Deceiving Smiles

The car time line and a little Nelson Mazda review from me.

• Friday 4/9/10: We went to Nelson Mazda and test drove a Mazda5. Not bad (besides having the windows down in the back). We talked with the salesman and said we'd think about it some.
• Saturday 4/10/10: After too many hours at the Mazda dealer talking with the salesman and with a finance guy, we were told about 5% interest, then actually given 5.49% so we were gonna walk out (about 11:30 pm now). But that made them lower it to 5%. Even though it was only about 4-5$ per month difference in payments, it is the principle. We were told it would be close to 5%, maybe +/- .2%. But 5.49% was not close. So we signed the papers and spent just under 19K for a 2010 Mazda5. We are getting a blue one, so they are driving it in from Norman, OK. Also, the salesman said he'd get us a cargo net for no charge.
  
• Tuesday 4/13/10: Call from the salesman, the drivers are running late and the car won't be in until late Tuesday night. He'd rather not rush it, so we decide to wait until Wednesday to get it.
• Wednesday 4/14/10: Call from the salesman. The car has a 1.5" scratch on the passenger sliding door. They are going to get it professionally fixed and it should be ready on Friday.
• Friday 4/16/10: No call, but we go in after work. The scratch is completely gone and the outside of the car looks great. However, the inside is dirty. In some places (like the 2nd row passenger side seat), it's completely filthy. I mean, excessively dirty, even for a used car. And this one is brand new! So, they are going to clean it and then the salesman will drive it to us Saturday morning. Oh, and it has 189 miles, which was good (Norman is about 130 miles away).
• Saturday 4/17/10: Around noon, the salesman calls and says he's on his way. When he gets to our place, the seats are MUCH cleaner, and we finally have our car*. Still a little spot, but I'll just get it out myself. We ask the keys to drive him back. But he's only got one of the two. The other one (with the manual) was sent to some other dealer by accident and it's being overnighted to Nelson Mazda. The salesman said he'd drop it by Monday. We drove him back, came home, parked in the garage, and noticed we had no temporary tag. Called the salesman again and he said he'd drop it by that day.

• Monday 4/18/10: Still no key and still no temporary tag. I called Nelson Mazda, but our salesman was out. So, I spoke with his boss. Apparently the key had not been overnighted, because they didn't have it. So, it should be in Tuesday. He said they'd see about having someone bring it by our work. I finally got my tag (it still took about 15 minutes from when I walked it to when I left to get a sheet of paper that has a date that is over 1 week ago on it).

And that brings us to today. Still waiting for word on our other key and our manual and, well, that cargo net is probably never going to happen.

It has been 10 days since we signed the papers for our car and we still don't have everything taken care of. This has been a mess. Yes, I like the car (I've only driven it for about 12 miles so far, though) and it was a decent price (about MSRP, nothing special). But really, delivering a brand new car with a scratch and then a filthy interior and then not all the things it needs (like keys, manual, and tags) are not acceptable.

I've never bought a new car before, so I can't compare. But I would say that this experience has not been pleasant and I would not recommend going to Nelson Mazda.

*It was raining that day. When the water fell on the door arm rest it made a bunch of smiley faces.