It can’t always be just about the dollars, can it? There’s price shopping and value shopping. Last time we needed a mortgage we shopped a little bit, and finally the agent/banker who wrote our last 2 mortgages said “Who do you want to be servicing your loan? The company who has given you good service for the last 15 years and the people you know, or some internet agency you don’t know?” That answered the question for me.
Last car loan I signed I just used the dealership financing because the rate was so close to my own bank it wasn’t worth the trouble to make a separate trip anywhere. Just sign here and go.
I felt I owed an update. If you can believe it, after all this, I ended up going back to the dealer and bought the car. It was one of the only ones available in my area in my budget, and the price was too good to not give it a second (well, first) look. I did bring my dad this time and we spoke to a different salesman - no way the first guy was getting the commission. He was much nicer, apologized for the last guy, and immediately took us on a test drive. I fell in love with the car and the rest is history. I still think the first guy was a jerk, but I’m glad I turned the other cheek and went back!
Tomorrow I’m off to the mechanic to get the oil changed (there’s no sticker so I have no idea when it was done last) and I’ll have them check/top off the other vital fluids as well I suppose. Anything else I should ask them to do? It didn’t come with a key fob but supposedly they’re easy to self-program so I got a new one coming in the mail. I’m really excited about this car!
Nice; and you got what you wanted so everything else is water under the bridge now. If the original salesman has an attitude it’s also possible his career there is under the bridge also.
Many of them have sales careers equal to the lifespan of a housefly.
Change the engine oil regularly both as to miles and time, change the transmission fluid every 30k miles, and service the other fluids as required. Take care of it and it will take care of you. Many car problems are self-inflicted so a little care goes a long way.
For what it’s worth, I think Mazdas are pretty decent cars. I worked for a multi-line dealer and while I was not a Mazda mechanic except on a random basis due to overflow, I was around them quite a bit.
A friend/co-worker handled most of the Mazda service and from what I saw their ratio of warranty complaints was small compared to other brands.
