Just bought a Touring (Crimson Red) in Raleigh, NC for 2% under invoice using the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society VIP pricing at Johnson Subaru. No haggle, no fuss!
Cross Creek Subaru in Fayetteville, NC does not participate in the VIP pricing program on the Ascent due to popularity of the new vehicle.
I had an incident when I tried to buy the Ascent Touring at Cross Creek Subaru, Fayetteville, NC a month ago. After an initial visit to the dealership, I received an email indicating that they agreed to an “out the door” price of $43,750 on a 2019 Subaru Ascent with the Touring package. I brought my wife and two daughters for a test drive. After the test drive, I sat with the senior sales manager in his office and agreed to the same price, minus $185 after a little bit of friendly haggling. The sales lady was there as a witness. We also requested a new car of the same model and trim package. The one we test drove had the holes for the front license plate bracket and we did not require that. We shook hands to a new car at the same price that was coming in the next day’s shipment. I informed them that I was going to go to Carmax the next day to sell my car and would then show up with a check ready to purchase the Ascent.
The next day, the sales lady picked me up at Carmax and drove me to the dealer, a mile down the road. I sat down with the senior sales manager. He informed me that he could not sell me the car at that price because he would lose his job. He then said that he used the appraised price of the car I brought in as a possible trade in and that affected the price. He then said he had made mistakes with the price and he needed an additional $1900. At this point the sales person piped up and said that we had agreed yesterday on $43,750 minus $185. Apparently, according to her, he was a salesman with over 20+ years of experience. He said he could not do it. I let him know that I had sold my car and I had a written quote. He kept insisting he would lose his job. At this point I knew it was a ploy so I played along and he started dropping the price asking me if I could come up with $660. I kept insisting we had: a deal we shook on, a witness, and I had sold my other car. I had no transportation at this point. Then, suddenly, he lost his demeanor and threw his calculator, punched his monitors, and said “F-WORD IT! I’LL DO THE DAMN DEAL! THIS IS BULLSH!T!” At this point I was in a little shock and very surprised. Out of shock I said I may be able to charge about $300 to my credit card in addition to the agreed upon price. He yelled, “FINE! Give me your driver’s license.” I kept my demeanor and kept my bearing, not raising my voice once. The sales person was in the corner looking down. She was visibly embarrassed. I looked around the showroom floor (glass office) and saw that there were a few people staring at us. I got up, said “Thank you, but I cannot, in good conscience, do this deal. You expect me to give you $40k+ after the way you just treated me, and in front of your associate? No sir. You are unprofessional, unethical, and immoral.” “We’re not doing this?” he asked. I said no. He said, “Fine, I didn’t want to anyway, you want a ride home?!” “No thank you. I’ll have my wife pick me up.”
I picked up my things and went outside. I called USAA and cancelled my loan. I told them the story and they flagged that dealership as well as taking them off of the auto-buying program. They also insisted I call True-Car to ensure they are taken off of all auto buying programs. As I was on the phone with my wife, I looked back at his office and saw he had a group of people and they were laughing. It may have been a joke not involving me, but from my perception, they were laughing at me.
The dealership I ended up going to not only honored the price, they dropped it by $200 and lowered the interest rate on my loan. They did not have the car in stock, but gave me a loaner until it arrived. After I signed the papers, I told them the story about what happened with me in Fayetteville. They indicated it was not the first time they heard of Cross Creek Subaru’s abusive behavior, just not to my extreme though. They have received much business from Fayetteville, thanks to their senior sales manager. They also asked me not to tell Cross Creek Subaru that I bought my car at this Raleigh dealership because, “He can be vindictive.” Funny enough, though, no one at the Raleigh dealership was fired for selling the car to me at the lower price. I went to pick up my car a few weeks ago and the sale manager indicated that they recently received another customer like me from Fayetteville that said that Cross Creek Subaru had shady dealings going on.
I would steer clear of this place. If anyone else has had issues with this dealership, I would love to hear it.