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Comments
Did not realize that Mazda had been issued that bulletin. I just purchased a Mercury Mariner (X-Plan) and I had assimed it was the same for the S-Plan.
Some of us don't get to pick a good one...we get a choice between bad and worse, or not buying a Mazda at all. You'd rather we go buy Focuses (Foci?) in that case?
Seriously, you sure you got the right model of tire? You sure it isn't the Proxes FZ4 or T1-S?
2004 Incentives & Rebates
Follow the link below to see Mazda S-Plan prices on 2005 models:
https://www.myplan.ford.com/Common/PDF/Mazda2005.pdf
Take the s-plan or GMS price and drive away knowing you got a great deal and it only took a few easy minutes.
The MSRP on a SP with no options is $19245 and the invoice is $18028. How does $410 above invoice ($18438) sound?
Add 6% PA sales tax and that's all she wrote. Dealer gave me $600 for trade on GEO Prizm with 168K on odometer. I thought that was fair even thought the GEO was the greatest car ever produced. How did I do? Can recomend John Kennedy
dealership in Norristown PA. No nonsense, felt they were entitiled to $250 (+/-) over invoice.
Could you guys and gals post what fees you paid and what area of the state (NO, CE, SO) the deal was made? No need for specififcs, I just want to have an idea
Thanks.
Anyone in the NY market looking for a Mazda or Subaru will have an excellent experience at this dealership.
The nav system, which I wanted, is a factory install option (important to note). I found only one on the east coast with nav that was an automatic (I live in NYC and although I love manual, wouldn't opt for it with city driving). The dealer, which had originally quoted me under 3% over invoice for non-nav said he wanted MSRP with nav since it was the only one 'coming into the area.' I found a manual with brown leather and nav and they were willing to do 3-4% over invoice. I had read somewhere that that was 'fair.'
I ended up with an automatic ($900 msrp) with safety package ($1,600 msrp) and moonroof package ($700 msrp). Adding up the options, the MSRP totaled $22,445 and the invoice on that was $20,816. I got it for $21,400 or $584 (2.8%) above invoice. Since I graduated from grad school last year (I just beat the 1 year expiration by 10 days), I got the $500 rebate and so am very happy about the price (except for the 8.625% sales tax in NYC).
Not sure if this is really true or not because I had invoice prices for the aftermarket options and thought I could negotiate these as well, but the dealer said he'd give the parts dept. his soc. sec. # and that would get me his discount on the options I wanted. I subsequently found mazda authorized parts online but some were less than what he can get for me and some were more. So I'm just going with where I get it cheaper -- they're all options I can put on/install myself.
I'll post later in the week what I did to prepare, how the negotiation went, how the dealer was and will also put my thoughts on the car in the appropriate other sections here. I found this to be a great resource in my preparation and want to give back so others can learn/benefit/enjoy...
--adam
:shades:
PS -- I am getting way more attention in this vehicle than I ever did in the '89 Volvo sedan I'd been driving forever...
Also, I went to a dealership in Troy MI and they told me that they had a $500 dollar rebate on the 3 until the end of the month?? Is this true??
What is the best price I should be able to get for a black or gray hatchback with ABS package and Moonroof package AND WITH THE S-PLAN???
The place that said they were offering the rebate came to a figure of 17600 with the S-plan and the rebate, is that good??
I saw your response to one of my posts about a used Mazda 3 price!
Did you get your 16700 price on a hatch and did you use the S-plan?
I want a Mazda 3 with MANUAL TRANS, MOONROOF PKG., AND ABS PKG.
I can get the S-plan if I would benefit from it.
How much should I expect to pay and HOW DO YOU SHOP AROUND WITH LOCATIONS NATION WIDE? Did you have any problems having a dealer near you agree to the price of a dealership out of state?? Oh, also, the last dealership I went to said they are having a $500 rebate until the end of the month, but this is not listed on Edmunds?? Is this a lie??
Thank you!!
I did see a $3,000 "market adjustment" on a Nissan Sentra SR on a local Nissan dealer's lot a couple of years ago though, so I know what you're talking about. It happens. Just vote with your feet.
Just remember that the Mazda3 is selling so well, that dealer probably knows someone will buy the car with that adjustment in place. It's sad, but hey -- welcome to capitalism.
Meade
The tired old line about charging more for the new car so they can give you more for your trade is a complete lie. Dishonest dealerships will try to use this if you are upside down on your trade (owe more on the loan that the car is worth)
But it is nothing more than a way to get you to pay more.
Do the math: (I used MSRP as an example)
MSRP $25,000
Honest trade in value $5,000
Your current loan $6,000
If you pay MSRP of $25,000 - 5,000 trade + roll over the $6,000 loan - your new loan is $26,000. You paid $20,000 after trade in plus rolled over the $6,000 loan.
If they mark up the MSRP by $2,000 so they can "help you and give you more for your trade" because you are upside down. Then your new loan will be $27,000 - $6,000 trade + roll your old loan over $6,000 = $27,000. You paid $21,000 after trade in plus rolled over the $6,000 loan.
They make you think that they are being a little bit shaddy - helping you by tricking the bank into loaning you more than MSRP & also helping you out by "paying off your old loan even though you owe more than your car is worth".
The lie will sound something like - the bank will not loan $26,000 on a car that we sell for $25,000 - but if we adjust the price up so we can give you more for your trade - then WE can pay off the loan on your trade FOR YOU - and get the bank to finance the new car. Everyone wins.
Please - does anyone think that the same bank that will NOT loan you $26,000 will loan you $27,000 for the same car?
If anyone really thinks that the dealership pays your old loan off for you - then you are past the point of me helping you understand the car business - and you should get professional help.
One other common way dealers will play this game is instead of just adding a market adjustment - they will install worthless options - like $1,200 paint protection packages - some will even tell you this is so they can get the banks to loan you more - again they are just trying to help you get into a new car. Same lie - same result - you pay more.
Meade
just to clarify, since i wanted automatic and the only dealer with an automatic and nav wanted msrp, i opted not to get that, nor the manual with the nav and brown leather (i wanted black). so i can't really comment. besides, can't say i've even experienced a lexus nav system...! :P
--adam
I saw your response to one of my posts about a used Mazda 3 price!
Did you get your 16700 price on a hatch and did you use the S-plan?
I want a Mazda 3 with MANUAL TRANS, MOONROOF PKG., AND ABS PKG.
I can get the S-plan if I would benefit from it.
How much should I expect to pay and HOW DO YOU SHOP AROUND WITH LOCATIONS NATION WIDE ON THE INTERNET? DO YOU LOOK UP EACH AND EVERY INDIVIDUAL DEALER AND EMAIL THEM? You told me you shopped prices nation wide via the internet and then took your best price to your local dealer and got a great deal- $16700 on a 3 with an automatic and more. Did you have any problems having a dealer near you agree to the price of a dealership out of state?? Oh, also, the last dealership I went to said they are having a $500 rebate until the end of the month, but this is not listed on Edmunds?? Is this a lie??
Thank you!! Oh, I saw that someone posted the S-plan pricing for 2005 on this board, but I did not see that hatchback specifically listed. Is the hatchback pricing the same as the sedan-S pricing for the S-plan? How can I find out the exact price for the hatch and with packages with the S-plan? :confuse:
Automatic
Factory leather, ABS, MR/CD, Xenon/TPMS, Red Mica
Pinstripes, step plate, VIN engraving on all windows
Final: 19,950 ("below invoice") + TTL + the critical 50 "doc fee" and the vital "dealer inventory tax" 50 = 21495. This after-tax figure was below MSRP.
They refused to budge on the doc and inventory tax fee stating they had already given me a low enough price re invoice and couldnt finesse it further.
There was a $258 charge for security code that also sprung up relating to VIN engravement on all windows but the genial sales manager with a knowing smile who was brought in to close the deal,(one of three that I was introduced to at various times - he introduced himself as "the nicest of the lot", another of his worthwhile quotes "I'm being as straight with you - - as I can ! ") took it off at the last moment when he sensed we were leaving "to think it over and come back" since I was "outside my comfort zone'. Sincere quotes are mine.
A fair amount of pressure was exerted at the finance office ( I paid cash - they refused a credit card stating the commission they had to pay the credit card company made it a bad deal for them - I wanted the miles bad) to buy an extended warranty (something like 1120 dollars plus 200 deductible per visit for a 100,000 mile warranty) but when i asked him if he thought he wasnt selling me a reliable car, he was silent long enough that I could finish writing my check and escape his indignation about my impending loss of peace of mind.
I rather enjoy the feel of the easy manual gear flips with the sport auto so even tho I am a life-long manual, we decided the sport AT would be just fine and assist with our 99% city driving habit. Hopefully the fuel consumption increment over the manual will be negligible. Handling and performance of this car is great and is easily its top virtue. Very nice turning radius as well. However, the bumps on the road seem fully transmitted and road noise is not negligible so that does detract from the overall driving experience. The interior fabric on ceiling surfaces in particular but also the cloth seat backs, seemed cheap (the demo model had a perforation already) so the factory leather added a touch of comfort and needed class to the interior. Dont stick a biro into the ceiling children ! The mats as others have noted are really cheap stuff but the optional all-weather mats they showed me in Parts seem best suited for soccer-moms, Minnesota residents or mud-park enthusiasts. I'll have to find some decent ones before the charm of a new car wears off. It would be twice as much to add after-market leather (900-1000 over 560 invoice for factory leather) and the quality increment of the after-market did not seem to be worth the bother. The factory radio system seems decent for the strong transmitter stations but I would not call it outstanding and I agree with previous posts about the confusing configuration of the controls. Havent checked out the 6-CD yet. The flip-up organizer in the hatch seems really nice for storing groceries on the plastic tray in a relatively confined space so that there will not be much rolling around. The step plate will probably see some use and it looks nice with this color. The TPMS, if it really works well ie sensitive enough to suboptimal pressures, will be a safety feature that I hope will also save me mileage on gas since I am not as fastidious as I should be about tire pressure checks and tend to run them low. This may be more value than the xenon lights.
The young salesman was enthusiastic, nervy and fresh-faced equipped with a disarmingly honest look and a confiding voice when describing how and why they could offer below invoice prices. But he was surprisingly ignorant about several fairly simple technical details - a bit irritating was his tendency to b/s about these in a stream of consciousness manner. I took an immediate liking to him as he fit my stereotype of "nascent salesman". He has been on the job a short time but how many cars does he need to study up on? Kid, if you read this post and recognize yourself (and you will), stay late and bone up a bit? I encountered that with another young guy at another dealership earlier who told me this was a Bose sound system (SP23 has it) - it is inauspiciously named Phatnoise instead. The older guys seemed to have the right answers but that is to be expected - their disadvantage is they dont look as naive.
I was told in response to a question that dealers do not get money back from Mazda as incentives for sale numbers. Who knew?
I have truly profited from reading numerous posts on Edmunds and exchanging thoughts with some on this forum in terms of helping with understanding this purchase over other contenders including a Honda Civic. I had seriously considered the leading lower-cost hybrids at one point. I was briefly interested in checking out the new Audi Hatch as it looked really nice but overall value for price was the problem.
This dealer was able to get me interested in a visit because he a) actually offered me a price on-line and b) it was more competitive than the others. At least two others did not offer a quote but kept emailing or calling in response to my Edmunds post.
I hope this description helps other buyers. .
We wanted a pretty well loaded 3s, and got an internet guy at another dealer to promise us $100 below invoice for whatever we wanted to buy. He didn't have a similarly equipped car on his lot, but could transfer one for $150. That left us inclined to explore a bit farther afield to see if the car might be on another dealer's lot, allowing us to skip the $150. We figured we could use the $100 below as a bargaining tool.
We ended up finding a car equipped right, in a color we didn't prefer, but which we could live with. It also had the auto-dim mirror and wheel locks, which weren't important to us. I explained that to the salesman in the first few minutes, (seriously figuring that since it was a nice day, we'd go for a cruise to another dealer), he went inside, came back and said he'd knock the MSRP of those features off of the invoice. This was attention-getting, as it left us $270 below invoice, and, as he put it, he was going into his dealer hold-back.
Bottom-line deal: $270 below invoice, plus "Charlotte Assessment Fee" of $172 (I figure this was an advertising mark-up, he "didn't know", and it was on his invoice, forgot to verify with another dealer), plus 3% tax (woo-hoo!), plus $65 for new plate, plus $299 paperwork fee.
As far as I was concerned the price plus the "Assessment Fee" totalled about $40 less than the invoice of a car equipped the way we wanted, but yet we were getting the wheel locks and fancy mirror. So I was satisfied.
Well, I called the other internet salesman, he said he'd charge me $55 for new plate, but $349 for paperwork, a net cost of $40 over the dealer I was already at. So we went for it. Paperwork cost may be a scam, the one place they make profit, but it looked like I couldn't avoid it around here.
We also got a recent grad discount of $500 for my well-educated wife (good thing we got something out of all those tuition payments!), which we could only get if we bought out of dealer stock . . . so we wouldn't have gotten that if we had done the dealer locate, another reason to take the deal in front of us.
I can't really figure what the salesman got out of it . . . unless he was trying to clear inventory. It was one of only three Mazda3 sedans on the lot, maybe they were about to get more? They had about 12 or 14 Mazda3 Hatchbacks, so I dunno. The only thing I can figure is they make all the profit with the paperwork fee.
We left it there on Saturday so they could pay for and get it inspected for North Carolina (A deal-breaker, believe it or not, if they hadn't done it), and so they could detail it. Picked it up last night (monday), and went cruising. Really happy with our choice!
Meade
I am also looking at the Toyota Corolla as it is much cheaper ($14,500 OTD).
Thanks!!!
The color of choice (for her, and I agreed) would have been the shark-like grey, but the red is acceptable. I grew to like red more after I bought a used Integra of that color. Of course, my fav is the bright blue, but since I got my truck that way, there was no chance she was going to let us have two matching color vehicles (plus it's not her preference).
BTW, thinking of how the color is going to make me more worried about official attention . . . I recently passed a guy in a Porsche going about 5 mph below the speed limit on the Interstate. Poor guy, I figure he was worried about attracting cops if he went too fast. Tho' he could have just been cruising.
Oh, other sale related item: apparently Mazda had a deal where they gave a buyer $1000 for financing through Mazda, though with rates about 2 or 3 percent above the market rate. We were going to do it, then replace the loan or pay it off, but at the last minute they realized it was available for every car BUT the MZ3. Figures. Of course, we didn't know about it going in, so: easy come, easy go, but it would have been nice and was a bit frustrating.
P.S. Meade: since you read all these boards, I trust the you've figured out that we live in Charlotte.
Funny, I test-drove a Winning Blue Mazda3 back in December 2003, and then, when I decided to buy one in April 2005, I started the paperwork on a Winning Blue one -- I was that sold on the color. But just to be fair, knowing I'd be driving this car for several years, I asked my sales manager what other color Mazda3S wagons he had on the lot optioned equivalently for the same (or close) price -- and he had a Lava Orange (aka "Screaming Pumpkin") and Velocity Red.
I'd looked at the red before, but from a distance. When I walked up to the red one, which was sitting in full sun, the sparkle in the paint caught my eye immediately. My wife used to have a red car, but like most red cars, it was flat red. This shimmering red was just gorgeous. I immediately went back inside and changed everything over to the red car. In seven weeks I have not regretted my decision once, even though I think Mazda is trying to shame me by featuring the blue one in its commercials and on the cover of my owner's manual!!!
I did disprove one myth about red cars though, David -- my insurance went DOWN going from a dark-green (Emerald Mica) 2000 Protege to a Velocity Red 2005 Mazda3S.
Meade
While some things are very difficult to get reduced - (like destination charges and sales tax) - things like a $400 dealer charge are ripe for negotiation / elimination.
It really depends on the overall deal - if you are getting a car below EDMUNDS invoice - maybe paying a $400 charge is OK - (but still try and get it reduced or eliminated!)
If your final price (including the dealer charge) is $300 over Edmunds invoice - why care about the charge. But if this is on top of a fair price then it is clearly a rip off.
Expect to hear something like - this is a STANDARD FEE we MUST charge ALL customers or this fee is PART OF THE INVOICE price. Both lies.
The real deal breaker for me is when - after the price has been negotiated - and you are at closing looking over the paperwork they just add some extra charges like $400 dealer fees - that burns me up.
Anyways, I looked there and i also had a young "new" salesman who tended to ramble on about anything other than the details of the car and i often felt like i knew more about the car than he did. I was interested in one S w/ aftermarket leather so we went into the negotiating stage and i wrote a check and showed him how much i wanted to pay. Needless to say, the Manager was brought in who was a very pushy and smooth talker who used the most classic weasely sales comments. So I got up and left.
Of course the manager calls me later and wants to talk. I went back to the dealer and while looking over the car again i noticed it was a 2004 model!!!! What the heck! I told them i only wanted 2005 models. I am glad that [non-permissible content removed] declined my check b/c i would have been irrate to get suckered like that.
Anyways i finally got my mazda 3s at joe myers.
Well, the Mazda6 has a $1000 customer rebate and a $1500 manufacturer to dealer rebate. Thus in reailty a $2500 rebate to the customer.
Invoice price for a Mazda6i automatic with the $2500 rebate is $16300. And you can probably get them to give you some (if not all) of the 2% dealer holdback. And/or knock off the advertising fee. So $16100 is definitely possible.
- Mazda6's are made in USA, Mazda3's are made in Japan and imported to USA. Thus Mazda3's have higher reliabilty.
- Mazda3i has a 2.0L engine, which gives great gas milage (34mpg hwy). Mazda6i uses the same engine (2.3L) as a Mazda3s, thus gas milage is not as good (28mpg hwy).
So the question is:
Would you choose a Mazda6i over a Mazda3i if both were the same price?
Meade
Our choice will probaly come down to the 3 and the Corolla LE after all is said and done. The BMW 323 and the Volvo S40 are also under consideration, though they are in a different class, just their size makes them a contender for the wife, as she wants to downsize from midsize to a compact car. But I would rather keep the price around the 15k - 17k range. Between the 323 and the S40, I really prefer the S40, but since the car will be hers, she has to make the final decision. The safety factor will probaly give the Volvo the lead, but the visibility factor from the drivers seat will probaly be her main concern. After 2 Camrys and the last generation Altima, she definitely wants that size or a bit smaller and all 4 cars are very close in almost all dimensions, inside and out. It'll be like a comfortable pair of shoes, she'll know which one she wants pretty quick after the test drives.
Hopefully, we will have one of the contenders in the garage between the Thanksgiving and New Years time frame. It's a great time to buy a car, and as I prefer a '06 model, they will be out by then. Now to get her to test drive all these cars back to back or within a couple of days, as she will know right away after an extended test drive in each of the vehicles. This worked back in 2000 when we were going through the same predicament with her new car purchase. We drove the 3 contenders within a 6 hour time frame. But this time, out teenagers will have more of a say, as they are all driving now. One of the girls and the boy want a "cool" car, and the oldest just wants one that's easy to drive like dad's Sentra.
Should be an interesting few days once we get underway. Once she's ready to buy, we usually get the whole process done within a 2 week time frame.
Wish me luck!
The Sandman