Wow! We are truly ecstatic to receive such an amazing review!

nikukonda

Springfield, Virginia

Dec 10, 2012

Overall Score: 5

My wife and I are expecting our first child and were looking to trade in my 2008 BMW 335i for a family car. We identified several needs and wants and began comparing 17 different vehicles at local dealerships in and around the Northern Virginia Area. I initially began requesting quotes online from several dealerships to help shape my thoughts with respect to the cost of a potential car with all the options and accessories my wife and I wanted. Of all the dealerships I requested a quote from, the only one I heard back from was Chris LaPorte at Sheehy Subaru of Springfield. I cannot say exactly how many minutes passed from the time I hit enter to the time I received a phone call from Chris, but it was deffinitely under an hour. Right from the start Chris introduced himself, provided his cell phone number, and offered his services at my convenience. I really appreciated how he asked me, "to give him a chance to earn my business." His approach told me he was customer service oriented and it was not a foregone conclusion I was going to purchase a car from him; he recognized he had to earn that business. My wife and I continued our search by building a spreadsheet of all the vehicles we were interested in and began systematically eliminating ones that did not fit out criteria such as gas mileage to low, not enough passenger or cargo space, the trim required to get to specific needs/wants greatly exceeded our desired price point to the point where we knew no reasonable dealer would come down to etc. After we narrowed our search down to six vehicles, the outback was still on the list, so I gave Chris a courtesy call to let him know my wife and I were coming in to test drive a vehicle. Chris was outside waiting for us upon our arrival. I let him know up front we had no intention of committing to a specific vehicle that day because we were comparing several others. He said no problem, asked a few questions as to our wants, quickly showed us a couple vehicles that matched our criteria and offered a test drive. My wife and I looked at the Crosstrek, the Forrester, and the Outback and test drove two of them. Due to the requirement of leg room because of my height, and the need to fit the baby's carseat, we quickly identified the Outback as a great possibility. After test driving the vehicles, we spoke with Chris for a few minutes, he offered his card (though not necessary because I already had his cell phone number, offered a brochure on the outback and offered his services out our convenience. Chris was neither pushy nor overshadowing; he let the car speak for itself. My wife and I left feeling great about our experience. Over the next few days my wife and I test drove several other vehicles until we were down to two possible choices, one of which was the Outback. The second option, which I will not name, was a nice car, but it felt like a production vehicle even with all its perks. The quality just didn't seem to compare to the outback. That said, my wife and I were willing to accept that if the dealership would have offered a great deal. We gave them the opportunity to do exactly that - it took them two hours to make an offer and another 30 minutes with the finance manager to show me financing options that were far higher than anything being offered at Sheehy. I took a moment to text Chris, told him what vehicle I was looking at, the price the other dealer offered, as well as what they offered as a trade-in for my BMW; his response - I can beat that, call me. I stepped outside, gave him a call, talked a few moments, and then headed over to his dealership. I arrived, once again he was outside waiting for me next to a 2013 2.5i Premium Outback loaded with all our needs, but more importantly, our wants as well. He handed my wife the keys and said, take it out for a test drive - take as long as you would like. My wife and I did just that. We loved it! When I returned and went inside, he sat down and showed me the MSRP and wrote down an offer significantly below that, and offered a trade-in value for my BMW equal to what the previous dealership offered. The difference was less than 10K. Granted I had equity in the BMW, but his offer was more than generous. All things being equal, I contacted the other dealer I visited that morning to give them a fair chance of beating Chris' offer- they said they couldn't do it. The great part of dealings with Chris that day, I didn't deal with a Manager. He made the offer, he negotiated, he made decisions, he expedited the paperwork. From the time I returned from the test drive to the time I left for home less than two hours had passed. From start to finish, Chris was professional, never pushy, very accommodating, willing to work with the buyer to get a great deal. My wife and I ended up with a car that fits our wants and needs, at a great price, with no hassle. No other dealership I visited through this process treated me with as much respect. In the end, Chris really did earn my business.