My dealer (Claremont Mazda in Claremont, CA) is certainly helping to sway me towards selling my car back to Mazda. If the gyrations I'm going through to get a service appointment are any indication, those of us who opt to keep our cars due to "free scheduled maintenance" are going to have a he!!uva time trying to get it, unless we have second cars and someone willing to pick us up/drop us off, and the ability to take time off work for a @#$%^& oil change.

When my CEL lit up on a Monday shortly after I bought the car, the soonest the dealership could even take a look at it was the next Friday. Fortunately the CEL went off by itself a few days later and the car continued to run. This should have told me something about this dealership's (utter lack of) committment to service...

As part of my purchase deal I was promised free oil changes every 3K miles. My car now has 2423 miles on it, so I just called them to schedule my first oil change. Their service department hours as listed on the nicey-nicey letter they sent me shortly after purchase are 7AM - 7PM M-F, and 7AM -5PM Saturdays.

I get the girl at service scheduling on the phone first thing this morning, and ask for an appointment for an oil change, explaining that it's part of my purchase deal. She asks when I'd like to bring in the car.

"This afternoon would be good", I say.

"Oh, we don't have anything this afternoon." says she.

"Okay, when's your next available appointment?"

"You can bring it in tomorrow morning but you'll have to drop it off."

"Uhh, no -- I work and I don't have someone to pick me up and drop me off. I want to wait for it."

"Then our soonest available appointment is next week."

"Geez! I can take it to Jiffy Lube with no appointment right now! Okay, what do you have available after 4PM when I get off work?"

"Our latest appointment is 2:30."

"Wait. Your service department hours are listed as 7AM to 7PM. You're telling me your latest appointment for a simple oil change is at 2:30?!"

"Our technicians go home at 5. Our latest appointment is 2:30."

"Okay, what about next Saturday? Can I get a while-u-wait appointment on a Saturday?"

"Our next Saturday appointment available is September 6th."

Okay, I'm fed up now. Why on earth can't these folks figure out how places like Jiffy Lube work??

"Is Michael Itow [the Service Director who signed the nicey-nicey letter] available?"

"No, he's out today. I can give you his voice-mail."

Needless to say, Mr. Itow has a message from me waiting for him.

Sorry for venting. Thanks for listening.

Yup, in my experience, the dealer is always the worst place to take your car in to. They usually are always booked, or force you to leave the car there ALL DAY, maybe even more..

Which is why the Free Maintenance is kinda iffy.

I won't bore or anger you with the same stories I have with service scheduling, but let me give you the run down of the cars I have had the pleasure (sarcastic) of dealing with in a service situation:

1999 Audi A4
2000 BMW 328CI
1997 Mercedes C280
2001 VW GtI 1.8t

ALL Of them have service scheduling issues, all of them have terrible service.

now, to the ONE car I had nothing by PLEASANT experience with..

2001 LExus IS300.

Sure, I paid for normal service, but I got a LOANER LEXUS (yes a real lexus) if the car could not be ready in under 2 hours, or if I had to go somewhere, and they were ALWAYS NICE. Never had to wait weeks to get an appt. Ususally just dropped it off the next day.

Lexus has their shit together.

i thought the purchase of an rx8 came with a loaner car?

Originally posted by ProtoConVert
i thought the purchase of an rx8 came with a loaner car?
Only if they need to keep the car overnight.

Originally posted by ProtoConVert
i thought the purchase of an rx8 came with a loaner car?

It does. I don't think the loaner has to be an RX-8 though. Most dealerships request (and it's just common courtesy) that you let them know a few days in advance if you're going to need a loaner car with your service, they only have a limited number of loaners available.

The types of problems Aratinga is complaining about are typical at dealerships everywhere. It varies from dealership to dealership. It has nothing to do with Mazda. Just as a point of interest, I had similar miserable problems when I drove an Audi A4, at a dealership that sells Audi, Acura, Mitsubishi, and Saab. But with my Nissan truck (at a Nissan-only dealership) I had an absolutely wonderful experience.

I guess I was just spoiled rotten by my Volvo dealer (Bozzani in Covina, CA), then. They have a couple days a week where they will do drive-in oil changes, no appointment necessary. Loaners (all Volvos) were available for major services and there was none of this waiting several days for a potentially urgent service issue like a CEL, either.

I just wish a V70-R could be had for the price of an RX-8...

I am getting my first oil change done tomorrow, and also getting a door ding fixed - I booked it last week. I told the dealership if the total waiting time is going to take more than an hour I would expect a loaner car - they said no problem. This is what I expect (and get) from Acura and Lexus - I will let you know if the actuality at Mazda meets my current expectations.

With Lexus I would ask for a specific model of loaner car (e.g. ES300, IS300 or RX300) and sometimes I asked to keep the loaner for several days just for the hell of it and they always said yes (even for a 3 hour service). Today I dropped my Acura MDX off for a 15k service and asked for a TL to drive as the loaner - I got a nice new one with 900 miles on it.

I had a very good experience with my Audi of Beverly Hills Dealership.. Never had a problem with them.

As for Mazda, I called the dealership up and talked to them about lead time, shortly after I got my car.. They said they don't have huge waits, two or three days in advance should do it.

The deal letter states "Free scheduled maintenance for the balance of the factory warranty...." Technically it doesn't say it has to be done at a Mazda dealer. Couldn't we go to Jiffy or elsewhere, have it done and submit the bill to Mazda?