Mazda wants me to pay $200 for flat on loaner MPV!!!

boogaboo

Member
:
2017 Mazda CX-9
(pissed)

Listen to this folks...

I,ve been without my Mazda5 for 2 weeks now...(Lemon Law can be invoked on this thing in Massachusetts..).

My loaner is an MPV LX, the lowest MPV model available, definitely a b-a-s-i-c vehicle compared to the 2000 Mazda MPV EX Loaded I traded in for the Mazda5.

The "wonderful" MPV LX I am driving after I signed a rental-car agreement got a flat. I take to my Mazda dealer with the spare on to get fixed.

The sevice manager comes back to me and says I owe them $200 for the tire since it got a nail on the sidewall and needed to be replaced!!! (flame)

I "kindly" tell the fella that I am in sales and have travelled extensively for 20+ years. In those 20+ years in far-distant towns I have renret a gazillion vehicles. I have had two flats in them and once the rental just stopped working altogether (Chevy, go figure). In all three instances Hertz and Avis gave a new rental after towing the thing for free nad let me go my merry way...

It is not my fault that I got a flat. Yes, the car was in my control and I have responsibility, but it's not mine, and I wasn't gonna pay anyone $200 for a replacement to flat I wansn't ever going to use again!

The Service Manager wouldn't budge! (help)

I literally flipped out on front of all their clients in the showroom...I am not proud of it, but they needed to hear the full story about my buying experience with the Mazda5.

They still would not budge! Unbelievable. 2 hours later I was still arguing, almost had a coronary!

Finally two things worked.

FIRST
I got on the phone with Amex (the card with which I put the security deposit down with) and told them that Quirk Mazda was about to charge my Amex forcefully on their card for damage "I incured" on their car!!! The Amex rep kindly told the irate Mazda management team (yes 3 sales managers) that Amex would accept the charge, but would not honor it because under any rental agreement that AMEX enters into the rental company has the responsibility for incidental damage such as flats (regardless the nature of the flat) through their insurance.

The Mazda managers now started pleading with me to understand that they are not a "true rental company" (although they will gladly rent you a car when you have yours in for service) and that they would have to eat the cost... :'(

I would have none of it, but they still would not let me leave with their MPV and the spare on it!!! (flame)

SECOND
The owner of the dealership had to be paged and came down to dealership and after a brief conversation with his managers stood by them!!! (on a $200 charge... (braindead

I then brought to their attention the Lemon Law in Massachusetts and the discussion took a totally different turn. The owner paid the Rentals Manager $200 out of his pocket to get me on my way... (wow)

VERDICT
I am truly dissapointed with my Mazda dealership, and its seeping into my otherwise good impression of Mazda overall... (blarf)

LESSON FOR ALL OF YOUS

Take extremely good care of those new MPVs Mazda has entrusted you with, because there is hell to pay. Mazda has pressured their dealers to dole out new MPV sock as rentals and I wonder where us leaves us with our crappy dealers... (nervous)
 
complain to Mazda NA Operations. they need to know when one of thier dealers is screwing with thier customers.
 
yup the # on the email\recall note is what you need to call.
 
sucks about a crappy dealer man, I went through one as well and they sabotaged my car. I was ready to give up my 6 after 20k miles. But alas, I got a new mechanic and the thing runs like clockwork now.. keep your head up man, it'll get better.
 
Agreed. I feel your pain. But this is definitely a story of a stubborn (and foolish) dealer. I have yet to hear a story on this forum that reflects poorly on how Mazda Corporate is handling this (recall of Mazda5) situation.

Still, you have a point -- that Mazda pressured dealers into loaning out new MPV's invites dealers to be stingy in this fashion. An unfortunate situation. Hope your story takes a turn for the better!
 
boogaboo said:
I "kindly" tell the fella that I am in sales and have travelled extensively for 20+ years. In those 20+ years in far-distant towns I have renret a gazillion vehicles. I have had two flats in them and once the rental just stopped working altogether (Chevy, go figure). In all three instances Hertz and Avis gave a new rental after towing the thing for free nad let me go my merry way...

You have my sympathy! I've gotten a flat on a rental before too, and the rental company didn't charge me anything extra for it. So the dealership in this case definitely should not have tried to charge you to replace the flat tire...

Steve
 
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