When we first visited Subaru Laval, the car we came to - SF9867
When we first visited Subaru Laval, the car we came to see had been sold a couple hours before our appointment, so we ended up agreeing to put a deposit on a used Forrester that was out on lease and going to be returned within the next couple of weeks. Before signing the paperwork, we made it very clear that one of our conditions was that it be a certified pre-owned Subaru vehicle. Subaru Laval assured us this was the case, even despite the accident it had on its CarFax report. We clarified with them many times, and many times they had the chance to be honest. Two weeks later, when the car came in and we officially purchase the vehicle, we were once again assured that it was a certified pre-owned vehicle. It says so in all of our paperwork, and they continued to claim it was even after we bought the car. Here is where our experience turned poor - when you buy a certified pre-owned, you get the six month warranty but you also get a free one-year subscription to Subaru’s StarLink Services (this is for the remote start, SOS services, etc). When we called to set up the subscription (as it had not been set up for us when we bought the car) we were advised by StarLink to contact the dealership and have them set it up for us. Strange, we thought. Cut to a couple weeks of back-and-forth with the dealership, who continued to insist there was “no issue” on their end, we again contacted StarLink, this time asking to speak to a manager. Imagine our surprise when they told us our car had not been registered as a certified pre-owned, which is why we couldn’t access the free subscription. Now, when we came back to Subaru Laval with this information, they completely changed their tune. They suddenly had “forgotten to file the paperwork” for the certified pre-owned status and couldn’t do so retroactively because “the car is already in our name.” We never would have found out they didn’t file the certified pre-owned paperwork unless StarLink had told us. Subaru Laval would have continued to insist they had “no idea” why the subscription wasn’t being validated, and we would’ve never known they lied to us.
In the time that has passed since we bought the car, we have come to the conclusion that one of two things must’ve happened:
1. They knew from the beginning the car wouldn’t be able to be certified (likely because of the accident on it’s record) and said what they had to say to get us to buy the car, or they didn’t want to pay the fees associated with having the car certified to Subaru’s standards (it does cost dealerships money to certify pre-owned vehicles).
2. Or, they somehow did “forget to file the paperwork” after an inspection they would’ve had to take the time and effort to do, after writing “certified pre-owned” into the sales contract multiple times, and after speaking to us on the day we bought the car. But again, this “forgot to file the paperwork” reasoning only popped up after weeks of back-and-forth between Subaru Laval and StarLink. They did not tell us they “forgot to file the paperwork” until we found out through other means that they hadn’t, and conveniently this couldn’t be changed retroactively because “the car isn’t in the dealerships name anymore.”
I think anyone can guess the car was never going to be certified. I wish Subaru Laval had been honest with us from the start. We were willing to continue working with them after the car we initially arrived to see had been sold before our appointment, they knew our top pick was a Subaru - they didn’t have to push on us a car that hadn’t even touched the lot yet.
They have offered to reimburse us for the StarLink subscription (which we have not taken). But it’s not about the subscription, it’s about honesty and integrity. It’s about being gaslit into thinking there was an issue on our side until they got caught, and it’s about them knowingly selling us a car that didn’t meet the criteria we gave them.
Read More
Dealer Reviews
Cars for Sale
Dealer Log In