

Since I live near Santa Cruz, and knew I wanted a LGT, it was their sale to make or not. They blew it. When I walked in, sniffed around all the cars, sat in one, looked up in the air, around in the sales cubicles... nobody said "Hi", "fsck you", or "go to hell". Nothing. For twenty minutes. Hell, I wanted to buy my car there. If you go there my advice is take a siren or something to get the attention of the sales staff.

 

I bought from Warren Novak at Carlsen.

 

The two times I've been to Stevens Creek I have been irritated with the staff's aggressive and boorish (nyekulturny) deportment, and if my engine blew up in front of that dealership I'd have the car trucked to either Santa Cruz (which -does- have one hell of a service department) or Carlsen.

So you would prefer S. Cruz or Carlsen over Ron Price?

I bought mine from Warren Novak at Carlsen as well. He's fine, kinda went through a bit of old school antics on the trade in ("We usually only give $2,500-3,000 on a '99 Brighton") Right! He gave me a good price on the LGT and eventually a fair price for the trade in. I wouldn't bash them nor do I think they are the best. The fact of the matter is, you're just buying the car there. You don't have to service it there. Find what you want for the price you think is fair and do it. I would have driven to SoCal if they made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

Good Luck

I bought mine through Carlsen's internet/fleet manager Larry. Good guy to deal with, and an awesome price... I had taken my old '86 Subaru wagon in there for service a few years back and the service department also seemed good, especially considering they were dealing with an old model that they never see around here!

Haven't been to the Santa Cruz dealer, but I was warned to stay far away from Stevens Creek (but haven't had any personal experience with them, just seems to be the rule of thumb around here).

I bought mine in Reno, but I live in Santa Clara now - tried Stevens Creek once and I won't go back... when I need anything I drive to Santa Cruz... and even though it's further, since you'll have a legacy that's a good thing! I usually leave a little extra time for some Highway 9 fun.

Weston

I bought from Ron Price in South S.F. and was very happy with the salesman I dealt with there. I came back several times while trying to decide what car I was going to buy (was also looking at the Mazda6) and he never put pressure on me to not leave without buying the car. He was pretty knowledgeable and friendly and very laid back. He let me test drive Legacys 4 or 5 times -- I wanted to compare GT vs. non-GT, short-throw shifter vs. regular vs. 5EAT -- and my wife test drove once. The first price they quoted me was pretty bad, but when I came in with the very good internet quote I got from Subaru of Santa Cruz they matched it. (I felt bad taking advantage of Subaru of SC, but I live close to Ron Price.)

The purchase experience was the usual B.S. about extended warranties and things like Lojack, but I just kept saying no and eventually got through it.

-Matt

I bought from Ron Price in South S.F. and was very happy with the salesman I dealt with there. I came back several times while trying to decide what car I was going to buy (was also looking at the Mazda6) and he never put pressure on me to not leave without buying the car. He was pretty knowledgeable and friendly and very laid back. He let me test drive Legacys 4 or 5 times -- I wanted to compare GT vs. non-GT, short-throw shifter vs. regular vs. 5EAT -- and my wife test drove once. The first price they quoted me was pretty bad, but when I came in with the very good internet quote I got from Subaru of Santa Cruz they matched it. (I felt bad taking advantage of Subaru of SC, but I live close to Ron Price.)

 

The purchase experience was the usual B.S. about extended warranties and things like Lojack, but I just kept saying no and eventually got through it.

 

-Matt

Friend of mine bought from them last year also, that's why I asked. According to my friend, he didn't feel pressured or anything and they gave him a pretty good deal on a WRX wagon. Since my friend lives in SF, he was told that the service dept. in SF will be open soon (this was last year), so I guess it's a plus for my friend since he got the maintainence package. By the way, anyone know how that package works? My friend said he gets an oil change every 3500 miles and it doesn't matter how many years because according to him, he bought the 30,000 package.

Well...I bought mine from Stevens Creek because they gave me the best offer. They beat Carlsen Subaru by about $500. Yeah, the sales guys were a little pushy, but I get that everywhere I go. And c'mon, it's a car dealership...what do you expect?

To be honest, everyone for the most part was pretty nice. Based on what most people are saying on here, I won't get my car serviced there though.

But just buying the car...if they are going to beat any price out there, why not buy from them? I'm not going to spend an extra $500 further away from home because one guy is less pushy then the other.

Just don't go there when you need your car serviced.

i went to stevens creek and felt they were more interested in making a quick sale then selling me something I really wanted. esp stay away from the internet sales dude mike schwartz!!!! rude, crude, attitude. Stay away. i told him i didn't appreciate his tone with me and then continued to badger me. finally i was so pissed i told him i would warn others not to go to him specifically. so remember his name and stay away.

i bought mine from eric at roseville subaru. he gave me the best quote over everybody (even though his first quote was the 2nd lowest). then the transaction was simple, hassle free. except for the finance dept which made me listen to their extended warranty schpel, even after i told him i wasn't interested. Y do they do that! waste of my time and his!!

anyhow, use the internet for deals and avoid going to the sales vultures in the lots. i hate their cheesy smiles and "hi's" when they are so fake. u know all they want is your sale.

i went to stevens creek and felt they were more interested in making a quick sale then selling me something I really wanted. esp stay away from the internet sales dude mike schwartz!!!! rude, crude, attitude. Stay away.

not to troll and flame here, but I had quite opposite experience with this guy. I did a standard emailing scam of all the dealers from Irvine to Sacramento, offering them fitzmall's internet delivered price to beat. I knew what I wanted (barebone AB wagon with STi short throw shifter) and didn't want to settle for anything else. At that time (Sep'04) no dealer was able to locate the car for me, so I ended up with factory order. Mike gave me the best price, whopping Carlsen by about $700 (they were firm on invoice+$500 for factory orders), and edging Santa Cruz by a couple hundred bucks (these guys, btw, were reluctant to give me exact detailed quote, only saying that it'd be "invoice+$50" and pushing to come and sign papers in person).

Schwartz, on the contrary, confirmed his quote for the car, options, precalculated taxes, fees, etc, all by email. I stopped by for testdrives a couple of times and he just handled me the keys without BS. He wanted the deposit (they all do), which I paid with credit card over the phone. That's it. All the rest was flawless. He kept me updated when the order was in, the car entered assembly pipeline, shipped from Indiana, arrived at dealership 6 weeks later. I came by after work to pick up the car, checked it out, took it for a spin, signed papers, got 2.9% on the spot, and was out in 40 mins. No regular "we want to offer extended paint warranty car" pitches. Well, there were may be a couple of vague attempts, but I guess my looks told'em they weren't gonna score with me

Overall, I have to say that basing on all the feedbacks I read over at nasioc, I was expecting MUCH worse experience, but was still ready to go through since noone else was able to match the price. Warren at Carlsen literally said smth like: "If Stevens Creek is stupid enough to sell you a car at this price, jump in before it's too late".

So, at least for the purposes of buying a new car, it's not that bad. I'd go there again. My buddy was shopping recently using the same methods, and the best quote came from Stevens Creek. No surprise for me.

But for service - Stevens Creek is a big no-no. You'll get ripped and yelled at, easily. Bruce, service manager at Santa Cruz, is highly recommended. Had my car in there recently for a warranty job (cargo cover return spring blew) - nice folks.

Service Department at Carlsen

I have to say, I’m very disappointed w/ the service department at Carlsen. So I did my first oil change last weekend and noticed that the bottom engine cover was only held on by 4 plastic snap pieces. I read on this forum that there should be some bolt that also hold this on. So I stop by Carlsen, since it was on my way, to find out if this is the case. After being handed around,

I ended up talking to a guy at the service department who said “I don’t know if there are supposed to be bolts, I think they excluded that on the newer models.“ I questioned this and he said I would “ have to make an appointment so someone can inspect the car to see if there are supposed to be bolts there.“ I asked if it would be possible to find out if there are supposed to be bolts so I wouldn’t have to make another trip. He very hesitantly went to ask someone else. Same response. So, I decided to make an appointment. I asked how long it would take and I suggested that if someone could spare a minute to take a peak, and maybe just give me the bolts so I could put them on. He said bluntly WE CAN’T DO THAT! I thought it was his sense of humor so I smiled. He proceeds to get all my info and finds out I purchased from anther dealer so he tells me bluntly YOU HAVE TO TAKE IT BACK TO THEM. Again I thought it was his sense of humor so I smiled again. But he was dead serious. I asked if this is some sort of warrantee item that Subaru in general can deal with and he said NO. Based on this service and the attitude I received, I will not be going to service my car at Carlsen. I guess I expected a little better service from them based on what I’ve read here.

-okay, enough ranting, time to go drive.

-and on the bright side my car is lighter w/o the bolts so that makes it faster

What a pain. I hope it's not that bad, since Carlsen is the only Subaru dealership that's at all convenient for me to get my car serviced (I bought from Ron Price, was very satisfied, but it's nowhere near my work and they don't do service on Saturdays anymore).

i went to Carlsen yesterday to get the gasket around one of my door windows replaced because it was falling out. They were courteous, I had no problems, although when I told him that another dealership had already tried to fix the problem once (I wanted to make sure they replaced the gasket, not just try to shove it back in), he asked, "Why didn't you take it back to them again?" and I said because Carlsen's location was much better for me, and he left it at that. Their little drive-through check-in area is kind of convenient. I wish their shuttle would take you farther south, though, to Palo Alto. Since they wouldn't go that far I had to take their $15 Enterprise rental car deal -- annoying to have to pay $15 to get something fixed under warranty, but, I guess it's nice that they have that option.

-Matt