Mazda's Cars Are Good But Its Dealers Are Still Kind of Awful

A comment like this is totally misleading because of the generalization that ALL MAZDA dealers are not good. That misleading statement can refer to almost any manufacture. My MAZDA dealer in Fort Myers, FL has been excellent with the two MAZDAs I bought from them. Ed

More truth! Generalizations are just that, and they don't apply to ALL.

That said, maybe car dealers in general are [fill in the blank/"stealers"], but Mazda is probably no worse than any other brand [except the ones that serve champagne and caviar in the waiting room].
 
My dealer is good to me. For context, my Family has purchased 3 CX-5s and 3-hatches from them since 2013.

When I took my Mazda in for CarPlay and services, I watched them take out my air filter and show it to me. I hadnt changed it since we got it....it was filthy

I live in a military town with 5 installations. Lots of disposable income here. I think they do well. Turnover is low; same salesman every time. He even offered to go to the accident site when my son had an accident in his 3 while I was living in Germany. We are social media friends and we chatted online while I was in Germany, now I just drop by and we BS when he has time.

I suppose everyone has different experiences. [emoji2369]
 
Funny about the timing of this article because just last week I was thinking about going back to Acura/Honda due to me not liking the experience at the Mazda dealerships. Now, at least I know I am not the only one who is not impressed.
 
I think that is company culture more than it is service people in general. Again as a technician who works at a dealership, if a customer brought me a TSB that dealt with an issue I had already supposedly "fixed" on their car, I would be extremely embarrassed. And the service manager would be embarrassed for me, and he wouldn't be very happy with me. That customer would probably be getting VIP treatment to make up for it.
Agreed. When I brought my CX-5 in with 10 issues in final week before my new car warranty expired, the service advisor of my Mazda dealer was glad to see 3 TSB's I presented to him which saved his time finding the document. I see no issues showing the TSBs to my Mazda dealer.
 
Agreed. When I brought my CX-5 in with 10 issues in final week before my new car warranty expired, the service advisor of my Mazda dealer was glad to see 3 TSB's I presented to him which saved his time finding the document. I see no issues showing the TSBs to my Mazda dealer.
This is way more anal than I am I suppose, but retrospectively I wish I had been more engaged with my vehicle and TSBs before my warranty was up. There's a couple I'd definitely want done now.

And I also see no problem with presenting a TSB. Why should they get all offended over it? Should make the job that much easier to diagnose.
 
The dealer I bought my CX-5 was fantastic. Never pulled any of this kinda crap. They were an honest, family owned dealership.

Then they sold off to a dealer group that took away our free oil changes and then proceeded to keep me there waiting for 3 freaking hours for an oil change. It was after this that I decided to learn how to change my own oil.

The other dealer group near me that has a Mazda dealership is fast on the service, but they were not very friendly when I was shopping around, and someone I know who bought a used CPO CX-5 from them has had nothing but issues immediately after buying it. They're so called "inspection" must have been a lie. Infotainment issues, and a yellow wrench that wouldn't go away like a couple days after she bought it.

That sucks. When I traded my CX5 in to the dealer, with 106K miles on it, I later went by and asked what all they fixed. it was EVERYTHING. Right down to replacing the belts t o make sure the new owner didn't have a belt break on them, the VERY MINORLY leaking valve cover gasket (really just a sugar-cookie film on it, not even a leak in the normal sense).
 
Honestly, has anybody been to a dealer that is good? My Honda's have always sucked as have my Subaru's and Toyota's. Every visit used to cost me $500. Even with our Odyssey they were asking for $2000-$3000 for various things. My Mazda dealer experience has been 1000x better than any other experience.

I would also argue that the article really highlights what Mazda's customer base was: low end buyers who were buying the car because it was the cheapest thing around. In that way, I would bet that the dealer experience is similar to Nissan.
 
Last edited:
I didn't show up with a TSB in hand until after I gave them two chances to fix the car themselves, which they failed to do. The service manager (not an advisor) was completely unaware the TSB even existed until I gave him a printed copy. I don't think expecting the car to work the way it should after spending $25k on it at the same dealership is acting like a cheap pain in the ass. I also think bringing the car back 3 times for the same issue that was addressed in an existing TSB is some bulls***.

And I work at a dealership. I get both sides. I'm a technician for Ford, have been for 5 years. It's the dealership's job to keep the customer happy, not the other way around. The customer is the one paying, and the have already bought a vehicle, so they have already invested a significant amount of money into the brand/dealership. It's not like they haven't spent any money.
It's particularly annoying then when you tell them there is TSB and they argue that there isn't. It still boggles my mind why I have to go into a "Gold Cup" rated dealership and even tell them there is a TSB. You would think that is something that is automatically checked.
 
Our local Mazda dealer is part of a mega Hyundai, KIA Acura store. Te Mazda store is almost an afterthought. We went in with the intention to purchase 2 CX-5s. Besides a lousy price, the wanted to charge a "fee" of 899.00 EACH, for the privilege of buying cars from them. We drove an hour to Sport Mazda in Orlando, which turned out to be a great buying experience. No tricks..great price...No Fee. some dealers are professional, others live in 1970.
 
I had a TSB performed (without my knowledge) while taking my car in for oil change. They advised it was performed and documented on my service receipt.

Fact is if that service advisor is familiar with a known TSB (either through trending complaints or perhaps an email from corporate) they will perform it. Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't TSBs' are more service money for them? They benefit from that and from a more happier customer.
 
Honestly, has anybody been to a dealer that is good? My Honda's have always sucked as have my Subaru's and Toyota's. Every visit used to cost me $500. Even with our Odyssey they were asking for $2000-$3000 for various things. My Mazda dealer experience has been 1000x better than any other experience.

My Mazda dealership experience has been excellent. It was great in Alberta, and is great in Manitoba. The one time I had to bring my Lexus in for a recall, my experience was great as well. And whenever my wife brought her Civic into the Honda dealership for service (oil changes mostly), they treated both of us well. Maybe we've just been lucky.
 
I had a TSB performed (without my knowledge) while taking my car in for oil change. They advised it was performed and documented on my service receipt. They installed updated door sills of some sort on my Mazda6 to replace ones with sharp edges they could cut your skin.

Fact is if that service advisor is familiar with a known TSB (either through trending complaints or perhaps an email from corporate) they will perform it. Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't TSBs' are more service money for them? They benefit from that and from a more happier customer.
 
Last edited:
Here in the SF Bay Area I expect service all service providing companies and individuals to provide weak, substandard service. Whether that be a restaurant, clothing store, bank, or car dealer, if one goes in expecting the worst he/she is not disappointed if service proves to be decent or better.
 
Last edited:
If we could buy cars online, like we do other products, this would not even be a problem. Of course, the chances of that happening anytime soon is pretty low. So we just have to deal with the dealerships.

As others have stated, customer service is dependent on the people working at the dealership. I get good customer service at the Mazda dealership I take my Mazdas too. They are not perfect but they treat me and my wife like VIPs. They also started a new thing, where they record a video while the tech is inspecting various parts of the car. They then send the video as a link via text message. This is how they showed me the issue with the hydraulic piston/timing belt on my CX-5. It is also how they showed that my sisters 2010 Mazda3 (previously my car) has a leaking passenger side mount at 126K miles.

The Vandergriff Honda dealership that my dad took his Accord to is pretty crazy. While my dad was there, waiting for them to figure out why one of the tires on his Accord always triggers the low tire pressure warning, a service advisor, not even a salesman, a service advisor, was trying to get him to test drive the new CR-V. Like what the hell kind of service department is that LOL. My dad is there to get his car fixed, not to test drive new cars.
 
I had a TSB performed (without my knowledge) while taking my car in for oil change. They advised it was performed and documented on my service receipt. They installed updated door sills of some sort on my Mazda6 to replace ones with sharp edges they could cut your skin.

Fact is if that service advisor is familiar with a known TSB (either through trending complaints or perhaps an email from corporate) they will perform it. Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't TSBs' are more service money for them? They benefit from that and from a more happier customer.

You are exactly right. I have had this done as well, and it makes no sense for any dealer to want to avoid TSBs.
 
They also started a new thing, where they record a video while the tech is inspecting various parts of the car.

This is brilliant. Hope it spreads throughout the industry. Should generate new legitimate repairs while raising the customers' confidence in the service dept.
 
This is brilliant. Hope it spreads throughout the industry. Should generate new legitimate repairs while raising the customers' confidence in the service dept.

My dealer has been doing this for over a year now, but it's hit or miss. It looks like it's up to the tech, sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't, depends on what they're doing.
 
What I've noticed at the dealer service departments is the replacement of the front line service advisors with people that know very little about the vehicles being brought in for service. They're probably doing this to save money. Last time I had my vehicle in for service I asked the advisor about getting the tranny fluid changed. She looked at me with wide eyes and said we can't change the fluid. I asked her if she was sure, she went in the back, returned and said yeah we can do that.

Doubt she would of know what a TSB was.
 
Back