Did I get taken advantage of on my new car purchase?

[Wade Lippman]

I just bought a new car. If the various buying guides can be believed, I got a good price. (How do they know what cars sell for; they have never asked me?)

I accepted the dealers offer if he would through in 2 spare keys. He said that was a deal breaker as the electronic keys are $350 each. I said I didn't need the electronic keys; just the plain ones that I got 2 extra of for my wife's 2014; they start the car, but just don't have the key fob. (we actually bought my wife's keys from the same saleman, but it was a couple years ago) He said he would give me two valet keys.

He gave me two keys that just open the door; nothing else. The Mazda website defines a valet key as one that opens the door and starts the car, but doesn't open the glove compartment. It says that none were available for my car. (I didn't know that then...)

I test drove a better model and mistakenly thought mine would not have keyless starting. It does, so there is no place for a valet key to go. Obviously I was negligent for that; but agreeing to sell me two of something that doesn't exist seems like a much bigger error.

Do I have a legitimate complaint? If I scream loud enough they will probably do something for me, but I don't want to be a crank.

Opinions.

[Brian Elfert]

He gave you two plain non-electronic keys like you asked for. They just don't do what you expected them to do. I would go back and explain that you expected keys that would actually start the car. If they have a return policy you could threaten to return the car.

[Raymond Fries]

Yes you made a mistake. However, the salesman should have known that the keys you received would not work. I think they should compensate you in some way to correct their error.

Good Luck with it. Hope they make you happy.

[Erik Loza]

...I said I didn't need the electronic keys; just the plain ones that I got 2 extra of for my wife's 2014; they start the car, but just don't have the key fob. (we actually bought my wife's keys from the same saleman, but it was a couple years ago) He said he would give me two valet keys.

I hear your dissatisfaction but as a sales guy, I cannot tell you how many times a customer has "thought" they knew what it was that they needed and based on that, I order the accessories or whatever, then they receive it was not exactly what they thought in their mind. My feeling is that it is not necessarily your fault or necessarily the sales guy's fault. It happens and the more options or accessories, the more it is likely to.

This happened to us, to a lesser degree, when we took delivery of our (then) new Mini Cooper: my wife "thought" she heard the sales guy say that her phone would bluetooth everything to the car's head unit. It will bluetooth our phones, but not the radio (odd, but whatever...). In our case, this was an actual thing with the equipment package, not an accessory we could just pay for. I thought I was specific with the sales guy and he was very helpful but possibly misunderstood us or possibly, we heard what we wanted to hear and did not listen closely enough.

Just speaking for myself, unless I sensed deception or shady tactics, I'm inclinded to chalk it up to lessons learned. Mazda is a budget brand, right? That means there is probably very little margin in what he sold it to you for, so he's probably correct in saying that they can't just throw in a $350 item at the price you paid. I might explain that I misunderstood him and see if he could get the parts dept. to give me a discount on a key fob or whatever. if I were your sales guy, that's what I would offer. Best of luck, whatever you decide to do.

Erik

[Wade Lippman]

I might explain that I misunderstood him and see if he could get the parts dept. to give me a discount on a key fob or whatever. if I were your sales guy, that's what I would offer. Best of luck, whatever you decide to do.

Erik

I have the offer of 2 valet keys in writing so I didn't misunderstand anything, and the website says they don't exist. The keys could have had a chip in them to register with the electronics, but don't. I agree that he simply used the wrong word, but you can't do that in a contract.

My wife picked the car up yesterday and spent the night in town. She finally made it back. I like it. I wish the center console was larger, but you can't have everything.
They included wheel locks that aren't supposed to be there. Maybe I can give them back as some sort of reconciliation. They retail for $55.

Years ago I had VW with wheel locks, bought from that dealer(though it was different ownership). I went to buy new tires. Turns out they never gave me a key for the wheel locks. When I demanded a key they offered to sell me one. We compromised on them taking the locks off and putting regular nuts on. I guess that has soured me on wheel locks.

[Rick Fisher]

I would be willing to bet the guy just made a mistake. There is a case to be made for just carrying on... "If you want peace, seek peace".

[Barry McFadden]

I needed a new key fob for my 2010 Grand Caravan because the buttons stopped working (just wear). Like you were told...they want about $350.00 for them. Went on to Amazon and got one from a business in Miami for $16.00. Had it programmed for $50.00 and it works great. So if you want spares give Amazon a try...

[Dave Zellers]

There is a case to be made for just carrying on... "If you want peace, seek peace".

Since I don't understand what you are saying here, I'm going to ask for clarification. Are you saying even though he feels he was likely taken advantage of, he should just let it go?

[Larry Frank]

This is another example of how I hate buying a car. No matter what happens, I never feel good after buying a car. It seems that the car salesman are all the same and I always feel like I did not get the best deal.

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

This is another example of how I hate buying a car. No matter what happens, I never feel good after buying a car.

+1
They always seem to try to slip something past you.

My wife got a new Jeep last year, and picked it up without me. She was telling me how they included a paint protection package for free, but when I looked at the paperwork, I noticed that they charged her $1200 for what she understood to be free. Had to go back and re-do all the paperwork.

We buy all our vehicles and tend to keep them for around 10 years or so. We've bought 5 new vehicles over the years, and each one has had something unpleasant associated with the purchase.

I have a very strong dislike for ALL salesman. I work in a production cabinet shop, and have had a hand in purchasing some $500K in machinery over the years. In almost all cases, machines salesman are no different than car salesman. I've come across exactly ONE machine salesman that I actually trusted, and bought a $100,000 beam saw with the decision based 100% on the salesman. This particular salesman had started his career with the company as an engineer, and was far more knowledgeable than any other salesman I've come across.

[Jim Becker]

This is another example of how I hate buying a car. No matter what happens, I never feel good after buying a car. It seems that the car salesman are all the same and I always feel like I did not get the best deal.

Larry, at least in this day and age of readily available information, we all have the opportunity to be knowledgable way beyond the way it was a number of years ago when shopping for and purchasing a vehicle. That includes not just things like trim levels and options as well as costs, but also about the "buying experience" at various dealerships. In fact, there's no reason to feel you need to buy from the local folks if they don't treat you right, even if you'll be getting service there during warranty. (I'm not saying we shouldn't support local businesses, but that support needs to be earned by them respecting you, too) Sales and Service at dealerships are generally completely separate profit centers and the service folks will be more than happy to, um...provide service...when you need it, even if you didn't buy there. By example, in the Jeep community, many folks in the Eastern US who know about it have been taking advantage of a "group buy" arrangement (via a forum site) with a VA dealer to get 7% off invoice pricing less any available factory incentives on most models/trim levels. They travel one-way to pick up the vehicle and then service locally. The savings is substantial enough to "turn heads" and the buying experience is excellent. They will even pick up folks from the airport or train station. The deal applies to both factory orders and in-stock. That same forum site has excellent details posted about trim levels, option packages and MSRP/Invoice pricing, too.

Sites like TrueCar and Edmunds can also be useful for understanding what's competitive pricing in one's geography. So I guess what I'm saying is that we each need to take control over our car buying experience, go in prepared and if we're not treated right, simply "stop the dance", say "goodbye" and go somewhere else. Don't let them play games and enforce that with our wallets.

[Rick Fisher]

Since I don't understand what you are saying here, I'm going to ask for clarification. Are you saying even though he feels he was likely taken advantage of, he should just let it go?

Im saying that its probably mostly human error. There is a case to be made for just carrying on ..

[Wade Lippman]

How does this sound....

I thought he was giving me two keys that would start the car; he assumed I knew the keys were useless but wanted them anyhow.

I can buy used electronic keys on ebay for $60 each; about a quarter of the dealer price.
I buy two and he programs them for free. It would take someone a half hour.
To sweeten it, I would give him the wheel locks that retail for $55. He would give them to someone else as a bonus.

Costs him nothing. And he gets the wheel locks.
I get two programmed keys. Costs me $120, but I suppose what I get is better than what I wanted.
Everyone is happy.

Does that seem reasonable?

[Barry McFadden]

How does this sound....

I thought he was giving me two keys that would start the car; he assumed I knew the keys were useless but wanted them anyhow.

I can buy used electronic keys on ebay for $60 each; about a quarter of the dealer price.

Why would you buy used when ....as mentioned earlier....brand new ones are much cheaper on amazon...just looked and there are many 2 packs for under $15.00....

[Larry Edgerton]

Off subject, but what Mazda did you buy? I am going to start looking soon. We have a Mazdaspeed3 that has been flawless for 170K, but it does have a 170K on it. Our BMW 530 has 125K so is getting up there as well.

So..... Curious what you bought and what you think. They have gone a lot more high tech since we bought the 3 and that does not please me.

Larry