On July 27th, 2015, my SO and I needed a new car and figured if we’re going to take on a car payment, we’re going to get exactly what we want. We went to Northtown Subaru in Amherst, New York to look at a 2012 Subaru WRX STI. When we took the car for a test drive, the first thing the salesman said was “You might hear the license plate rattling around a bit.” I wish we would have gotten out of the car right then. On the test drive, the salesman directed me on a route that we made four left turns and only one right. We obviously weren’t thinking about it at this point, but there was a reason he didn’t have me make any right turns.
We purchased the car (34,147 miles) and within the next couple of days, the car started making a lot of noise. We still thought it was the license plate, so we bought a new plate frame and some felt to glue to the back of the plate. The noise was still there, so without looking into the problem any further, we took it back to Northtown. On or around August 5th, I took the salesman for a ride and pointed out the noise. Salesman said it sounded like a strut, and walked me to the service department to make an appointment. I described the noise, and they set us up with an appointment for Monday, August 11th.
When we got the car back that afternoon, the noise was completely gone. This was strange because the work order said that they didn’t find a problem. We drove the car for another week or so before the noise came back. We realized that Northtown wasn’t going to admit there was a problem with the car, so we called West Herr Subaru in Orchard Park and set up an appointment to get a second opinion. On August 24th, we brought the car to the service department and explained the whole situation. I told them that along with the very distinct noise in the rear end, there was some plastic rubbing around somewhere in the back seats.
When we went in to pick up the car, the service department told me they had great news. They fixed the rubbing plastic in the back seat. I then asked about the noise coming from the rear strut area, and was told that it wasn’t on the report. This was absolutely ridiculous, since I was just there 3 hours earlier describing, in detail, the entire situation. The service department never gave me a copy of the work order. The service guy then told me he didn’t hear any noises when he drove it, and we could go for a ride to see if he could hear it. And of course, when we got in the car, the noise was gone. Still with no explanation of what is wrong with the car.
The noise was gone for another few days, but this time it came back much louder than it was before. It would creak, clunk, and pop when I touched the gas, brake, hit a bump, or even slightly turned the steering wheel. This is when we realized the car had a serious issue. So we called Northtown again and demanded they fix the car. They told us there was no reason they shouldn’t be able to fix it, and they were sorry for the inconvenience. We scheduled another appointment for September 1st.
In the meantime, we took it to a private mechanic. They took all of the plastic out of the back of the car to see if that was the problem. The noise was still there. So me and the mechanic started pushing on all of the sheet metal in the trunk. We finally found the noise. It was coming from inside the part of the frame in the trunk that connects the two strut towers. Their diagnosis was broken spot welds inside the crossbar. They gave us paperwork with their diagnosis, which we took with us to our appointment on September 1st with Northtown. When I got in the service line, one of the service guys came out and started talking to me. He was telling me what a nice car it was, how good I looked in it, and what a good price we got on it. Obviously being overly nice because he knew how upset we were with the car. We gave them the diagnosis from Rusiniak’s and showed them exactly where the noise was coming from. They assured us they would fix it, and kept the car for 4 days.
Again, we got the car back and the noise was gone for a few days and came back. Their diagnosis stated “Cause: Noise knocking” What is that supposed to mean? This was incredibly frustrating, since we paid another shop to diagnose it and they still couldn’t fix the problem. At this point, we started making contact with Subaru of America to make them aware of the problem. We also started calling Northtown and tried to get a hold of the managers. We left voicemails and an e-mail with the service manager, to which we never got a response.
So on Tuesday September 8th, we went in the showroom and asked a salesman to speak to a manager. He went in the back and never came back out. After standing there for probably close to 10 minutes, we walked back into the office area to find a manager. We finally got to talk to one, but got absolutely nowhere. He was very defensive and argumentative, claiming that STI’s are loud cars and that it was possible that we caused the damage. I found this to be in very bad taste. We asked him to come for a ride with us, to which he replied he didn’t have time. He also told us that we could not switch the car for another one or get our money back. He said he had full confidence that they could fix it. If he was so confident, why wasn’t it fixed already? We called Subaru of America and told them we spoke with a manager. The service manager called us the next morning. He told me to bring the car in the following day (September 10th) at 10am so he could personally look at it.
When I finally got the chance to show the service manager the problem, the very first thing he said was “We are not going to be able to fix that.” I explained that I would file a claim with New York State Lemon Law, and it would probably be best for both parties for them to either issue us a refund, or trade the car for another STI. He told me there was no way we were getting our money back, and if we wanted to switch for another STI, we would only receive trade in value, not what we paid for the car. He told us to bring the car back Monday September 14th and the body shop manager will look at it. We are hesitant to drop the car off given that the service manager directly told me it could not be repaired.
This is the absolute worst experience either of us has ever had with a business. The employees at Northtown Subaru should be ashamed of the way they treat people. They sold us a car with an absolutely unbearable noise, made no mention of it on the pre-sale inspection report, and have been trying their hardest to avoid the situation. Not only did we spend a ton of money on this car, we purchased an extended warranty and paid the full sticker price. I am disgusted with the way we have been treated. /endrant
Here’s a video of the noise:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ487HEEnkI
Work orders:
http://imgur.com/3nGih4O
http://imgur.com/JFVWzG1
Diagnosis from 3rd party : http://m.imgur.com/broftLi
Looks can be deceiving: My 2012 STI sunbathing - Imgur
The noise is obviously much louder when driving.
I would greatly appreciate any advice or ideas for my next step. I was hoping to get this resolved on my own, but looks like I’ll need a lawyer.
