Rated 10
Buying a 2009 Subaru Forester, and saving $5000 off of MSRP.
Note: I was referred to Subaru Willowdale by CCC and my wife and I went and test drove a Forester there, but no one in the city had the colour we were looking for in stock. The salesman we were assigned was terrible. He knew we came from CCC, but had no clue about the cost of the car, the current financing etc. We found this incredible firstly because it was not exactly busy, but also because there really are not that many cars in the Subaru lineup. We never saw the sales manager.
It's hard to determine the actual savings from retail because I had a trade in. Willowdale gave a terrible quote on my trade-in and we walked away. I happened to be in the west end of the city and went in to Miss Subaru. I met with Bruce and explained that I had a CCC referral to Willowdale and know the dealer numbers etc. He was fine with that and said he would give me a competitive quote which he did. His quote was $3k less than Willowdale which clinched the sale - mainly because he was able to provide a decent amount on the trade. On the first visit the service manager was walking by and Bruce introduced me to him. On a follow up visit I also met the sales manager.
My advice is to shop around to different dealers once you have decided on your car. I also went to Marino cars on the Queensway. We really liked the salesman, and would have bought the car from him. However, he was supposed to call us when a vehicle in our colour arrived, but we never heard from him again.
EDWARD from TORONTO, ON
reported on Friday, June 26, 2009