Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

stickguy · May 19

nyccarguy said:

@venture said:

My Subaru dealer, which used to be a "family friendly" type of place, has been trying to rule the world. They have been buying up other dealerships and brands.

They are extremely aggressive with phone calls, texts, emails, and they try to trap you when you visit for service. They have one guy and all he does is look at service appointments and print out a vehicle similar to the one the person is bringing in for service and offer them a price on a new one.

I hope it's working for them because people I know who have, or have had, Subarus have some sordid tales.

A couple we know who sit in our section at baseball games are now driving a Honda. Evidently, they had their Outback in for state inspection, and it cost them around $2200. His wife was told, over the phone, that it needed 4 tires and I forget what else he said. The Outback had 15,000 miles on it.

A lady who helps out at our baseball league for disabled children was approached by the above guy when she was having her Forester serviced. He kept nagging her until she told him she didn't want her payment to increase. He finagled the numbers around until he hit her request. Then he said it was on a lease which she told him she specifically didn't want to do.

My daughter who just bought the Jeep GC said they called her 5 days in a row about something I forget. As you noticed she now has a Jeep - after having 3 Subarus before.

They have called me 3 times about making an appointment to have my wife's Forester inspected. I told them all 3 times that I was taking to somewhere else to have it inspected. The only things I have done there now are to get the free oils changes that were negotiated when we bought my Legacy and her Forester.

We have a few years to decide what we want to do when the time comes.

That’s a shame. Unfortunately at that point, it just becomes completely about sales and not customer retention.

well, to be fair to them, the customers overwhelmingly make it that way too. Few of them buy often enough to matter, and when they do, are happy to shop around, use the internet, etc.

stickguy · May 19

I have bought near home and a couple of hours away at different times. I really prefer doing it close, but if the $ mean I have to travel I can do it. Furthest was the 1st RDX. about 2 hours from south to north Jersey. Of course that was the dealer that screwed up and gave us the wrong car so I ended up making a return trip.

the current Acura I ended up getting the local place I wanted to use to do a cars.com type price so that was easy. The Mavericks came out of Philly. 1st being easy since I lived down there. the 2nd, took so long to come in that I had moved to NY before it arrived so that was a long day making a road trip down to pick that up.

and all these stories are tamping down my desire to get something new just for the heck of it. Should ride the current fleet out until one of us dies!

driver100 · May 19

venture said:

oldfarmer50 said:

venture said:
My Subaru dealer, which used to be a "family friendly" type of place, has been trying to rule the world. They have been buying up other dealerships and brands.

They are extremely aggressive with phone calls, texts, emails, and they try to trap you when you visit for service. They have one guy and all he does is look at service appointments and print out a vehicle similar to the one the person is bringing in for service and offer them a price on a new one.

I hope it's working for them because people I know who have, or have had, Subarus have some sordid tales.

A couple we know who sit in our section at baseball games are now driving a Honda. Evidently, they had their Outback in for state inspection, and it cost them around $2200. His wife was told, over the phone, that it needed 4 tires and I forget what else he said. The Outback had 15,000 miles on it.

A lady who helps out at our baseball league for disabled children was approached by the above guy when she was having her Forester serviced. He kept nagging her until she told him she didn't want her payment to increase. He finagled the numbers around until he hit her request. Then he said it was on a lease which she told him she specifically didn't want to do.

My daughter who just bought the Jeep GC said they called her 5 days in a row about something I forget. As you noticed she now has a Jeep - after having 3 Subarus before.

They have called me 3 times about making an appointment to have my wife's Forester inspected. I told them all 3 times that I was taking to somewhere else to have it inspected. The only things I have done there now are to get the free oils changes that were negotiated when we bought my Legacy and her Forester.

We have a few years to decide what we want to do when the time comes.
That sounds like a dealership on the brink of bankruptcy. Years ago we went to a Dodge dealership to inquire about a used truck we had seen on their lot. We were immediately barraged by multiple high pressure fast talking salespeople all trying to get us to buy something new right on the spot. Before we could even see the used truck one person was pulling up a base model short bed standard shift and asking us to sign right away. I told them I needed a long bed for the farm and my wife couldn’t drive stick and they immediately started trying to sell us on something else. At this point we were so freaked out we left having never even looked inside the used truck we wanted to buy.

About a year later the place closed.
Yeah. I get that, but not applicable here.

They were Subaru/Ford. Now they also have Nissan, GMC, a Chrysler-Dodge-Ram dealership, Mitsubishi as well as another Ford location. They are just aggressively irritating. It didn't used to be that way.

My Mercedes dealer in Sarasota got very aggressive in the last year or two as well. Lots of offers by mail, and email. When I took the car in for service they try to find a lot of make work projects they can work on. They say I haven't been in lately, so they'll take $100 off work over $350.........I am sure I'll save $100 but they'll find $500 worth of work they can do...I never win on those deals. I went to the indie garage the last time, I told them what I wanted done and that is all they did, and they do it in half the time. But, the C250 is 11 years old, with my newer cars I take it to the dealer where they flag it for warranty work.....

jmonroe1 · May 19

explorerx4 said:
@venture,
It sounds like the Subaru dealer was the one acquired, not them adding other dealerships.

————————————————
I agree. That seems like a lot of dealerships to pick up rather quickly.

jmonroe

stickguy · May 19

I always use the dealer when under warranty (and both cars still are). After that I might consider another option, though I don't even have one up here since all I have needed done since I moved is a state inspection. Even out of warranty though at least the dealer has the software and access to know if something needs an update. If I end up needing something routine like brakes, tires, tie rod ends that I would take to someplace else like a tire shop.

roadburner · May 19

stickguy said:
I have bought near home and a couple of hours away at different times. I really prefer doing it close, but if the $ mean I have to travel I can do it. Furthest was the 1st RDX. about 2 hours from south to north Jersey. Of course that was the dealer that screwed up and gave us the wrong car so I ended up making a return trip.

the current Acura I ended up getting the local place I wanted to use to do a cars.com type price so that was easy. The Mavericks came out of Philly. 1st being easy since I lived down there. the 2nd, took so long to come in that I had moved to NY before it arrived so that was a long day making a road trip down to pick that up.

and all these stories are tamping down my desire to get something new just for the heck of it. Should ride the current fleet out until one of us dies!

My furthest trips were Memphis for the M6 and Chicago for the Club Sport. I've bought three from NKY/Cincy: the Bavaria, Mazdaspeed3, and the M235i. I would have bought a CPO Mustang GT Performance Package in 2015 from Cincy, but I waited a day too long to pull the trigger.

venture · May 20

jmonroe1 said:

explorerx4 said:
@venture,
It sounds like the Subaru dealer was the one acquired, not them adding other dealerships.
————————————————
I agree. That seems like a lot of dealerships to pick up rather quickly.

jmonroe

It may sound like that, but it's the same guy who owns all of them - the old ones and the new ones. (Well...him and the bank).

corvette · May 20

Philadelphia for the Tundra and Des Moines for the Maverick. (Nashville for the Ariya, but they brought it to me, if that counts.) When I lived about halfway between Louisville and Nashville, going to one of those cities was the norm for a vehicle purchase.

stickguy · May 20

Had trees guy out today. Pretty exciting watching some dude hanging from the crane boom ball being swung around the tops of trees. As long as I am not that dude.

Amazing how fast they could take down some trees and clean up a lot of fallen dead stuff in the woods and be done and gone.

They also freed up the 3 tires I knew were out there (which were covered by a fallen tree, now removed). And uncovered another metal contractors wheelbarrow I did not know about (this makes 2). At least this one I don’t have to dig out by hand.

Looks like another trip to the transfer station Friday. The truck keeps coming in very handy.

oldfarmer50 · May 20

stickguy said:
Had trees guy out today. Pretty exciting watching some dude hanging from the crane boom ball being swung around the tops of trees. As long as I am not that dude.

Amazing how fast they could take down some trees and clean up a lot of fallen dead stuff in the woods and be done and gone.

They also freed up the 3 tires I knew were out there (which were covered by a fallen tree, now removed). And uncovered another metal contractors wheelbarrow I did not know about (this makes 2). At least this one I don’t have to dig out by hand.

Looks like another trip to the transfer station Friday. The truck keeps coming in very handy.

A coworker’s daughter lives in Clifton Park in an older development that was wooded when the houses were built in the 1970s. The trees on her lot are fully matured and are massive. She got a tree service to give her an estimate and one tree was $5,000. To take out all the trees she wanted removed would have cost $21,000.

I have a few trees that are too big for me to take down but I’m not paying $5k per tree!

stickguy · May 20

At those prices they would have stayed until they fell over.

stickguy · May 20

Today’s haul from the scrap yard. I thought there were 3 tires but turned out to be 4. One was hiding. And the wheelbarrow. Bonus section of fencing I located in another archeological dig site I am worried about. Not pictured is some random smaller crap I out in the garbage pail.

Pretty close to saying No Mas and hiring someone in the fall to do the final clean up then just living with it as is. Almost there.

stickguy · May 20

Old tires. A Uniroyal. I think that is 175/75-13. A 195-14. And a doubles truck tire. That’s a 235/85-16 I think.

explorerx4 · May 20

@stickguy,
Let us know when you find Jimmy Hoffa. You've got to be getting close.

xwesx · May 20

Ugh. People are such disgusting slobs.

That's definitely one thing I am unaccustomed to seeing due to being the first people to live in my area (no prior owners, no nearby residences... just virgin forest land). At our Ohio place, there is well over a hundred years of occupancy history, and the ground outside really tells that tale. When we first bought the place, I filled a large roll-away dumpster (12 cu yd) with the garbage left in the basement of the house and out in the yard (mostly along fences or fence lines). I didn't have enough room for everything, particularly in the yard, but later rented a 15 cubic yard dumpster to hold all the concrete that I chipped out from around the house, and I ended up having just enough space to finish off the yard junk, too.

Beyond that, though, every time we do any digging in the yard at all, we end up unearthing some long-buried "treasure." It's just crazy how much junk has accumulated over the years. I have a couple of glass bottles that date back to the late 1800s or early 1900s - both of which were pulled from the ground in perfect condition!

venture · May 20

I saw a dark gray BMW 435xi a little while ago. It was in the left lane next to me. Eventually I got further in front and noticed that one half of the hood had some weird design painted on it in red and bright blue.

It was sort of shocking to see. It was something you would see on a teenagers Toyota. Maybe he did it so the horrible would detract from the ugly.

I wish I could have gotten a picture.

jmonroe1 · May 20

stickguy said:

Today’s haul from the scrap yard. I thought there were 3 tires but turned out to be 4. One was hiding. And the wheelbarrow. Bonus section of fencing I located in another archeological dig site I am worried about. Not pictured is some random smaller crap I out in the garbage pail.

Pretty close to saying No Mas and hiring someone in the fall to do the final clean up then just living with it as is. Almost there.

————————————————
I really don’t know what your problem is.

A couple handles and a wheel and that wheelbarrow is good for another 1000 miles. Get some rims and you won’t need tires for a while. Keep that wire mesh and you can use it for a small concrete job.

Some guys have all the luck.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50 · May 20

stickguy said:
Old tires. A Uniroyal. I think that is 175/75-13. A 195-14. And a doubles truck tire. That’s a 235/85-16 I think.

Wash those tires up and put them on your truck for winter.😂 Did you build your house on the town dump or just your neighbor’s.

mjfloyd1 · May 20

@venture said:
I saw a dark gray BMW 435xi a little while ago. It was in the left lane next to me. Eventually I got further in front and noticed that one half of the hood had some weird design painted on it in red and bright blue.

It was sort of shocking to see. It was something you would see on a teenagers Toyota. Maybe he did it so the horrible would detract from the ugly.

I wish I could have gotten a picture.

Maybe a BMW ///M logo?

oldfarmer50 · May 20

xwesx said:
Ugh. People are such disgusting slobs.

That's definitely one thing I am unaccustomed to seeing due to being the first people to live in my area (no prior owners, no nearby residences... just virgin forest land). At our Ohio place, there is well over a hundred years of occupancy history, and the ground outside really tells that tale. When we first bought the place, I filled a large roll-away dumpster (12 cu yd) with the garbage left in the basement of the house and out in the yard (mostly along fences or fence lines). I didn't have enough room for everything, particularly in the yard, but later rented a 15 cubic yard dumpster to hold all the concrete that I chipped out from around the house, and I ended up having just enough space to finish off the yard junk, too.

Beyond that, though, every time we do any digging in the yard at all, we end up unearthing some long-buried "treasure." It's just crazy how much junk has accumulated over the years. I have a couple of glass bottles that date back to the late 1800s or early 1900s - both of which were pulled from the ground in perfect condition!

I found an 1876 quarter in my back field and some old hand made clay drain tiles from earlier than that which were used to drain excess water out of the field.

venture · May 20

mjfloyd1 said:

@venture said:

I saw a dark gray BMW 435xi a little while ago. It was in the left lane next to me. Eventually I got further in front and noticed that one half of the hood had some weird design painted on it in red and bright blue.

It was sort of shocking to see. It was something you would see on a teenagers Toyota. Maybe he did it so the horrible would detract from the ugly.

I wish I could have gotten a picture.

Maybe a BMW ///M logo?

I guess it's possible. It was tough to tell looking in the mirror. If that's what it was, it's still horrible.

stickguy · May 20

I have found various bottles too of unknown age, some with mystery liquid in them that I will not open to top to investigate.

the house behind us dates to 1972. Original owners (he was a contractor and built that house, and about another dozen on that street). Our land used to be owned by the town water department. I think before they tied into the regional water system this was their wells. From what the neighbors said it was mostly woods and fields. So yes, they just used the space in the woods behind their yard (now my land) to save money on trash removal. All kinds of junk just piled up back here.

corvette · May 20

@xwesx - I like occasionally finding artifacts, but I despise litter.

xwesx · May 20

corvette said:
@xwesx - I like occasionally finding artifacts, but I despise litter.

Well, today's litter is tomorrow's (x100+ years) artifacts! I wouldn't mind finding some cool relic like a 150-year-old coin, but it's mostly just bits of broken glass/ceramics and chunks of metal. And marbles.... LOTS of marbles (mostly broken as well).

I found a heavily rusted horse shoe that is clearly handmade underneath the porch we removed a couple years ago. I'm pretty sure the builders just dumped all their junk under there before they closed in the floor. LOL There was so much stuff in there. I ran a magnet over it several times to pull out the seemingly endless stream of rusty nails and then sifted through it by hand for a couple hours trying to pluck out the various bits of glass. That is where I found one of the intact bottles.

The other, oddly, was out in the middle of the yard where we were digging a big hole to collect all the spring runoff water. I'm pretty sure we unearthed several pre-sanitation-services garbage pits within that area. At least those days were also the pre-plastics and disposable-everything days, otherwise I would still be out there cleaning up odd bits of the stuff.

corvette · May 20

@xwesx - that sounds pretty miserable... Fun fact about marbles: you can pick them up between your toes for dexterity training purposes. Found that out when I had a stress fracture and the muscles in that foot started to atrophy and tense up because I wasn't walking on it--it was one of the recommended exercises for that symptom.

graphicguy · May 21

Thanks all!

Doc said with new hip only, I’d be on a cane, and well on the way to using no support. New hip, repaired quads and tendons? It’s sounding like a lost summer!

At least two more months with a walker! Another month on crutches and another month with a cane!

Not sure I would have had this done knowing all that. Of course, none of that was known until the surgery.

Keep getting emails from my dealer stating I’m past due for an oil change. Makes me chuckle!

jmonroe1 · May 21

corvette said:
@xwesx - that sounds pretty miserable... Fun fact about marbles: you can pick them up between your toes for dexterity training purposes. Found that out when I had a stress fracture and the muscles in that foot started to atrophy and tense up because I wasn't walking on it--it was one of the recommended exercises for that symptom.

————————————————
Back in my grade school days while living in the Burgh, a couple of the kids had slingshots. I wanted one but my parents emphatically said NO. Anyway, they used marbles to see if they could hit birds that were resting on the electrical wires strung between the telephone poles. One day one of the kids finally hit a bird. Needlessly to say that was the end of the bird and the slingshots when one of the parents heard about it. Today, with all of the wild animal lovers around, that kid would still be waiting to hear how his parole board hearing went.

jmonroe

kyfdx · May 21

As the Marbles Champion of Breckinridge Elementary, 1967, I approve of all this marbles talk.

ab348 · May 21

stickguy said:

Today’s haul from the scrap yard. I thought there were 3 tires but turned out to be 4. One was hiding. And the wheelbarrow. Bonus section of fencing I located in another archeological dig site I am worried about. Not pictured is some random smaller crap I out in the garbage pail.

Pretty close to saying No Mas and hiring someone in the fall to do the final clean up then just living with it as is. Almost there.

You must live in that ritzy new development, Wrecking Yard Hills.

stickguy · May 21

What I get for buying on a capped landfill I guess!

xwesx · May 21

kyfdx said:
As the Marbles Champion of Breckinridge Elementary, 1967, I approve of all this marbles talk.

Yeah, I would be all over getting a slingshot and practicing up, but I've been told more than once that I done lost my marbles.

sda · May 21

I can't complain about this mpg when the car is rated 31 highway. What I find interesting is when I don’t use the adaptive cruise control, which works well but it often uses the brakes it gets less mpg. Not using ACC , anticipating in advance having to slow down I often don't have to brake and
get 2-3 mpg better.

stickguy · May 21

I feel the same way about cruise control.

stickguy · May 21

I took a picture but it is on my phone. Last weekend I got gas and on the trip home (about 2 miles) the Maverick indicated I got 153 MPG. that was decent.

kyfdx · May 22

I only use cruise if it's late, and I'm fatigued.

stickguy · May 22

I do it to be able to stretch my right leg if it gets stiff.

venture · May 22

kyfdx said:
I only use cruise if it's late, and I'm fatigued.

I use the adaptive cruise all the time on trips.

For example, when we go from central PA to my sons' house in MD, I go down I-99 to the turnpike, then east to I-83 S. I don't use it at the 2 interchanges.

It's sort of like going along for the ride. On the interstates you aren't really driving anyway, you're just pointing the car.

tjc78 · May 22

Love adaptive cruise. I don't think I want to own anything without it going forward.

jmonroe1 · May 22

venture said:

kyfdx said:
I only use cruise if it's late, and I'm fatigued.
I use the adaptive cruise all the time on trips.

For example, when we go from central PA to my sons' house in MD, I go down I-99 to the turnpike, then east to I-83 S. I don't use it at the 2 interchanges.

It's sort of like going along for the ride. On the interstates you aren't really driving anyway, you're just pointing the car.

————————————————
That’s what I told my sons about cruise control, except I said, “when you use cruises control just remember you’re not driving, you’re aiming”.

jmonroe

laurasdada · May 22

Audi dealer got the charge port door open, broken actuator. Since, kind SA, my warranty just recently expired, goodwill? Sorry, warranty expired two months ago and much like BMW, when the warranty expires, so does goodwill and your luck. In other words, reach deeply into your wallet... SA said she'd work on lowering the hourly rate, have to order the part, two weeks, ~$400.
I said go ahead and order it. But do I really need a locking charge port door?

explorerx4 · May 22

@laurasdada,
I guess they don't want anyone to siphon off your electrons.

laurasdada · May 22

explorerx4 said:
@laurasdada,
I guess they don't want anyone to siphon off your electrons.

It would be a shocking moment, no doubt.

Michaell · May 22

@laurasdada - time to start shopping for a replacement, since I know how fond you are of owning expensive German and English vehicles out of warranty...

stickguy · May 22

Well if the port opens and stays close with out the power skip it.

laurasdada · May 22

stickguy said:
Well if the port opens and stays close with out the power skip it.

Yeah, I gotta inspect it a little more closely. My fear is pushing it closed too hard and it locks again. I want to see if they filed the locking bit down, so it won't lock. Also need long nails or something as such to open it, usually push it and it bounces open.

Just invested in new sneaks, now this (and tariffs). So, sounds like the perfect time to buy new!

xwesx · May 22

I know that the filler cover on my Q7 is supposed to lock with the doors, but it never has. And, that's never bothered me.

stickguy · May 22

I would consider the failed port a sign to get something new.

explorerx4 · May 22

This was hilarious and beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awjTKeS9Wvo

ab348 · May 22

laurasdada said:

stickguy said:
Well if the port opens and stays close with out the power skip it.

Yeah, I gotta inspect it a little more closely. My fear is pushing it closed too hard and it locks again. I want to see if they filed the locking bit down, so it won't lock. Also need long nails or something as such to open it, usually push it and it bounces open.

Just invested in new sneaks, now this (and tariffs). So, sounds like the perfect time to buy new!

Maybe go to the dollar store and get some peel and stick Velcro strips, or some of that magnetized sticky rubbery stuff like a fridge magnet material.

explorerx4 · May 22

What is up with the Colorado Rockies? Why are they so bad?
I checked the schedule and the Yankees are playing them over the weekend.
Rockies record is 8 wins 42 losses. I think that may be a pace worse than the worst ever White Sox record from last year or the year before.

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