Subaru Santa Monica

Incompetent yet again. How these folks maintain 4 stars is beyond me. The service department is always half-@$$. Read previous reviews. Maybe look at management... Ken Frake How these folks maintain 4 stars is beyond me. The service department is always half-@$$. Read previous reviews. Maybe look at management... Ken Frakes? I thought licensed mechanics worked here not highschool shop classes. I went in for routine millage maintenance and an issue with my front driverside tire, slow leak. Was told that they don't honor third party warranties... funny, I bought the extended warranty through Subaru a year ago when I bought the car. Then I was told that there wasn't an issue with my tire. Question, if they had done a thorough job on the tire how is it that I had a blowout in the rain causing my car to fly off the road scrapping the front bumper on what little vegetation was there before gaining control and coming to a stop. Thank the Lord no one was hurt. The same tire they said was in perfect driving condition almost did some serious life changing stuff. Ken Frakes chuckled after a few interruptions and snarky remarks while I was telling him what had happened and that I held them responsible. He said it's not their responsibility cause I had driven the car off the lot and everything was fine when I left. He said that the garage it was kept in and today's weather probably caused the blowout. Maybe some garage Gremlins got a hold of it during the holiday while it sat in the same spot for a month and hasn't been driven until today... I don't know. What I do know is that this place has some serious issues that need to be resolved. Customer service is one, Mr. Frakes, and doing quality work is the other, Mr Frakes. Oh, and owning up to the fact that it was their fault instead of blaming the weather and perfectly fine garage. Ken Frakes tells me whatever the cost of a new tire and body work is on me. That even though they gave my tire a clean bill of health, photo attached, a lot of things could've happened in my garage to cause it to blow out and todays weather was the nail in the coffin. Man up to your shortcomings Subaru of Santa Monica... don't blame the weather, Mr. Frakes. It's like saying my dog ate my homework. What if the car had wrecked and somebody had gotten hurt? Thank you kindly, M More

Quick response to email inquiry & fast doc signing. Last Friday morning, November 30, 2018, I found the vehicle that I wanted on their website after browsing their new inventory. I sent them an email th Last Friday morning, November 30, 2018, I found the vehicle that I wanted on their website after browsing their new inventory. I sent them an email through their website. After going back and forth in the emails and a telephone call from the manager, we could not come to an agreement. More emails trying to get me to come in. Finally, I received a response via email with an acceptable purchase amount and a solid figure due at signing. I got there about 7PM. It was dark so the vehicle was pulled into the showroom. Test drives done, iPhone connected, paperwork signed and I was out by 8:30. Not bad for the last day of the month. I recommend this dealership, but know the vehicle you want and do your homework first before going in. More

Did not listen to a word I said I went to this dealership trying to figure out if I wanted a Forester or Outback. I told them this specifically. I also told them I wanted new. I a I went to this dealership trying to figure out if I wanted a Forester or Outback. I told them this specifically. I also told them I wanted new. I also told them I was not going to be purchasing that day. All Mike wanted to do was make a quick deal. He showed me the Forester and kept pushing lease on me. I would like to re-iterate I wanted to buy. Then I reminded him I wanted to look at an outback. He showed me a 2016 outback. Basically it was the biggest waste of time for me and for them because they did not choose to listen to a word I said. More

Most Dishonest and Incompetent Service Dept This dealership is dishonest, but I'm going to start off with the positive: It does sufficient sales volume that allows it to offer some pretty good d This dealership is dishonest, but I'm going to start off with the positive: It does sufficient sales volume that allows it to offer some pretty good deals. If you are going to buy a car from them run, don't walk, and insist on dealing only with Maria Cerceda. She is good people, and either hasn't read, or chooses to ignore, the manual saying that lying and deception is an acceptable practice. Maria knows Subaru products, and she has the patience of Job. I even trusted her to deliver my new car (I don't let anyone drive my car). Maria also had the good sense to honor my request not to subject me to the high pressure sales tactics the finance department will place on you to buy various after market products. Google these products before you buy them and you'll understand why they have to be sold, rather than customers asking for them. Unfortunately, a car is ultimately only as good as the service support it receives, and you can't trust Subaru Santa Monica's service department. Here are some examples: Nearly a year ago I took my car in for a routine oil change and tire inspection. As I'm a perfectionist and rigidly adhere to the tire specs Subaru recommends --35 psi in the front; 33 psi in the rear - I asked that my tire pressure be left alone because I didn't trust the tech to do it correctly. After picking up the car, I headed to the gas station to readjust the tire pressures, as the front and rear tires should have been reversed. They weren't. There also was another sign the tires hadn't been rotated, despite the work order saying it had. At the time, SSM had a newly hired service rep named Chris Woodson. Chris is a southern gentleman who is honest and takes pride in his work. He could have lied and said the tech mistakenly adjusted the tires after rotating them. Instead, he told me to bring the car in and he'd investigate. Long story short: my tires weren't rotated because one of the screws was jammed and needed a special instrument. The tech was too lazy to go get it, so he just marked the work order saying the work was completed. Chris, a mechanic himself, personally rotated my tires and invited me to watch him do it. Chris lasted at SSM less than a year, and while I have no first hand-knowledge or evidence about why, my guess it had to do with the fact that his professionalism and Boy Scout honesty was a bad cultural fit. He was quite a loyal employee: He asked me to take down a negative review of my experience, despite the fact that it praised him mightily. As a favor to him, I did. I took my Subaru in today for another oil change and tire rotation. Unlike my older model, my 2018 Subaru gives a very accurate reading of the tire pressure. So, I let the assistant manager I spoke with know that I expected my tire pressure to be properly adjusted. When I picked up the car, he told me that he personally made the adjustments, assuring me they were dead-on accurate. The photo below shows the reading within two minutes of me pulling out; one front tire was overinflated by two pounds and both back tires overinflated by three pounds. There's more: While waiting for my car I noticed a tech on multiple occasions smash a car's tires while trying to align them on the service bay. I was taken aback by his ineptness and carelessness, but also with the force he hit the bay. It seemed to me the force could have knocked out the alignment. Regardless, I wouldn't want that guy touching my car. It's hardly surprising that a customer's vehicle was damaged last week at the shop. For reasons unknown to me, someone decided to reset the opening of my rear latch so that I’d have to open it manually. I discovered this when I had my dog in the car – he panicked when I had trouble opening it and jumped under the rear door and onto the street. Had a car been coming the other way, he would have been killed. Some clown also changed my lighting setting to manual from automatic, which I didn’t immediately realize when I was driving at night. Other signs of disregard: I asked that my license plates be put on the car. I mistakenly expected they would take off the temporary sticker, but they couldn't be bothered. They also were too lazy to remove some tree sap on my car as part of their free car wash. Admittedly, not the end of the world, but it reflects a work ethic that says, "I really don't give a xxxx." I'm not alone. My neighbor had a more serious issue with SSM's service department a few years ago. She also regarded Chris as a savior. I love and trust Subaru; they quickly resolved an issue for me when I bought my first Outback. I'm sending them this review and will update it if, and when, I get a response. I can't imagine that a company known for its commitment to safety and reliability wants a team of dishonest and disinterested amateurs servicing its awesome vehicles. More

So happy with my Forester I had such a pleasant experience at Subaru of Santa Monica! I came in to get a sense of what I wanted and did a test drive with Sang Lee. He was extre I had such a pleasant experience at Subaru of Santa Monica! I came in to get a sense of what I wanted and did a test drive with Sang Lee. He was extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and didn’t make me feel pressured in the slightest. Despite having leased Subarus from other dealers in the past, I decided Sang was my guy. He got me an amazing deal on my dream car. Thanks, Sang Lee and Subaru of Santa Monica! More

Subaru Outstanding Customer Attitude!! After researching cars online for over a month, we finally decided to explore a Subaru Outback. We went to Subaru Santa Monica because they were ne After researching cars online for over a month, we finally decided to explore a Subaru Outback. We went to Subaru Santa Monica because they were near where we live. We met Everett Armstrong there and told him what car we were interested in examining. His approach from the first moments we met him until we closed a deal was courteous, knowledgeable and extremely helpful. We wound up with the exact car we were interested in the next day (no attempt to switch us to something on the lot just to close a deal). He introduced us to a Sales Manager, Danny Canteo and the Service Advisor, Dwight Riley who would take care of our future service needs. Everett's delivery process was very thorough not only showing us all of the cars features and how they worked, but assisted us in pairing our phones, etc. He walked us around our trade-in to make sure we had retrieved all of our stuff and even found and removed our street parking sticker (which I overlooked) and installed in on our new car. In all the many years that I have looked at and purchased cars, I have never had such a pleasant experience without stress or pressure. I would highly recommend Everett Armstrong and Subaru Santa Monica if you are interested a Subaru product. I am looking forward to what I understand will be excellent Service support in the future from discussions with others who have dealt with Subaru Santa Monica. More