Capitol Subaru

Reviews 4

AL

Aleks Gorelov

Its used to be Ok place, but became worst Subaru service in bay area. Every time I visited them lately, they became worse and worse. But my recent experience went beyond any expectations. I made an appointment to fix (among other things) window control switch for drivers window. Power window stopped working, and I knew it was control switch upfront, as its been previously diagnosed at Santa Cruz dealership. So far so good. Friendly service advisor Victor Vera met me, and here came the first warning - they requested $150 to just diagnose the failure. Well, Ok - dealerships usually do that, although Santa Cruz dealer did the same diagnostics for free), but knowing that it was a switch, I asked Victor what it would cost if switch were to be replaced. Friendly Victor came up with $230 right away, telling me that $150 for diagnostics would go towards the repair. Ok, no problem - I was ready to pay that. Few hours later Victor called me with news that the switch were to be replaced. But, since this is not regular switch, but ‘the main switch’, it would cost me $370. Apparently, I was puzzled. So, hows $230 became $370, I asked. Heres the best part in reply from friendly Victor: "I never quote $230. You must be dreaming. I only said it would be $150 for diagnostics. Are you calling me a liar ?" Very professional answer. Well, it was not Ok, but I was already on the hook for $150 diagnostics, so I was asking to justify the price. "oh, we need to remove door panel, replace switch, put panel back - a lot of work". It was still not Ok, but I did not have much choice then, did I ? So when I came back for the car, I asked friendly Victor face to face one more time – what did they have to do to replace the switch. He went on and on with panel removal, etc... I showed him print out from Subaru manual saying that switch removal was as easy as removing one (!) screw on the handle, taking out assembly, replacing it with new one, and putting it back. 10-15 min of work max. Professional pride rose in Victor. No way, he said. He went to his database, found a picture with assembly, and started convincing me that it was more than that, that they had to remove door panel to remove the switch. I came out of the building, took screw driver from trunk, unscrewed the switch, took it out (5 min), took a picture, came back and showed it to most honest and professional service advisor. After turning red and pale few times, he gave me the best answer he could: we do not work this way. Right, they dont. They prefer to screw their customers, to lie them upfront and afterwards. It’s funny, but DGDG’s slogan on their receipt suggests to "BE HAPPY". So, please do, and don’t come close to them.

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EM

emily lim

My husband and I emailed prior to coming to Capitol Subaru. We inquired about a used truck and asked if they would accept a trade in as well as facilitating and completing the reassignment of personalized license plates. The answer was yes to both questions, so we drove from Alameda to San Jose. We test drove the truck and decided to purchase it. The negotiation process was fast and efficient, however, the waiting for the finance part was way too long. We were told it would take half an hour to meet with the finance person. Half an hour went by and we were told it would take another half an hour. During that elapsed time, we had second thoughts as this process normally doesnt take that long. However, we couldnt leave as they had our pink slip for our trade in. After an hour passed, I inquired how much longer it would take and was told it would take an additional 45 min to one hour wait to meet with the finance person. At that point we were furious. We do understand and were told that they were unusually busy with many sales, however, we should have been told up front that the finance part could be up to a 2 hour wait. When you are first told it would be 30 min, then another 30 min, and then up to another hour of waiting, this is quite frustrating. In the end, the GM personally completed our transaction in a speedy manner, which we did appreciate. He did offer to purchase food for us, however, we didnt have the time to wait. They were not able to help with the personalized license plate transfer they initially said they wold be able to. We were very unhappy with the processing of purchasing this truck. We are Suburu customers as we purchase a 2014 Subaru Outback in Oakland, however, we get of our services done at Capitol Subaru.

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TO

Tom Ozaki

We (my wife and I) bought our new Forester from Tommy Q. at Capitol Subaru. We started our search for car prices using Consumer Reports Pricing Report (Costco has a similar service that’s free to members). We selected the model and options and got bids from three dealers in the Bay Area. Capitol’s bid (submitted by Tommy Q.) was the significantly lower than the other two. The bids were for a 2012 Forest 2.5X Limited. We had intended on buying a 2012 model but changed our minds when we found out the a few 2013s started arriving. We paid a little more (close to what other dealers wanted for a 2012) but we got the latest model year available. Tommy Q. followed up on his initial bid by phone and email. He seemed very knowledgeable about the product he was selling and quick to answer our questions and clarify sticking points. At no time did we feel that he was “pushy” or only interested in making a quick sale. Tommy Q. came across as a very nice person, who knows his job and tries to ensure that those who buy from him end up as satisfied customers. What we didn’t know about Subaru before we bought it: The Forester and Impreza use 0W20 synthetic oil, which isn’t as common as other weight synthetics oil (Subaru has it own brand). The gear shift takes getting use to (it has a manual and “sport” feature). Ask for time to study the maintenance plan (say, 48 hours after sale) being making a decision to buy or not. You don’t need to used the Consumer Reports or Costco’s Car Pricing systems. Offer the vehicle’s MSRP (including transportation) as your final out-the-door price. You’re sure to save at least 10% off the MSRP, which seems fair to the buyer and the dealer.

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A

A Private User

The listing said everything was in excellent condition. My experience with used cars at new car dealers is that the cars are usually in excellent condition or at least good condition. Not here. I call and and they confirm the car is very clean so I drive 145 miles one way to purchase the car. I get there and immediately I notice the front bumper is scratched up and the chrome on the grill is bubbling. I look at the rest of the car and it has two door dings and one of them is pretty large. The rear bumper has scratches, the driver side of the car has an obvious scratch from the back of the front fender down the front door, down the rear door and half way down the rear fender. Also on the driver door someone tried to color sand and buff out the scratch and the paint is so thin primer is showing through. There was also a spot where someone did a poor paintless den removal job. I did buy the car since it was a somewhat fair deal and I drove 145 miles to get there, but the only reason I drove 145 miles was to get a good deal. I could have found a fair deal locally. To top it off the floor and cargo mats were thrown away. I know it had mats because I could see the marks they left behind. Those cost me over $125. Also there was only one remote. I called a Nissan dealer to get a quote for a remote and it was nearly $300 because it has a chip. The sales man told me he could get a remote for about $30. Wrong syncing the key up with the car is an hours labor depending on where you go that alone is about $100 and no you cant do it your self unless you have a Consult II which is $5000. I did find a used Consult II on ebay for $2500. I will never consider a car from these guys again.

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