insider said:
So how is anything you just said relate to trying to milk Mazda for free stuff.
Not to open a huge argument here, but in my mind they're all part of the same mentality. Hypothetically, if I decide to ask for compensation for loss-of-use of my Mazda5 (that I paid good money for), it would stem from the feeling that I'm not getting the best deal. In other words, I paid for a nice new car and I'm driving around an older, smaller loaner for a month....not what I expected when I bought the Mazda5. If I had known I wouldn't be able to use my Mazda5 for a month, I would've tried to negotiate a lower price when I bought it...so, to me, somehow this recall has made the car worth less to me (at the moment only, because once I have my Mazda5 back the inconvenience is gone). The hope of compensation stems from the feeling that I'm somehow being inconvenienced compared to the expectation that I had when I bought it (the expectation being that I'd be able to drive around in my brand new car).
When haggling for the best price on a new car, I've got the same mentality...i.e., I don't want to pay more than the car is worth to me, and I don't want to do worse than the "expected" price...in this case, my expectation in price is based on other people's experiences, such as Edmunds' TMV. So, that's why I compared asking for compensation to haggling for a new car.
Anyways, all that being said, I DO think that Mazda is handling the recall well. I'm glad that they're fixing the Mazda5s so that the fire hazard is removed. Part of me wishes that nobody ever drove incorrectly, so that the "defect" was never found, but I know that (in reality) mistakes while driving happen all the time, so I'm glad Mazda's stepping up and fixing the problem. I'm also very happy with their loaner-car program...no complaints there.
I've got no major complaints, and I'm not unhappy, so I don't EXPECT any compensation from Mazda. I'll be satisfied if they don't compensate any of us...in my mind, giving us loaners is good enough to make me think positively about Mazda. But, I'm not against asking for compensation...Mazda may decide on compensation if they want to keep their customers as happy as possible. It's not like an extra $100 in accessories for each Mazda5 owner is going to take a big bite out of Mazda's Net profits of 330 million a year (FY 2004). I really don't think that anyone should have been attacked for thinking about asking for compensation (that's why I posted in the first place).
Whew, hope that made sense...