Carter Subaru Ballard

This is an okay dealership. I never had any issues when I took my car in while living in Ballard. The problem/​my rating came when I took my car to another Subaru dealership after I moved out of the immediate area. It turns out, they had been charging me for service in spite of having service coverage for two years after I purchased the car. It’s not like I «lost» a lot of money (I mostly had oil changes at this one), but it’s crappy knowing they didn’t honor my service contract. Luckily my new place is willing to honor the coverage, even though it’s expired.

This is simply a shout out to the amazingly genuine staff of this dealership! !! Love your spirit and giving nature! It’s not often that you see people willing to help and give without expecting something in return! Forever grateful! — posted by a girl in adorable yellow jacket with a yellow Lei flower in her hair. ;-)

I purchased my first new car through Carter and absolutely love it! Jeff Rodriguez was my salesperson and made the process super easy. He kept me informed and answered any questions I had without ever making me feel pressured. He was also quick to respond whenever I reached out to him.
Great job and thanks for all your help!

These guys made buying a car a breeze and not a stressful chore. Michael, our sales person, stood back and let my husband and I peruse cars without any pressure or interference. I never felt that creepy desperation that often comes along with car sales people. We bought our car with the confidence that we’d chosen a dealership with small town values, one that understands that honesty is the best way to ensure a return customer.

If you’re looking for a new car, come to Carter and ask for BILL KOCH! Yesterday was my first time buying a car and it was honestly a wonderful experience. I was under stressful circumstances — my car abruptly decided it was done after 11 wonderful years, I was a first time buyer, and going alone. Bill made the experience so low-​pressure and I never once felt pressured.
Bill was willing to answer any and all questions I had, never once making me feel like it was a silly question. When he didn’t know an answer, he would tell me upfront and then ask the right person. He is very quick to reply to emails and texts and upon meeting him instantly felt at ease. Working with the financial department was a breeze as well and I really appreciated how much time everyone took to answer my questions, explain everything to me, and allow me time to pause and process all everything in front of me.
Couldn’t recommend Carter Subaru Ballard or Bill Koch enough. In fact, handed out his card to a friend last night!
Thanks for such a wonderful experience!

I recently had the awesome opportunity to buy a car from Carter Subaru and I would highly recommend this dealership to anyone living in the greater Seattle area. The man who helped me from the beginning to end was Ezra and I couldn’t have found a better salesperson to help me out. Ezra tailored the car-​buying experience specifically toward me and spent a considerable amount of time researching the cars on his lot to let me know what my options were. I had several obstacles surface on my end of the deal and Ezra was very understanding and continued to invest in me all the way through the process. Again I would highly recommend this dealership and definitely try to get a hold of Ezra for some great conversation and an honest salesperson that will «go to bat» for you consistently.

I thought that I needed to change the battery for my lock/​unlock remote so I called to ask how long it would take and the price. The man on the phone was very patient with me and answered all my questions. I had time at that moment, so I decided just to go in and get the battery replaced.
When I arrived at Subaru Ballard, I was nicely directed across the street, where their parts office is. From there I was able to get the battery switched out in less than 5 minutes. However after returning to my care across the street, I realized that it was not the battery but the remote itself. I went back to the parts and decided just to buy a new remote. I was refunded for the new battery and just charged a new remote. So I crossed the street again to my car with a new remote. Then the most personable woman at the front desk was kind enough to program the new remote for me.
I give them five stars because of the service that I received from everyone that I came into contact at the Subaru Ballard.

Ezra is a great salesman, wasn’t pushy and answered all of my questions (mostly pertaining to cats). He really made the experience fun.

I just bought an outback from a private party and got a service engine light at 41k. I went in to discuss my options with the nearest dealer to me. The younger long brown hared service gal was very unhelpful. I knew there was a transferrable warranty on the vehicle but needed the proper paperwork, person to speak with, phone number etc. I left with more questions than I started, did nit fell welcomed into the dealership or helped. I honestly feel like they are trying to intentionally make it difficult so they don’t have to honor the warranty.

I bought my used 2001 Outback here a few years ago, and have been bringing it back for maintenance and repairs ever since. The buying process was straight forward, and financing was quick to set up, and worked well for my budget.
For repairs, the technicians are skilled and knowledgeable, price and time estimates are always accurate and honest, and they do great work. The shuttle to and from work is a huge convenience if I need to leave it for a day, and the car wash coupons, coffee and snacks in the break room, and clean restrooms are a great perk. Just a lot of little things that add up to remind you how much they care about their customers.
So many other shops will undercut the price on repair, but cut corners or use cheap parts, and end up bringing you back in later when their repairs fail. Not at Carter! They do great work upfront with fair pricing, and I always know that the extra dollars I spend here will mean a much longer life for my car.

Great service, no pressure, and very friendly. We worked with Victor and he gave us a great test drive and let the car speak for itself. When we were ready to move we got everything set up within the week and only needed about 2 hours to finalize the deal.

I went into the dealership October (only 4 months ago) looking at different financing options. Shelly was my rep and she convinced me that leasing was a much better option due to the lower monthly payments and various warranties provided. I decided to lease my car under the assurance that all of my maintenance costs for the car for the duration of the lease will be covered under the agreement.
PROBLEM: I called in for a service, they said I was to be charged. I was upset b/​c that was not what was agreed upon.
SUMMARY: I got the run-​around for 3 days to figure out if my oil change was covered. Tried to contact the dealership via website (which is completely messed up), phone, and email. Spoke to various reps who couldn’t answer my question before I finally wrote an angry Unilocal review and was contacted by Dan Murphy (General Sales Manager). He was super helpful, apologized for getting the run-​around, and ended up with a solution to cover my maintenance for the duration of my lease.
LESSON: If the rep emphasizes advertising that leases are a better option – be extremely careful take what they say with a grain of salt. One of the biggest reasons I decided to lease rather than purchase was because I was advertised by my rep that I would NOT have to pay for maintenance during my lease. ALWAYS get whatever’s advertised during the communication in writing before signing a contract. Dan assured me that Shelly is an extremely «honest» sales rep and there must have been a miscommunication… Both I and my boyfriend, whom I was with during our interaction with Shelly, attest against it.

Staff Involved:
–Ted Reich (Sales)
–Bill Deamer (Finance)
This is a review of a car purchase (New 2014 Subaru Impreza) of almost 2 years ago. I will start off by saying that Carter Subaru BALLARD is the worst dealership my wife and I have ever encountered and I will NEVER do business with this branch ever again. Here’s why…
I have been ‘honored’ to be a part of finalizing 6 – 7 car transactions over the years (helping relatives and/​or personal vehicles) from established car retailers like Honda of Kirkland, Carr Subaru, Doxon Toyota, etc. in my car-​buying career. All have been pain– and headache-​free outside of the typical haggling of prices.
This dealership is by far the worst and most unethical business I have ever dealt with (even worst than Comcast customer service and that’s saying a lot!).
Here’s our story…
My wife (girlfriend at the time) was looking to buy her first car coming straight out of college. I personally bought myself a 2014 Subaru WRX from Carr Subaru in Beaverton, OR recently and suggested a subie would be a perfect fit for her and her personality. The deal/​price I got for my WRX and her Impreza all came from a salesperson named: Joe Spitz from Carter Subaru SHORELINE. I have nothing but high praise for him. He is absolutely amazing, straight-​up with you and to the point. But most importantly, VERY respectful of you as a HUMAN being. Unfortunately, for both of our cars, they didn’t have the color we preferred so we had to look elsewhere.
Joe Spitz mentioned the Ballard location had the black color Sedan body that my gf wanted. So we headed over to Ballard. The Salesperson that helped with this transaction was Ted Reich. Everything with him was fine. He did talk a lot, but was very courteous. We shared with Ted the quote Joe Spitz had given us (a blockbuster deal of a price) and he offered to match it. We didn’t care much to haggle anymore so we were satisfied with that price and decided to move forward.
Now comes the worst part…
Before car-​shopping, my gf, like a responsible grown up adult, got pre-​approved by BECU for a great low-​interest rate car loan at 2.75% (approximately) for 5 years. After Ted, we were greeted by a man named Bill Deamer (the finance guy) to finalize all the paperwork. Long-​story short, we go and tell him that we are pre-​approved with BECU. He tells us he’ll contact BECU to get that loan information. He tells that there was an issue with the loan and he wasn’t able to locate our pre-​approved loan from BECU. After a few more attempts (he was probably faking the attempts at this point and was clearly annoyed at us for no apparent reason), he gave up and told us that BECU said we don’t have this loan approval on file. He then tells us he can give us a loan at 2.9% for 5 years with Chase Subaru bank. Not thinking it was that much of a difference, we decided to go with it. We signed it and went with Chase Subaru bank for our financing.
!!!RED FLAG!!! Not 2 – 3 days later, BECU calls my gf asking if she will be using the loan any time soon. We were both wondering why the hell did Bill tell us otherwise? I called Bill and demanded an explanation. He told us to come in and we did. My GF and I were both really upset at this point. When we came in, he immediately said something along the lines of «there must have been a lag on their server» or some BS of an answer. We tell him we want this changed IMMEDIATELY. He then counter offers with a lower interest rate than BECU’s so we accepted it (w/​Chase Subaru). Even through this, he was being a extremely rude and unprofessional about it while not making eye contact, as if we were inferior HUMAN beings. Just because we are in our early-​mid 20s, does not mean you need to treat others with disrespect. This Bill Deamer guy was by far the most shady, rude, and condescending person I have ever worked with. He was lying straight to our faces and we called him out on it. But he never once showed any signs of humility or genuineness. I get that you are a business and you want to make profit, but lying is one thing I DO NOT tolerate in a business. Especially when you SCREW with a person’s big/​major purchase like a Car. A very very unethical business.
I highly recommend that you DO NOT do business with Carter Subaru Ballard. If you’re in the area, head over to Carter Subaru Shoreline and ask for Joe Spitz or order your car from a retailer closer.

On probably the busiest day they could have imagine, we were attended to with complete professionalism from the moment we spoke to the receptionist to the moment we drove away with a new car.
Our salesman (Michael Cappuccilli) listened to every want and to every need. He was informative but readily admitted when he didn’t have an answer. When that occurred, he wasted no time tracking down a complete and full answer. He did not push, pressure try to force a sense of urgency. He knew his product, believed in the company and was confident in the sales support around him.
In the closing process we expected the usual salesman vs sales manager yo yo dance. Our salesman spoke highly of his sales manager and was very confident he’d come back with a great offer. In my 57years I have never been presented a deal that was absolutely spot on, no actually exceeded my expectations, in numbers and deal terms. My wife and I were drop jawed at the deal and could not even conjure up a reason to say no and no good reason the come back tomorrow.
The only answer we could give was YES.
Thank you to the entire staff for an incredible, first ever, experience.

Just a quick review here… So I had decided on a Subaru, and contacted Carter via their website.
Within a day I was contacted by Tony in the internet sales department– this guy is awesome, he answered all my questions, rolled with all the changes I made. Now when I say he answered all my questions, he was prompt– he was answering emails from home at night! He got me all set up, found the car I wanted, securing it to get it delivered and pretty much got the deal done as painlessly as possible.
When I picked up the car, Tony had just started a well deserved vacation– Sarah (also awesome) took me through the car an finished up the paperwork. We ran into a little snag with a minor feature I thought was going to be on the car but wasn’t-Sarah took on the problem like it was her sale and handled it– again answering emails well beyond regular business hours.
Took the car in to have the new parts installed, the service department was quick, friendly and had the work done well before the projected time.
Overall this is a great dealership, that was great to deal with– they really did make buying a car really easy and an enjoyable experience. And I’m a difficult customer.

Update: the manager Paul called and refunded the difference. He apologize for the mixup. He was really great and said he is going to take my feedback to improve their service.
What happen:
Poor customer service in the service department. I received a quote over the phone for repair that I needed for my Subaru headlight and asked them to email me the quote. I never received their email quote. I show up for my service appointment and they had no record of the quote.
The employee seem not to care.
The repair ended up cost me an extra $ 200 above the phone quoted price. Which was more expensive than the two other quotes I got from different mechanic shops.
I emailed Carter Subaru but they never responded. I bought my car from them but I will never use there service department again.

It’s not often that you come across a repair shop that borders on militancy in its fervor for fixing your vehicle. Carter Ballard is one of those shops. My vehicle suffers from a recurring problem with the volume control on the steering panel. Carter’s Shoreline facility had always taken it in and fixed the problem, but never the source, so I had to take it back into the shop regularly.
The Ballard facility, on the other hand, has shown it’s interested not only in patching a quick-​fix, but identifying the true source of the problem. While they could simply satisfy the warranty requirements and make similar fixes, they have invested a lot of time and troubleshooting to try more comprehensive diagnoses and repairs to eradicate the problem.
While they have yet to find the root cause, their service and dedication to the customer is exemplary, and I’m sure if they’re able to truly find the cause and repair it, this’ll bump right up to a 5-​star. Fantastic customer service experience.

Well we were there. Made eye contact with a salesperson. Granted they were with a customer buuuuut six little words would have kept us there. We waited and looked at tags on at least 5 cars but still no one spoke to us. We finally left. All they had to say was someone will be right with you. Oh well. On to Honda

I called Carter to ask about prices of some repairs. The rep on the phone continuously avoided giving me a quote on some very specific repairs. Instead, he said I should bring my car in and they would give me an accurate quote. I specifically asked if the inspection would cost anything and he said no. When I got there he wanted to charge me to do the inspection but would put the inspection cost towards any repairs. So on the phone he convinced me to bring my car in to get a quote but then charged me unless I chose to get the repiars with them. The point of getting a quote is so I can compare prices. I guess they think auto repair should be like health care. Impossible to shop around and know the price ahead of time. Instead, you get the service and pay whatever they choose.
This is also an indication they either they don’t have a computer system or experience to give decent quotes. Or they were just trying to trick me into getting the repairs done their without checking prices. There are other shops in Ballard with better service and that will be up front with you.
The only think that kept them from one star was a under 25 year old driver came in thinking Carter would provide a rental car. However, they can’t rent a car to anyone under 25. They arranged to get her a ride to her job.

This dealership is a little snotty and completely unhelpful. I’ve been in for several services, including oil changes and major work but never felt relieved or satisfied in my departure.
The Auburn shop is a little far and it IS in Auburn but they are super amazing. They now have an express oil change which is guaranteed to be completed within 45 mins (if you want the car wash it will be an hour tops) and they always give me a fully detailed 45 point inspection update. Love them.
In taking my gal pal to the U District today, being in need of an oil change-​I (for the very last time), called the Ballard facility. I was on hold forever which is weird as it’s only 8a on a Monday, then told by the scheduling department that they do not offer the express oil service and have no apts for today. Very short and not helpful at all, I am more than glad to take a mini road trip to Auburn. I heart Ballard but I HATE this particular car dealership.