Edmonton Dealers - the rundown

[muchdutch]

After reading the thread regarding Park Mazda, I thought it might be a good idea to get some opinions on who has had good/bad experiences with which dealer. I will start:

**disclaimer: I haven't bought yet, but am going to be starting my serious car shopping this weekend and will repost my impressions**

Visited:
Sundance, Weber, Park

Still to see:
Autoworld Leduc, Jarman

First Impressions:
I didn't really like my first impression of Sundance, the salesman at Weber seemed quite uninformed about the Speed3 but otherwise he was nice, the salesman at Park was very approachable and easy going.

 

[MZ CX-7 AB]

My advice would be to stay away from Weber (Eriksen Mazda). You see Weber was bought out by Eriksen late last year. They have gone through some changes that have not been great, the staff don't seem to care like they did before. And with the repitation Eriksen has, well I don't see it getting better any time soon. I used to service there-not anymore.

 

[a8js]

Let me know how it goes for the various dealers.
I am planning to buy a MS3 soon and I think I will visit Weber first since it is the closest.

 

[muchdutch]

Well, I visited all of the dealers in the area. Here goes:
Sundance: the salesman from my first visit ~9 months ago still remembered me - that was a shock! He seemed to know the most about all the issues I brought up (cowl creak, suspension issues, etc.), and he had a lot of media info from a lot of sources on mazdas - seemed to be very well informed.
Jarman: didn't spend much time here, but the guy was nice. He wasn't as informed about the issues. Seemed to offer a pretty good deal though.
Weber: The guy vaguely remembered me from ~6 months ago. Wasn't as informed about the issues. Tried to convince me to go with another color because they would have to ship one in and pay for it. Relatively the same price as the others. Talked to the sales manager right away which was nice, and he was willing to deal right away, rather than try to tell me that his price was firm without anything thrown in.
Park: I only went there once and was quoted an outrageously low out the door price by a really nice salesman. But I have heard on these boards, and know a few people personally who have not had good customer service after the fact - their staff turnover is too high apparently.
Autoworld (Leduc): These guys quoted me the highest price and weren't as willing to negotiate. Seemed a bit less honest than all the others.

So that's my rundown. PM me if you would like specifics on the prices and packages I was quoted.

 

[Parad0x01]

Nice thread idea. After going to Park again and getting bulls*** again I finally decided to go to Jarman for service and their service dept is awesome, very nice guys there.

 

[03.5msprotege]

We bought our msp from Sundance late last year ('06). the sales guy told me many times over that the Used car was an alberta car. This is very important to me as other provinces use salt on the roads.

Turns out the car was from Quebec. I don't get any service done there. I mostly do my own.
I will not reccommend them to anyone as the sales/buying experience was a terrible one, but we wanted that car sooooooo.......

 

[MyZmZm]

Avoid Park Mazda - and Auto World and Auto West as well, same owners - if you can. I used to work reception there and the staff turnover is very high. Some of the salespeople (and managers, finance people, etc) are/were nice, but by and large they're pretty slick if you get my meaning. Working there, I got staff discount on any maintenance or service done in the shop; I still went to my regular mechanic or Jarman instead...

 

[muchdutch]

Interesting to get an inside scoop. I haven't heard anything about West or Autoworld, but I have heard things about Park. Good to know...

 

[livetoride]

i've had a bad experience with park and a good one. Had a water pump bearing go after they had replaced it within the year, replaced 100% Free. Shouldn't be bad now though, my brother just started in parts. can you say discount!