So I take my Rx8 to Anaheim Mazda to get an oil change...which should be free due to the free factory service plan. Mind you this is the same dealer I bought my car from and have since had it serviced at all this time. The clerk must have been new(I'm giving her the benefit) because she now tells me this doesn't cover oil changes and is only good for a vehicle inspection??? Ok whatever that means...anyways I leave the dealership and immediately my TPS is going crazy blinking and such...I pull over and check the tire pressure...the morons had it filled up to 54 PSI on each tire! It CLEARLY states that the pressure shouldn't exceed 40 PSI and the manual lists 32 as the suggested PSI...needless to say I will never go back to this dealership for anything

 

Man, all I've seen are -negative- reviews of dealerships in Southern California. Anybody been to a good one? :X I tried Galpin in SFV, but meh ... I wasn't too impressed. The salesperson I got was like somebody just out of college ... certainly very energetic but not too knowledgeable.

 

Bought my 8 at Irvine Mazda. OK to deal with, but pissed me off when I asked them to clean up all the sticky stuff from the body panel protectors, and to flash the computer. Tech came out and told me the flash was complete. I asked if he had put the sticker under the hood. He said, "If it were my car, I wouldn't want the sticker.". Said thanks, but give me the sticker anyway. It took him another 45 minutes to get the sticker on the car so I could leave. Oh, and I'm still scraping sticky stuff off the car.

All that and they still found time to call me twice and write me once telling me that I should give them all 10s on the survey. They're lucky is they average an 8 (kind of a pun).

Heard Anaheim Maza is not much better. I work in Pomona so the Claremont dealer would be most practical. Anyone have experience with them?

 

I'm going to try the Galpin dealer here in Valencia and see if they are any better than the one in SFV. Never been to impressed with that one. My wife and I went there to look at Protege5's for her and the saleman tried to tell me that all Proteges came with factory alarms and some other extras that were on the car. I then pointed out to him that in their own brochures they were options and that I didn't want them. Then he proceeded to tell me how inexpensive it was for the options with the monthly payments. I just handed him my business card, I've been in aftermarket car stereo work for 15 years and knew that everything htey had added was marked up 100% over what it would cost retail. Left and bought the car at Star Mazda in Glendale through Costco. They were nice and easy to deal with and I only had to tell the finance guy no four times that I didn't need the underbody protection and extended warranty.
If Galpin won't give me the deal I want I'll be getting the 8 in Thousand Oaks. My current boss used to be their general manager so he can get me a good deal which added to my wife's S-plan makes for a decent discount, just a little far to go.

 

Well I finally had some time to check out Galpin Mazda here in Valencia. Two words, HELL NO!!! We went in with S-plan pricing and got a price from them and asked about trading in our Rodeo. Kelly blue book lists trade in for the Rodeo at $6800 with our model and options. They tried to offer us $4700 and their S-plan price was $200 higher than Silverstar Mazda in Thousand Oaks. Stood up and walked out of there. Just confirms that they are still as bad as I always thought they were. Only reason I even went to them was for convinience, it's 2 blocks form my work. Looks like I'm just going to order an 05 from Silverstar.

 

Once again, if you can ever get anything close to KBB trade-in price at a dealer, you're paying too much for your new car.

KBB's trade-in and private sale prices are pure fantasy, and are usually high by at least 10%

What's interesting is that S-plan pricing is fixed; there should be no such thing as an "S-Plan price from dealer X" vs. an "S-Plan price from dealer Y"...

 

That's just it, Silverstar was going to give me $6500 for trade in on the car and a lower S-plan price. Galpin has always been a rip-off store in my opinion and this just reconfirmed it.
Since we don't need to sell the car to buy the new one I'll just go buy what I want and sell the old car privately for a couple grand more than trade in. I just wanted to give Galpin a chance as there are very convinent to me from home and work.

 

So, any there "good" dealers in So. Cal.?

I went to Lancaster Mazda last Spring and they still wanted 2000 over sticker. (This a Mazda/Subaru/Suzuki/Honda dealer.)

Are the dealers in Las Vegas better? If so, maybe we ought to move and buy there?

Thanks.

 

That's funny. I just had my Rodeo fixed there and while I didn't look at cars there I was very impressed with the service department. My parents just picked up a Suburu Forrester there about a month ago now. They got a pretty good deal, but of course they were paying cash for the car, that always helps.