laferle

$32,300 Velocity Red Automatic with every available option; including navi.

RotaryFan

Zoom44

Ford Recognition Program member is equivalent to being a Ford employee and my employer participates in it, but not every year (Fortunately, this year we're members.)

On my order sheet, they already put my plan number and the salesman said that I was extremely lucky to get this car under that program...at invoice.

Late

RX-Nut

Anyone in this forum from Hawaii?? And have already placed an order with a Hawaii Mazda dealer?

If so, I'm curious to see how much you paid. I'm about an inch away from ordering but dont want to be gouged.

Please kokua!
Or it cares to share! :D

Mahalo

Cylo

everyone around the world is paying MSRP as far as I have heard.

RX-Nut

Ya, it looks to be that way.. Some dealers here are charging some $ over MSRP.. Tell me I'm getting robbed.

I also don't see many Touring Pkgs in this list. I guess either the Bose Audio is not worth it or they plan on slapping their own systems in?

dtech114

Just went to the dealer this afternoon to leave my $500 refundable deposit and get my Internet order processed! :D

Make that MSRP + tax + tag (NO Dealer Fees or Add-ons!) for me on my:

Winning Blue 6MT Sport Package RX-8

I'm really looking forward to being a "Rotorhead"! :D

RX-Nut

WOW! Cool.. congrats.. so how much did it come out to?

I hope the dealer I visit this week gives me at least MSRP no markup or added BS. The only extras I'll pay is the same as you... tax+tag+blah.

dtech114

Mine will be $28,300 + 6% sales tax + tag transfer of ~$100


Yeah, don't let the dealers nail you with one of those "I can't take the dealer fee off the contract, it would be illegal" ploys. "Dealer fees" are the same thing as that famous side sticker some dealers try to put up next to the factory sticker. Both can be read as ADDITIONAL DEALER PROFIT. Those are used on cars / deals to recoup some or all of the cost of the customer haggling down the price of a car. Just when you think you came to an agreement on price, they try and add Dealer / Dealer Prep fees, which is a fancy way of saying "we'll take back some of that "discount" we just gave you, thanks.

Make sure you guys make it clear up front whether or not there will be any surprise fees on the buyers order / contract and whether or not that is what you are agreeing to. Personally, for any car sold for MSRP, dealers shouldn't expect to try and gouge the customer for an additional few hundred dollars. It won't be worth the friction it can create with the customer and cause them not to be a repeat customer or even back out of the sale.

MSRP + tax + tag (again no dealer fees or add-ons) is a fair price to pay for this car considering it's a preorder program where all the dealer has to do is collect the order information and take a deposit.

RotorGeek

Hey dtech114 what dealer did you go to. I live in miramar. I went to Gunther. They were cool MSRP+TAX+TAG.

RX-Nut

Boy have I got a story for y'all...

Went to a local dealer.. (neglecting to say who).. Was primed to put my $1000 down for the car of my choice. This dealer had some wack way of doing the pre-order. They had a list of 6 or so RXs to choose from and told me that's what I could get. None of which was of the color or package I wanted. STRIKE 1. I urged them to understand I am pre-ordering the car of my choice, not what you folks have coming to you. THAT'S BS.

Ok so we got past that fiasco and I finally told them what I wanted in my RX. Finally! Now we can talk price. Here I am thinking, cool, MSRP + Tax + Fees, more than reasonable.

NOPE. Dealer tells me my price.. I pay the MSRP, plus destination fee (520), plus 10% (dealer vaseline), then finally tax and fees. At this point, I'm like WHAAAAT? You must be high!? Over 33K for a Touring. STRIKE 2, 3, OUUUUUUUUT!

Anyone, someone, tell me walking away from that was smart?!

Gosh I feel insulted. If the dealer happens to come here and read this post, you know who you are. Look at what dealers around the country are doing. What makes you so different??

JEEEEZ

dtech114

You did the right thing RX-Nut! Based on what I mentioned above, I'm sure there are plenty of dealers that will be happy to sell you one for MSRP and without the BS. Even if it means having to drive a little further to another dealer in another town, don't let dealers take advantage of you. They are are only hurting themselves when they act like greedy jerks!

That's why some dealers end up being "warranty repair depots" because they force customers to further away dealers to buy the cars and then complain when you bring the car there for warranty service (which is illegal by the way). That's when they have to look at the big picture and say "let's build a long term sales AND service relationship with the customer", instead of "let's try and take them for everything they got up front!"

Again, good job RX-Nut! If I were you, I would mention the dealer here to warn other RX shoppers in your area. Dealers should know that word of mouth about a bad experience travels fast, and even faster on the Internet!


RotorGeek:

Nice to see another South Florida RX-8 enthusiast RotorGeek. I'm getting mine at Marlin Mazda after having a good experience with them with my wife's MPV. Sometimes going to a smaller dealership where the sales person turnover is substantially less than the "auto malls", has its advantages!

I actually had bought my present car (1.8T Jetta) at Gunther Volkswagen, but when I went to the Mazda there for my wife's MPV, I didn't get the same treatment so I bought the MPV, and just now, placed my RX-8 order with Marlin Mazda. Glad Gunther worked out for you though.

Anyone else in South Florida looking to preorder, check out Marlin Mazda and ask for Tito Zapata, he will take care of you. Tell him Dan from Pembroke Pines sent you!

RX-Nut

If anyone wants to know where NOT to go, PM me and I'll let you know.. dont want to kill that dealer's rep. I try to be nice where I can

STi-Nut

This is my first post here, but as you can see from my name, I am not exactly the biggest of RX series cars. Don't get me wrong, I fully appreciate the merits and qualities of such a fine lineage, but being the close friend of RX-Nut... I felt it to be a little funny to get the same car. (Also, if they make the mutant blue, I'll be first in line for it.)

Anywayz, I was witness to the events that transpired to RX-Nut. I was speechless, I didn't know what to say. It was insulting to say the least. The dude know that were inquired first over the internet. We work in the IT field. You'd think that they'd know that they shouldn't mess with us because of the fact that we CAN find out information they think only they are privy too. (On a side note, I used to sell motorcycles, and the tactics are the same.) RX-Nut and I are now still trying to figure out how the guy came out with that figure. Hell, the way he explained it, it seemed as though he was taking on a dealer markup and the tax he was charging. How do you figure that... 10% markup on MSRP+the bogus destination charge+sales tax. Sheesh.. what an indecent way to make money.

Just to let y'all know, the name of this dealer is Cutter Mazda here in Hawai'i. They are the so-called "no-hassle, best deals in Hawai'i." They send RX-Nut all kinds of email how they can, cannot, can, cannot, can, cannot, can.. sell the car without a markup; "Just come down." We get there and all this crap happens. Waste of time and money. (Hell the salesperson called the RX-8 a 6 cylinder car.)

Here's the best part y'all. We went to this same dealer the day before trying to see if RX-Nut can work out a deal without any real mention of serious involvement with this other dude. RX-Nut was literally slapping em in the face with a 1000 dollar check saying "write me up, what will the final price be." They were like, "We don't know the final price but the $1000 helps ensure that you'll get the car of your choice." Haha.. ridiculous. So that basically means that if you put your 1000 down, when the car comes in we'll slap a 45 percent markup fee, and you gotta pay for it. ahahhahahahahaha... make you cry i tell you. And this was the assistant sales manager. RX-Nut was ready to close the deal, and he couldn't see it. How many salesmen would kill for an easy sale such as this.

It really is going to be an experience trying to get this car for RX-Nut. I just don't hope that when I go for my STi, it won't be this bad. Then again, I am personally make sure it isn't.

:p cheers :p

STi-Nut

Elara

You guys might want to think about calling Mazda customer service on them- Mazda is discouraging that kind of idiocy, and may give them a call to ding them if you let them know what's going on.

JTek_55

Another SoFla boy here... I live in Plantation and I ordered mine from Gunther Mazda too. I dealt with Hector and he seems pretty good. I guess I will see ya on the road. Hey, I was thinkin, we should probably try to setup some sort of RX club down here. There are already a couple of em out here I know, but it might be cool to start one with a bunch of new RX-8 owners.

BTW: RX-Nut, the dealer may have given you that choice of six cars in certain colors in order to sell you one from the very first pre-order. My dealer did the same thing for me because I did not order until Jan 25. What they probably did, is ordered the full allowed alotment on the pre-order with fake names on the car orders. Then when someone comes in and says they want to order, they take your deposit and stick your name onto one of the cars that are coming in. It kind of sucks because they may not have ordered one in your color or options, but if they did, you get your car right along with everyone else that ordered on Jan 8!!! Just a thought...

EDIT: Typos

jonalan

FYI, the destination fee is a legitimate charge. It's usually around $500.

justinm2

The destination charge is already included in the MSRP. they are trying to insult his intelligence and charge it twice.

RX-Nut

JTek.. Yea that would have been great if they had my options.. But they didnt. Also, I would then be stuck with their crazy price scheme.

And yes they slapped Destination on twice.. MSRP already has it. How rude.

We dont have much Mazda dealers here in Hawaii (3 I believe), I hope I dont get the same thing with the others or I may be forced to forego the car.

dtech114

JTek / RotorGeek

I was thinking the same thing about the SoFla RX-8 club.

We'll all have to keep in touch on this forum as we get our cars. It would be kind of kewl to drive over to Tower Shoppes on a Friday night with a group of other RX-8s and claim some additional parking spaces in the name of rotary technology, performance, and awesome looking car design!

:-D


Back on topic.....

MSRP most definitely includes a destination charge so they are just trying to take advantage of you. You can always report them to Mazda, since that is outright misrepresentation on the dealer's part. The best way to get the deal you want is to submit your order to another local dealer via the Internet so they have the exact specs and options you want, then let them know right off the bat that you can show them a printout from an RX-8 forum showing that EVERYONE else is getting the same MSRP deal across America. Last I checked, Hawaii was still the 50th state in the US.

I would venture to bet that Mazda (like Subaru had with the WRX and some other manufacturers also do), have a "gentlemen's agreement" / non-public internal mandate with their dealers, that they should NOT be trying to charge you over MSRP for this car. Mazda could "adjust" the car allocations of dealers that do not adhere to this "policy" or even cut them off completely.

This car is going to be produced in good numbers, so Mazda would be smart in keeping the price gouging under control to keep all parties involved happy. I'm sure they don't want the car getting priced out of its target market with rediculous markups and given the fact everyone here I 've seen is getting the same pricing of MSRP, it pretty much indicates that it is indeed a Mazda internal policy.

Doesn't mean dealers won't try the usual tactics of "dealer fees", "side stickers", and "dealer accessories". Those are the ones you need to look out for and take your business elsewhere if they persist in trying to fleece you once you explain to them you are not going to be taken advantage of.

RX-Nut

Amen to that.. I mean it's not like I couldnt pay the insane amount they wanted, it's just that I shouldnt have to.

Oh yes, I intend on sending word to Mazda on this. Anyone know their email address or phone? I was going to use the rx8orders@mazdausa.com address..

dtech114

That e-mail address should be perfect. That way they can redirect your order to the other dealer, and already forewarn the other dealer of your negative experience. I bet the other dealer will treat you A LOT nicer, especially if they get an e-mail from Mazda about your order and situation.

Go for it!

STi-Nut

This is one of the well known scams in the dealership world. How it works it this... They charge you the customer the additional destination charge. If you don't dispute it and pay everything, they (dealer) are more happy for it because they just made a hella lot more profit than they legitately would have. One the other hand, say you are one to negotiate and say you want $1000 bux off MSRP and the dealer agrees. Now with the tacked on destination charge, they just recouped some of their losses.

Also another trick that most dealers will try is negotiate the price before adding taxes, doc, and title fees . So while you think you are getting a good deal, they add exhorbiant amount of doc fees and such then say, those are the standard fees. (Again to recoup some lost profits. Think about it, does it really cost $175 (here in Hawaii) to file paperwork.) While I realize that the RX-8 probably is non-negotiable, just food for thought. So the solutions folks for future car purchases: Deal on the TOTAL price you wanna pay, not how much of the MSRP.

CraziFuzzy

My dealer (who was a VERY reputable one) did this, but they were actually straight with me about it, instead of saying "These are your choices"... they had 2 left in they're first allotment, so they ordered what they thought would sell easily. After i told the guy what I wanted, he offered to give me one of the January ordered ones, so I could get it earlier. I would have been okay with this, but I had no need to, since I won't be able to get my car (I'll be out of the country) until mid July anyways, so the 'early bird special' would still be available to someone who could actually get it. But i really did appreciate it... the only difference between the car I wanted and the car he had coming was that his had the Nav opeion, but they offered to call Mazda and delete it for me... Keep in mind that according to Mazda's internal ranking, this is the 2nd rated dealer in the country in terms of customer satisfaction (also the single oldest mazda dealer)...

justinm2

The "tactics" you're talking about are common to all cars, not just specialty cars.

A documentation/admin fee is going to be on any car you buy. Depending on the state regulations they can range from $59-$999+. This fee is intended to cover the cost of doing business. It costs money to pay the office staff that does all your registration paper work, the technition that inspects your car after it comes off the truck, the guy in the wash bay that washes it, the porter that puts gas in it, and yes there typically is some profit built into it, but it is very minimal. And yes (before you ask) those cost could come out of the profit made on the car, but keep in mind, with websites like edmunds, invoice dealers, stoneage, jd power, etc., on most of the new cars we sell there is very little profit and this fee is one of the things that keeps a dealers lights on. Besides how many rediculas fees do you end up paying when you buy a house. Imho this fee is very fair. (of course i am a little biased)

Addendum stickers can go one of two ways. Sometimes they are for ligitimate products (leather added, moonroof added, spoiler added, etc.) in this case it is to be expected that they add the cost of what ever they added to the car to the price. On the other hand some dealers have addendum stickers for what we call "rust and dust", or "mop and glow" these are just BS things, that they may or maynot have put on the car with huge profit margins

limited availability markups are just greedy plain and simple. don't pay these when there are countless dealers willing to sell at MSRP.

RX-Nut

With all this sly dealer tactics being said, has anyone who has already ordered their car, encountered this kind of treachery during your order process?