Bill Kolb Jr. Subaru — Local services in Town of Orangetown

I went here a couple of days before Christmas, needing a car, but not expecting much. I must admit, they performed a Christmas miracle, and I left with the I needed. A commuter. Not the car I wanted, but the car I needed. So not a Subaru, that's for sure, lol, but a used Honda Accord coupe. I was thoroughly impressed with the laid back and professional vibes they gave. Evan Cano was my salesperson, and he was just what I needed him to be, no more, no less. He let the car sell itself, and helped me buy it with a 607 credit score, no co-signer. Obviously, the finance manager here was very good as well. I forget his name. But he was... a finance manager. He answered a bunch of questions as well, had me sign like 20 pages of documents in his office. Now, on to the juicy tidbits of why I gave 4 stars instead of 5, which I could very well come back and edit and update in the future, mind you.

I've driven the car about 2,000 miles, and it already needs a pair of brake pads (they started squeeking after a week), it's due for an oil change, and the car didn't have enough gas in it for me to make it home from the dealership. They were offering a $250 gift card with purchase at the time, but I never received it. They asked if I wanted to take the gift card, or apply it to the car, to which I wasn't sure at first, and may have potentially confused my salesperson (my fault) about what my choice was. But I never received any receipt or documentation that the $250 gift card was applied towards the down payment, or the car's principal, thus I should've been given the gift card. I contacted my salesperson about this, and he asked me to email him so he could have his manager push it through, but here we are three weeks later, and I have not received an update. This makes me feel like I got beat for the gift card, or like maybe someone there took it. The last car I financed was through Capital One, and I was very very happy with their service. So I got pre-approved by them, found the car I purchased through their "auto navigator" app, agreed to specific terms for this specific car with Capital One, and went with all of that info to Bill Kolb, where the car was. Now, this is a good time to say, I understand how pre-approvals work, and that they are not a guarantee. But when I got to the dealership, they financed me through Westlake Financial for a higher interest rate than Capital One agreed upon with me, and my monthly payment ended up being almost $40 more a month than I was hoping. I did inquire about this, and was told that Capital One wouldn't finance the car because it was to old. The specific car I pre-qualified for, through their app. Well.. I got an email from Capital One, wondering why I didn't finance with them. I guess I'll have to let them know, that they said the car on their auto navigator app... is to old for them to finance.

So you may wonder, after all of that, 4 stars seems kind of generous, doesn't it? That's because my buying experience here, with Evan, was absolutely phenomenal. He is really good at his job, and I would love to purchase a car in the future through him. All of my little complaints are minor in the grand scheme of things, because this dealership did what some other dealerships couldn't do. That is, get me into a car I love, that I can afford, that very night, and I am so...

I am giving two stars because I want my review to stand out to others getting service or routine maintenance done here - especially those who don’t know much about cars and rely on mechanic recommendations, and who might be vulnerable to just doing whatever they recommend. If this is you, please read!

Bottom line up top, my suggestion would be to at least get a second opinion before doing anything expensive, if you’re a new or uninformed customer.

I went in for a routine oil change and tire rotation, and as a young female, I often get profiled, even though I am relatively competent with my car’s needs (fortunately, in this case). My service rep told me that I needed 4 different services that each cost between $100 and $250 each, totaling over $700 of extra work, that, based on two other second opinions, I definitely didn’t need.

When I asked the front desk rep how they came to these conclusions, the person said that a couple were based on visual inspection, and they based others on the factory recommendation schedule. Although my car was new to them, and I knew, for example, my spark plugs were replaced 15k miles ago (they should be replaced every 60k-ish), no education was given to me about figuring out if this had been done recently. They would’ve just done it and taken my $250. I was lucky I am familiar with my car maintenance history. Also, they were still making this recommendation 10k miles too early even if they were to be following factory recommendations (I.e. 6-12 months early), with no information about the ability to wait. They just said “your car needs this”.

Another two of the fixes, replacing my brake fluid and getting my wheels aligned, were apparently recommended based on visual inspection. I thought this seemed off since I’d had recent service on my brake fluid. So I didn’t do either of them. Then, two other trusted mechanics confirmed both were totally unnecessary and that my car was in great shape in those areas.

I was there late, so the mechanic was gone by the time I went to pick up my car. So when I wanted to get clarity, I had to rely on the account of one of the front desk workers who really didn’t seem to know that much about the cars, and didn’t talk to the mechanic firsthand, so this person was relying on minimal notes to help clarify. They were not able to talk to me about the details of why the shop was suggesting over $700 of work to be done.

It seems like they do a lot of business, which is a good sign, and have decent reviews, but just beware that if you don’t know much about cars and feel vulnerable to this kind of thing, you are at risk for being upsold on services that your car may not need. Again, my suggestion would be to at least get a second opinion before doing...

We have previously purchased from Bill Kolb Subaru (BK). With that experience my brother and 2 friends also purchased cars from BK and all had wonderful experiences. Great staff, efficient and no haggling were key factors for us returning for our next Subaru.

Unfortunately our experience in this Spring (2021) did not mimic our previous one. Documented below shows a lack of coordination of effort and what turned into a nearly weekly long saga of promises and promises broken for the car’s ultimate delivery. While “K” (our sales rep) notes he was been busy and that he had the assurances things were “done”, ultimately it was for him to ensure the quality of the delivery. This experience has tainted our view of the BK. It is my hope the read this review and move to rectify these glaring issues with oversight and checklists to ensure that this experience is never repeated for any customer. And “E”, sales manager – please do respond back soonest.

Day of negotiation • “K” noted he had only been there for 3 months and was still learning the ropes o I was thinking we need a different rep, however, given the dealerships reputation we gave them the benefit of the doubt • We ordered a car right from the factory. As it would take a few months, requested K give us advance notice of the timing for the car’s arrival as we were trying sell our old car so o K did not give us advance notice. He called to notify us the car was here and to define a date for pick up o We sold the old car and notified K (through another sales rep) that we would supply our own license plates

SAT (day of pick up) • Due to scheduling issues, had a bifurcated purchase process as we were shuttled from seeing the car, to financing and then back to seeing the car • The dealership was ready to put on new license plates, appears K did not get my message • Car was not ready to drive away; key would not start car • “E”, Sales Manager, gave us a free lunch at the local diner as they tried to fix the “problem” • @5 hours we were given a loaner with a promise the car would be ready on/before TUE • K offers us money for dinner which we decline

MON • ETA moved from MON to THU - “E” notified us that MON was not a responsible estimate

THU • K delivers the car, however without second set of keys, registration or car manual • K takes car back to the dealership to have key coded for car, gets manual, registration • K has the car washed • “E” notes that for this difficulty they will give us an “extra” on our warrantee

SAT • Called “E” to help us better understand what the extra includes, left message • 5 weeks since delivery and 4 weeks since my message and no word back from...