When I bought my RX8 it had close to 400 miles on it and since the dealer was brand new (the car was delivered to them from another dealer and at the time was offically not in their inventory though Mazda allowed them to sell the car to me) they were at a loss as to why. Originally they thought that in transferring the car from the original dealer to them resulted in the miles, turns out that the car had been sold a few months prior, but the financing fell through - the guy had it for a four days and then returned it to the first dealer (the car was never registered by the other buyer). My dealer was unaware till the registration raised a red flag as to the prior status. On their own they are extending the warranty to 7 years/75k bumper to bumper at their expense just to apologize for any inconvience. They also offered to take the car back and find another one just like it - but then I would have to go through the whole registration/financing thing again.

 

Looks like you found a reputable dealer. They will get a strong referral base and repeat customer base if they keep treating people that way. Good job and congratulations! Welcome to the forum.

 

congrats thats a good deal!

btw- whatever happened to the other 4?

 

Outstanding deal to say the least. Hopefully my dealership does the same when I purchase mine in the summer time. Although I want my speedo to read "0" when I jump in....

 

Unless you are taking a running start while the car is moving, the speedo should read 0. Ohhh, you meant the odo...

Sorry, I am a smart ***.:D

 

Mine had 7.5 miles on it. 2 were from Mazda and 4.5 were while they were doing the pre-delivery inspection.

 

I've had 2 dealers attempt to push 8's on me with similar mileage. Both of them played them off as new cars. One even transferred one from another dealership and then the day I was supposed to pick it up told me "Oh hey, it has 600 miles on it, is that ok?"

No, it's not OK.

It's hard to find a dealer that will play straight with you, but it's weird for me to see 2 dealers with 2 different cars with miles on them, one with 400 and one with 600, selling them as new cars. These cars should be marked as demos and marked down as such, ESPECIALLY if they're beyond 600 miles as that's the break in period for the engine.

Ajax

 

Ok, I wasn't going to post this yet on the forum but, this has prompted me to do so.

I have had a lot of problems with my sale as I have found out a number of facts after the purchase about the car I am driving and bought in January. I am going to copy a letter I sent in with my MNAO survey that tells the whole story, so far. I just mailed this part off today.

Mazda North American Operations,
2/25/04

To whom this concerns,

I purchased a Mazda RX-8 VIN# JM1FE1735401XXXX on 1/10/2004 from Green Lincoln Mercury Mazda and paid $31,200 which was MSRP for a new model at the time as listed on the Mazda USA Web site for the supposed options and packages installed. I purchased this car with the understanding that it was new as all paper work states this that I have. The dealership, Green Lincoln Mercury Mazda is located at 3901 W. Wabash Avenue, Springfield, IL 62791.

This car had no Monroney (MSRP and installed options) sticker posted on the window. I asked the salesman where it was and he said that it must have "gotten lost when one of their detailers cleaned the car at some point". He didn't know where it was and could not produce it at any time prior to the sale. After signing the sales papers and driving the car home, I found the Monroney sticker in the glove compartment inside the car's manual case. It has an MSRP of $31,100. That's $100 less than I paid. This sticker was removed by the dealership prior to my inquiry of purchasing it. This is a federal violation from what I understand.

There were 805 miles on the odometer at viewing. I asked about the mileage and if it were a demo and the salesman said that this car was not a demo and was only driven by the sales manager as he was planning on buying it but his wife wouldn't let him. That is why it’s back on the lot for sale.

According to the Illinois Used car FTC Rule: Even though a demonstrator is not a "used" car in Illinois because it has not been placed in a "bona-fide consumer use" prior to sale, under the FTC Rule a demonstrator or any other vehicle which has been driven more than the limited distance necessary to move it to the new dealership or to test drive it prior to delivery to the customer is considered a "used" car and must have a sticker properly affixed. The Rule, however, further permits window stickers to be removed when the car is not "available" to consumer purchasers for sale. (By contrast, the MSRP sticker cannot be removed by the selling dealer).

Once again, no sticker was ever present on this vehicle at any time over the three day period I looked at it for possible purchase. I feel that this car was a demonstrator and when I asked the salesman denied it.

I inquired about the warranty coverage and was concerned about the amount of miles on it. I was told that the warranty began at the mileage I bought it at. It's now my understanding that warranty on mileage starts at 0.0, not the 824 it had when I purchased. The 5 year term of the warranty is in effect at purchase, but the mileage part of the warranty has been effected by the number of miles that were put on the car before I purchased it.

I asked about the spoiler since it was a different style than all the other spoilers on the RX-8 vehicles in their stock. The salesman first said something about it maybe being a Mazda Speed spoiler. He then said he would check with the sales manager. The following day when checking back he said the sales manager told him that this particular car was one of the first imported and that Mazda probably changed the style after a few had already been imported and this was normal for a car manufacturer to do from time to time.

The spoiler is not on the Options list of the Monroney sticker I found after purchase in the glove box. This is not an OEM factory installed spoiler as I was told it was by the salesman, it is an after-market item. They fabricated the entire original OEM explanation. I confirmed this suspicion with a question posed to one of the dealership’s Service representatives while having my car serviced for some warranty work on 2/11/04. I asked about the history of the spoiler, who had installed it, when it was done as I dropped off the car for this service. He told me he would look into it for me. When I was picking it up later in the day he said that it was installed by a company out of Decatur, IL named Dr. Vinyl and that this company services dealerships in the area with custom installation parts and pin striping.

I took the trunk lid lining off to look at the quality of installation. There are 4 holes drilled for the spoiler rather unprofessionally, I might add. Three were capped and one was uncapped. I looked up this uncapped hole and there wasn't a bolt and nut holding the spoiler on. All I could see was the black foam that sets under the spoiler on top of the trunk lid. I looked under the other three caps and found the corresponding bolt and nut mounting hardware. This spoiler is improperly mounted and risks the integrity of the rear end of the car. If it falls off, there could be liability with damage to the vehicle and possible personal injury to self or to others. This after-market equipment lessens the marketable value of the car and did so even before I purchased it and became aware of it's circumstances.

I inquired about the installed Bose stereo system. Did this vehicle have the 6 disc changer option. The salesman said that since on the front of the stereo’s face plate there was a "LOAD" button that it must have a 6 changer CD player.

The Bose system in this car is a single CD player system, all of the Bose system face plates have a "LOAD" button for this model of vehicle.

I got two black keys and one key phob. He said he had to get the other phob from the sales manager since he was the one who had been driving the car. I asked about a valet key and he said it didn't come with a one.

I told the salesman at a later date that I had found out that this model did, in fact, come with a valet key and he said they would have to order one along with the key fob because they coudn't find it. This further supports the extent to which this dealership will go to in order to fraudulently answer a consumer's questions just to make an inflated sale. I did get the valet key and key fob after inquiring several times and waiting just over a month.

This dealership misrepresented the circumstances of the conditions and circumstances of their use of this car. They misplaced the Monroney sticker, misrepresented the spoiler as being factory installed, implied options as being installed that were not, violated a federal law requiring all vehicles to display the Monroney sticker on a “new” car or declare this car as a Demonstrator and, by state FTC used car requirements, not displaying a mandated window sticker called a "Buyers Guide".


I spoke with a management representative named Mr. XXXXX on 2/16/04 at this dealership about the problems I have listed above. He listened to me and offered the following explanations.

About the fact that this is a demo, he would not admit to this but said what is factual: a car is considered new so long as it has never been titled. He said he had a VW Passat on the lot that has 2100 miles on it and since it has never been titled, it is still legally new.

(edit: I would like to see them get MSRP for that piece of crap)

He said he cannot explain the situation with the spoiler as to why the sales did or didn’t know it was factory installed or not. He said that this car was part of an inventory that had been purchased 90 days prior from the former Mazda dealership they aquired so how could they know? He did say that the sales department maybe didn’t do their homework about this vehicle's history.

I replied that it took the service department less than a day to find this out and that it was odd that the sales department couldn’t find this in two days.

I also pointed out that since this is not a Mazda product, as I was led to believe, that the spoiler is not under Mazda'a warranty.

He said that the warranty would be covered by the business who installed it. I have no idea as to what the warranty on this after-market product is nor did he offer any information in regards to it.

His explanation for the Monroney sticker as not being posted is that you cant’s see to drive with this sticker on, that is why it was off. They do this with all their demos.

Yet, he denied the one I purchased was a demo

When I said the MSRP listed it $100 less he asked me why I didn’t come in the next day after I found this out implying they may have given me a $100 refund.

He could not offer any other comment on any other of the problems I identified such as the Bose sound system and only asked what did I want them to do about the spoiler, put a factory style on it? I replied that this would require different mounting holes and I bought this car as new and this repair work would devalue it even further than it already is.

I asked him if that was all they were going to do and is my only alternative is to write to MNAO and report this to the Illinois States Attorney’s office to settle this dispute?

He told me that is what I would have to do to pursue this any further. I left him similar documentation. I have not heard from them since this day.

If I knew all of the circumstances before purchasing this car, I may not have purchased from this dealership. I feel they were deceptive in their sales practice, fraudulent in their information and as a result I paid a great deal of money more than this car's value and did not receive those items that they maintained it had. They appear to have violated either State of Federal laws by thier non-compliency in removal of either the Buyers Guide or the Monroney MSRP sticker. I feel that this dealership should not be representing Mazda of USA and should not be permitted to sell your fine line of vehicles.

I am presently in contact with the Illinois States Attorney's office about the circumstances that I have laid out here.

Dennis L. Scheibe


Needless to say they didn't fair too well on the survey.

At no time did I make any demands, raise my voice nor become upset when I confronted them about the issues I have. The management rep became uncooperative and clearly did not want to admit wrongdoing nor continue with the conversation.

I am in contact with the Illinois State's Attorney's Office about this matter and in the preliminary stages of making a complaint.

I love my car but have a problem even thinking about taking it to the dealer for repairs or service because of this.

I don't feel MNAO will probably do much about it but this will be my attempt to point out the shoddiness and underhanded practices of this dealership.

I don't feel that all dealerships are bad, I am glad that you and others have had people who care about their customers. This might be the single most worse deal that anyone on this forum has received. I hope that no one else ever has to go through any pathetic so called sales service and treatment from any other dealership that is even nearly as bad as I feel this one is.

I'm glad I have my RX-8 I only wish getting it was as satisfying as driving it.

Kudos to your dealership, Dave Clark, they acted as all should act and right a wrong with at least something that they are able to do. I got the royal screw from mine.

 

That's horrible- that dealer sounds like such a sleazebag, but I can't help but wonder why you were even interested in a 'new' car with 800 miles on it, especially a rotary- Lord knows how it was broken in as a demo. If my dealer told me they would knock $4k off for a demo model with 800 miles, I'd still pass.

I really hope MNAO steps in and at least bitchslaps that dealer and gives you an extended warranty. Good luck...

 

I did the stupidest thing, I trusted that the Sales Manager was telling the truth and was planning on purchasing this car and was the one who had put the miles on it so I figured since he was planning on buying it, he took care of it and got the best service since he worked there. Now, I believe it was all BS and have learned a valuable lesson.

 

Let us know what happens. I'm sorry this happened. Get the best lawyer you can afford and sue! I've had a few raw deals in my life with dealers. Park the car on the shoulder in front of the dealership and post a sign how crupt they are. It will get there attention. May have to take a wheel off just to say you have a problem. So the law doesn't come in and say you are picketing. It works. With in 20 minutes the dealer was out to the car had a service guy put the wheel back on and bought the car back from due to it was a lemon. Got every cent back. Check the laws in your area. Check with the police, so you don't get a ticket.

 

Will go to that extremity only after all else fails. First it's NAMO and the State's Attorney. After that, it will be organized harrassment within the guidelines of the law, of course.

The next nearest service for Mazda is 70 miles away. So far, I like their service department. This is a mega make dealership. They own the Toyota, VW, Audi, Lincoln, Mercury and Hyundai dealerships in town.

Most everyone in town knows they are a bunch of crooks and why I ever decided to deal with them I have to question myself for that. But I never dealt with them before so I had to find out the hard way, I guess.

I have to get this car serviced locally because driving 70 miles is a bit of a pain, but if I have to I will.

 

D MENAC 7,

I bought my VR 2005 RX-8 from the same clowns... They will tell you ANYTHING to get a sale and have no clue what they are talking about in my experience. Nailing them down on anything is nearly impossible. I hope I don't have too many service issues to take to them but given the number of problems people have reported with their RX-8's I'm not very optimistic. I hope you get some resolution. The problems you are having aren't isolated to the Green Mazda dealership though. The whole Green family chain seems to have a horrible reputation from sales to service.

 

D MENAC 7

I test drove an rx-8 at that dealership earlier this year before they moved to their new location. There selection was nil and the prices poor. I ended up buying from a dealership up north because they were very unwilling to bargain and I got a much, much, much better deal where I ended up buying my car and I got the car I wanted. My experience with their sales department was less than optimal to put it nicely. So far I have had my car in twice for service and my experience has been okay with the service department so far.

On a side note, I do have a couple of good friends in town that are attorneys if you would like to talk to one of them let me know.

Good luck

 

shogun and kmorris, you are responding to a post that is really old. d Menac is no longer active here.

If you want to help your fellow forum members, put your dealer comments into the good guy/bad guy section of the vendor forum.

 

you are completely right, sorry I sometimes don't look at the date, doh!

 

I would also open a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Some businesses really jump through hoops to get those complaints closed.

 

LOL Yeah I just noticed the age of the thread. :P Anyway good information for anyone in Central Illinois planning on buying from Green Mazda. I'll check out the good guy bad guy section. Danke.

 

God where did you buy it? I am desperate for a reasonable dealer. What with Culver City **** up and Santa Monica has had mine for a MONTH to fix the A/C, I would love to know of a decent dealer.