Why do Subaru dealers not supply parts for an Import Impreza, when 90% of the parts are the same as the UK spec ???

They won't even carryout a number plate change (being cynical now) never mind a standard service......

My rant over with dealers.

 

easy really.....lobby subaru uk for cheaper prices...it's just taking the mickey what you are charging now....10% difference would be about right...

also have fixed priced servicing.....at +£50 per hour we don't want to be paying for somebody's tea break.....

i also got quoted £60 + vat to fit a change of rear spoiler on my 01wrx....it took me 5 minutes....i would have bought one from them if they'd said "and we'll fit it for free" ...seeing as it was a direct swap....."doh"

 

Arranged to buy a MY00 from one local dealer after depositing £500 (all the others I called wanted £1000!). Unfortunately (well for the car) I was married in the summer of 2000 so I didnt want to spend the extra money on the car over my 306 GTi-6 which had plunged in value in a matter of 3 months. I had been expecting a cost to change of £6500 not £9500. A bit different. Dealer was very understanding. Tough luck mate hope the wedding goes well and we'll keep the deposit. I bit pissed off but he did say if I came back we could work out a deal.
Went back 6mths later and he offered me the MY00 with leather and A/C in the showroom for a discount off list of £250. What a **** take after earning interest on my £500 for 6mths.
Needless to say I walked away.
Went to other local dealer where salesman was very good willing to chat and gave me a discount of £1000 off list and also said that even though they had been asking £1000 deposit 6mths before they would have returned it as the car would have been easily sold. Bummer.
The aftersales had been good but the lack of professionalism when I took the car in for it's 12mth service really annoyed me. I don't expect Mercedes/BMW type treatment just to take the car in and get it back in the same state as before. Alas it was dripping with the anti corrosion wax all over the place. Of course it will leak out but no effort had been made at all to clean it up. I was offered a free car wash next time which I accepted but insisted that they cleaned it up there and then which they duly did.
I also phoned up to enquire if it would be OK to pop in later on Saturday to look at prices for leather & A/C. No probs. Went there at 4:30 to be greeted by, nobody. Eventually found a member of staff to help who said he couldn't tell me the price of leather as he wouldnt be able to get in touch with the guy they used. He said we close soon so it's a bit late to come and to discuss this now. Useless w****r. He knew little about the cars and less about accessories etc.
I do think IM need be careful about warranty claims. Seems some dealers just replace clutches because of cold weather judder which is fairly typical on high performance AWD cars and some will not.
As long as I can take my car in and be confident that someone has really checked and changed according to schedule in a professional manner I'm a happy bunny. Oh and if I call to arrange a service and ask for a Saturday morning at 8:30 that is when I want to have it done!

 

A Simple rule for car dealers to abide by...

Treat your customers the same way that you would want to be treated if you were them.

Cant go wrong with that surely!

Mak.

 

My experiences with Subaru dealer in Hertfordshire has been largely positive. Interestingly, Iwas considering buying a BM, but a few months previously I had bought the MINI Cooper from a nearby BM dealership, and was treated like such utter **** that I thought there was no way I was gonna come back and spend more money with them. That was one of the reasons I started looking at Scoobys (and never looked back).

With BMW i got the impression that they regarded the MINI as an inferior product and if your weren't buying a 'real' BM you weren't really worth wasting time with. I felt like saying to them that just cos I come in here in jeans and trainers to buy a mini, you don't know that I can't afford to spend 30k on a second car. In any case, everyone should be treated the same by a dealer.

...mustn't get started on the rest of my rant or i'd be here all day!

Charlie.

 

Before I bought a Subaru Impreza(1999), I'd heard that the cars and level of service were excellent.

Since I've owned Subarus, I've found that the cars are absolutely excellent in some ways, middling in others (mainly involved with cost of ownership), and in some cases dire....interiors!

Since I've been dealing with Subaru dealers, I've found them to be no better than the average car dealership...ie the first thing on their minds is how to make money of of the customer rather than "how can I satisfy this customer". If the latter were diligently followed, then everything else would follow, including healthy profits. On the plus side, I believe the ethic is there in the Subaru dealer network, but the staff have poor training and poor role models.

Ian...you sound as if you concentrate on "quality" and "service" and you will go far in business with that attitude.

Cheers,

Rich

 

good stuff people.

 

Caz,
That reminds me of going to Subaru at Oakley, Beds.
I wanted some wiper blades on my import.
Parts guy asks me for the VIN. When I told him it was an import it was shutters down time.
What a jobs worth for a very minor part. Grrrr

 

h-h, those are the people I was on about. eventually wrote two letters of complaint (the second after they failed to address issues raised in the first) never recieved an apology or anything approaching. It was funny when the saleswoman asked me to fill in a customer satisfaction form and I went straight for the 'very unsatisfied' column. that soon wiped the smile off!

Perhaps we should start a new thread - why do you hate BMW dealers

 

There are obviously very mixed views expressed here. How about some comments from the original poster?

 

PC, I posted my problems with BMW Stevenage on the Mini2 BBS
Mini 2 And I can assure you we are not alone!!!!!!
I'm in there under user scooby_cooper, have a search and you'll see what I mean. Check the "Talking of being made to feel inferior" thread.

 

How about dealing with jap imports like Mitsubishi decided too? Please . From other comments that seems to be where the money/profit is so it seems like your shooting yourself in the foot. Suppose your at the mercy of IM tho .

Tony.

 

Please look back at page 2.

I,ve made our position clear on both euro imports and jap imports.

I would like to thank everyone who has responded. The comments have been very helpful, and I will be passing them on to Subaru UK to see if they wish to amend there policy's to improve their level of service to both you the customer and us the dealers.

I,ve even managed to resolve a problem I didn't know existed until I made this posting, with one of our service cutomers.

On a lighter note, I have organised a track day a Croft circuit near Darlington on Saturday the 5th October. The day consists of 6x20min sessions with lunch included. Instructors will be on hand for free tuition. The cost is £130, which is done on a no profit basis for ourselves. Everyone is welcome including non subaru's/imports or anything.
I will be their in our STi 7 demo, our WRX demo and my new toy a Dax Rush with a hayabusa engine and paddle gearchange.

Please contact me on 01228 525051 or 07831 684088 to book your place

 

Applaud you for asking, i can tell you only about my local dealer who are a bunch of p takers:

- Took my car for 15k service - they tightened up my handbrake way way too much so it heated up and stuck on whilst on the M4 causing vibration thru the whole car - obviously I missed my meeting. They took 3 diff attempts to fix it using as few new parts as possible and now its better but still the shoes arent right. Asking them to keep looking at it was starting to get them making me feel bad.

- One time they had the car for the brake work as above and they managed to scratch my rear bumper. Eventually they agreed to fix it and asked a local guy to come out and do it. I later learn they asked him to do a 'quick job'...

- My clutch juddered and the release bearing was singing from 15k miles onwards. My car's a Euro import and I let them do the work and they charged me 650quid for the privalige - telling me its much better this way cos now i have a full UK warranted clutch in case anything else happens. Subaru NL agree parts are faulty and pay parts only... like these things fit themselves??? Local dealer shrugs and hides behind IM, Subaru NL and process...

- less than 5k miles later my clutch is juddering again, back to dealer who stick in a claim and then say they cant fix it cos I didnt have a flywheel last time... er when it was all apart it was diagnosed by their mechanics as not needing one... upshot is I have no warranty on my clutch... B@stards!

- main dealers scoff at anything that you tell them youve seen on the internet as a potential fix. In the end I taught their main guy how to clean out the boost solenoid pipes to help cure overboosting - zero thanks given, sigh.

- they wont speak to other dealers. I had a clonking clutch pedal and asked them to look at it. no fault found. I got info that a Nottingham dealer had found the problem and fixed it in 15mins, printed info off and passed it on. they never called back with a quote. redid printouts and asked again and they came back with 80quid quote for 15mins work. when questioned they said it will take an hour... i asked them to ring the other dealer and discuss it and they refused.

- ordered the parts to do the clutch pedal myself. quoted 15-20quid. parts arrived and cost a whopping 36quid! no option but to buy them....

- on first service saw item 'screenwash' and price. mentioned I knw it was full when it came in and so service manager says sorry i'll take it off. returns bill with item removed.... wait for the punchline... total was adjusted to be the same!

So perhaps this is why I have no time for my local main dealer who continually makes me feel like a second rate citizen cos I didnt buy my UK car in the UK - I did originally try to but they wouldnt come down in price even a fiver and I had no trade in! Im sure a French dealer would be far more helpful to a UK person needing help when on holiday so why do dealers act this way... its very sad.

Jon.
Edited to add screenwash comment

[Edited by JonW - 9/5/2002 12:12:15 PM]

 

Jon

Next time you need a service have a weekend in the Lake district and let us sort your car. I have customers who travel from as far as London.

Us lads up north don't charge as much per hour.(£45)
Some London dealers I believe are anything upto £85 per hour.

Happy motoring

Ian

 

nice to hear that you are doing ok Ian:also nice to see that you got rid of thos 2 plonkers that worked in sales a year and a bit ago....i will be contacting you shortly for an order for a Accord type R...

speak to you soon

ciao

 

Could to see this post.

I have to say that the service I have recieved for my MY99 that I bought last year has been excellent. I bought from Marlboro in Isleworth, not my nearest dealer but they got the car I wanted added new tyres at my request etc.

I now get the car serviced at Cheam motors. There service is also excellent, and I've the added bonus that they're only a couple of miles from where I work.

I hope I have no reason to alter my positive thoughts about the dealers.

Lunchie.

 

Tony

Contact me direct when you need a service or call in if your passing for a coffee anytime.

Ian
01228 525051
07831 684088

 

Thanks Ian,

will do....

Tony

 

I bought my MY01 WRX late 2001. I went to my local dealer in South London and they were shut....hmm...so went to another dealer in North London.....they were very nice and helpful but didn't seem interested in me or my trade in (Clio 172)....ended up buying from dealer in York who have been very good all the way along...gave me a fair trade in and some nice extras on my new car.....my sister lives locally near Yrk so will be happy to go back to them for 1st year service....

 

Great Thread.

I like the idea of name and shame. Why not name best and worst examples. Keep it constructive. People have a choice so let people know others opinion, don't have to take it as gospel. Let's not libel anyone, it is always IMHO.

I use Lancasters, Pangbourne. Service is great, I got it picked up last time and they are open, honest and passionate about the cars they service. Yes it cost more than other cars but it is a Scooby so whinging about running costs and cost of servicing is a complete red herring. The point is visibility at purchase so you know the costs and communication when you have bought it. Would I buy are new car from them again? Yes, probably, provided I knew I wasn't being fleeced.

Bad Example, although they have had some good comments, is SGT Maidenhead. I was there for the taking, I work nearer than Lancasters and I would have booked it in if I thought they were in anyway near Lancasters in terms of service. IMHO I don't believe I was taking to someone who knew a thing about Subarus. Maybe he was a temp or sub'd in from another dealer but I was embarrased at how poor the whole experience was. In defence I was on my lunch break and short of time so may have rushed him. I will not use them now. O

ne bad example puts you off for live. Dealers should wake up to this. A 20 year old might be on a bit of a jolly when looking to test drive a Scoobie, but if he is made to feel a prat and demeaned and looked down upon when he is 30 and wants to buy one I bet he remembers that experience. Bad selling impacts a business for years and years. Good selling is worth maybe a year of goodwill.

This post is great as I think how the dealer experience is, sets up the whole car ownership experience.

I have been looking at cars for the missus and we have trawled almost every major dealer in the area. It is amazing how good some are and how bad others can be. MG were great, as were Seat, Honda were terrible, Peugeot average but it was at closing time, VW busy bit once with a sales person good. BMW okay if a bit snotty.

Ford could at least make an effort to have someone selling the car that knew about it!! Suppose that's why I like Lancasters coz they love and know the product.

G

 

I have only dealt with one Scooby Dealer - the one I spent my hard earned cash on my first MY01 WRX.

Since I had it it has been back for:
New Alarm
New Clutch
Investigation into rear wheel droning sound
Investigation into uneven front tyre wear
PPP to be fitted
PPP to fitted properly

And guess what? Im trying to buy another car from them for my Wife because in my opinion, they have done everything they could to make me a happy bunny with my Scoob.

(Unlike the local Lotus/Jeep dealer who are a bunch of lying theiving g1ts! Talk about ripping off customers!!!)

Heritage are the Scoob garage - sales guy (James) is top guy!
Cannot fault their service at all... only their product!
Mak.

 

I trust that the track day will not invalidate anybody's warranty ;-

 

My dealer is feckin brilliant and can't fault him or them at all, but then again I am in Germany not rip off Britain

 

just going to ask the warranty question also....i seem to recall somebody on one of these boards getting a letter from subaru saying warrnaty had been withdrawn.....

also..if i was to purchase an official uk model, what would your reaction be to my my01 import?

ps..i'm looking to upgrade to wrx sti in next 6 months

 

Come on guys please read the complete thread.

My stance on warranty, re track days and on imports is clearly stated on page 2.

I would be happy to take a euro import in p/x.
In fact we take anything Jap imports, motorbikes, boats, caravans, kids and even the wife (only if she's tidy and doesn't moan).
Sorry that was a bit sexist!!!!

Ian

 

Interested in your views on imports, W2WRX. My Dealers were always running scared of IM - "...it's more than our franchise is worth." Indeed, they once had a WRX on the premises about which I pulled their leg unmercifully (nice to have that sort of relationship with your Dealer ) - they explained it had come in off their TVR franchise as a PX, and they had consulted IM before bringing it onto the Subaru site. Now, you're pretty relaxed, and you're not the first dealership I've seen relaxing, but only in the last month or so. Which is all a long preamble to asking "have attitudes changed at IM?"

Cheers

Phil

 

Hi Ian (AKA Stan Palmer, Carlisle)

What an interesing thread...I read from your post that quote
"Euro cars come with 3 years Subaru from the country of origin". I dropped my euro MY02 into Stan Palmer for it's 1000 mile service and was told by Tom that it only came with a 1 year warranty. end of conversation. period. Warranty issues are big with Euro cars

Who's right??

MLCS

 

Ian,

I don’t particularly have any complaints regarding Subaru dealers, well maybe… However, you are the first I have seen for a long while take an active interest in what the consumer wants on such a bbs. For that I complement you! You will almost definitely, as any dealer would, reap the rewards of customers by being actively involved in such discussions. I don’t know what the consequences of such actions will be but i'm sure you know what u can get away with. If I were in marketing I would say that your thread was a great insight. I particularly find that the majority of enthusiasts know more about the cars than the salesmen, which often leads to interesting conversations In my honest opinion, what I personally wanted from a dealer is someone who’s on the ball regarding modifications and supported it with technical backup. I don’t mean blagging the warranty or anything like that, I would have gracefully given that up years ago if I trusted the dealers to steer me right. For example, when I reached the almost limit of my ppp I asked what can I do now? The reply was “nothing without invalidating your warranty”. Ok so if I do what can I do….. Errrr, no answers. I said what about a full decat? That will do nothing but upset the balance of the car and upset the fuel mixture…wtf. I personally thought that some of the mechanics had no real enthusiasm or knowledge of tuning and what they had learned at Subaru School was the obvious gospel. Now, if I had a dealer that knew their stuff and had been actively involved in the modifications I have subsequently gone through via this board I would be your best customer. I personally believe that there is a huge market for a dealer to make money via mods on sound advice and guidance and support but I am yet to find it in my neck of the woods. I have had to listen to what ppl have said here on what the best way is to improve performance and I have to say that it has always ended up making more sense than you can get out of any of the dealers I have spoken to. I know that in almost any other car dealership world these kinds of comments would be irrelevant compared to revenue, but in terms of Subaru people get the bug full stop! From what i've read I think u are a minority and are what most of the ppl here want to hear, but for the rest of us well usually end up going somewhere that will take an active interest in our modifications. For all the people wanting to keep it standard I don’t speak for you . All I can possibly say is that if a dealer kept up with the technical/general technical threads and had met some of the cleverest, nicest guys here they would do me just fine and id rather have a subaru stamp on my log book.

Cheers

Paul. (spent too much money learning the hard way)

 

my god its way too late