Hmm, that's not too far from my work. I'll have to see how thier parts dept is. When do they open for business?

 

looks like grand opening is saturday

 

Probably the same reason that Fremont GMC used (which is pretty much next door to this new dealer) isn't Newark GMC

 

Review of Subaru of Fremont (SoF)

Part 1:
I went to SoF to not only check it out, but to also buy transmission fluid. I talked to a person named Charlie Waters. I found out that the owner of SoF is a guy named Steve, who also owns the Fremont Ford and Fremont Mazda next door. The owner does not own any other dealership, namely Stevens Creek Subaru. The facilities of the place is very professional looking. It looks just as good as Claridge Mercedes-Benz in Fremont's Automall, but with less furnishing on the inside. Mr. Waters took me on a brief tour and showed me the inventory lot and the working bay. The inventory lot does not have a wide selection, but I was told there will be 150 more cars being brought in. There are 3 working bays. Unfortunately the hours have not been set for the parts department or the service department. Neither were open today. Part 2 of my review will be about the parts department when I go on Monday.
Apparently Mr. Waters already has knowledge of Stevens Creek Subaru. He claims that a 50 year old couple dropped by because they hated Stevens Creek Subaru and brought their car to Santa Cruz Subaru. I was blunt with him and told him that the Subaru forums will be watching closely. I also told him, if he wants to learn what not to do, pretend to be a shopper at Stevens Creek. I indirectly conveyed that SoF can do things right, or it can lose business to Carlsen Subaru and Santa Cruz Subaru. He acknowledges that while people who lot-up (drive into the lot to look and not particularly buy) do not bring in business, he also realizes these are the same people who give referrals (people who actually do buy cars). This salesman struck me as a bit soft-spoken, professional and not shady like the Stevens Creek Subaru salesmen.
Unfortunately, I cannot comment on the car prices or the service people. Nor can I comment on the knowledge of the people. However, they do allow test drives; they have a black 2007MY WRX STI that they allow test drives on.

Part 2 will come monday. I will probably test the service manager more to see how knowledgeable he is and his professional attitude.

Cliff Notes:
Positives:
- Better facility than Stevens Creek
- Owner is not the same as Stevens Creek
- Salesman I talked to seemed professional
- Easier access for the east bay people

Negatives:
- Still settling in (they don't have hours set or a main parts guy yet)

Unknown:
- Car prices
- Knowledge of cars
- Service department performance
- Mod-friendly or not

 

^^^

Sweet man, thanks for the review. They have so much potential to be a great Subaru dealer... It's just a matter of "do they want to be?".

Funny how powerful the internet is.

 

I hope your 'Subaru Community is watching' was blunt enough for him.

 

I'll be calling their service department on Monday in regard to a wheel bearing. I'm hopeful.

 

frankly, if i was the owner and some guy was tellin me what to do and not to do to keep customers coming in, i would tell him to get the hell out of here. lol im sure he has an idea how to run the business, but its all about the people who work there. they have more control over how they treat their customers than the owner does. all he can do is hire the right people and fire the wrong ones.

 

I did not tell him how to run the business. I just stated that if he wants an example of what not to is to drive to Stevens Creek. Plus, where did I state I was talking to the owner? I also just told him that the Subaru forums welcome the place, but we will be watching. He seemed very eager for referrals, of which I told him I'll give him if the place turns out well. I told him I already referred 2 friends to Carlsen Subaru.

 

Probably to reduce confusion. I went to Subaru.com, typed in "Newark" in the dealer locator, and it came up with ten listings for cities in the U.S. named Newark and their respective nearby dealers. Also, Matt Slap Subaru is actually located in the city of Newark, Delaware.

http://www.mattslap.com/en_US/

Since the internet is now such a powerful new-car shopping tool, dealers want potential customers to be able to find exactly where they are on the web, as well as their physical location.

I believe what you were told could very well be true, considering that Subaru of Fairfield (AKA Green Valley Subaru) went belly-up, and a Ford of Fairfield salesman told me earlier this week that all of their unsold inventory went to Fremont.

 

What's the reason that dealership died off?

I think Subaru of Fremont has to get on the ball. It'll face tough competition from Carlsen, Ron Price and also Livermore.

 

Well, I can't speak for sales or parts, but my one-and-only service experience there was far less than "stellar".

https://www.i-club.com/forums/showth...36#post1696336

 

I went to test drive a wrx last year and the salesmen had no idea that there was a wrx... he said subaru only made tr's and sti's........ i was like, no buddy theres this in between version called the wrx .... he was a re-re and didn't understand.
Anytime I dealt with them, the salesmen weren't knowledgable about imprezas...
I thought they were re-opening in the fairfield automall though?

 

you don't seem too knowledable either though...a TR is a type of WRX

 

plus the STi is called a WRX STi