Stohlman Subaru

Because I am in a different state, I was looking for someone that would communicate well. The dealership overall is probably fine, but the individual I dealt with from the beginning, was average. I did not want to risk a trip out of state, to by a car, based in 'average communication.' The pricing in the vehicle, I must admit, was more than fair.

Courteous and responsive Found the right car

Someone at the dealership contacted me and stayed in touch until I told him that I wasn't going to buy a car right now.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend Stohlman due to their dishonest and shady sales practices. I offered to buy a car for the on-line listed price (as seen on Cargurus) and they refused to sell it at that price but offered to sell it for $3000 more than the online price. I recently searched for a replacement vehicle for our recently totaled 2011 VW Tiguan. I found a listing online from Stohlman that listed a 2017 Tiguan Wolfsburg for $19,999. It met our list of requirements and seemed like a good deal, so we visited the next day. On April 8th at 12PM we stopped by Stohlman, unscheduled, to look at the car and discuss buying. The vehicle was listed on Cargurus as a demo vehicle with ~5k miles. I was directed to a salesman, Harry, and told him I was interested in seeing the demo Tiguan. He said, "We don't sell demo vehicles". I replied that I saw one on-line so he said he would check. After viewing a new Tiguan as an example, I showed him the ad on Carguru's and he was able to find the number in their system and consequently the vehicle on the lot (which was labeled "DEMO" on the windshield). We looked at it, liked it, and told Harry that we would like to buy the vehicle for the advertised price of $19,999. He said he would have to discuss with his manager, because he wasn't aware that car was for sale. He (Harry) returned several minutes later and said he couldn’t sell the vehicle at the listed price because it was too low and they wouldn’t make any money on it. I replied, “Why would you list it at that price?” and he had no answer. I said I would like to speak with his manager to discuss why the vehicle that was still for sale was not saleable at the price it is advertised. Harry’s manager came out about 15 minutes later and explained that he would have to have permission from a senior manager in order to sell the vehicle at that price. I found it odd that they would require additional approval to sell a car at a listed price but was willing to wait. I made it clear to the manager that I was only willing to buy the car for the listed price. After 15 minutes of waiting, Harry returned with a buyer’s order of the listed price $19,999 (plus delivery, doc fee, taxes, tag, and title). He shook my hand and said “OK, the senior manager agreed and we will sell it to you for the listed price.” I agreed and he gave us the paper work to start filling out for purchase. He left to deal with another customer while we filled out the paper work. Harry returned several minutes later, after we had just finished completing the paper work and announced they could no longer sell the car for the listed price but for $3000 higher than the online advertised price. Confused, I asked why he would now recant his previous statement of agreeing the sale and even giving us a buyer’s order with the price. He replied, it was a mistake. I demanded his manager explain. After waiting another fifteen minutes, the manager emerges and says that Harry wasn’t supposed to agree to the sale. I asked why he would give us a buyer’s order with the agreed price. He replied that it was meant merely as an example to show us the calculation of the sale at that price but not intended to be a sale. He remarked that he listing online was a miscalculation on Carguru’s part and it doubled a discount that was not supposed to be there. I said, I’m sorry that your employee has agreed to this without your consent, but this is not my problem. We had agreed to a price, shook hands, and completed paper work. He said, “What do you want me to do? Fire Harry? OK, Harry you’re fired.” Apparently, he felt this was a great way to handle the situation. Mind you, this is on the showroom floor and I got the feeling that Harry had been "fired" many times before in a similar role-play at Stohlman. At this point, I had seen enough to know this was not somewhere to do business. I said, I’m sorry that you couldn’t be honest. I was willing to buy the car for the listed price but I will not pay $3000 higher than your online listed price. After this, we left. Unfortunately, they are not willing to sell vehicles for the advertised prices but would rather bring you in the door and then sell the vehicles for higher prices.

While I didn't buy the 2011 GTI, I bought a 2013 from the same dealer and was very satisfied with the purchase.

Dealer was very friendly, going out tomorrow to look at the car

Unfortunately, i cannot buy cuz of bad credit, but they were excellent! If i have chance to buy another vehicle, i will definitely visit here.

quick reply, salesman came in on his day off to deliver the car. kudos to you sir!!

The folks at Stohlman were excellent and very helpful. I would recommend purchasing from them with one caveat: Virginia's processing/documentation fees are a joke. Yes, you will be told that everyone has to pay the same fee, but it is pretty clear to me that the practice is a way to pad profits. I was told by Stohlman that the guys down the street charge $899, so that there $599 fee would sound reasonable. Obviously, I negotiated the price down with this info in hand. Doc fees in my own state aver $130 and $490 in VA. It would be hard to convince me that the true cost to dealer differs this much. Edmunds has a helpful chart so that you know what you are getting into before you go to buy. https://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/what-fees-should-you-pay.html#chart

Great car for great price. Great salesperson.

Provided data but immediately started to seek data on when I was "coming to visit". Didn't appreciate the pressure.

Great

very responsive. reasonable to deal with

Kind, courteous, knowledgeable, and ready to answer questions but not pushy in any way! That's how every car salesman should be. Thanks for your wonderful service, Julio!

Followup was great

All the staff here were very polite.

I was very please with the way the sale men work with me on my toyota 4 runner also I received everything that was promise to me on this sale. Good luck greg Lopez on saling many more cars.

Dealer contacted me immediately and we have an appointment set..

Unknown. Never called them back. I was advised by someone helping me that the price for the vehicle I was interested in was not an especially good deal.

Secedule appointment to get car then they sold it . I was traveling over 300 miles !. Dishonest people !!!!

Very responsive, professional and friendly. No haggling and will go the extra mile for you. Mike Sepulveda made the experience very rewarding. I will definitely return and refer friends to this location.

No pressure, friendly sales staff, professional negotiation. I had my care in one day.

They are very good

I was not impressed with the listening skills of the first person who contacted me. He only wanted to talk non-stop, seemed less than interested in anything other than setting an appointment for me to visit. He did not seem prepared for a real conversation. Additionally, I have an issue with paying dealer fees for work I can do myself. I will continue looking for a private seller.

The agent there was helpful pricing my car although they didn't have the Honda in stock for me to see.