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Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences Mazda3 Prices Paid and Buying Experience
3654 messages, Last post on Sep 04, 2008 at 7:37 AM
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Wife and I just bought a MZ3 s sedan for her. We live in the Charlotte area, and feel we got a good deal from Team Mazda in Rock Hill, SC. You can be the judge: 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! |
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Congratulations, David! You left out the most important detail of the sale: what colour? 
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| Red 2005 5-door w/ man. trans., ABS/side airbags, moonroof, cd changer: MSRP is 19355 less s-plan discount of 1356. Is this a decent deal? | |
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Nice car! I have a six-week old Velocity Red manual 5-door myself! Meade |
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I am looking for a Mazda3 automatic with AC - just a basic car. I want to know what is the BEST price for one. I have been quoted $15,000 +tax & title = $16,000. I am a student and hence poor, but in love with this car, and want to know the best deal for it. I am also looking at the Toyota Corolla as it is much cheaper ($14,500 OTD). Thanks!!! |
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Replying to: autonomous (May 18, 2005 6:03 am) 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. |
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My best friend from high school (here in Richmond) lives in Charlotte with his family. And his name is David. I get down there every year or so; next time I plan a trip I'll have to get in touch with you! (Do you ever get up my way?) 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
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| picked up my SP23 hatch a week ago...only option was the security package. MSRP was $20,800; paid $19,900. I tell you what, this is a lot of car for the money. | |
| I am in the process of buying a Mazda3. I have been quoted fair prices for the car, I believe but they want a $400 dealer charge. Is this legitimate? Can it be negotiated or waived? What are the chances of that? | |
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EVERYTHING IS NEGOTIABLE. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. 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. |
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