Driving down to the "other" dealership today....
 

Going to a dealership that is about 50 miles away to look at Speed 3's today. I just got a call from the internet sales follow up guy. They are not off to a good start to gaining my business. First let me tell you some of the things I put in my inquiry to them.

-Looking for Mazdaspeed 3
-Don't call me before 12:00
-Interested in Sunlight Silver

So the guy calls me at 8:00 in the damn morning and wakes me up! Starts out blah blah blah and this is the meat of the conversation.

Dealer: "So you are looking for a Mazdaspeed 3?"
Me: "Yes"
Dealer: "What color are you looking for?"
Me: "Doesn't it say?"
Dealer: "Oh there it is, Silver right?"
Me: "Uh-huh"
Dealer: "You looking for leather or cloth seats?"
Me: "Don't all the Speed 3's come with leather seats?"
Dealer: PAUSE "Uh, well yes they do but uh... you know if you wanted cloth we could uh... see what we could do for you"

Me: (Chuckle to myself) "Leather bro"
Dealer: "Would you like stick shift or automatic?
:banghead:
(I decide to be more of a smart ass here but I don't think he caught on)
Me: "Well I think a manual will be easier to find in a Speed 3, so lets just stick with that"

That was basically it. Oh how I love inside sales people. Anyway I am going up there this afternoon to talk to an actual salesman and I really don't want to take any crap. I'm driving 50 miles to their dealership to look for a good deal. I'm already getting a $500 below MSRP offer from my local dealership. I'm not going to settle for anything over invoice if I'm going to do business 50 miles away from home. Actually, if I do get an offer for invoice I will still probably just get it in writing and take it to my local dealer and see if they will beat it.

Any little tips at dealing with these people to help me out? I'm a young guy, so salesman don't take me as seriously as I'd like. And how low is it logical to try to take the price? Should I shoot for below invoice?

It's a buyer's market out there for new cars so do indeed try for below invoice. Just make sure you know what the invoice price is before heading out, to include any options packages. They try to confuse the unprepared with the package contents/pricing. And they try to wear you down over time if you don't come in with an informed position and "ready to walk if you don't make this deal" attitude.

It never ceaeses to amaze me how btter informed we are than the salespeople. They've got all this time to study up on their product, and yet .....

Your best bet is to go to one of the Mazda3 forums and see what people have been paying recently for Mazdaspeed 3's. Also, see if there are any advertised specials from dealers on the forum that you can use as leverage.

Big Mike, not all Speed3's have leather seating. The Speed3 sport is cloth only and Grand Touring only has leather bolstering on the seat. Starting with 2008.5 they switched the cloth area of the Grand Touring seat over to Alcantara. It still only has leather on the seat bolstering.

Even with what Bascho said it just shows how clueless most salespeople are. The man should know the cars they sell and have an ability to read. Its a huge down market especially in new car sales so you'd think they'd take some extra care.

Earlier this week while getting my Jeep's oil changed at the dealership I sauntered out onto the showroom floor and looked at the Sebring (just for something to do; I would never buy it). It was a rag top and it had a mesh windscreen behind the front seats deployed. I commented to the salesman sitting nearby that this feature seemed to be a trend, probably borrowed from former partner Daimler's Mercedes line. He didn't have a clue what the screen was for. I guess he was complacent to just sit at his desk daydreaming [of rarely selling a car].

So again Big Mike, don't be surprised when you find you know more about the vehicle than the salesperson, and use this to your advantage!

Well I thought they were all leather, but thats why I asked the guy. I said "dont they all have leather?" instead of "they all have leather." But if you are right, then the guy still is an idiot because he told me wrong.

I thought it did too when I did the "build" on the website but I realized I picked the Grand Touring model so there was no cloth option for it.

I agree that salesman rarely know as much as they should about the products they sell. When I bought my Shinka the guy was going over everything in the car just before I drove off the lot. He points to the radio said it's got a CD player. I told him it's a 6 disc and he argued saying I didn't pay for that upgrade. I told him it was standard on the Shinka and to get out of the car so I could leave.

Idiots.

Can I say, after reading a thread liek this, to REWARD a salesperson that does their job... Please? I sold plenty of cars in my day, and there were a "few" instances where people knew more about my products then me. There were a lot of times when I was asked questions I didn't know the answer to, but was respectful enough to find the answer to. But, OVERWHELMINGLY, I knew what I was talking about, knew more about most competitve models then most competitors salespeople, and was a flat out proffessional. That doesn't stop someone from leaving the dealership, walking next door, to someone that doesn't know their arse from a whole in the ground, and letting him cash my paycheck. many of times did I shout straight from the beginning, make someones decision very easy, and temper their expectations, ust for them to go somewhere that beat me by a couple dollars.

So for proffessional salespeople everywhere, if you go somewhere else with some clown that beats the deal by a few dollars, give the guy that actually sold the car to you another shot to collect the commission he already earned. 99 times out of 100 they'll come close enough to the other deal that it's worth it. If a couple of dollars for proffessional service is not worth it, then don't be surprised to get bargain basement clowns seling you cars. If price is the only thing that matters in the transaction, then that is how the Dealer will perceive it. Your service experience will decline. Proffessional, intelligent, informative and genuinely honest car salesmen simply require a bit more profit, but most find there is value added in the process.

You Sir are few and far between in the automotive sales world. I wish you were the norm, but .......

I will say that my present Mazda dealer, O'Hara Fairhaven, MA, is the best I have ever dealt with. Not perfect, but well above the rest over my many years of vehicle purchases. I've rewarded them with two fairly recent purchases.

The best way to get the deal you want is to have a valid price already in mind. If you know what the dealer is paying for the car then you know what's a "good deal for you".

Ask for the invoice, give them your number and then be prepared to spend some time.

Honestly, price was pretty much the only consideration I had when I bought my 8. All the local guys tried to do is pressure me into buying an overpriced, high mileage MT GT (the trim level I expressly told them I was not interested in) or an AT that had been sitting in their lot for almost a year. Thanks to their sales tactics, I shopped around on the internet and saved about $5k by flying ~1000mi away.

I liked my salesperson in VA; he picked me up at the airport, filled up the gas after our spirited test-drive, and didn't pressure me to close too much. The service department was a whole different story though. They refused to install strakes and clear corners, which was fine with me. What I can't forgive is the way the service manager treated me - he was a complete ass about it, at one point agreeing to install the clear corners only (but not the stealth bulbs) and charge what I figured in my head was two hours of labor. I only asked them to do it because I was unable to bring my own tools (screwdriver + airport security = no). I wish I had thought to ask them for a screwdriver so I could do it myself, right in front of that ass of a service manager.

If you are too lazy to help me or your company policies prohibit a courtesy install of some minor appearance parts to help make a sale, just say that and don't go out of your way to antagonize your customer.

Just got back in. Went to the dealer. They wouldn't go down too much simply because they said the MS3 is a such a limited production car that is in high demand compared to their supply. They gave me a decent number at best. Invoice is $23,204. MSRP is $24,780. They offered me $23,900. It ended up at about $24,400 after TT&T. Like I said decent deal. Still have to sell my 8. Fingers crossed for the guy test driving it on sunday.

Anyway I will take that offer to my local dealer and see if they can beat that.

Wow. I just started reading on the internet some more. Another dealership about 30 minutes the other way from me has the MS3 GT brand new for $23,490 before TT&T. Might have to take that offer to my local guys instead. I vow to get down in the $22K's before I buy this car.

good luck on getting it to 22k. They arent wrong in saying they don't have to do much to sell a MS3.

Got mine for 21k, I think, and this was when they were still asking well over MSRP.

Mine's a 100% base Sport Speed3. You may be surprised how much you get with them, it's an insane value. It's got an aux input (I use a double sided headphone plug to hook up my MP3 player), a stereo better than I had on the 8, DSC, and no slippery leather. I think the only things GT gets you is a bit of minuscule leather (on the edges of the seats), Bose stereo (wasn't impressed with it on the 8), and a sunroof...maybe nav. About the only thing I miss is the sunroof. The problem I have is that, at that point, I think it's starting to climb out of its value sweet spot. By the time you're up to a GT, you're getting uncomfortably close to Evo/STi pricing.

Oh, and if you're not happy with their price, go elsewhere and see what they'll do for you. Don't be afraid of driving a few hours away, it'll likely end up being worth it in the long run. I'm in Orlando and I got my Speed3 in Fort Myers, Google maps puts that at 203 miles - 3 hours and 9 minutes. Helped me save probably close to $3,000 at the cost of a tank and a half of gas.

^ true that.

if you cant find a good deal, go elsewhere. It's almost insane how much bang for your buck this car is. if your into hatchbacks that is...

i of course have a totally different opinion on Mazda dealerships and corporate now after buying my 8...

(Never going to a mazda dealershit again)

I've found there's, at best, one good dealership per every 200-400 mile radius, and approximately one trillion bad dealerships between those good dealerships. It's pretty frustrating. Mazda really needs to work on that.

Though, to their credit, Toyota dealerships seem even worse. When getting my first car, I once went out browsing and asked a group of 3 salesmen, who were outside smoking and talking, to see a Celica. They said they were busy. Last time I'll consider a Toyota.