Tigster

We want to buy a new 8 and have contacted all the dealers in our area to purchase this car (I like to buy over the internet) and have had no response in 2 weeks. I even contacted the dealer where we purchased our 2002 miata from and told him we purchased the car from them and they still dont respond. I just e-mailed Trussville mazda to see if they are willing to sell a car. Guess dealers in Orlando Florida just arent in business to sell cars......
Thought I would share our experience so far...

cruzdreamer

Geez, Good luck there. well here they don't seem to budge much on price still!!!

6speed8

If you're willing to drive to Tampa, check out Courtesy Mazda on Hillsborough and Dale Mabry - I have three Mazdas from them because the other area dealers do not appear to want to sell a car for a reaonable price.

Tigster

Thanks, I was planning on going to Alabama to Trussville Mazda if I had to so Tampa is a short trip. I wasnt asking for a huge price reduction I just want to buy the car and hate waiting in the dealership. I wanted to get it all in line drop a check off and pick up a car. I thought it sounded pretty easy. I'll let you know how I make out.

carnut

Good luck, Tigster! Keep us posted!

Tigster

I have to say that I recieved an e-mail back from one of the local dealers and they quoted me the wrong car. They sent me a price for a Mazda 6, so I e-mailed her back and havent heard anything. I did drop off my Fiance's Miata for servicing yesturday and they have at least 12 RX8's on the lot.

BUT I did hear from Trussville Mazda and I have to say I am going to Alabama. I have decided to lease the car and I think they gave me very good rates very fast and friendly to here is a copy of the e-mail they sent. (I am not advertising just showing what good customer service is)

and I quote

"Hey, it's Leland again. Sorry for the delay. I figured 36 months at 15000 miles a year and 48 at 12000 to keep it within factory warranty.
36 month lease through Regions WAC
Sign & drive - $448 plus usage tax
$2000 at signing - $389 plus usage tax

48 month lease through Regions WAC
Sign & drive - $386 plus usage tax
$2000 at signing - $340 plus usage tax

These leases are figured on a base RX-8 six speed with the only option being the spare tire kit which we have on all our RX-8's. We will definitely work with you any way we can to earn your business up here. Hope to hear from you soon"


Now I just have to decide on a color, I think it will be blue or green.

carnut

I'm glad you heard back. What's the residual value and what's the interest rate for the lease?

Tigster

Here is the interest rate info, what do you guys think of this?


"Good to hear from you. On the 48 month lease going through Regions your residual value is $13521 which is 49%. Also on a lease they have what they call a money factor instead of an interest rate. Through Regions we get a much better money factor than through Mazda Credit. As far as how much you would be paying, the money factor could be compared to an interest rate of 4.5% - 4.9%.
I hope you will be able to make it this month. If you're thinking of flying I can always meet you at the airport in one of these RX-8's. Make for a great taxi!!!!!"

carnut

I'm going to try to run some numbers when it's not so late at night. Base RX-8 with a spare tire kit? I'll have to look up the invoice and retail prices; that should help us determine what he's using as a selling price to base the lease on if he hasn't told you already. Hopefully, it's not full retail at this date. Sounds like he's willing to work with you to earn your business. Good job, Tigster!

Tigster

Can someone let me know the difference between money factor and interest? We currently have a Miata that my fiance has through mazda credit and it is at 0.9% apr. Shouldn't I be able to get less than a 4.5 to 4.9 interest rate?

What is everyone else getting?

Tigster

If this helps:

Base model with a 6 speed:

27,595 MSRP with destination fee

26,459 Invoice from edmunds.com
520 destination fee

Spare Tire Kit:

395 MSRP

320 invoice from edmunds.com

carnut

Money factor is approximately interest rate divided by 24. Example:
4.9% interest rate = .0049
.0049/24 = .00204 money factor

The Mazda 0.9% rate is not a market rate; it is subsidized somewhere by Mazda or the dealers. Someone else may know more about this than I do, but I don't think you'd do better than a market rate (lowest I've seen currently is about 3.75%) when a lease is done.

Look at the thread "Who is leasing their car?" for the link to leaseguide.com. This has a great calculator to use. I'm coming up with a higher lease payment than they are quoting you, which may mean I'm not starting with the correct total price. Maybe they're discounting it for you. I hope so. Some leases used to be written with no mention of the "selling" price, even though there is one, and it can be discounted. Your salesperson sounds pretty sharp; have him go through all your calculations with you. Everything should be on the up and up Calculate it trying different interest rates within that 4 to 4.9% range he gave you. I haven't played with these calculators for a couple of years, but it's how I learned what little I know about the subject.

RobnEdie

Tigster: It sounds like you are getting a good deal. I never considered leasing. Too late now. My wife and I also shopped in the Orlando area and were not at all happy with their $4,000 above MSRP. We then went to Daytona Beach and got a great deal. I won't elaborate because I posted another thread about it. It's titled $1,500 below MSRP. Good luck with your car. Robert in Melbourne.

dvarapala

My experience with car dealers in general is that they just don't get it when it comes to the Internet. In general these are people who don't have a computer at home; they don't understand the technology or how to take advantage of it. You can always tell this kind of dealership because any question you submit via email or via a web form will be replied to with a canned auto-responder which says "I have the car you want in stock; please call me at XXX-XXXX to discuss things further." It's painfully obvious that the person named in the email has never seen your request, didn't write the response, and has absolutely no clue. In short, getting a useful response from most car dealers to an email inquiry is an exercise in futility. They are the world's most entrenched luddites. :D

Now, I realize there are exceptions - just like there are a few 90-year-old grandmothers who spend all their free time surfing the web and chatting on IRC - but these are the exceptions that prove the rule.