Well it looks like I will be leasing a Mazda RX-8 in the near future. Or at least I hope so.
You know getting information out of a car dealership is like pulling teeth. I went to the dealer nearest me and test drove the RX. They had advertised a $299/month lease in the newspaper, so I asked about it. Well the salesman was clueless. No surprise there. But they couldn’t get me anyone to talk to.
I used Edmunds for a lot of research and even asked for a quote from four dealers. I didn’t want them to call me on the phone, so I gave them a bogus phone number. Of course none of them sent me email with a quote. No that would be too easy. They did send me email saying they wanted the right phone number.
Most local dealer’s websites suck. But one of them had a special for the RX-8 that was good enough I actually called the guy. He asked a few questions and let me rant a little about the in ability of car salesmen to use email. Then he said he’d send me an email with the lease details later that night. Well we wanted to get out of the house so the whole family loaded up in the Mrs. car and went for a drive.
Just happened to go by this dealership.
We decided to stop in and check out the back seat of the car for the boys. They currently hate the back seat of my Firebird. One loved the car and the other didn’t.
Went in to meet the guy I’d talked to on the phone. Seemed like a nice Irish guy. He was busy with another family, but took time out to unlock a car for me. Given the amount of time he left them waiting I don’t think they were looking at an RX.
Anyway, he said he’d send me something late that night or first thing in the morning. Nothing. So I called this morning at 11 and talk to the fleet sales manager. I want to find out what they will give me for the Firebird. I tell them I’ll be in during my lunch hour and they can appraise the car.
On my way there I call my insurance provider, Gieco, to find out how much worse my insurance will be with a new car. Turns out is is less, which was a bit of a shock. But cool.
To make a long story shorter. The looked at my car and asked a bunch of questions that indicated to me they had run a check on it – they knew it had had body work done – but that the report wasn’t accurate. I wondered if they had gotten the right car.
Also my sales guy showed on his day off just because I was going to be there. They are closed on Saturday. So he asks me if the numbers are right if I will want to get it on Sunday, the next day he will be in. I say “If the numbers are right I’m thinking tonight.” I was nice enough to ask if that would effect him and he said it would. Which kind of sucks because I want a new car now, but it seems mean to not let him get the commission because I can’t wait 48 hours.
They had the number Edmunds had given me for trade in which was $6720, but they didn’t just agree to that. They said they’d have to call around to get me the best number. When I got back I ran Kelly Blue Book and there trade in was $5,620.
It did make a difference in payment, but would still be in the wife approved number. Of course that discussion was over 2 hours ago and I haven’t heard anything.