Hi All,

I have been happy with my RX-8 for over 2 years now but I had to use the roadside assitance for the first time and what a joke.

I had lunch with a client and went out to the RX-8 and it would not start. My car has 27k on and I assumed it was my battery.

I ended up getting a ride down to Advanced Auto and picked up a replacement battery. I played around with installing the new battery and got it to crank once. I then turned it off and it would not crank even though all the lights where on so I am assuming either the alternator or the starter is bad.

I called the roadside assistance and gave the requested VIN number, etc. They said they would have someone out within 90 minutes. I questioned the 90 minutes because I thought this was long. He said that is the worst case scenario.

Anyways, I called back after no tow truck in over and hour and they informed me that they have not found any tow truck yet. I questioned them and all they do is call triple A. I dont know why it takes so long.

To make a long story shorter, after 2 hours of waiting they send out a regular tow truck (and not a flat bed which I had requested) and cannot tow it. The tow truck driver explained to me that triple a tries to have the driver fix the problem or push start the cars because it saves them money in the long run. I told him I have at least a bad starter so what good would it do to push start my car?

Anyways, I left the key with the tow truck driver since I basically had been at the same location for 5 hours and hope it makes it way to the Mazda dealer who didnt want to give me a loaner until I I talked to two supervisors.

I certainly home this ins't the norm with the roadside assistance these days and mine was an isolated experience.

I am under the impression that Mazda and AAA knows that most people will just directly call a tow truck service as they can get someone there in 20 minutes most of the time but then it comes out of your pocket.

Dean

 

take the 8 and drive it into the dealer and park it right in the middle of the entrance and hold up a sign "Ask me how i got fukked by road side assistance!"

 

Road side with mazda seems to be hit or miss with most people.

I've only had to use them once and the tow truck arrived in less time then they quoted me and the flat bed worked perfectly.

As for the loaner and having to speak with two supervisors...that's B.S. I think it's time to find another dealership to take your car to.

 

Does only the gt package have the hook things for the flatbed that you pull it up on? I have them in my rear bumper.. or just one but I don't have them in the front. I have seen Rx8s with them though.

 

The next closet dealership is 47 miles away and has a terrible reputation. When I finally talked to the 2nd supervisor and he explained they didn't have any loaners available, I explained that my bought my car from them and I notice that they have a hell of a lot of cars on the lot so maybe they should allocate some new loaners if you cant meet customer demand. He finally agreed he would have one for me tomorrow morning. We will see..

 

I didn't even notice. My car is fully loaded except I use a Garmin as I refused to pay 3 extra grand for the cheap (IMO) GPS that came with the RX-8.

The tow truck driver immediately said that he didn't feel good about towing my car and called for the flatbed before I had a chance to say anything.

 

yeah, if you go up to the nose of your car, on the sides of the plastic grill you can pull out the plastic pieces and there is where the hookes go.

Instructions are in the manual under towing.

 

yeah but jedi why would you want to tow your car on a hook dolley tow truck, its just not good for the car.... best way is to always flat bed it.... by the way why is it that mazda is getting worse and worse to me, as in Road side, service???? you would think that you see all these mazda's whatever model it maybe that we pay enough to have a good car that you would take the time to help us out with better customer satisfaction.....

 

oh, I think you misunderstood me.... I would NEVER get my car towed on anything BUT a flatbed. Just pointing out where to screw in the hooks on the front

 

Ohhh Gotcha

 

I have only used Mazda roadside once - about 15 years ago - and they even helped me dig my car out of a snowbank! That was Cook Mazda in Maryland. I had heard about starting problems with 8s so I got a little portable battery charger that I have used on everything but the 8. Found out batteries go down in an 8 if you don't make sure the horn honks with the key-clicker (inside lights can get left on) and if you don't check to make sure your trunk is closed ( the light inside can drain them).
I have found, that in general, batteries have about a 2 year life span and tend to die in very cold and very hot weather. Walmart has a good replacement warrenty for batteries - we tend to burn them out on the generator, and on Marc's big dump truck and backhoe, which may go months without use.
It will be interesting to find out what the average lifespan of an 8s generator/alternate has - anyone know the average replacement time?

 

It's not Mazda per se. It is all car companies. Mazda, BMW, etc. all use the exact same system. They outsource it to a call center in Orlando and have purchased a AAA membership.

For some reason, it takes 1.5 hours for the call center in Orlando to call Triple A and for Triple A to call the Tow truck service. This is just too many places for the people to drop the ball especially on details such as the flatbed.

The bad part to me is that the Tow Truck Service is instructed to try to push off or do anything to start the car. We had already determined my starter was bad and the Tow Truck service wanted to try to push start me? I asked why on earth would they do that and called the Tow truck service. He explained that Mazda/AAA instructs them to do that because it saves money. They then have to open a new ticket if the Tow Truck driver cant get you limping along without a Tow. This is just the bean counters at ALL car companies ony caring about the bottom line.

POSSIBLE WORK AROUND? The first question the call center in Orlando asks is if you are in a safe location which I am sure there legal department requested.

I was wondering if you said HELL NO, I AM DANGER OF BEING MUGGED, ANALLY RAPED, KILLED, AND THEN ANALLY RAPED AGAIN if that would get them to call a tow service immediately?

It obvious can't be good for PR if people are danger because it took 3 hours for Mazda RA to finally get someone out there.

 

Well if you read you manual is states to NEVER push start the rx8...

 

also if you want them to show up immediatly tell them you stalled in the road, in traffic. they will be there pronto..