Subaru vs Toyota dealership service experiences?
 

Hi all - as a current owner of a different brand, I'm used to my dealership service experiences being... lets say "adversarial". I'm not looking to deal with more confrontational dealerships when sourcing a service provider, so I was wondering if anyone had direct experience with service at both. I'm not talking about dealerships that are "cool" with mods, etc. - I accept that modifying things may jeapordize my warrantability, and I'm well versed in the magnusson-moss act... What I'm looking for is which dealership network is simply approachable and doesn't go out of their way to find reasons to deny coverage, throw up delays, etc. If there's no concrete trend, that's fine, but I figured it was wroth asking. I already have one drama car, don't need another. They'll both be toys, I don't need toys stressing me out.

man throw a dart at the wall, is the wide internet's best guess. sifting through regional forum or the black/white list for each company.. there are just too many variables to distill it to A over B.

Heh I was hoping for the ideal state of a few people that had owned both :P

Worth a shot. I've been poring over the forums but for the most part the complaints seem to come from people that break stuff then complain that it's not covered.

Welcome to the majority of bad reviews. That or people not knowing how things work so clearly something is wrong with the product.

Either way I have only had experiences with Subaru and Chrysler dealers. Both have been for the most part pleasant experiences no real issues to report. Then again I do most of the maintenance myself and have them pretty much relegated to only recalls and oil changes.

dealership........................................ .................................................. ....


unless you live by some good dealer that everyone knows, most of them are utter XXXXX...

just been through a nightmare with my local subaru dealer last month.


*1 my car literally jingles like Santa's wagon after throwout bearing repalcement......f
*2 Service writer told me it's ok to drive it to work because they don't have a renter avalible and shuttle guy vanished.

3. Can't beleive I still haven't complain to subaru of america.

It will be entirely region dependent. Lots of areas where the Toyota dealers are shit and the Subaru dealers are awesome or vice versa. One great Subie dealer and one great Toyota dealer and the rest are shit, nobody knows, there is no universal experience when each dealership is owned by a different Uncle Joe with varying amounts of slime.

Go post in the SoCal forums, be specific about where you are located and ask about good dealerships in the area.

This is a totally unanswerable question. Even the same person going into the same dealership on different days may walk away with a changed opinion.


Check this out for the good and the bad on specific dealers.

https://www.dealerrater.com/info/tou/

You can't even ask others or read reviews, because most people who get totally scammed by a stealership don't even know it, and are pleased with their service!

The answer is to never go to the dealership in the first place.
Find a local shop that can service your car.

I made a spreadsheet and charted good/bad reviews, then I posted this to see if the percentages correlated or not. From a random sampling of 100 Yelp reviews it sounds like Toyota is better to buy from, Subaru is better to get service at. This is aggregate totals of all models not just toyoburu, but it gave me a decent idea.

Yes, I'm a giant nerd for putting this stuff in a spreadsheet.
The same sort of sampling is why I'd gladly buy a used A/T car, but definitely not a M/T one. Most of the MT whingeing is abusers trying to blame the manufacturer.

My Subaru dealer and SOA have both been awesome in resolving my many issues. I've had a few things covered under "goodwill" while being almost 10,000 miles out of the powertrain warranty period. They also provide me with a loaner any time my car has to be repaired.

I am 60, and have owned more sports cars than I can count. I purchased my 2017 86 from Ventura Toyota. I dealt with the internet sales man. he was great and the deal was painless. I had called and Visited about 4 Subaru dealers. None of them could be bothered to take me seriously or call me back. The local Subaru dealer is next-door to the Toyota dealer.
The two cars are very similar, I would purchase the car that you like, and then find a dealer near you for service, these two car companies have been around for a long time. Chances are a good service dealer is not to for from your house.
Ron