Last year our daughter lived in a pristine Redwood forest replete with twisty roads connecting her home overlooking the emerald-green Smith River in Gasquet, CA to the hospital in Crescent City where she worked. The Smith is a naturally flowing river with no dams or any serious flood control. In season, the Smith has its share of Salmon and happy kayakers. The Redwoods surrounding her home are part of a state and national recreation area. The California pre-drought forest averaged 92 inches of rain each year, and so did the roads; paved and unpaved. Soft soil on steep hill enabled rock slides replete with potential accidents. Highways in the area were carved through steep canyons. Most of the recreation spots in the area are connected via well-maintained asphalt ribbons, but the really fun destinations reside on dirt or muddy roads leading to great hiking, swimming holes, and gorgeous ocean beaches. Does this sound like a Subaru AWD advertisement? Our daughter thought so. She considered buying a 2014 Forrester at the time, but her 2005 Honda Civic was still sputtering along. Money was scarce and she started making payments on her student loan. Even valedictorians make student loan payments. With that in mind, you might begin to understand why she left paradise. She was offered a better job (no on-call trips to the hospital in the middle of the night in inclement weather) and much higher pay in Sacramento, CA. While building a down payment to replace her 10 yr. old Civic, she took test drives in Toyotas, a Honda CRV, three VWs, one Hyundai, and one expensive Volvo. The research she did in early 2014 (via Edmunds, Consumer Reports, etc.) pointed to the 2014 Subaru Forrester as a winning combination for her circumstance in Northern California. A year later the same sites also had good things to say about the 2015 Outback. The 2015 Outback has more features on our daughters high want list than the 2015 Forrester did. When her Civic needed another $1400 in repair costs, she decided to invest in another ride. She took a 2015 Outback Limited edition on a test drive from AutoNation Subaru Roseville, an event that ended her new car search. Her driving experience matched her research. She liked the Outback's features. AutoNation Subaru Roseville had an Outback Limited that was practically new (the odometer had 800 miles logged) and the sales associate David C. tendered an offer from sales manager Brad T. that she didn't refuse. I wouldnt have refused it either. It was a great price for a virtually new 2015 Outback Limited. She drove the Outback Limited home. Nice test drive? Undoubtedly. Over the next week her mother and I understood why she bought it. It was what we were looking for too. After a long test drive in our daughters Subaru, my wife and I decided to look seriously into a possible purchase. So, it was back to AutoNation Subaru Roseville. Lynn G., a sales associate proved herself an invaluable part of our buying experience. She answered dozens of my questions (I am a retired high-tech guy with more than my share of questions). When I peppered Lynn with questions regarding reliability, Lynn called in mechanic from the service department to give answers from his experiences regarding Subarus reliability. Imagine a mechanic in the showroom talking to a potential customer. It happened. His insights were honest and forthcoming. Lynn wants her customers questions fully answered. Lynn had connections in the shop and felt free to use them for my benefit! She carefully guided me through some key safety options focusing on Subaru's Blind Spot detecting outside mirrors, backup radar cross traffic detection, and Eyesight features. Kudos to Lynn for her efforts. I was sold on Subaru technology. My wife picked a color and we agreed on the getting all the safety-related options. After shopping Presidents Day sales at multiple dealerships, we went back to AutoNation Subaru Roseville. Brad T., the Sales Manager listened to our story, knew of our daughters purchase, and took our list of options into his office. Brad returned with a better price than any other dealership we spoke to in the S.F. Bay Area, Northern, and Central California. We had to order the car, but doing so assured us of getting a car tailored to our needs and wants. When Brad learned of our Outbacks VIN, he emailed the actual vehicle closing costs including a Gold+ extended warranty to me. We knew exactly what the numbers were; and I really, really liked them. Brad is a very customer-oriented soul and he has earned our trust. I happened to call the dealership the evening before our cars expected arrival date. Mike T. said the car had arrived early and was in dealers the back lot. Mike began running extra miles for us that night. How? Mike drove me to the dealers back lot to make sure out vehicle had been offloaded, was the right color, and had the ordered options. All was well, but the color was well masked! The unit our new vehicle been dusted with several states worth of road grime on its traverse from Indiana, where all U.S. Outbacks are constructed, to California. Delivery could not occur until the vehicle was ready to deliver, and that usually takes 3 hours of labor. The dealership would be closed in three hours. Mike interrupted a staff members dinner and asked if he would come back after dinner to prep our new Outback. His answer was yes! What a nice guy. It was 6:45 pm. Just before the dealership officially closed (9:00 pm) the car was back from detailing. In the interim, Mike helped us get the necessary paperwork completed. Mike did his fluid and safety checks. Then he carefully discussed vehicle features, near-term maintenance, and linked our cell phones to the Outbacks StarLink unit via Bluetooth. We drove away from the dealership around 9:40 pm. Mike finished his running extra miles for us. Great job Mike! You delivered superior service willingly; not out of compulsion. The sales and service department staff members at AutoNation Subaru Roseville proved by their cumulative efforts to be worthy of our trust. Over the years we were able to purchase vehicles from Datsun, Nissan, Oldsmobile, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda, Daimler-Chrysler, BMW, Hyundai, and now Subaru. This was by far this was the best buying experience ever. I suppose Love does describe a Subaru--and our buying experience too. Great cars, great people, and great priceswhats not to love about that?
moondancer1
Mar 24, 2015
