Dealer Experience

[Ashe Too]

I just visited Mazda of South Charlotte to look at the Mazda 3 hatch. The salesman nearly ambushed me in the parking lot as I walked from my car to look at their inventory. Dude was hovering too close, wouldn't STFU and let me breathe. Strike One. Then he was clueless and idiotic as to availability of specific models. That's ridiculous. Ask a teenage clerk in a grocery store where to find a 7 oz can of Le Sueur peas with mushrooms, and they know isle, shelf and bin! Strike Two. Then he and his manager figured out that they don't have a Mazda 3 hatch with Sport Touring trim but "I'm sure we can get one, but right now there's only two Sport Touring hatchbacks in the country." That's just an outright lie - almost as bad as when a Honda salesman told me the Prelude Type SH was turbocharged. Strike Three. Then they (both of them) started in on how sweet the Mazda 3 is in sedan trim and "hey, we have that in stock with Sport Touring trim level right here, wanna drive it?" Strike Four. Then I noticed the dealer markup sticker shown here - a whopping $5,123.99 for nitrogen, tint, paint protection (a/k/a Turtle Wax), door guards, wheel locks and "Mazda of South Charlotte Protection Package." AYFKM?!?! Strike Five.

 

[Ashe Too]

P.S. the car had factory wheels and tires.

 

[7Midgets]

SAMe BS here. "Only ONE white S touring on the East Coast".......So I told them the car is only a Mazda and it's too hot of a seller. I 'll wait until I can buy a GT 3 s Used next year for $20K lol and bought a 2012 Venza as a place holder until they start showing up used and the Infotainment crap is fixed. The CX-5 was a hot seller too. Now they are a dime a dozen on AutorTrader, with the 2.0 and screwy infotainment system.

IMO no Mazda 3 is worth nearly $30K. Better off buying used 2011 Infiniti G37 still under warranty for $23K One thing for sure is a 2014 Mazda will depreciate far more than a 2012 Toyota Venza going forward. First two years of depreciation is a biatch

 

[CXVille]

Do you guys know that you can search Mazda USA's site for every car in the US inventory?

And the car in South Charlotte is listed on their web site as $18,990. No doubt you call them and they will ultimately try to sell you the five grand of crap, but they will take that off if they think you are a serious buyer. Keep in mind, the reason the dealers do this crap is that people actually fall for it!!

 

[Debbadoo12]

I just visited Mazda of South Charlotte to look at the Mazda 3 hatch. The salesman nearly ambushed me in the parking lot as I walked from my car to look at their inventory. Dude was hovering too close, wouldn't STFU and let me breathe. Strike One. Then he was clueless and idiotic as to availability of specific models. That's ridiculous. Ask a teenage clerk in a grocery store where to find a 7 oz can of Le Sueur peas with mushrooms, and they know isle, shelf and bin! Strike Two. Then he and his manager figured out that they don't have a Mazda 3 hatch with Sport Touring trim but "I'm sure we can get one, but right now there's only two Sport Touring hatchbacks in the country." That's just an outright lie - almost as bad as when a Honda salesman told me the Prelude Type SH was turbocharged. Strike Three. Then they (both of them) started in on how sweet the Mazda 3 is in sedan trim and "hey, we have that in stock with Sport Touring trim level right here, wanna drive it?" Strike Four. Then I noticed the dealer markup sticker shown here - a whopping $5,123.99 for nitrogen, tint, paint protection (a/k/a Turtle Wax), door guards, wheel locks and "Mazda of South Charlotte Protection Package." AYFKM?!?! Strike Five.

View attachment 206369

I, too, went to Mazda of South Charlotte about a month ago, telling them I ONLY want an S Grand Touring Hatch. None on the lot, of course, and none to be found. I did go ahead and drive an S Touring Sedan just to get a feel of the car. They did not try to talk me into a sedan or even a lower level of hatch, BUT they did want me to sit and talk price when they had no vehicle to price and I said 10 times that the earliest I would be ready is in 3 months. So why would I take the time to talk price on a car they don't have and can't even get a swap on? Plus, the trade value on my 2012 Outback will change between now and when I'm ready. I think they finally got the hint. I am tempted to use AAA Car Buying service when I am ready and see if they can locate the vehicle I want without all the hassle of going to a dealer. They will give you a trade quote as well. I may end up waiting until the 2015 models come out, hoping there will be more availability of the S GT Hatch. I have seen a couple people in Charlotte with the S GT Hatch but I wonder if they had to order it.

 

[Ashe Too]

I went to Montgomery Mazda and Keffer Mazda also. They were both light years ahead of Mazda of South Charlotte in professionalism, courtesy and feeling of integrity. Much better experiences. The S Touring hatch is all I care about, and I won't be ready for a month or three. The inventory tool on the Mazda website will be where I get my intel for a while. I've driven the i Grand Touring and the S Grand Touring. Mazda really did their homework on this car. The handling, ride quality, packaging, refinement, fit and finish are are all better than I thought they would be - and after reading Car and Driver's review (among others), I went in with high expectations. Getting Ford off the parts list definitely makes me more interested in Mazda that I was before. I'm just not going to consider going back to Mazda of South Charlotte. That kind of experience doesn't come from one isolated rogue sales guy; it's a culture instilled my the leadership of the organization.

 

[MZ3Rx7]

The S Touring is a great car for the money, youll love it. I hate crazy sales people. ive been in and around the industry quite a bit and I know how obnoxious it can be. People seem to forget they can just walk away and drive off.

 

[gino]

Wife decided she wanted a new 3. She had a pristine '03.5 ES Protege, but wanted "better mileage". I thought it wasn't worth the expenditure, but you know how it goes. Shopped dealers in the Denver area for an iTouring hatch MT, but the only one available was loaded with everything but an automatic shoe polisher. She also was shopping price, which meant no "windshield sealant" at $399 , no "paint protectant" at $399, etc., ad nauseum.

She called the dealer in Colorado Springs who had one, just one MT in stock. She talked to the sales guy and managed to get a quote of $20600, tax paid, out the door, with no garbage, which he didn't even mention. Went down, met the salesman who was extremely knowledgeable, took it for a ride into the nearby foothills, played a bit, went back and bought the car. No hassles, no bulls*** and drove it home.

The next day, we took it to a local shopping center. Came out of a store and the rear door panel looked weird. Someone accidentally or purposely (there are those kind out there) had smacked the panel above the belt line with something leaving an extremely shallow compression dent that obviously could be removed easily as the paint was unmarked.

Called the sales guy (this was a Saturday) who told us to get the car down to him (an hour away) and he'd take care of it. He did, at no charge. Meantime, my wife decided she didn't want to spend $12 a month for a warranty on the electronics that she thought she needed and signed for (I told her not to do it) and told the finance guy who said, "No problem, just send me a letter when you get home so I have a record and it's cancelled."

This is the kind of dealer I don't mind doing business with. Couldn't ask for more. Total pros, start to finish.