hey just wanted to do a little survey on what dealership you bought your 8 at, a rating 1-5 (1 being the worst and 5 being the best), which dealership maintanences your 8, and whether or not you would recommend them or not..

 

This is a duplicate of a review I posted in the Good Guy/Bad Guy Forum.


Been waiting until my first service to comment on Lee Johnson Mazda in Kirkland, Washington (Seattle suburb.)

Purchase: 4 stars out of 5. Internet quote of $27,120 for 2004 GT 6spd in 11/04. About $1000 less than any other dealer. Wanted Nordic Green. They traded with another dealer to get it. No pressure. No hassle. Might have made an even better deal, but figured they were entitled to some profit. Negatives: Car wasn't as clean as I would have liked. Had to press a bit for the "M" flash. (The original dealer hadn't performed it.) Refused to pay an additional B&O tax (It's a Washington State thing.) that they tried to put into the deal. ($150.) To their credit they eliminated the tax without a hassle when I questioned it.

The dreaded FINANCE discussion was a breeze. Very little pressure to purchase paint protection/seat protection/protection protection. Not a bad deal on an extended warranty. I didn't bite but I may later.

Their internet sales department (Tom Thoensen and Tom, Jr.) are professional, polite, and easy to deal with. I'd highly recommend them over the regular sales staff.

Service: 4 stars out of 5. Had to get an "M" flash once Mazda re-re-released the latest version. I called them. (To be fair, I only gave them one day after I knew it was released to call me.) Replaced a scratched seat back under warranty for a tiny scratch (Known TSB problem) without a whimper. They noticed that Mazda had provided the wrong seatback without a pocket. Installed it anyway and ordered the correct version.

Installed f/r mud guards I had purchased separately. Good job, though 2.5 hours labor sounded high to me. Car washed when I picked it up but paper mat not removed. (Lot boy issue; a nit to be sure.)

Had a free rental (Chevy Malibu) for the day. Hardly impressive but I didn't mind. I was hoping for a Miata or a Corvette. (They're also a Chevy dealer.)

All in all, I've been impressed, especially considering I had doubts about a dealer whose bread and butter is Chevrolet, not Mazda. I'll watch them closely at the first oil change. Considering I've had virtually no real problems, they've been a good dealer so far.

 

Buy at a place you want to go back to, should something go wrong. It's easier to convince those who sold you a car, they should have to FIX a car.

I got mine at Milam, in Puyallup...I'd say they are a 4 in your rating. I doubt any dealer would be a 5, in my book. :D

Service is about 3 out of 5...maybe 2.5. Walking in, and up to the counter I made eye contact with one of the two there...he nodded..and went back to what he was doing. After about 60 seconds he looked up "Be with you in a minute..." then back to the screen.

Several minutes later, the other guy says "What can I do for you?"

"You called and told me the remotes for my RX8 were in, and I need to have y'all take care of the chip in the bumper, which came with the car"

(Gives me a wtf look) "Name?"

I told him, and after some fuddling he had some paperwork for me, blah blah. They did get a lot-boy to take me home...nice touch.

When I went to pick up the car, same thing...just a nod..then some staring...then finally, "Go to the cashier - she has your stuff"

Out to the car...the work was done okay...but geesh...would it have killed them to give the car a wash and vacuum? That too much to ask for a nearly 30K car? I don't think so.

:D

 

everytime i go to milam, i get good service. they wash my car all the time and i had no problems with Brian when he is there. he knows my car pretty good LOL!

the dealers arent too bad either, one of them sold me my 96 Cobra. EMSDAD has a totally different POV on Milam so if u want the run down with his experience, talk to him.

most people recommend University Mazda near Seattle. they are supposed to be 5 of 5 for everything u need.

i purchased my 8 in Las Vegas and that dealership was very nice. i give them 5 of 5 and the dealer was pretty awesome and he was a damn daredevil!

 

it seams like University Mazda is the place to go get one and for service. They might be the first place I go to when I go to get mine in 5 months..

 

Well, you all know how I feel about Milam...but thier service department is ok....sometimes not so great....sometimes excellent. I usually take my 8 to them for service since it's 10 minutes away, as opposed to an hour for Univercity. If I wind up needing major work done, I'll take it to University; but for the simple TSB stuff and oil changes I'll trust Milam that much.

As far as purchasing goes....I will go to University for any Mazda I ever want...period.

 

University Mazda for me.

I got dicked around and lied to by 2 other Seattle area dealerships.

Sound Mazda were total a holes, and Lee Johnson Mazda has liars for salemen (yeah I know a car salesman lie).

Lee Johnson told me they would give me $8500 for my trade, shook hands on the quote (gentlemans agreement) while on the lot, then when going inside for the paperwork wanted to give my $7250.

University Mazda were straight shooters, upfront, and not pushy. Great service as well. I must have traded 20 + emails with the internet sales manager (Barry N.). I would not hesitate to buy from UMazda in the future.

I think it says something about the dealer that Umazda has almost every award Mazda gives to dealers.

5 stars for University Mazda.

 

i hear they can help u get mazdaspeed parts so i might check em out. i thought about the mazdaspeed ground effects stuff so ill see what they say

 

For what it's worth, another member of the RX-8Club, a dealer in another part of the country, offered to check the rankings of LJ and UMazda in terms of service and sales for me. The rankings, I assume, are based on returns of the surveys Mazda sends out covering both sales and service.

His conclusion, as I interpret his email, is that University Mazda is one of the top rated sales and service organizations while LJ Chevrolet/Mazda is in the middle of the pack. His advice is to go with University Mazda.

(Note: I'm intentionally not citing his identity or the details of his analysis since he provided it via personal email. He offered to check the data which I assume is proprietary, so I don't feel free to be more specific.)

As for LJ's (or any dealer's) behavior in regard to trade-ins, the lesson here, imho, is to avoid a trade-in if at all possible. Even taking into account the sales tax advantage of a trade-in, you'll almost ALWAYS be better off selling your car than trading it in. Trade-in's are a major profit point for dealers and the discussion of a trade-in usually occurs once you've already made an emotional commitment to a new car, leaving the consumer in a difficult negotiating spot. If a dealer knows he can make $1K to $2K profit on a trade-in, he'll be happy to give you $500 on the price of a new car.

If possible, a dealer will always (a) avoid discussing the actual price of a car; (b) focus on monthly payments; and (c) attempt to add costs through various financing and/or dealer-installed options before the deal is completed.

To avoid these problems, get the dealer to set a bottom-line price before discussing anything else; deal with them first through email rather than phone calls or visits; get an idea of the price of your current car through a private sale before evaluating a trade-in. (And be realistic, even conservative about the value of current car.) Arrange financing before seeing the dealer. (You can always take the dealer's offer if it is better.)

And most important! Unless you plan to keep a car for three years or less and you're willing to pay for the privilege, avoid leasing. Purchasing a car is not always the best alternative. But if you're going to lease because you can't afford to purchase, be prepared to pay dearly for the privilege of driving a car you can't afford.

Finally, do NOT fall for the "B&O Tax" scam in Washington State. A dealer may ask you to pay this tax (about $150 on an RX-8) by claiming he's required to do so. Not true. You don't pay his income tax. There's no reason for you to pay his B&O tax, either.

 

whats this B&O tax exactly?

 

is there a site online that I can research ratings for dealerships in the state of Washington to find how they rate??? If so can anyone tell me where I can find it?

 

Another vote for University Mazda. I dealt with John, their Internet sales guy, entirely via email. Agreed on a specific car and price over email. I brought the wife in to test drive it and to closely inspect it in the daylight, put a deposit down and drove it away that night. John and the finance guy were real easy to deal with (we paid cash so no financing issues) and there was no BS the entire deal. No hard sell for paint protection, extended warrantee or any other bogus stuff. A very straightforward bunch there.

As for service, a colleague of mine bought an 8 from University before me. He asked around to all the local rotary shops as to which dealer had the best service shop. The response he got was that University had the best (or only) Master Rotary Technician in the area. He and I had both had good experience there with their service people.

Good luck on your search. You *will* enjoy the result.

 

Almost all businesses in Washington State pay a "business and operations" (B&O) tax based on the firm's total revenue. (Attorneys, for example, don't pay the tax.) (EDIT: This comment is apparently incorrect as noted by another poster.)

It's very unpopular among small businesses since it taxes total receipts rather than profit. In other words, you can lose money on your business but still owe B&O taxes. (On the other hand, there is no income tax, corporate or individual, in Washington State and businesses don't like taxes of any kind.)

Virtually all businesses (should) consider the B&O tax as a COB (cost of business) and figure it into their overhead. (You don't, for example, pay a separate charge on your purchase for the dealer's property tax, Federal corporate income tax, or the cost of the dealer's furniture, all overhead items.)

However, in the case of Lee Johnson Chev/Mazda, I found that my purchase order/contract included a separate charge for the B&O tax. I simply told the salesperson I had no intention of paying it. (It amounted to about $150 since they expected me to pay sales tax on the B&O tax!) They caved immediately. When I asked the finance woman if anyone else ever objects, she indicated that she'd never had anyone object to the charge. Can't say if that's true, but if it is, most consumers are not paying attention.

It may be, by the way, that other dealers hide the charge in dealer prep/documentation/etc. where it's harder to find. The lesson is to be vigilant.

 

John at University Mazda via the internet. The only way to go IMHO.

 

I'm leasing my 8 from UMazda. Barry N handled the whole deal with
5star professionalism. I'd highly recommend him as a contact at UMazda!
I wholeheartedly agree with Cam's earlier e-mail about UMazda. Good luck.

 

We bought ours from Lee Johnson on December 24, a left-over new 2004. My wife and I did the horrible negotiating thing together, then I left while they did the paperwork (it's her car). When my wife brought the paperwork home, I was really annoyed to see the B&O tax put on; that's at best sleazy, IMO, and something no other dealer has tried on us (we have bought three other new cars in the last six years, including a new S2000 from the Honda dealer across the street from Lee Johnson, and have never seen that particular scam before). The B&O tax is their tax, but most people (i) don't know what it is, and (ii) just assume it's one of the zillion taxes one has to pay when buying a new car; it's my opinion that that is awfully close to fraud, at least without giving full disclosure that they have no power to make the consumer pay the B&O tax. I wonder how many people are duped by that each year. I particularly liked the fact that they charged sales tax on the B&O tax . They took it off when I squaked, but it never should have been there in the first place.

Our car has the navigation package, and we are presently "negotiating" with them to update it from the 2003 data base; when I buy a new car with a navigation package, I have no interest in paying an extra $200 to bring it up to date.

So, although they came highly recommended, we are very displeased at this point. I'll update this if they grow up and take some responsibility for treating their customer right.

 

This is all accurate, except that (i) it's the "Business and Occupation Tax," and (ii) attorneys pay a very high B&O tax, about 1.5%, along with other "service businesses," the highest of any classification.

 

Duh...You're absolutely right about the first point. My brain apparently was in neutral. As to the second point, apparently I was misinformed. Sorry about that.

I have to say that of all the states in which I've lived, and it's a bunch, Washington takes the cake for having a tax structure that is both unfriendly to consumers (8.5-9.1% sales tax) and to small business (B&O tax.) Unfortunately, voters' antipathy toward a state income tax prevents real tax reform in the state. Instead we're left with the idiotic schemes of Tim Eyeman to eliminate taxes on Republicans.

P.S. Sorry about hijacking the thread.

 

On my sales contract LJ had stamped a clause about the B&O tax that I was asked to sign. (I refused.) I suspect that this was the result of threatened legal action in charging for the tax without disclosing it. I certainly agree it's a scam and having bought several new cars in Washington, have never run across the practice at any other dealer.

Now I guess you and I are the only ones that have ever squawked about paying the tax.

As to the nav package, I don't have one on my car but I remember reading a thread on this forum concerning the updating of the CD. As I remember, there is not yet an update available for the navigation package, (I could be wrong considering my errors with regard to attorneys and the B&O tax. ), though one is promised "in a couple of months."

 

There is a firmware upgrade for the Nav system....Thew can do it, for $50 if his program is still up (was supposed to end in December or early January). Or if you bring your car in while you nav is "having problems" they'll replace the nav unit between the backseats with one with the new firmware that is supposed to be much better. My nav has the new stuff, so I'm not sure how bad the old one is.

I think there is a thread somewhere that teaches you how to "hijack" your nav to the point were the dealer will need to replace the system with a new one...I recommend a search of the forum....don't pay for anything!

 

has anyone know of anyone bought one from "Russ Dunmire Mazda?" It's in Tacoma.

 

The first RX-8 sold in the States was sold there...but...when I brought my first 8 there for the buy back, they had absolutely no idea what I was talking about or what to do.

I've gone in there on a couple of occasions and they are pretty "aloof" and don't seem all that interested in helping the customers...I get a "used car dealer" kinda feel from them.

Just my 2 cents

 

Earlier in this thread I posted some comments comparing the rankings of University Mazda (Seattle) and Lee Johnson (Kirkland) provided by another member of this site who is a dealer in the midwest. His conclusion, as I indicated, was that University Mazda was very highly rated as both a sales and service organization while LJ had lower rankings on both counts.

As it happened, I had occasion to take my car in for additional service so I selected University Mazda. Took the car in for installation of some aftermarket parts I'd purchased; an oil change at 1800 miles (I'm obsessive); and to examine some damage done to the fiberglass insulation on the firewall incurred (apparently) from a hungry rodent in my garage.

Two service trips. The first to install the parts and change the oil. The second to replace the fiberglass insulation. Top notch service both times. Oil change/lube done for $25 and parts installed for $35. (No issue about my purchase of the parts from another dealer (Rosenthal.)) I waited for the car and appreciated the fact that they expedited the service to get the car back to me as soon as possible.

The replacement of the insulation was a bigger job. The piece, itself, was relatively inexpensive ($65), but installation required removing a whole host of pieces attached to the firewall through the insulation. The service department provided a free loaner (Mazda 6) from their own fleet despite the fact that I had not purchased the car from the dealer.

The labor was slightly less than estimated for the job. (2.5 rather than the 3 hour estimate.) The car was ready on time. The service manager (Tom) called me the next day to be sure everything had been satisfactory.

I'd highly recommend this dealer. Based on the service I received, I can certainly understand their ratings.

 

I just bought my rx8 at Olympia Mazda they did a outstanding job.. and the get all the props....SOUND MAZDA had the car that I wanted. ther service was so bad that I would any thing from them. To make a long story short I went to olympia Madza told them what I wanted and the car was at sound madza go get it.

 

Sound Mazda appears to suffer from a widespread reputation for shoddiness. My car is also from them. Did the same thing. Went to Lee Johnson and told them to get the car from Sound Mazda. The car had had none of the TSB's performed despite the fact that Sound Mazda had had the car for about 9 months.