Dealer experience?

[Melenium]

Hey everyone,
I\\\'ve been lurking for quite some time now and have been drooling over the thought of getting a Mazda3 for the last few months but just haven\\\'t really gotten around to it. Anyway, I\\\'ve done some haggling, and it seems that the best deal over the phone that I could get was over at Scarboro Mazda. Does anyone have any comments about their experience there?

Thanks, and hopefully I\\\'ll be seeing some of you at a meet in the future :)
Ciao!

[civiclad]

My car was purchased from Scarboro Mazda via Parkway Honda (long story). Other than that, I have had no experience dealing with Scarboro Mazda.

I have heard good things about Avante Mazda, you may want to give them a call.

[Dr Butcher]

I haven\'t really heard anything good about Scarboro Mazda, apparently head office has had quite a few complaints about their service department, along with Morningside Mazda. I went there last year with my g/f looking for a used Protege and they had a couple back from lease. We went in to see them and they guys didn\'t really seem interested in talking to us. Most likely because the cars were back from leases from Mazda Canada and were going back to a depot if there was no interest in them.

I dealt with Gyro and they did a great job. Check out Avante as stated earlier, if you go in and talk to someone in person you may get a better deal.

[Michaelsoft]

I agree, check out Avante, they seem to have the best customer service. Forget about Scarboro or for that matter Morningside Mazda dealerships. Lets face it these dealerships are in the getto and getto service is what you get. I went for an oil change at Morningside and it took them 2hrs. Oh did I mention mine was the only car there? I was so glad nothing was wrong when I finally got it back.

[Melenium]

Thanks for all the responses, and keep them coming :)

I\'d just be purchasing it at Scarboro and would definately take it to Avante for service (since they are much closer).. would there be a problem with this?

[bluntman]

There\'s no problem bringing your car a dealership other than from where you originally purchased the vehicle. Just bring in your ownership the first time go to the Service Desk because they\'ll need the VIN to enter it into their computer system.

[RedRaptor]

I bought my car from Brampton Mazda but since I live in North York, I too will be bringing my car to Avante Mazda (Toronto) for servicing. I talked to my buddy that works at the parts department at Avante Mazda (Richmond Hill) and he says its no problem at all and your car wouldn\'t be treated differently because you bought it elsewhere.

[billyfo]

cause service and maintainance are making more $ than selling cars.:D

I bought mine at Prima and service at Avante RH and had no problem so far

[///M]

I got mine from Prima too. Who did you deal with?

[billyfo]

I forgot her name, actually she didn\'t work at Prima anymore when I had my car, she is a friend of my bro-in-law, and she was very helpful, although I only get I think $200 off the price, but she still got me an Xbox deal after the deadline.

[MazdaTree]

i also got mine at prima mazda i really liked there service
my dad bought his tribute at brampton mazda and the dealer didnt even wanna give us a deal so we went to prima fouad akef was our salesman he gave us a good deal and everything.

[ZOOM ON 3]

I bought my car from Avante (Richmond Hill) location. Nothing but praise for them.:)

[midnightfxgt]

I would check out Morningside. Everyone seems to think they have a bad rep, but I had a decent experience. I got $1000 off the sticker price, and $600 grad rebate. Which I think is one of the best deals anyone on this board has got. I took it their for my 8000KM thing, and they did an oil change and TSB regarding the rear end \"clunk\" with passenger, and were done in half an hour, and no more \"clunk\"! :)

~JOHN

[teambedlam]

Originally posted by midnightfxgt TSB regarding the rear end \"clunk\" with passenger, and were done in half an hour, and no more \"clunk\"! :) ~JOHN

huh? there\'s a TSB for that. what exactly is the problem. I have heard a clunl like that from the rear passenger side when i have passengers there.

[Dr Butcher]

Originally posted by midnightfxgt


I would check out Morningside. Everyone seems to think they have a bad rep, but I had a decent experience. I got $1000 off the sticker price, and $600 grad rebate. Which I think is one of the best deals anyone on this board has got. I took it their for my 8000KM thing, and they did an oil change and TSB regarding the rear end \"clunk\" with passenger, and were done in half an hour, and no more \"clunk\"! :)

~JOHN

Just wait until your car is off warranty, right now they\'re loving having you come in for warranty work, they bill everything back to Mazda. Once you have to pay for everything yourself you\'ll understand why they\'re a bunch of hacks.

When I originally bought my truck from them, I had a great experience. When I looked at the 3, I had the same salseman you bought your car from. He must have thought I was a sucker. He low balled my trade (which I tripled at Gyro). He told me I could have the car I wanted right away which I knew was BS because it still took 3 weeks having strings pulled at head office. He wouldn\'t move on the price of the car, and when I started to walk out he tried to pressure me into buying the car with no money down. Pathetic. :sarc

[midnightfxgt]

The TSB is for HBs only that when you have passengers in the back and go over a bump/dip in the road you will hear a clunk or kinda a scrape. Its a small plastic piece in the wheel well that they remove.

Butcher, I dont intend on taking the car their for all my service as Avante seems to be the best. But as far as an oil change and fixing a problem in half an hour, I dont see that as bad. As for buying the car there, what other dealership would give me $1600 in total?! Not many at all, I can tell you that. Avante, Markham, Whitby, Ajax and a couple others could not touch that price. Granted Joseph is a tool, I delt with the manager Neil for 90% of my sale.

~JOHN

[Dr Butcher]

No worries man, reading back I should have added in a few smileys. I think I came off sounding like a prick. :D

Maybe I\'ve just had bad luck with them. If anyone wants to give tham a shot, do so by all means. Just get back to us if they do a good job. :)

It\'s too bad I\'ve had such bad luck with them, I work about 2 minutes from them and drive by the dealership up Conlins every day....

[midnightfxgt]

no problem man! thats what the forum is here for, to post experiences. And just based on everyone elses, I am going to Avant for anything big :) I needed the 8000KM service and they had an opening. I told them to shove the 8000KM check up for $100, and simply change the oil. I can check my own fluids LOL! Oh and this sucked, I asked how much to rotate tires, and they said $49.99!!! WTF!! A tire shop will do it for $10 cash lol.

~JOHN

[Dr Butcher]

Oh yeah, I forgot one time I took the truck in because it had a leak in the rear tire. The guy phoned me and said it was because I had a big screw in it. I got it back and they charged me $25 plus tax to plug it. Pretty much any tire shop will do the same thing for $10 cash. That\'s my fault though, I should have known better. :D

The things we do for convenience.....

[Xenon]

I hope Erin Mills Mazda Burns to the ground... except the parts department, I need a new bumper...


Does that answer the thread\'s question?

[///M]

Oh btw...parts and service at Avante are great but the sales dept is HORRIBLE. They refused to let me test drive the 3 there at first and thought I was 16 (I\'m 19) after miscalculating my age after seeing my license. After I told them that I was 19 they reluctantly let me test drive.

[Melenium]

Originally posted by autoexe


Oh btw...parts and service at Avante are great but the sales dept is HORRIBLE. They refused to let me test drive the 3 there at first and thought I was 16 (I\'m 19) after miscalculating my age after seeing my license. After I told them that I was 19 they reluctantly let me test drive.

Interesting. I actually wasn\'t too impressed by Avante\'s sales people either. Avante north let me and my buddy take the Mazda3 out for a spin by ourselves for about 45 mins, but then he really tried to pressure me into buying and when I said \"not today\", he lectured to me for another 10 minutes why when I do buy, I _must_ get it from him. He also made it clear that they are firm on the price.

Went to Avante Toronto a few days later and after being ignored for about half an hour, spoke to someone and they let me and another buddy take out the Sport for about half an hour by ourselves. He was very low key when we got back, but made it absolutely clear he wasn\'t going to drop the price at all.

Went back to Avante north a few weeks later to try out the GT and this time another guy came along for the ride, but sat very quietly in the back. When we got back he made a few remarks saying that if I wanted one I should order it _now_.

Yesterday I went into Scarboro and placed the order. Was dealt with very nicely and I was overall pleased with the initial transaction. I reserve my judgement though until I actually get the car though. :)

[midnightfxgt]

I refered a guy from work to Avante for a MZ6, and he had to go with his wife and 2 kids. they were there about 30mins and were not helped, even when the sales people were doing nothing. An attractive woman walked in and about 2-3 salespeople walked over. They left and wont be going back! LOL. Funny how these people dont want to help out, they make good money on the sale

~JOHN

[Melenium]

Originally posted by midnightfxgt

I refered a guy from work to Avante for a MZ6, and he had to go with his wife and 2 kids. they were there about 30mins and were not helped, even when the sales people were doing nothing. An attractive woman walked in and about 2-3 salespeople walked over. They left and wont be going back! LOL. Funny how these people dont want to help out, they make good money on the sale

Doesn\'t surprise me. Seems Avante\'s reputation really is when it comes to service...

[billyfo]

back to Aug, I got oil changed at Avante RH, too early for sales for their jobs (I went at 7:30am), it took me 2hrs for oil change and reset the airbag light:( , I didn\'t know if it need to take this long.

around 9, sales started to come back, but they didn\'t like to talk to others just jogging at the office. when I had serviced my previous Hondas at dealership, sales seem always came to me and asked if I needed help.

[wongpres]

Interesting that not many people talk about Westowne here. I got my car there - from Niki actually (the Westowne contact for the forum discount).

If you have a CAA membership, Westowne will give you a discount that is pretty much equivalent to X-plan price.

Having dealt with virtually all the dealerships in the GTA, I would rank Westowne one of the best overall for sales. Some dealerships, which I will not name, may give you a better number, but if you check out their inventory, you\'ll notice that all their cars have things like window etching and you may be forced to buy it (some dealers are simply very shady).

And the trick I use is to call ahead and make an appointment before visiting a dealership. This applies to both sales and service (while many people do this for service, most do not for sales). By making an appointment, not only will they treat you more seriously, but the good sales-people would have prepared the necessary brochures & pricing sheets to save both parties time. They may even make sure a comparable test-drive vehicle would be available when I arrived (both Westowne and Avante did this for me).

I\'ve done this call ahead at both Avante\'s and my reception was great. However, I would agree that they are pretty firm on price.

As for service, both Avante and Westowne are very good.

[Kci]

After reading that the service was good at Avante, I went there with the intention of picking one up that day. But the salesmen ignored me. I even went to the receptionist and she called for a salesman, but after 45 minutes nobody came. I got pissed and picked up a 3 that day at Markham Mazda. Oh well, no hard feelings, I guess the salepeople at Avante were too busy.