7eregrine, could you tell me more about the Eplan discount? My wife and I are shopping for a car and we are running into problems with dealerships getting back to us.Originally Posted by 7eregrine
You definitely should. I know a bigshot in the NE Ohio Mazda organization. I should have mentioned that in my post. Could have something to do with it. I can get you an Eplan discount, too.
I won't name the SD County dealership that didn't want to play ball with me. One person's foul up isn't reason enough to disparage the entire dealership. During my test driving phase I visited most of the dealerships in San Diego - including the one I won't name - and always had a positive experience with the sales personnel.
The dealership I bought from, Capistrano Mazda, did a wonderful job, and I would recommend them.
I worked out a deal with a Mazda dealer in Oak Lawn, IL through the internet and then by phone. I told the internet sales guy I would pick the car up on Thursday night. When I got there nothing was ready and the guy that I was dealing with was gone. I was transferred to the 'top salesman'. I waited until they got the car ready to test drive and took a little test drive. We got back to the show room and I said I was ready to buy it. The 'top salesman' quoted sticker price. I said that I worked a deal and showed him the printout from my email. He told me he couldn't sell it for that price and he would have to ask the manager. After about 10 minutes I walked out and never went back. I called CJ Wilson in Countryside, IL and they said that they would beat any deal that I had. I went to CJ Wilson and they wrote me up for $100.00 less than the deal I had worked over the internet. The experience at CJ Wilson went very smooth, no hassle. Probably the best car buying experience I've ever had. The finance guy did try to sell a bunch of stuff, but I just said NO.
what did you end up paying?
Sorry I don't remember. That was in 2014.
This happened to me too. 2 out of 3 local dealerships stopped emailing me when I asked for lease payment breakdown. The other gave me a OTD price then reneged when I said I was going to lease and that "special price" was only if I used "their financing" ie; jacked up interest rate from a non-Mazda Capital source. I had to go out of area.
Once I found a dealership willing to be responsive, and had the color & model in stock I wanted, the sales process was easy. Of course, in the F & I office they tried to sell me a whole load of insanely overpriced garbage - one package of crap would have added $170 a month to my $340 a month lease lol. I said NO THANKS.
The sales experience was good but the after sales has been awful. They still have not paid out my trade due to them not sending the finance company one little detail. DMV does not have the car registered to me as yet. I've emailed, called, spoken to a few different people and nobody has taken ownership. Time to call the GM or start posting on Yelp, FB, etc. if they can't get organized.
Sorry, didn't see this earlier. The Eplan discount is basically a friends and family discount. It's not the greatest discount. Mine was about $2,200 (about 9% off MSRP) off a GT and a friend of mine used it to get about $2,400 off her 6 T. No idea why she got a bigger discount on a cheaper car, but what ever.
You have to know someone to get it. I've seen people get slightly better deals here, but I was more then happy with my no haggle out the door price.
I dealt with Frema Mazda, and they honestly were one of the best buying experiences I have ever had. I was in the dealership for a grand total of 45 minutes, and would have been shorter but I failed to send them how much I was doing as a down payment and they had to redo the paperwork really quickly. They did not have the car I wanted so they made a trade with another dealer and offered to deliver the car to me and complete the paperwork in my driveway. Not to mention they offered the best price with no hassle of the big dealers in Raleigh, NC. Dealing with one of those big dealers just left a bad taste in my mouth and I would have bought somewhere else even if the price was higher, but Frema was just the best to deal with. I will say the cosmetics of the dealership leave a lot to be desired, but the way they treated me and the other customers I saw and talked to was worth it.
Honestly if you want a great experience and a awesome price give them a chance. Tell them I sent you and they will give you a little extra (not to mention a little referral bonus for myself as well
I bought used from a Chevy dealer, and it was "typical".
The ownership experience has been ho-hum.
Getting rid of it will tear me a new arsehole though. Mazda has the used value retention of a condom.
(Below is a partial of an email I never sent to Mazda)
I purchased my 2017 Mazda CX5 Grand Touring*(Snowflake white Pearl Mica with Parchment Leather)*in April 2017.
I made at least 3 visits to the dealer before I decided to buy. A few test drives were done without a sales person. Took me a while to decide because my last two vehicles were "luxury" bands: Acura and Volvo.
My salesperson was great. He knew all the features and understood what was important to me. At the time, about all the discount you could expect for a loaded Grand Touring AWD was about $600-$800. I chose accessories instead; All weather matts and Roof rails.
When to finance and the guy immediately started telling me how long he had worked at the dealership and how well he got along with the owner. Ok. Fine. He shows me the numbers and they're wrong. The numbers were on paper and yet my trade equity wasn't subtracted from the total. He argued with me at first until I broke out my phone calculator and showed him. We're not talking about a few hundred dollars, HE WAS 8 THOUSAND DOLLARS OFF! After we got that cleared away he went on at least a 20 minute sales pitch for all the paint protection, extended warranty etc. I told him "no" to all of it. I spent at least 45 minutes to an hour telling him I'm not buying any of the extras. He'd leave the office for a few minutes and try again. Then he started sending in other sales people...I still said no. It seemed really desperate and smarmy.
It was raining the night of purchase so I had to bring my car back to get a detail and accessories installed at a later date.
Approximately May 19th, I took my car in to have Roof Rails and*all-weather floor mats installed.* I still didn't get my detail that day because of*the wet*weather.* I was in a rush when I picked up my car and didn't realize there was a large amount of a tar-like substance on my driver's seat.* This substance was also all over the exterior of my car: door handles, roof etc.
The next day (May 20th)*I notified my salesperson via text about his*tar on my*seat*and he told me to bring it by and they would clean it off.* (I was actually afraid the substance would transfer to my clothing.)* When I arrived, the service advisor said* "There's no one in detail today.* I don't understand how that got on*your interior!* They were working on the outside of your car, not the inside!" *almost as if he was arguing with me about it.* This obviously got on my seat from*a mechanic's*clothing and it was odd to me that a service advisor couldn't understand that.* They decided to put a plastic cover over my seat (so this stuff wouldn't*transfer to my clothing)*until I could bring my car in for it's detail and get the seat cleaned at the same time.
I was finally able to take my car in for its detail on May 24th.* I was*again in a rush and*everything looked fairly well.* There was still a small*amount of this tar on my seat but I cleaned it off quickly with a napkin in the car.
On May 29th, I decided to detail the interior myself.* I took out the floor mats and to my surprise the carpet was filthy under the mats.* It had*never been vacuumed.* I also went on to discover there was a large black mark on the side of the right rear seat, where someone had stood on the side sill of my car (I assume to install the roof rails) and their shoe had rubbed up against the seat.* I had to use alcohol to get this stain out.**But, the most disturbing thing I*discovered was at least 3 dents on the roof panel *on the driver's side.* Specifically, the area immediately*above the doors on the driver's side, between the B and C pillars, and between the top of the doors and the roof rail.* This was obviously*damage caused by a mechanic while installing the roof rails.*I immediately went to the dealership so the manager could see the damage for himself.* He agreed the damage was done during the roof rail install and it was later repaired by a third party.
When I had my first oil change they rotated my tires, and in the process, scratched one of the rims. They swapped a rim off another CX5 to make me happy.
This dealership has had to work hard to keep me happy. Just wish the people that work there acted like they appreciated my business.
Unfortunately this is not an isolated tale and it can be the dealer that spoils an otherwise straight forward process of buying a car. If you could get the staff to thing of this throughput of cars as a customers property instead of “another unit”, you might stand a chance. Unfortunately, many just don’t get it.
I remember picking up my dark blue CX5 - it had a very small scratch. Had the salesman right and sign that he would fix it. That scratch is still there, never went back to that dealer as its 30 miles away - I am happy I stopped at Touring which is the best value trim for 12.23% discount with tinted windows and trunk mat thrown in free. In future a 2.0 CX5 would be great for commuting and getting 30 up combined mpg - also as a good college car for the kid. Most dealers here in Dallas are meh. Dont stock moly and want 90 dollars for a change. Need a good independent once I hit 60k miles.
Official Defender of Zamdatm
I live in the DFW region as well and will be pulling the trigger on the 17 CX-5 perhaps summer-ish time frame. Seems like Town North Mazda in Richardson is the best one around Dallas. At least according to Google reviews. Sad to hear all dealers around are mediocre... Which one did you ultimately go with?
The dealer we test drove at was great. No pressure. Didn't even ask for our phone number. However we wanted to buy at another dealership as they give a lifetime powertrain warranty on all mazdas. So I emailed them asking for their best price and he wouldn't give it to me! I said we need to sell our jeep on our own and then we'll buy and he wouldn't give me a price until that happened. I got prices from other dealers no problem.
I said well look, this is the invoice price of that vehicle so that's what i'm willing to pay and he completely ignored the question.
So I contacted a car buying service that works with local credit unions and got a price on the same vehicle at the same dealership. Invoice. And when you use the service you also get a discounted rate on your loan. So they are adding on the parking sensors we want and they will deliver the car to us.
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