On Friday, May 23rd, my wife told me her Subaru Impreza - Ivan M.
On Friday, May 23rd, my wife told me her Subaru Impreza was showing "lights" on the dashboard, and asked me to check them. I realized the "Air Pressure" icon was on, tried to put some air on the back left tire, at no avail. I decided to take it to Tires Plus in Hagerstown, MD, where she has her clinic.
We dropped the car almost at closing time, they will give us a call on Saturday to let us know the damage and the cost for repair. Mid morning Saturday I got a phone call, and though all we wanted was the tire repaired, he read to me a laundry list of issues that, allegedly, were wrong with our car, alignment, oil change, and what not, most of the stuff had nothing to do with our tire. Besides, I took the car for maintenance less than a month ago.
They told us the tire could not be repaired, which I was expecting, and given the car, like all Subaru, is an All Wheel Drive, we needed to buy two tires for the back, not just replaced the damaged tire. Long story short, the two tires plus all the tune up were close to $900.00. I smelled rat, told him I had to talk to my wife about it, will call him back.
It was Saturday, my wife was still sleeping, only day he can sleep late, I had no intentions to wake her up. I called Subaru of Winchester, Service Department, and asked for Brad Elmore, who I relate the most for maintenance and care of our vehicles, the Impreza and the Forester SUV. He wasn't there but I had Logan on the phone, always ready to help. I explained to him our predicament, and he was clear that if the tire had to be replaced, it had to shaved to adjust it to the other tires.
I understood it was a more complex operation than I originally thought, thanked Logan for the counseling, and next I called Tires Plus, I told them we didn't want any work done, we'd pick up the car on Monday, thank you very much. After picking up the car, I realized the tire was low, the Air Pressure icon was up, which forced me to replace it for the spare tire, and drove to Winchester. I called Subaru of Winchester, Brad was in already that day, explained to him what transpired, he told me just come over, we'll take care of it.
I got there at @ 11:45 AM, and told Brad I will wait for a while, but if it turned out to be a bigger issue, I would get a loaner and go home. At 12:15 AM, Brad came to talk to me, explained that my suspicions about Tires Plus had been confirmed, and he continued to explain what happened to the tire. I thanked him and told him no problem, I'd continue to wait. He said "No, the tire has already been repaired, you're ready to go."
I couldn't believe my ears, reason I didn't understand what he was telling me the first time, that the job was already done.
I went back to his station, still in shock, and asked him how much was for the job. He said nothing, courtesy of CMA's Subaru of Winchester. I thanked him profusely, but he was not done yet, he handed me a ticket for a car wash at the place they wash their cars.
I don't believe in "luck," luck doesn't exist, you're either blessed, or you're not. For me, it was a blessed day, thanks to The Most High, to CMA's Subaru of Winchester, and their employees, Logan with his advise, which helped us make the right decisions, and Brad Elmore with his finesse and care, extending CMA's Subaru of Winchester's courtesy to us.
Besides saving us money, taking our car to CMA's Subaru of Winchester was the right decision, as they have the expertise and the experience to take care of our vehicles, reason we go to them, despite having other dealerships closer to us.
Talking to Brad before leaving for home, I told him about the estimate from Tires Plus, and explained that in all my reviews, I always put emphasis on TRUST, with capital letters. TRUST is the reason we have consistently taken our cars to CMA's Subaru of Winchester, because we know of their commitment to honesty.
TRUST is the reason CMA's Subaru of Winchester has our undivided loyalty.
Ivan Menjivar
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