Any experiences with Bay Area Mazda dealerships?

As I posted a while back, Mazda Oakland went out of business a couple of weeks after I bought my car. There were vague assurances that a new dealership would rise up "in a few months" but I'm not holding my breath.

So I'm wondering if anyone here has had any dealings with any of the other dealerships in the Bay Area? I'm now basically at the center of some kind of Mazda Exclusion Zone, where I have to go about 20-30 miles in any direction to hit one, so it hardly matters which way I go. And yes, I know I don't "need" a dealership, and I can do my own oil changes or get an independent shop to do routine servicing etc. But any car has the potential to need warranty servicing, and should that become necessary I'd like to have some idea which, if any, of the local dealerships are capable of rendering same with the least amount of horrifying bulls*** (I'm assuming any dealership service includes some federally mandated minimum amount of horrifying bulls***, I just like to avoid the "OMG they all need to die" level).

I'll say stay away from Fremont Mazda. Had bad experience when buying the car from them. Never returning to them even for service.

addabox said:

So I'm wondering if anyone here has had any dealings with any of the other dealerships in the Bay Area?

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I bought and serviced my car in Capitol Mazda. I then switched to Oak-Tree Mazda only because it is closer.
Capitol Mazda fixed my vibrating driver-side mirror. It took several visits, first one was with an oil change where I complained about it. They said they had to follow Mazda rules and do a wheel alignment first, which they did in an external shop. I told them it is triggered mostly by highway speed wind, not by rough road, but they said they need to follow Mazda procedure. Alignment did not change the situation at all, so I came back but then they ordered parts then finally installed it.

Oak-Tree fixed my vibrating hood. The service rep at first did not believe me regarding the vibration, but when I showed him the TSB on my phone he suddenly became very helpful. They followed the TSB to apply resin below the hood, as per the TSB. This improved the situation slightly. On the next scheduled oil change, their service tech decided to replace the cowl (or maybe part of it) and that resolved the situation completely.
Oak-Tree said they use Castrol oil, not Mazda oil with Moly.

Overall, I was not overly impressed with any of these two, but they seem reasonable. I'd probably slightly prefer Capitol, except for the distance.
Sounds to me both of these are not really close to you. Hope it helps.

Thanks for the info, guys. Yelp seems to favor Putnam in Burlingame, but most Yelp reviews are for the buying experience, not service.

The old dealership threw in the towel when Mazda required upgrades beyond their willingness to invest, but I'm guessing Mazda wasn't looking for no dealership over a slightly downscale one. So hopefully that means they're going to be proactive in helping getting a new Oakland/Berkeley location up and running-- although I imaging zoning and land costs are a big problem for any new car dealership in the Bay Area. Maybe they can take over some other underperforming franchise or lot.

Best case scenario, Mazda gets a spiffy new dealer somewhere near to me, and said dealer is on their best behavior at least for a while while they try to establish a reputation. Worst case, I have to make any dealership visits into all day affairs. Not sure how the courtesy stuff-- loaner, rental assist, shuttle-- works with a different dealership than where you bought the car. Does the warranty stipulate loaners or is that a dealer to dealer choice? I think Mazda should offer some kind of "orphaned buyer" deal, where anything I was entitled to from my originating dealer get taken on by a new one, at least as long as the car is under warranty.

I've had great experience with Capitol Mazda. I bought my car from there and had 2 oil changes done along with performing the vibrating mirror and hood TSBs during the second oil change.

My first oil change was complimentary, so the expectations were fairly low, but I was happy it included a car wash. I had no problems there. The second oil change was done under a service manager's special where the oil change was only $8.88. I scheduled an appointment for the oil change and told them I had the vibrating hood and mirror issues. They said they'd first have to take in the car to verify the issues before performing the fixes. I also arranged for them to leave me a loaner car for that visit because I would be leaving it over night. When I dropped the car off, they didn't have a loaner saved for me, but offered an enterprise rental free of charge. At the end of the next day, my first and only phone call from them was them telling me that the car is all done and the TSBs for those issues have been performed. So I picked the car up and everything was good. I was expecting the fixes to take at least 2 days, not just one, so I was very pleased with the super fast turn around. The mirror still vibrates ever so slightly, but much better than before. I don't think it's bad enough to pay another visit as it seems that most people have trouble getting it perfect. The hood was also fixed and does not vibrate anymore.

Both Oaktree Mazda and Capitol Mazda are both owned by DGDG, so I would expect similar service at Oaktree. When I was in the process of buying the CX5, I visited Oaktree a couple times and was treated very nicely by the staff there. I always left with a good impression.

I'd give Putnam Mazda a try, since it's the next closest for you. Maybe for something simple like an oil change to see how you like them. If not, then you know Capitol and Oaktree are there as backups.

I'll reiterate runtohell121....DON'T GO TO FREMONT. I've had a bad experience with them too, but only with the sales department. However, it was bad enough to make me not want to take my car to them for service either.

Great info, thanks a bunch.