Mazda dealerships
 

How many people have taken their FD to Mazda only to have a them quote a very expensive repair? I dont know if its just me but they seemed clueless about the car. My second turbo was not kicking in, so I took the car to my local Mazda dealership here in Wilmington, NC. I had them check the turbos when they where doing the oil change, they quoted me $4500 to fix the problem. I had a guy who used to work for Mazda back when the FD came out fix it instead. The problem was that the vacuum hoses were destroyed from heat over time. Now my car runs great, and I only spent a fraction of Mazdas price. Are there any Mazda dealers that can be trusted working on the rx7? Or any rotary shops here in NC or SC?

Do NOT take your FD to a Mazda Stealership..Find a local rotary shop.

I have figured that out, thanks. I figured a halfway decent mechanic would spot something wrong around the turbos, like a rotted hose.

+1, i was quoted 11k to fix a problem, took it to a rotary shop and discovered i didn't need to replace anything at all and i had a slight boost leak. Spent no more than $1500 (other repairs included as well).

I think there are just as many problems that people have with local rotary shops as dealers though. You get remote enough, and they know they're they only show in town.

Im not even sure where a rotary shop is around here. I may just keep going back to the same guy who repaired the turbo problem. He did new vacuum hoses, cleaned the injectors, etc..for $300.

sorry, double post

do it yourself :D i don't trust dealerships anymore. too many bad experiences. at one point i had to call a parts guy out for trying to feed me some bullshit.

This problem is NOT isolated to Mazda dealers - and at least they have an "excuse," a car that is a complicated, rare vehicle that's been out of production in the US for over 10 years. The key is finding a mechanic who really knows these cars, whether at a dealership, independent garage, or rotary specialist.

For example, try getting even a current VW repaired correctly at VW dealerships, and you'll see what trouble is. I have lots of horror stories related to our '99 Passat even during warrantee where the dealer service dept. didn't know how to fix even simple things that went wrong.

I have a deep aversion to taking ANY car to a dealership for ANYTHING. Most of the stuff I do-it-myself, and what I can't I take to a service facility with a good reputation.

Dave

4500?! I would bet you they were just going to put new turbos on and call it a day while raping you :lol:

Well I understand what you saying, but I dont think that Mazda has an excuse for charging 4k or as the other guy said 11k for what turns out to be a misdiagnoses.

Agreed. Of course it's not an excuse for lying, misdiagnosing, overcharging, etc. - I didn't mean to imply that - I just meant that when it comes to car dealer service depts., with rare exceptions, they're all questionable, at best.

Dave

I have had problems with dealer ships my self, as many other's have had. Even during warranty periods with these cars they didn't know how to work on them. I took my 93 to the dealer under warranty because I couldn't pass emissions and they managed to fry my stock computer, put 30 miles on the car, grass clippings in the car on the floor mat and my sunglasses were missing. They even fought me to repair it. On another note. Yesterday a friend asked me to help his girlfriend out. A Cadillac dealer wanted to charge her $250 to change a turn signal bulb. I said they must be crazy unless you have to remove the entire front bumper to get to it. Anyways I did have to remove the inner fender liner (8 push pull pins, no screws or bolts), then the I had access to the bulb with no problem. Took me about 1/2 hour which included the drive to Napa to buy the $3 bulb. I would bring my car to a dealer for any thing other than free maintenance and warranty repair.

I'm not sure what the very first post in the very first rx7-themed forum was. But I bet it was about staying away from mazda dealers for service.

Agree'd dealers are bad. I highly reccomend you commit many hours learning your car...it wil save you many many many dollors. however if for reasons you do not want to do this about the only rotary specialty shop I know of around here is

Rotorsports racing out in Kanapolis the guys name is bryan...seems pretty good.
or PFS is up in virginia.

I have not had any experience with Mazda dealerships,but I have had plenty of misdiagnosis' with other dealerships,especially Dodge..Do they think that no other place in the world can fix a car,therefore they charge 3 or 4 times what the repair should really cost??

i have only been to the Mazda dealership once, and they "couldn't find the keys" to the only RX8 they had on the lot, which i wanted to test drive. all my bad experiences have been at Subaru dealerships.

Another comment on this overpricing theme - lots of times the service facility knows they can't or don't know how to fix something, and they don't want to admit that, so they quote a price that scares you away, and that was their intent from the start.

Dave

You are absolutely right,I am 100% convinced that I had the same thing happen to me,so they quoted me something they knew I wouldn't go for,and then I had to pay them for looking at it and diagnosing a problem that I "chose" not to get fixed,even if the problem that they diagnosed wasn't accurate..

Anyone reading the FAQ thread would know to stay away from the dealership. You can post a thread in your regional forum for local shops. Thread CLOSED.