[Tony Bessel]

I imagine this varies from region to region and dealership to dealership but I am curious what people who have recently ordered their Ascent are being told in terms of delivery date.

I called two dealerships in the Twin Cities area.

One said they had 18 pre-order 'slots' of which 10 had been claimed. As long as I was within one of those slots I was good to go for the initial shipment which will be anywhere from early June to August. This dealership mentioned the actual rollout of the vehicle (i.e. inventory sitting unclaimed on the lot) has been postponed until September due to the high number of preorders.

The other just said "mid-July" if I were to order within the next couple days.

We have decided to move forward with an Ascent Touring but a fall delivery date just wouldn't work for us. In that event we would have to fall back to option 2.

Does what the dealerships told me sound about right?

 

[Nemesis099]

I put down my deposit the day they announced pricing at my local dealership for a Blue Touring model. I was told they put my order in that day and was told to expect the car late May to early June. According to the sales guy "You are second in line on the east coast" which could just be sales speak. I have not heard anything else since then.


Once of the other dealerships I called said they would have a demo car that they could not sell in April, with the actual cars to sell coming in June.


I did warn the dealership I put my deposit down with that my current vehicle has been having issues and if it died I would be forced into buying a car right away. He said they would put my in a free loaner until the new car came in.


Granted I don't trust salesman at dealerships with how many times they have lied directly to me in the past. I do wonder where the first shipments are going as those will probably get them earlier which could easily change delivery dates by a month depending on location.


The dealer I'm using is Heritage which is part of the Mile One network which has 40 dealerships. I'm not sure if that would influence who gets a car first either.

 

[LMPDX]

I ordered mine on the 15th of February so the very first day of preorder. I was first at my dealership but I’m in Oregon so pretty far from Indiana. I was told July but not to be surprised if it’s June.

 

[Carl Abrams]

Does what the dealerships told me sound about right?

As I've mentioned in other threads here, here's how this shakes out for those of us not in SNE / SDC (meaning most of the country).

We received an initial allocation for July / August / September, and we already know what those numbers are. Once the July allocation is filled, you bump into the August allocation. Dealerships are allowed to pre-sell or pre-order approximately 80% of their allocation. For us, we got 16 allocated for July and I could pre-sell 12 of them. (And did so before the end of February - I'm now about half-way through my August allocation.)

On the VON paperwork, when you order one, it will only show delivery by the end of July / August / September. That's all it EVER shows. That gives the factory the flexibility to batch run colors and trim packages. Until the car actually gets scheduled by the factory, it will NOT have a firmer ETA than 'End of Month'. One the car IS scheduled by the factory, then an actual ETA (which can and does vary, due to shipping times) will show up on SubieNet and your salesman should be able to view that.

There are NO cars being ordered now that will delivery earlier than July, but as for WHEN during the month of July the car actually gets to your dealership, that's up in the air. If you're being told by your dealership anything earlier than July, that's the OLD information. Subaru seems to be following their standard model year practice with new vehicles hitting showrooms in July. (Having said that, it conceivably could be the last week of June for the first shipment, but I wouldn't get my hopes up for that, simply because I've seen that before.)

I've been doing this for more than 5 years now, at the same dealership, and I've gone through this with the Forester, Outback, STI, Impreza, and Crosstrek, and I used to work at the factory so I've gone through many a model changeover. Just keep in mind that Subaru can and does sometimes make changes to the cars even after they give us the information. (The remote start on Limited and Touring, for example.)

 

[Leon Braginski]

pre-order

I have pre-ordered Touring w/hitch and dimming ext. mirrors. I was told it will arrive by end of July.

How would it work in this case:
1. I am out of town for a few weeks say in June
2. Car arrives to the dealership
3. I can't pick it up until I am back in town.

Will dealership just keep my car as "sold" and will not let anyone test drive it?

Also, where are the options like ext. dimming mirror and hitch is installed: at the factory or by the dealer?

 

[Carl Abrams]

I have pre-ordered Touring w/hitch and dimming ext. mirrors. I was told it will arrive by end of July.

How would it work in this case:
1. I am out of town for a few weeks say in June
2. Car arrives to the dealership
3. I can't pick it up until I am back in town.

Will dealership just keep my car as "sold" and will not let anyone test drive it?

Also, where are the options like ext. dimming mirror and hitch is installed: at the factory or by the dealer?

With us, your pre-order gives you the first right of refusal to purchase the car. If your salesman knows you're going to be out of town, then what should happen is that your car gets prepped for delivery and then gets put on the back lot until you can pick it up. If you don't bother to tell him you're going to be out of town - and by that point, he should have a good idea of when your car is coming in and had communicated that with you - then after a certain time period, your car will simply go up for sale to whoever wants it because YOU didn't keep HIM in the loop.

If you ordered it with those accessories, then they will be (or should be, anyway) port installed. For areas of the country served by SNE / SDC, I understand that those are done at their port. For the rest of us, it's done at the port accessory building just to the west of the main factory.

 

[Leon Braginski]

Thanks!

I fully intend to tell my salesperson (and ask salesperson to advise manager as well) that I will going to vacation (at this point I will also may even give an additional deposit, to ensure that dealer is
fully aware that I intend to pick up the car as soon as I return). I really don't want car be on the dealer's floor for others to test drive.

By "port" you mean a manufacturing plant (or some adjunct of such plant), right? I am in Pacific NW.

 

[Tony Bessel]

Thanks!

I fully intend to tell my salesperson (and ask salesperson to advise manager as well) that I will going to vacation (at this point I will also may even give an additional deposit, to ensure that dealer is
fully aware that I intend to pick up the car as soon as I return). I really don't want car be on the dealer's floor for others to test drive.

By "port" you mean a manufacturing plant (or some adjunct of such plant), right? I am in Pacific NW.

I don't know that I would worry much about it being 'borrowed' in the interim. As long as you've done everything you need to do at that point and have a conversation with the dealership about being out of town, I would expect that they honor your hands-off request until you can take delivery.

I can understand the concern. I want my new cars to be as new as possible so typically I turn down demos, loaners, etc even at a discounted rate. I've seen others in forums who insist on being present as the car is being delivered to the dealership.

 

[Tony Bessel]

Just to update the thread:

Just got back from the dealership. Ordered my white Touring with a delivery of mid-July. Can't wait!

 

[Robert.Mauro]

By "port" you mean a manufacturing plant (or some adjunct of such plant), right? I am in Pacific NW.

Correct, at SIA, which will be a cheaper install. Carl explained some of the pricing differences in another thread, IIRC.

 

[Leon Braginski]

Perfect. Given all the electronics in the rear bumper area I did felt more comfortable for hitch to be installed at the factory rather then in the dealer shop.

 

[unsub1]

Thanks!

I fully intend to tell my salesperson (and ask salesperson to advise manager as well) that I will going to vacation (at this point I will also may even give an additional deposit, to ensure that dealer is
fully aware that I intend to pick up the car as soon as I return). I really don't want car be on the dealer's floor for others to test drive.

Oh man! I'll be in exactly the same situation. Hadn't even thought of that. I'm sure I'll be up in Oregon when mine lands.

 

[Gueromeister]

Does anyone with experience preordering a Subaru have a guess as to how long it will be between receiving a VIN number and actually receiving the car? A month , a week?

 

[jd33]

Does anyone with experience preordering a Subaru have a guess as to how long it will be between receiving a VIN number and actually receiving the car? A month , a week?

I believe it all depends upon when your vehicle goes into production.

 

[jbim]

End of August 2018 delivery

We placed our pre-order today (March 31, 2018) and we were told to expect a delivery end of August with no firm date. We ordered the Limited, Captain's chairs, Grey. We bought this SUV to tow a small travel trailer, around 2200 pounds all in. See https://safaricondo.com/en/caravanes-alto-serie-f-1743/.

 

[zegilbert]

Ordered mid-last week in CO and was told late June, early July. The dealer said subaru was initially targeting a couple of weeks sooner, but decided to grab the first cars off the lot for some additional testing. That sounds odd to me - anyone else hear anything like that?

 

[LMPDX]

Ordered February 15th, was told July but not to be surprised if it shows up towards the end of June.

 

[scooby]

Placed my order on 3/20 and got an estimate of August. Hoping for sooner though.

 

[1349]

We pre-ordered ours on February 16th in CO and were told the 3rd week of July. We were the first pre-order of the around 45 allotted Ascents at our dealership. We ordered the Touring.

 

[Gueromeister]

Does anyone have any knowledge or insight as to which Ascents will be produced first? I read on a different Subaru forum that Subaru produces their cars on a batch system of color,model,etc., ...So does that mean that if white limited Ascents with black interior are the most popular preorder, they will be produced first? Or last? Does location factor in? Thoughts, Carl or anyone.....