Reason for Visit: Service
I recommend this dealer: No
My Review of Kelly Cadillac Saab Subaru Inc:
I have had very poor experiences with Kelly Subaru. I first went there last year with my 1998 Subaru Forester when the check engine light came on. I took it in, they looked at it and the sales representative told me that the mechanic had worked on Subaru engines for 30 years and that it was an engine knock. He recommended that I trade it in because it would cost $3000 to fix. He said that we could try cleaning out the carbon deposits in the engine and that might fix it. We paid several hundred dollars to get that done but it didn't fix it. I did a little bit of research as it seemed strange that a foreign made vehicle with a little over 100,000 miles would have engine problems. While it was under warranty, my father-in-law had it, took great care of it, heard a noise in the engine but the dealerships he took it to just said, "Subarus make that noise". I found on the internet that a number of 1998 Subaru engines had problems. I wrote a letter to the dealership asking them to take care of it since we had heard a noise while the car was under warranty. I set up a meeting with the area representative and we agreed to a deal where I would pay for the labor if the dealership paid for the parts. They looked at the car again, took it for a drive and noticed that the noise went away after driving a bit. They finally tested it for a bad sensor which was what it was and it ended up costing me a little over $300. But they should have checked for the bad sensor right up front. As a result, I had to pay money for things that were unnecessary. They were more interested in trying to get me to trade in the car than to actually fix it. Perhaps I should have taken them to task at that point, but I was just glad that it was costing me hundreds instead of thousands of dollars.
I recently took the car in for a 120,000 mile check-up. I spent $500+ to get the spark plugs replaced, everything checked, etc. Two days after the check-up, the "Check Engine" light came on. I called the dealership and asked if I could bring it by for them to take a look at it since it was so soon after they serviced the vehicle. The only thing that the guy offered to do was to look under my hood and check to make sure everything was plugged in. I asked if he could check the code for free just to see if something they might have done in the service could have set off the light. I told him of my previous experience with Kelly Subaru and told him that if they could not do this as a gesture of good faith, that I would have to take my car somewhere else. He told me to take my car somewhere else. I took it to Autozone where they checked the code for free.
I will not take my car to Kelly Subaru unless I absolutely must. Unfortunately, this is the only Subaru dealership in the Chattanooga area and cars these days sometimes can only be fixed by people at dealerships. But if I ever need something done in the future, I will consider a trip to Atlanta or Nashville.
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