I am buying an rx8 most likely soon from a non mazda dealership, is my best course of action here to tell them I need a extended test drive and take it over to a mazda dealership to have it looked over? Will they charge me for inspecting it if it still has a warranty(07 with 14k miles)? If they will charge me what should I be expecting to pay to have the car looked over by them?

I did a bit of searching on this but didnt find exactly what I wanted, will the dealership be able to tell me if/when the car was ever taken in for oil changes at a mazda dealership and also will they be able to tell just by the vin# what tsb's have been done to it(cant imagine theres alot an 07 would need)?

I noticed in one thread someone mentioned going to mazda usa's site and looking up the vin# there to see what has been done to it as far as recalls or tsb's but I cant seem to find that on the site.

Thanks.

 

Yes they will charge you to inspect it, the cost however will depend on how extensive the inspection is. When you take it in, tell them what your intentions are and they should have a good idea on what to inspect, they should also give you an estimate on how much the inspection will cost.

One of the things they will do is pull up the maintenance history of the vehicle. This will show all of the maintenance done to the car as well as all the recalls and TSB's applied to the vehicle. Keep in mind though, it only shows work done at a "Mazda" authorized repair facility. Hope this helps!

 

If work wasnt done at a mazda dealership, like ay oil changes or any regular maintenance like that then that would void the warranty if I couldnt show records for the previous owner taking it in every 3-5k miles right?

I am just trying to make 100% sure that this 07 I am buying will have a warranty or else its pointless to buy an 07 and I may as well buy the cheaper 04/05.

 

A Mazda dealership can look up your VIN and tell you everything that has been fixed because of recall and what all still needs to be fixed.

 

It wouldn't void the warranty but you may have to come up with additional "proof" that the work was actually done.

 

If you have proof of the service/maintenance (receipts) you have done to the car the warranty cannot be voided just because you have not done the work at a Mazda dealership!

Ask the dealership to give you all the service records and let you know what exactly the previous owner has done to the car! In terms of warranty you should still be under bumper to bumper warranty). Your car is fairly new and low mileage. Let us know when you buy it!!! Good luck