Demonic-Speed said:
(uhm) He edited the post to include the story
Actually, I didn't.
Let me start by saying that Gunther Mazda is great (the service department anyway), but the used car division isn't.
My friend Joe calls me to tell me that they have a blue MSP with 5XXX miles on it, but they are asking like $19k + TTT. I told him that I got my car new for $18,900 OTD & that I was going to come with him to look at it. We go together & I look at the car...for the most part, it's in nice shape, but it has a few things that need to be fixed under warranty (coolant leak, rusted rotor hubs) & a few things that can't be fixed (scratched shift knob/ignition, small knick on 1 rim, spot in center of lip that had been cracked & fixed with a 1/2assed touchup paint job). I figure that these things should add up to take some $$ off of the value. Then we find out that Mazda apparently has a new, longer warranty & that it was added to this car since it's certified. We tell them that we don't need it & that we just want the original warranty. Again, we figure this should save some $$.
We talk to 1 guy & he is really cool, but he wasn't the original salesman that Joe talked to. However, he is frank with us & even tells us what to say & do to get the car. This is the one honest, decent, nice guy who works there (that I dealt with anyway). So then we meet the original salesman & this guy doesn't know anything. He tries to tell me that the wing on the car costs $1000, that I have an 03 (since I have no lip or wing), & that the 03.5s have all kinds of extra stuff. I told him that the wing was $350 tops (painted), that I took my wing & lip off, that the 03s were only Black & Orange, & that the differences between the 03 & 03.5 were very minimal. After talking for a while, Joe & I decide to give him a # & if he tells us he can't do it, we walk out. I came up with $17,750 OTD & wrote it out for him. He tells us that he can't do anything without running it by his boss first, so he leaves to ask him. He comes back & tells us that we have to make a better offer, so Joe & I get up & leave.
Once we make it to the door, the manager stops us...realizing that we are serious. He then proceeds to justify why we should pay more for the car. He says that the car is no longer in production, that it's very hard to find one, & that it's worth a lot. I told him that I could go online & find 30+ people selling them & that I have talked to people all over FL who had theirs for sale. He tells me that you can't find them in this kind of condition & that they are very valuable now. I said it's true that it has low mileage, but it's NOT in perfect condition & it's still a USED car. I explain that dealers were stuck with them when they first came out & sold them at low prices, then they went up in value after the new ones were all gone, but that they have dropped down again since everyone is selling them. Then I tell him that there is no way we are going to pay the same price or higher for this car when I got mine for $18,900 brand new & that they were even going for $16,500 OTD in TX when they were new.
This is where it went from just disagreeing to actually arguing...I realized that this guy is stubborn, arrogrant, & a total asshole. He tells me that I didn't get my car for $18,900 & those people didn't get theirs for $16,500 because Mazda had incentives & that's not what we actually paid & some other BS. I said "Look, that is how much I paid for it. I don't care what Mazda did...that's how much it cost me new." Then I also tell him that we don't need this extra warranty thing because we're going to mod the car & probably have it voided by the time it runs out anyway. He asks me why I needed to add anything to the car & I say "because it's not very fast stock." The guy then tells me that it's fast enough the way it is & I just laughed. At that point, I'd had more than enough of this guy & his grandiose illusions of selling a used MSP for nearly the new MSRP price. Joe & I walked out & got in my car to leave.
Earlier in the day, while we were outside, I parked my car next to the 2 MSPs that they were selling so that they could see that I already owned one. I noticed that one of them (not the one that Joe bought) had a very sensitive alarm that beeped at my exhaust. As we were sitting in my car, talking about how it is impossible to reason with someone who is completely unreasonable, I decided to leave them with something to remember us by. I backed up to leave the parking lot & made sure to give the car extra gas while in reverse. My plan worked perfectly & the Titanium MSP's alarm went into the crazy morse code beeping frenzy. (laugh) I was hoping that they had the keys for it in some locker & that it would take them a long time to come outside & turn it off (it was conveniently parked right next to the manager's officer window).
I was totally shocked when, the next day, Joe calls me & told me that his salesman had called him & said that there was a different manager on duty that day & that they could meet our price, but only if he bought it that day. My guess is that someone realized it would be harder to sell than they thought & that they saw we were serious when we just walked out. I'm just glad that it worked out & Joe now has a nice blue MSP.
