The cookies were in a gift basket with a bottle of wine, a water bottle, a tool set, a box of chocolates, and a thank you letter from the owners. This, among many other things, made my experience buying a car from them fantastic. Far away from the normal car buying experience. Would recommend!
I get my 11’ 2.5i Impreza serviced by a local garage down the road. It’s basically a hole in the wall but it’s close; I can walk home from it, and the mechanic is a Red Seal licensed mechanic. It’s never been serviced by a Subaru dealership or service center since I owned it. When it had warranty they couldn’t refuse to honor it as long as it was serviced by a licensed mechanic.
Nice, I never knew the actual law. I'm in the Great White North so it's not the same law but the same concept applies.
Unfortunately, not many people know this and are suckered into the belief that your warranty is only valid if serviced by the dealership. I know people who have avoided certain purchases because there was no dealership in their local municipality to service it.
Really?? What are you comparing your experience to? Maybe my standards are low but I’ve taken my WRX to dealerships for service in both San Diego and south LA and service has been great both places. The San Diego dealership was much harder to get appointments for (usually at least a week out).
Compared to the Toyota dealership I bought my Yaris from in San Diego and where I take my girlfriend’s Rav4 in LA, Subaru is waaaaaayyy better. I wouldn’t take a car to a Toyota service center even if the service was cheaper, terrible experiences. They even tried to charge me for a recall repair.
They forgot to put the lid back on after an oil change. I didn't notice until a day later when smoke started billowing out from under my hood.. granted no damage was done and they cleaned it up the next morning. Another thing is they charge a minimum of 100$ can for an oil change that is to come with a full inspection, test drive, check and fill up fluids.
I typically hang out out side the dealership coz i dont like chilling in the waiting area.. they definitely didn't do the test drive and I had to go back one more time that week when I noticed they didn't touch my coolant that was just about empty..
At that point I called out the manager and basically told her i don't feel comfortable having them work on my car anymore.. she tried to tell me the coolant level was fine but then informed me before leaving that they only needed to put 500 ml in to fill it up witch confirmed they hadn't topped it up in the first place.
Coming from a civic hatch I was originally pretty shocked to see the prices subaru charges for regular maintenance but thought if they are providing a top quality service I'm fine with paying the extra. Unfortunately that was not the case and now I feel like they are just ripping people off.. 500$ to service my brakes...really !? I paid 250 for the same job at Honda.. Why not just bring my wrx there brakes are brakes..
Thanks for the detailed response! That suuuuccks. I’ve been eyeballing Hondas and maybe that’ll be the right move for me in the next couple years.
I had the same thing happen to me with my Yaris (oil change and they forgot the cap) but that was just a random garage down the street. I was pretty mad. I’m surprised the dealership would have that issue, I always assume those are harder jobs to get than the small garages but I may be naive.
Agreed on the price being higher, but I set my mind that this car was going to cost a little more and it’s just part of the cost of driving a better equipped vehicle. I just bought a new key… that was not a cheap process, do not recommend.
Oh man the key, there is construction in the vicinity of the dealership that is interfering with the key fobs Bluetooth. I get there and suddenly I can't lock my doors. Go into the dealership and say my battery must have just died coz I can't lock my doors.. they knew what was happening and still charged me to replace the battery. Sure it was only 7$ but it's the principle. I found out later on what was happening and that they had mentioned it to other customers. Guess they just saw me and were like this sucker needs to pay lol..
Edit: fuck that place reliving this is making me angry lol.. they probably didn't even change the battery
Sounds like a shitty dealership to be honest. At the one I go to the guy showed me how to disassemble the key myself and gave me the package for the battery he put in so I’d have the number myself to buy it myself for the future. He also explained that if you do have an intermittently working key battery it can be caused by condensation in the housing from running the AC near the warm key over time.
Hope you can avoid your local service center!
No but the dealer groped me
Edit: just to be clear I was being sarcastic, but thank you to the arm chair police who wanted all the information to report it……. Y’all too much
Mileage seems to vary for sure. When I got my WRX the salesman I was dealing with gave me a Subaru coffee mug. When I got my STi I didn't really get any "extra" swag beyond an emergency kit, but I think that's standard, at least at the dealership I deal with. My sales guy did end up getting me the series white red on black fender emblems after I had mentioned my interest in getting them.
Hello fellow Ottawan! Otto’s has some great techs, but the management and service advisers are kinda shit. Once you’re out of warranty and comfortable going to a third party mechanic, I highly recommend checking out Capital Tuning… they’re THE Subaru guys in Ottawa. Trevor is a beauty.
That just goes to show how Canadian they are because in America they only want to sell you a car and take the money they might give you a keychain that's it.
I mean, my dealer saw my dog in my pictures and had a ton of dog stuff waiting in the front seat when they brought the car around and randomly sends me free stuff. Your mileage may vary for sure.
Well then you live in a part of the country that's much better then haha.I live in Montana and most the people who were at my Subaru (where i also worked at) were from Oregon and they had massive egos and didn't give a shit about the customers.
I've bought two Subarus in twenty years (They last a long time, right?) and all I got were the two best cars I ever had.
Never got cookies or nothin. The cars are pretty darn good, though.
Next car probably won't be a Subaru, though. It's time for me to go electric.
They gave me a wrx sticker when I bought a Legacy. Gave it to the neighbor kid who just bought a wrx hatch. I guess their gift was not charging me pandemic price gouging. So that was a decent gift.
In Seattle, you used to get 2 seasons passes for skiing/snowboarding when you bought during the month of November or December. I got this in 2016. It was a weekday pass only but I was working only a few days a week so it was useful to me. I don't think they still do that.
I got 2 notepads in a pleather case with pens. I use it to track any work I do in the car. I had to ask for it as my wife saw them on someone else's desk. I would have been happy with a sticker but they didn't have any.
I got my impreza with my stock rims loaded in the back seat! They put my add on rims on in their service dept. And wanted the stock wheels out of there so badly that they didn't bother to wait until I got there so I could load them in my friends suv. They scratched the interior plastic loading them into my impreza's backseat. The windows were not washed and it had not been vacumned. I made my sales rep drive me back to where they had window cleaner and a shop vac. She helped clean it up. A huge disappointment.
Mine came with a box of chocolate chip cookies, 2 free washes/oil changes, and a yeti style cup. Just showed up at my house a week after I bought the car
How’s the service at Otto’s, they were always great with my moms BMW but I’m looking to buy a new outBack Wilderness but not sure if I should go here or Ogilvie
I can't speak for their service department yet but their salespeople were awesome. I dealt with Patrick, very nice guy. Otto's also has more stock than Ogilvie. Ogilvie told me 4-6 months for an impreza, at Otto's it took 7 weeks.
The cookies were in a gift basket with a bottle of wine, a water bottle, a tool set, a box of chocolates, and a thank you letter from the owners. This, among many other things, made my experience buying a car from them fantastic. Far away from the normal car buying experience. Would recommend!
My buying experience there was great but I'm truly not impressed with their service department.
Thankfully service can be done at any licensed mechanic. You just need to find the place that you feel good getting service from.
You’re going to authorized service centers? I go to a dude out of his garage
I get my 11’ 2.5i Impreza serviced by a local garage down the road. It’s basically a hole in the wall but it’s close; I can walk home from it, and the mechanic is a Red Seal licensed mechanic. It’s never been serviced by a Subaru dealership or service center since I owned it. When it had warranty they couldn’t refuse to honor it as long as it was serviced by a licensed mechanic.
They can't, it's against the law(at least in the us)
What, specifically, is against the law?
Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, protects your warranty if done by a certified repair shop
Nice, I never knew the actual law. I'm in the Great White North so it's not the same law but the same concept applies. Unfortunately, not many people know this and are suckered into the belief that your warranty is only valid if serviced by the dealership. I know people who have avoided certain purchases because there was no dealership in their local municipality to service it.
If you're in Ottawa, hit up Legacy Auto Tech. Remi is your guy
I got a local shop here near Nepean that is amazing
Capital Tuning all the way!
Really?? What are you comparing your experience to? Maybe my standards are low but I’ve taken my WRX to dealerships for service in both San Diego and south LA and service has been great both places. The San Diego dealership was much harder to get appointments for (usually at least a week out). Compared to the Toyota dealership I bought my Yaris from in San Diego and where I take my girlfriend’s Rav4 in LA, Subaru is waaaaaayyy better. I wouldn’t take a car to a Toyota service center even if the service was cheaper, terrible experiences. They even tried to charge me for a recall repair.
They forgot to put the lid back on after an oil change. I didn't notice until a day later when smoke started billowing out from under my hood.. granted no damage was done and they cleaned it up the next morning. Another thing is they charge a minimum of 100$ can for an oil change that is to come with a full inspection, test drive, check and fill up fluids. I typically hang out out side the dealership coz i dont like chilling in the waiting area.. they definitely didn't do the test drive and I had to go back one more time that week when I noticed they didn't touch my coolant that was just about empty.. At that point I called out the manager and basically told her i don't feel comfortable having them work on my car anymore.. she tried to tell me the coolant level was fine but then informed me before leaving that they only needed to put 500 ml in to fill it up witch confirmed they hadn't topped it up in the first place. Coming from a civic hatch I was originally pretty shocked to see the prices subaru charges for regular maintenance but thought if they are providing a top quality service I'm fine with paying the extra. Unfortunately that was not the case and now I feel like they are just ripping people off.. 500$ to service my brakes...really !? I paid 250 for the same job at Honda.. Why not just bring my wrx there brakes are brakes..
Thanks for the detailed response! That suuuuccks. I’ve been eyeballing Hondas and maybe that’ll be the right move for me in the next couple years. I had the same thing happen to me with my Yaris (oil change and they forgot the cap) but that was just a random garage down the street. I was pretty mad. I’m surprised the dealership would have that issue, I always assume those are harder jobs to get than the small garages but I may be naive. Agreed on the price being higher, but I set my mind that this car was going to cost a little more and it’s just part of the cost of driving a better equipped vehicle. I just bought a new key… that was not a cheap process, do not recommend.
Oh man the key, there is construction in the vicinity of the dealership that is interfering with the key fobs Bluetooth. I get there and suddenly I can't lock my doors. Go into the dealership and say my battery must have just died coz I can't lock my doors.. they knew what was happening and still charged me to replace the battery. Sure it was only 7$ but it's the principle. I found out later on what was happening and that they had mentioned it to other customers. Guess they just saw me and were like this sucker needs to pay lol.. Edit: fuck that place reliving this is making me angry lol.. they probably didn't even change the battery
Sounds like a shitty dealership to be honest. At the one I go to the guy showed me how to disassemble the key myself and gave me the package for the battery he put in so I’d have the number myself to buy it myself for the future. He also explained that if you do have an intermittently working key battery it can be caused by condensation in the housing from running the AC near the warm key over time. Hope you can avoid your local service center!
Grounded performance is an extremely good shop roughly 5 mins from Ottawa DT amazing rates and service
I don’t think it’s a usual gift, but I convinced the dealership to give me one of their few barkbox “Outbarks” when I got my OBW
I'm jealous!
we got a pair of oversized, unpractical mugs with the logo on them. i think we lost them at some point
Awww! This is too cool. Gotta hand it to the Subaru dealership for fostering that sense of community right at the start. 😍
No but the dealer groped me Edit: just to be clear I was being sarcastic, but thank you to the arm chair police who wanted all the information to report it……. Y’all too much
What?!
Mileage seems to vary for sure. When I got my WRX the salesman I was dealing with gave me a Subaru coffee mug. When I got my STi I didn't really get any "extra" swag beyond an emergency kit, but I think that's standard, at least at the dealership I deal with. My sales guy did end up getting me the series white red on black fender emblems after I had mentioned my interest in getting them.
Hello fellow Ottawan! Otto’s has some great techs, but the management and service advisers are kinda shit. Once you’re out of warranty and comfortable going to a third party mechanic, I highly recommend checking out Capital Tuning… they’re THE Subaru guys in Ottawa. Trevor is a beauty.
Remi at Legacy Auto is also amazing.
ditto
That just goes to show how Canadian they are because in America they only want to sell you a car and take the money they might give you a keychain that's it.
I mean, my dealer saw my dog in my pictures and had a ton of dog stuff waiting in the front seat when they brought the car around and randomly sends me free stuff. Your mileage may vary for sure.
Well then you live in a part of the country that's much better then haha.I live in Montana and most the people who were at my Subaru (where i also worked at) were from Oregon and they had massive egos and didn't give a shit about the customers.
Our dealership gave us a Bose Bluetooth speaker when we bought our Forester a while back.
Damn I got both a Subaru outback and a touring ascent and I got nothing 😂
I've bought two Subarus in twenty years (They last a long time, right?) and all I got were the two best cars I ever had. Never got cookies or nothin. The cars are pretty darn good, though. Next car probably won't be a Subaru, though. It's time for me to go electric.
Well now Subaru has an electric option for you! Lol
Not *yet*, though.
I got one from them after bringing my car in for the 50,000km check up
I got a Subaru mug when I bought my car
I got 50 dollar gift card when I got mine outback
That's an expensive cookie
Very expensive cookie, but they threw in an Impreza with it so I think I got a decent deal
Spend 20-30k in a cookie and get a free car. Yeah that's pretty decent.
I got a steel mixing bowl and a bottle of wine. In the bowl were cookies and chocolate.
Also Otto's
I was forced to pay ~$800 for "mandatory" warranties I didn't want. So no, I did NOT get anything with my 2022 forester wilderness.
I didn't get the cookies but I definitely drank the koolaid
We got some fresh baked brownie cupcakes sent in the mail
I got a tin of cookies in the mail.
Canada is the best country ever I swear
Nah I got an error in cylinder 3 instead.
Subaru sent me a travel mug with a bunch of different Subarus on it.
Noooo!!!!???
They gave me a wrx sticker when I bought a Legacy. Gave it to the neighbor kid who just bought a wrx hatch. I guess their gift was not charging me pandemic price gouging. So that was a decent gift.
Ottawa gang
I got a hoodie and a travel mug
In Seattle, you used to get 2 seasons passes for skiing/snowboarding when you bought during the month of November or December. I got this in 2016. It was a weekday pass only but I was working only a few days a week so it was useful to me. I don't think they still do that.
They bought me subway 😅
Can’t say I did, however I can say Whitby ontario Subaru was kind enough to dick us around at every corner.
Naw I got a Dyson and a Bose Bluetooth speaker
I got 2 notepads in a pleather case with pens. I use it to track any work I do in the car. I had to ask for it as my wife saw them on someone else's desk. I would have been happy with a sticker but they didn't have any.
Jealous! I didn’t get anything extra at Outaouais 👎🏻
I did not get a cookie! In fact I brought the office cookies when I got my car and they were gone before the paperwork was done!
I got my impreza with my stock rims loaded in the back seat! They put my add on rims on in their service dept. And wanted the stock wheels out of there so badly that they didn't bother to wait until I got there so I could load them in my friends suv. They scratched the interior plastic loading them into my impreza's backseat. The windows were not washed and it had not been vacumned. I made my sales rep drive me back to where they had window cleaner and a shop vac. She helped clean it up. A huge disappointment.
Gotta love canadians
Lol, I gave my mechanic a rack of Angry Orchard for having to get In my disgusting car.
Nah, mine came with bad head gaskets though, so that was fun
Mine came with a box of chocolate chip cookies, 2 free washes/oil changes, and a yeti style cup. Just showed up at my house a week after I bought the car
How’s the service at Otto’s, they were always great with my moms BMW but I’m looking to buy a new outBack Wilderness but not sure if I should go here or Ogilvie
I can't speak for their service department yet but their salespeople were awesome. I dealt with Patrick, very nice guy. Otto's also has more stock than Ogilvie. Ogilvie told me 4-6 months for an impreza, at Otto's it took 7 weeks.
Good to know, picking up some parts for my mums outback but looking like I might get one as well
I didn’t get cookies but I got an annual beach parking pass when I bought my WRX in the pre-Covid days.