Subaru Dealer Whitelist (positive experiences, truthful dealings)
 

Since there is a blacklist thread, I thought it made sense to start a whitelist thread. As with most things, YMMV (some dealerships might exist in both threads).

• Please use the format below to post the dealership location, name, sales and/or service person, and a brief description of why you recommend them:

  [State (two digit)] - [Town] - [Dealership] - [sales, service, both]
  
  Sales: [name or N/A]
  Service: [name or N/A]
  Story: [please keep it brief]
  
  Click here to see an example.
  

• If not in the USA, specify country rather than state.
• Optional: Link to dealership website.
• Feel free to post even if your dealership was already mentioned.
• For Toyota/Scion, see http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27809

SUBARU WHITELIST

Please see thread for posts after July, 2014, starting with http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1870533

MA - Hadley - Steve Lewis - both

Sales: David Hanks
Service: Eric (finishing "magician")
Story: Friendly, courteous, enthusiastic about BRZ. Paid MSRP, no surprises, was kept updated about car's status via phone and email. I noticed two minor scratches and a blotch in the clear coat right after picking it up (only visible when looking from certain angles). I went by the next day, and they were very nice and professional about it; their finishing guy (Eric) did a great job making it look better.

As I already reported in a similar thread in the Southeast forum:

OH - Cincinnati - Beechmont Subaru - Sales

Salesman: Paul Kane

Service: N/A

Story: This is the second Subaru I have purchased from Paul. He is a true enthusiast and can relate to car nuts like us. I live 80 miles away and near two other dealerships, but after being treated so well when I bought my 2011 WRX I didn't hesitate to order this car from him. If anything, the experience was even better this time. Also kudos to the finance lady who pulled some strings to get me an interest rate of 1.79% and to the lady in service who cheerfully responded to my spur-of-the-moment request to reprogram the interior light and door lock functions. (As it turned out, Subaru had not yet equipped them to do this, but they said they would take care of it next time I'm in Cinci.)
Overall this was by far the best treatment I've ever experienced from a car dealer.

GA - Duluth - Subaru of Gwinnett - sales

Sales: Gary Sikes
Service: N/A
Story: Just an all around pleasant experience. No BS, no hidden fees, nothing at all bad. The dealer has been open for about 10 years, of which, Gary has been a sales rep for 8 of those years. I've dealt with him in other instances over the years, but this was my first experience with me and him in a sales aspect. He kept me up to date whenever he knew information and as a result, I'm happy. I picked up my BRZ yesterday and am LOVING every second of it!

PA - Doylestown - Fred Beans Subaru - Sales

Sales - Dan Agee
Service - no experience yet

Story: This is my first Subaru so I wasn't sure who to go to in NY. The 2 dealers in Queens quickly turned me off to them. One is right down the block from where I work and the other is about 2 minutes from my home. After some sour experiences early on with the local Queens dealership I contacted Fred Beans. Full Disclosure: I work in the aftermarket for a parts manufacturer/supplier based here in NY so I had a relationship with Fred Beans parts division which has always been a professional and honest operation. For the BRZ I spoke to the sales manager Scott Hall over the phone and I felt very comfortable. He assigned me to Dan Agee, a young salesman around my age (25). Dan has been extremely helpful and willing to field a TON of random phone calls from me with a million questions. Never once has he seemed annoyed he always had an answer or found the answer to my question. It's been a no BS experience. I'm paying MSRP + TTL, nothing more. My trade in was fair and overall the experience has been a pleasure. I'm getting some performance parts taken off my G8 this weekend while I'm away so even though the car arrived a few days ago they are being patient with me. I'm very happy and would recommend them to anyone in the NY/PA/NJ area who wants a truly professional dealer with great service. Trust me im willing to drive 2+ hours away to get a hreat experience!! Go see Dan!!!

1.79%? Dangggg

VA- Alexandria- Beyer Subaru- sales
Sales- Matt Nemetz
Service- NA
Story- got me a great deal on the car, has been great about responding to emails even when I would be annoyed with me. Very much a straight shooter, helped my friend when she was car shopping and was great to deal with then too. Was willing to work with me when I considered backing out or delaying my BRZ purchase, even guaranteed the same deal at a later date if I did end up backing out. I did not, and my car is due this week. Very excited and it's been great working with him.

PS- only had interactions with one other Beyer rep, a sales guy names Dan. He was an interesting character to say the least, and my experience with him was less than positive. Stick with Matt.

Yes, almost like free money.;)
I bought a CX-5 for the wife a couple of months ago and got a rate of 1.99%. I asked the finance lady at Beechmont to beat that and she did. There was a $40 application fee, and also a $5 credit union deposit required, which the dealership made for me.

GA - Cumming - Troncalli Subaru - both

Sales: Chris Wright
Service: entire dept.
Story: Promised MSRP, kept up to date and in the loop, great BS-free conversations (even gave me tickets to the big international car show). Will also do the tinting on the windows and the service guys are genuinely excited to work on the BRZ.

Damn, I was hoping I would get the first GA BRZ :)

:clap:

my buddy picked his up Friday from Kennesaw. I ran into him randomly yesterday. It was a total impromptu meet in Marietta.

The first was delivered to SoG on the 31st. I believe that Classic got one the same day.

MA - Belmont - CitySide Subaru - Sales

Sales: Michael Nelson
Story: Awesome guy, has his own WRX STi and is a member of NASOIC, the first time I walked into the dealership he greeted me immediately. Very friendly, knows just as much about the BRZ as I do and was very excited about the car. Made sure no one else drove it after it came off the truck, not even to move it around the parking lot. Made sure not to mount the front plate without me even having to ask him. Didn't get angry at me for the weekly phone calls about the car and let me know the second it came off the truck. Great guy, will probably be hanging out with him at car meets in the area soon.

MD - Silver Spring - Herb Gordon Silver Spring - Sales

Sales: Lakshman Sukar, Jason Withrow, Mike Roy (Sales manager)

Story: I Started shopping for my BRZ back in October/September 2011. Originally I put down a deposit at Fitzgerald Subaru in Gaithersburg MD. After promising MSRP they added a 2k mark up the day before the orders started. Ended up going to Herb Gordon and the difference in my experience there compared to Fitz was night and day. I got calls and updates on the car constantly. The entire sales staff was great, honest and up front; no games. The original deal was 700 over invoice and they stuck with that deal even when the car started to generate hype (I think they are now selling their cars for MSRP +100). They also were able to get me %1.99 financing over 60 months.

Funny thing is, more than half the staff at Herb Gordon used to work at Fitz Subaru but left due to there shady sales tactics and scummy ownership. Some other FT86club members have had good luck with Herb Gordon as well and I HIGHLY recommend them. A+ experience.

I second this.

MD - Silver Spring - Herb Gordon Silver Spring - Sales

Sales: Lakshman Sukar, Mike Roy (Sales manager)

Story: I had a great time dealing with Lakshman Sukar and Mike Roy at Herb Gordon Subaru in Silver Spring MD. They were very accommodating. They appraised my trade in and allowed me to drive it a couple of weeks before my BRZ came in. They stuck to their originally quoted discounted price, and went the distance to make sure that the front license plate bracket was not installed. I also was asked if I wanted the car washed or not. I declined the wash and drove the car home with the vinyl wrapping still on.

Lakshman knew I am pretty OCD about the condition of my cars, and he did an excellent job. Even the financing guy was good to deal with

A+ experience. I would send my family there.

CT - Branford - Premier Subaru - Sales

Sales: Jeff Irzyk
Service: N/A
Story: Overall great experience with Jeff at Premier Subaru. I placed my deposit with him on 3/1 for MSRP. I received my car when promised exactly as I had ordered. He responded to my e-mails almost immediately and kept me up to date on the progress. He also happily accommodated my requests for no front plate and no dealership stickers on the car. Final transaction was easy as could be, everybody else at this dealership was extremely friendly and helpful as well.

CA - Redwood City - Carlsen Subaru - Both

Sales: Larry Fung
Service: N/A (having LoJack/Permaplate installed today though)
Story: Amazing experience with Larry and everyone else at Carlsen. I had reached out to Larry back in late March about pre-ordering. We weren't able to work anything out at that time, and I ended up putting in a pre-order at another dealership. Fast forward to Memorial Day weekend. Larry emails me, tells me he has an SSM Limited 6MT in the showroom, abandoned pre-order, and asks if I'm interested. No up front deposit or anything. He holds the car for me until Sunday, I go in and fill out all the paperwork. I sit down with the finance manager, Steve, and he goes over everything, including multiple financing scenarios based on various down payment/APR situations. We settle on numbers I'm happy with, and he tells me he'll give me a call as soon as the bank gets back to him (noone there to approve on a Sunday). I get a call first thing Monday morning saying I'm approved and I can pick the car up at noon. The rest is history. Not once did I feel pressured or rushed through anything. Larry was up front with pricing and information, and Steve went over the contract and all accompanying paperwork with a fine toothed comb, making sure I knew where every cent of my money was going.

Stickied for potential buyers?

What was their doc fee, if any?

Hi Shawn!

Sup Matt. I'm getting a quote on an Xpel Clear bra, you got me all paranoid. I'll let you know what he comes back with.

CA - San Jose - Capitol Subaru

Sales: Jamie Cassady
Service: [name or N/A]
Story:

Put a 500 dollar deposit down about 2 months ago over the phone, was put on a wait list. Emailed last week to ask when the first ones were coming in so I could see them in person. Emailed me while they were still being unloaded off of the truck with a cell phone pic of them being unloaded...Quite cool of him.

Worked out all the details via email, loan approved via email and everything. I have crappy credit but great income and Jamie and Mike (finance) worked something out with their bank and got my a great APR. All via EMAIL! Which is awesome since i work all day and have no car at the moment. Pick up my BRZ on Thursday.

Highly recommend this Dealer, they are slated for 35 total this year.

I'm in talks with lamin-x...

Let me know what you come up with, I got a quote for $1200 for Xpel. It's full coverage though. Entire hood, fender, bumpers, headlights, mirrors, a-pillar, and partial roof.

For the SE there's a short list here: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7526

FL - Jacksonville - Orange Park - Sales, no experience with service yet.

Sales: Josh Strickland
Service: N/A
Story: I have been in the process of moving to Jacksonville and decided I would get the car in FL. I started by just sending Josh an email and then dealing with him over the phone. From the very start he put in writing that price would be MSRP. He constantly kept me in the loop about whatever progress he had heard. My car came in 3 days earlier than expected (May 28th), however I am out of state for another week. Josh took my car, filled it up, had the service inspection done, then parked it in the showroom and locked it up. Since I am still waiting until next week to pick up the car, Josh got the financial department to see what kind of deals then can get me on financing and he is going to compare them to other banks in the area to get me the best deal.

Its been nothing like some of the horror stories I have heard.

IN - Indianapolis - Tom Wood Subaru
Sales: Keith Graul
Service: N/A
Story: First experience with Subaru specifically, and with ordering a non-domestic car in general. I was 'hooked up' with Keith through their web inquiry system, and he's perfect for my personality and temperament. Really low-key guy (drives an STi), knowledgable about product but not pushy. I ordered in July, he told me flat-out that I'd probably be looking at February or March (turned out to be early January).

Price was MSRP. Easy transaction, only real demerit I'd say was a really hard sell on extended warrenty/paint protection/et al by the finance guy. Who also was a nice, low-key guy, but it was a hard sell nonetheless.

Thread updated for Admiral Ballsy's post. I also noticed a few older reports (from FoolCyclist and Trikle) that I'd previously listed, but had forgotten to thank (along with Tbxgz's suggestion to sticky this, which I think is a good idea).

NH - Keene - Subaru of Keene - sales

Sales: Scott Peabody, Mark Carey
Service: N/A
Story: They worked to get me a BRZ Limited 6MT at $500 over invoice back in September when msrp + was still very common. They did not have the initial color in stock but traded with another dealer to get an acceptable color. They picked me up at the airport and drove me to the dealership to finish the paperwork. Straight up most pleasant experience I have had buying a car in a long time. I drove my car back to Katy, TX with everything signed and no hidden fees or problems with the car. Honest to the end, and I even got a call near the end of my trip to make sure I was alright since they knew where I lived.

[CT] - [Torrington] - [Center Subaru] - [both]

Sales: Joe Kolosky
Service: 2 counter people (one man, one woman) and a tech all pleasant and knowledgeble
Story: Joe knew a lot about the BRZ and he was excited to talk about new things he learned about it during my first oil change/WQC39 visit. Made an appointment for the oil change and got the recall noticel in the meantime, when I came in they told me (before I had a chance to pull the letter from my pocket) that they were ready to do the recall and had already done the one in the showroom. The car came back to me in the same condition (no joy rides, no excess mileage, no scratches, etc.) I had left it. I waited for the car and listened/observed other owners (not BRZs) drop off talk to the service department and even those with older Foresters were treated well.

OR, Portland, Gladstone Toyota/Scion, Sales and Service

Pricing was Scion simple MSRP. There were no hassles, or pressure to buy extras. Things were offered of course, but a polite no thanks was all that was need to end the discussion. The car was delivered a couple weeks later than initially promised, but they let us know the new schedule as soon as they found out. Our salesman, Moe, went to extraordinary lengths to ensure that they didn't mount the front plate bracket per my request. Service since purchase has been fast, thorough, and courteous.

WI - Madison - Don Miller Subaru West - Sales

Sales: Eric Orvold
Service: N/A, but it took an afternoon to get an OBD-II reading to let me know my gas cap wasn't screwed on tight enough a month after sale. That was frustrating.
Story: Was the first to order, got a call when a demo car was in town and got a chance to see and drive before official release. Worked out a great deal with Eric and sales manager, I highly recommend Don Miller Subaru and have sent many folks their way. Excellent sales staff across the board, good Wisconsin folk.

TX - Killeen - Cleo Bay Subaru - Jon Locklin

Back in August, I started calling all the Subaru dealers within a 250 mile range of Dallas, becasue all the dealers in the DFW metroplex wanted 3-5K over list just to pre-order a car. I found this dealer and got a commitment to take an order for a car at MSRP. Then the local dealer where my other car is serviced changed their mind and offered me the same deal (the only one in DFW who was willing - Bob Moore Subaru) so I put my deposit down with the local dealer. Then a month later I got a call from Jon at Cleo Bay to tell me that the exact model and color of car that I had asked to pre-order was available from them immediately as the person who had put a deposit down in June backed out just a few days before they got word the car was on it's way. They could have tried to squeeze out as much profit as possible, but instead gave me a call even before the car arrived at their dealer to offer it to me at MSRP. I was shocked, but of course told him that he could consider the car sold as I had already secured financing. The car never even went on their website and they did not call anyone else to try and get the highest price. Actually someone else from the Austin area called the dealer and asked if they had any BRZ's coming, and instead of telling them yes they took their phone number, then called me and asked if I would give a totally refundable deposit for them to hold the car until the next Monday as I could not break a previous committment on that Saturday. I gladly gave them the 500.00 deposit and showed up on that Monday (late October) to pick up the car. Also they did not try to hold me up by trying to sell accessories to me, but rather just agreed that it would be best if I obtained them and had them installed by my local dealer. In the nasty world of car sales, you don't get much better honesty and straight dealing than that. And he even followed up a month later just to make sure I was happy with the sale, with no other motive. Great dealer! And my local dealer is also very honest and dependable.

Edwards Subaru Hyundai Mitsubishi in Council Bluffs Iowa.

I am not going to write a whole lot. Basically this was my first "new" car buying experience. The people there are amazing and made life so easy when it came down to buying my BRZ. I think they were more excited to get another one to sell than I was getting the car. Either way I could not have wanted anything better in a car sale. I was given the absolute best in communication, even while I was deployed. I was getting updates and when I asked for updates, I had them within hours. Amazing sales team and my sales rep was amazing as well. Would definitely buy from again! Although I do not see myself getting a new car for quite awhile.

MA Patrick Subaru
Tri Le
out of state purchase, everything went smooth over email. He even picked us up at the airport when we went to pick up the car.

Capitaland Subaru, NY
Mike - Sales

Out of state purchase, bought at MSRP + 1 dealer installed package. Kept me up to date on everything, and made the paperwork/delivery for the car go smooth. Mike was helpful and great to deal with.

They have a couple of BRZs on their lot right now at good prices too.

CO - Auroura - ShortlineSubaru - Sales

Sales: Marcus Moore
Service: N/A
Story: Marcus picked me up at the airport, and gave me a phenomenal price on my limited brz + 1b package + chrome fuel door, roughly $1100 under invoice.

+1 for Tri drove up from Jersey to pick mine up the whole experience was really smooth.

Arizona, Sierra Vista, Sierra Toyota, Sales. They're about 100 miles s.e. of Tucson. Pretty much a small town dealership. Very honest and easy to deal with. If and when I decide to trade for a 2014 (provided there are some changes I hope for) I'll be contacting them first because of the pleasant experience.