MSpeed68 said:
Well I am going to have to go out of Wichita to get one for sure. I cant deal with my dealer here, they are punks. Looks like I will go to KC or OK...
Often on limited production cars you might have to travel to purchase one for two reasons. One the color and options you want and two, to stay away from crappy dealers. I went almost 100 miles out of my way to purchase my MS3 and it was well worth it because my two local dealers were, not worth mentioning. I would have purchased from the one but there service department is to shaddy for me and I'll just leave it at that.
This is what I did and also recommend you do as well. Unless you plan to pay cash or finance with Mazda, obtain your own pre-approved financing. Then go on the Mazdausa Website and research the dealers in your area that are certified Speed dealers. Make some calls and tell them what youre looking for in color and options. If you want to tell them youre pre-approved, obviously without telling them for how much, that tends to get them going as well. I had three dealers attempting to obtain my business and I had no problem telling them what other dealers I had spoken to either. It's the whole "squeaky wheel gets the grease" mentality. Well I quickly eliminated one dealer because of how fast they turned into idiots. The other two dealers were great, one wanted to give me a super deal, but not the color I wanted and the dealer I ultimately went with, went out of there way to get me the color and all the options I wanted etc. etc. Once we bargained down the price and yes you can bargain down the price on these cars so dont let anyone tell you, you cant. I paid well below MSRP. You have to know how to buy a car and the first thing is they are trying to sell you there car, not you trying to buy theres. Thats how you should always treat it. I have walked out many times and went elsewhere, but I also always got the deal I was looking for as well. On my MS3, I paid what most pay for a Sport model and I have a GT with Navigation, Auto-mirror with home-link and wheel locks. To sweeten the deal because I was driving out of my way, they through in a 100,000 mile warranty, and took an additional $500 off the original bottom line price. The cool thing is I didnt know they were doing that until I showed up. So Im there and they walk me out back and there the MS3 was still sitting in the plastic with 2 miles on it. It took less than two hours to complete the paperwork and drive off with the car and most of the time was waiting for them to remove the plastic and detail the car.
The biggest thing to take away from this is, be firm on what you want but also be patient, professional and tactful about it as well. Many times people get impatient and they wind up getting one that is not the color or options they wanted or better yet, pay way more than they should have. Lastly, if a dealer has some sort of Limited Mark-up on the MS3 STAY AWAY!!! That is not a Mazda thing that is the dealer themselves ripping people off.
Best of luck and I hope to see you back here soon with pictures of your new MS3
