weekendwrench

I decided to buy a new 04 RX8. I found the one I wanted using the Mazda USA website last week before they removed the 04's. It was at Autowest Mazda Subaru in Roseville CA. I e mailed and then spoke with one of the internet salesmen. I made an offer that they accepted and I made an appoinment to pick up the car today 3/31/05. The salesman I worked with was not going to be in so he had another one contact me to tell me he would help me when I arrived. I get my sister to give me a ride 100 miles to the dealership. As we are waiting for them to get the paperwork ready. The salesman comes back to the table and tries to tell me that to get the price we negotiated I would need to finance with Mazda credit. I explained that that was not the case and not what I had negotiated. He gets the sales manager who brings a fax from Mazda with the March rebate info to try to tell me the same thing. I told him the salesman I worked with had checked with the Mazda rep and already told me the the dealersip had received the $4000 from Mazda and the the other customer rebates were over. He goes away to check on this and the other salesman comes back to tell me they have a new Nav disc on order, "oh and by the way did Jerry tell you this car was a take back". I said what do you mean. He says we sold this car and it came back. I said no he never told me that. I said I am not intersted in buying a used car. He says it new its just been reistered before. I said no thanks. I should have known something was up when they were getting a new ker cut for it when I got there. It also had a small dent in the drivers side back door. I don't know if it was a repo or a lemon or what. I have to assume that they never reported the car as sold to Mazda because it was listed on Mada's website last week.

I can't tell you how disgusting it is to deal with people who are so unethical. One lie about the incentives and the big lie to getting me up there to buy a new car only to find out it was used.

If there are any dealers in Northern CA that have a NEW 04 6 speed with sport package that want to make an honest deal, let me know.

Aseras

good luck bud. Local dealers here who have already sold out of 04's are actually starting to compete with 05's. I was offered an 05 by another dealership for about 1,200 more than a similar ( white vs yellow ). a good 3k under invoice.

E-brake

I've been screwed by dealers lately too.

Anyone know what Mazda is doing for April on the 04s? A local dealer still has a bunch I can choose from :D

Aseras

fwiw i bought nmine on april 4th and they still had the 4,000 customer cash ( it's already been given to the dealer ) and you can stioll use the gerber rebate until 5/25. I had to have madausa bitch out my delaer and tell them to accept it or else ( and i have the voicemail im gonna post to ) .

MI_FamilyMan

Wrench, when you say you found a RX-8 on the website, are you saying that you found one on inventory at a dealership and made an offer on that, or did you build one on the site and make an offer?

If you did the former, and then they tried to screw you over like that I would understand, especially if you were talking VINs. But if you just built a car on the site, I think it was not prudent on your part to make an offer before even going in to see the car.

Good luck in your search.

Air Force RX8

Sounds like a trip to the BBB is in order! As well as a call to the States' Attorney's office as there may be some book cooking going on they may be interested in. Either way don't even consider buying from them. Consider suing them in small claims court for your travel there and back just for the old bait and switch they tried to pull on you. This is what I love most...

So what you are saying is it is a new USED car, because to advertise a previously registered vehicle as new is illegal in all 50 states. I say go back and kick this idiot in the nuts repeatedly, because the ignorant should not be allowed to breed!!

weekendwrench

I found the car in inventory on the Mazda website. I had the VIN and discussed the car with them. No mention ever of the car being used. I am guessing they never reported it sold to Mazda either. Of course they new they had to disclose it to me before I signed any papers. Unfortunatly, they kept it from me and made me get a ride over 100 miles to get the car and then I had to get another ride back. I called Mazda USA and complained they did not seem to really care. The cust service rep said they would make a note of it in ther file. I also called Auto Nation ( the owner of the Dealership) and left a message for someone to call me but they didn't call back.

Unfortunatly, they didn't break the law but the certainly reinforce the stereotype that car salesmen are dirt bags. I know they all aren't that way but these guys certainly are.

dwynne

Did you ever see how many mile were on it?

Probably what happened is someone "purchased" it and their financing fell through and they had to return the car. If they were cutting a key they may have had to repo it.

In either case, it is not something you would want to get involved in. Likely the "buyer" knew it would not fly and abused the heck out it while they had it. The dealer didn't report it sold since they did not sell it. If the financing had gone through it would have been removed from online search in the next day or two.

As to the MAC money - there is confusion in the dealer ranks about this. Mazda did pull the rebates and give the $4,000 direct to the dealers. But I think if the dealer does the rebate they honor it (in that they get $4,000 off/back one way or another). The bad thing is that the rebates ARE tied to MAC financing where the new $4,000 to dealer is not.

Sounds like a good place to stay away from. Too bad we can't use the locator to find you a NEW car to buy.....

As was mentioned, deals are now being had on 05 cars. We will see this week if any 05 money comes out from Mazda - maybe so. But I have already seen 05s offered for right at invoice.

Dennis

Rotario

Hahahahahahaha! Thanks for the laugh this morning. I needed it. :D

Bill

Real8r

Report them to the DMV. In California the DMV controls the licensing of salesman and dealers. No license...no sales...no money. It's a great thing. Whever you talk to a slams man ask him for his DMV Sales identification number. That will put him on notice that you are a savvy buyer. When you go to the dealership write down the names and numbers of the sales man. Their cards are REQUIRED to be posted or on the sales person while they are engaging in business.
Whenever you get passed from sales person to sales person keep asking them for their ID numbers. Write it down and keep a journal of dates/times and who you spoke to...and anyone else within ear shot.
Car dealers in California laugh and the BBB, Chamber of Commerce, Etc. But the DMV they pay attention to.
I got a dealer at an Oldsmobile (My wifes car) a 30 day suspension for the same type of stuff - bait & switch, rephrasing contact, adding BS fees.
Good luck!

vitaliy

Looks like you became a victim of the famous "change the salesman scam." This is fairly common and I had an experience with it back in 1999 when I was buying a car for my mom.

We had a guy who would not deal with us. There was no way, accorind to him, to pay such a low price. He had to call his parter, who was more aggressive, for backup. Then his partner, called the manager who called the other manager. All of them were saying different things and tried to scam us out of our money. They wanted to fill my mom's contract with fees and other crap (which she fell through, but fought back and won). After talking to several people I said that we were going to leave. We got up and that's when a guys said that he was going to honor my offer.

Here is what I am going to do when buying a new car from a dealer from now on. I'll give them a freaking time frame, let's say 30 minutes, to sell me a car at my price or what I think is reasonable. If the deal is not done within 30 minutes, then I am out.

I went to a dealer last Sunday and I was going to sell my car at that time and buy a new one. However, the dude was so aggressive and so painful that he almost ended up screaming at me for lowering the price. Had it not been for my gf next tome, I would have punched him pretty hard. That's why I am trying to stay away from the dealers nowadays.

Buffalo66

I have a new 2004 RX-8 Im looking to buy at a different dealership in California and have shipped to me and now Im a bit concerned could be a similar situation. Weekend Wrench: Did you happen to do a carfax report on it?, and if so what did it say?

I did a carfax on the new 2004 RX-8 I'm buying and I thought there would be no record on it since it is brand new, but it says there has been "one owner". However it also says there has been no registration on it, no accident indicators, and no other problems show up. It refers to service being done last May with 5 miles on it. Im hoping the "one owner" is the dealer, but most new cars don't pull up any carfax reports at all so Im a little worried. Anyone know who I can contact besides the dealer (he says its brand new) to get the skinny on if this is unusual to have a carfax report on a brand new car? I can't find anything on the internet regarding this.

dwynne

Pretty much every never titled new car I ever checked had 0 records on it. In some cases, there would be a record when the car made it through customs into the US - so there might be 1 record showing - but it would show this in the CarFax detail.

Can you copy and paste here exactly what is in the CarFax report (I don't currently have an account) ?

You can also call MazdaUSA and give them the VIN and see what info they have on the car.


Federal law mandates you get a odo statement and it correct. How many miles does the dealer claim is on the car? Are you financing or paying cash? If cash the dealer should send you the MSO and NOT a "title" to the car. Having the MSO would indicate the car was never previously titled or sold. If you are doing financing, then the dealer may be required to do the title paperwork so you would never see the MSO or title - as the case may be.

Dennis

samsong

weekendwrench,

walk away...there are other cars and dealers (and deals) to be found. My boss just bought a new (17 miles) 2004 GT package w/ everything...at 6k off sticker. Good luck!