Dealer holdback= When a car dealer holdsback cracking up with laughter until after you've signed the papers and left.

 

It's money that Mazda returns to the dealer at the end of the Month/Quarter/Semi/Year. I'm sure they vary a lot, but I think 2-4% is pretty typical. There are car pricing services available that will tell you what the holdback is (as best they can anyway)- I've used both http://fightingchance.com and http://www.consumerreports.com before. CR was cheaper, but there is good info in both. Worth the few bucks IMO.

 

i think when i bought my 8 it was like 600+ bucks... which my dealer friend promptly removed ... hee hee...

its holdback for the dealer to pay for the techs that clean and prep cars... and misc other costs like advertising/electric bill... blah blah.. just to keep the dealership running..

this is an area.. where its kinda jacked up if you cut into this.. cuz dealers are basically losing money and doing you favors by selling you the car..

however... i don't really care about dealers.. so my dealer friend got me a great deal.. haha

 

If they're charging you for this, they're double-dipping and you should just go to another dealer. As for the amount, Mazda is 2%.

 

Mazda's hidden dealer holdback on all there cars except the RX-8 is 2% of the stock MSRP base price and 3% on the RX-8.