by Throwaway66786878787
Recently bought a car from Mazda dealership. I’m usually very careful to avoid common car buying pitfalls. But I came across a new one recently. So figured I’d share so others can watch out..
So I worked out a decent price for a car at a Mazda dealership and was ready to pay cash. They sent me off to parts department to add accessories such as cargo mat, ceramic coating, clear bras, all weather floor mats, splash guards, etc.
The parts catalog was allegedly from the manufacturer so I had no reason to question the integrity of their price. So we add a bunch of accessories. Cost out the parts, labor, tax.. pay for it and go on our way.
Later when I got home, I went to manufacturer site to read up on accessories/parts and realized something odd. The parts price (before labor and tax) were all 15+% higher than price posted on mazdausa.com (manufacturer) website. The dealer was charging 15+% markup over msrp for common parts I can order directly from Mazda at msrp. This adds up when you’re adding thousand+ in accessories/parts.
TLDR: Always check manufacturer price against dealer price for common parts / accessories. If dealer price is higher than msrp ask them to charge list price. Often times they’ll lower the price to msrp/list price because you can get it at list price from the manufacturer. Better yet, don’t buy the parts from that dealer.
Disclaimer: This is a guest post and it doesn’t necessarily represent the views of IWB.