So my wife and I finally decided that it was time to upgrade the CR-V and I finally decided to cave from the pressure of buying a minivan. We looked online and found a used one at Bob Penkhus on Woodman. I called and talked to a guy on the phone to get more info and told him that i would likely be down there to check it out before they closed at 8. It was currently 6. So we make it out there at 7 and that guy was already gone (guess he didn't want the sale) and dealt with another dude.

We test drive the van and like it so decide to discuss numbers. Keep in mind that I already know my trade-in value and had been at the Honda dealer earlier that day and knew what they would offer. They come to the table with a difference of about 8K with trading my vehicle for theirs. I told them that their offer of 19K for my vehicle was too low and that the value was about 2-3K more. I also mentioned that at Honda, I worked numbers for a vehicle that was 3K more and the difference in the end was only 5K. They obviously gave me more money for my trade.

So this is where I think the negotiating is suppose to happen, right? Wrong. They come back with "your car has hail damage." What?!! Where did this come from? As far as I remember, my car has been in my garage whenever we had hail storms. Also, Honda made no mention of it either. The guy was insistent that i had hail damage and needed to get it fixed. To humor him, I said that I would consider it. He then went back to his boss and came back with the same damn numbers! He also gave me a full print out showing how they came to the 8k. He says this tells you exactly how we came to the figures and that I should ask Honda to provide one for their deal. I'm thinking, why? Who gives a shit? The only thing that matters is the bottom line number. They could say they gave my 50K for my car and charged my 55k for theirs. As long as I like the bottom line number, I could care less. At this point, I now know that I'm wasting my time. I said thank you for you time, but I'll pass.

Rather than saying your welcome, please come again...the prick then says we'll see you back when that doesn't fall through with Honda. You arrogant prick!! I was shocked. I told him that he would never have to worry about me walking back into this shithole.

**** him and that dealership. I'm never stepping foot into any dealership associated with that name. I'll drive to Denver before doing that! Sorry for the long post but I felt I needed to get that off my chest.

Oh, I then make it over to CarMax to get my car appraised. They offered 21500 for it and what do you know? No mention of hail damage whatsoever.

Yep. That dealership is on its way downhill FAST. Sales has been slimy for about a year now, and service has fallen off a cliff as well. I am DONE with them and will never be back. Once the MS6 is sold, I'll wash my hands of Mazda as a whole, and Bob Penkhus in particular.

I am also unhappy with my experience buying my MS3 from them. They majorly lowballed me on my SRT4 and I fell for it like an idiot, thinking my car wasn't worth much. They offered me 6k and I said that's crazy low. You're going to turn around and sell it for at least 10k. They said there's no way they'd sell it for that much and they'd probably end up auctioning it because of "the economy". The very next day I went back for something for the MS3 and they had my SRT4 on the lot for $12,500. I know it's my fault for not fighting for more money but it still pissed me off that they lied right to my face. I don't plan on ever buying a car from them again.

But I won't blame them for anything with Mazda and would buy another Mazda, just not from them.

I've purchased an '05 3s, '08 CX-7, and a '10 3s from Bob Penkhus and never had any issues until the past 6 months. Service has hit the sh*tter and the quality of salesman at the north store has declined, too. I love my Mazdas, but would drive to Denver if I were in the market for another.

On another note, you (PXRdriFT) sound like an educated buyer - aiming for the bottom line instead of the monthly payment. You definitely did the right thing by telling them to go pound sand.

erod550 wrote:I am also unhappy with my experience buying my MS3 from them. They majorly lowballed me on my SRT4 and I fell for it like an idiot, thinking my car wasn't worth much. They offered me 6k and I said that's crazy low. You're going to turn around and sell it for at least 10k. They said there's no way they'd sell it for that much and they'd probably end up auctioning it because of "the economy". The very next day I went back for something for the MS3 and they had my SRT4 on the lot for $12,500. I know it's my fault for not fighting for more money but it still pissed me off that they lied right to my face. I don't plan on ever buying a car from them again.

But I won't blame them for anything with Mazda and would buy another Mazda, just not from them.

I think that's a large factor playing into my disgruntlement right now. I've known their sales department was slimy for awhile. I bought my MS6 from Motor City, which is a bit more up-front in the sales department.

But to have a service manager talk down to me and my wife like that (and he did it to EVERYONE, even his technicians), then try to overcharge me for a part that's $50 cheaper in Denver, and $100 cheaper in GA, really disappointed me. And even then, I'm pretty sure half the stuff they told me was BS too. "Hard-mounted?" WHat? I've had mine off three times today alone!

So yeah, I'm done with them. I have Rob Penkhus personal e-mail and cellphone number somewhere. He's going to get a letter from me.

I've been to a lot of dealerships in the last 2 years and the worst was Christopher's Dodge World in Golden, The dealer I dealt with was great, nice, respectful... the manager was a pushy a**hole who wouldn't take no for an answer... I left there knowing I would never return because of him, just a heads up

wow, sounds worthy of a dealin-doug title.

I can honestly say I have never had a pleasant experience at any dealership I've been to. Burt, at one time, had a good service manager that was great to work with, but that's it.

Well, other than walking around and drooling at the Ferrari dealership.

Penkhus sucks! Don't know what sales are like now (bought mine 3 years ago) but I hate taking my car to them. I also agree with Stealth...once the 8 is gone, I'm done with Mazda for good.

I had many good times at Mike Shaw Saab... I got to be friends with the Service Mgr, and we traded maintenance tips.

I actually had an alomost surreal experience when I went to look at McDonald Mazda. I talked to a guy name Jeremy. I never once got pushed into anything. I told him to call me when a car matching what I wanted arrived (so I could test drive it), and he called me only then! He even told me it had been damaged in shipment. We took it for a test drive, and I decided I liked it. I told him to call me when an undamaged one arrived. He called me 2 or 3 months later. I'm driving it now!

Unless you buy something older than a 2000 MY car, you are going to take a chance on having problems associated with electronics. It won't matter if it's a Mazda, or not. All the problems that occur on cars these days can usually be traced to the same typical parts. Every single problem I have see posted to this forum, can be found on just about any other car forum.

The only way to avoid them, is to buy a car without all the techy SW and components, or lease for two years and move on.

Well, I got the Survey Call on my service experience from the other day. I gave them a 3 out of 10 (ten's the best) and explained in great detail why I won't be back there for service any time soon.

If enough people complain, something will get done. It did before.

I guess i must be the exception to the penkhus world. I had a good deal with the Motor City mazda for my R3. I did however go look at it and test drive it when it was at the woodmen store.
Those guys are a bunch of dousche bags. The sales man tried to act very knowledgeable about the car until i looked at him and remarked about how it was all outlined on the sticker. Once i popped the hood and started looking at the coils and placement of parts as compared to my old one he didnt have too much to add. I told him i was working with the motorcity dealership to find me an RX-8. The salesman remarked about how the R3 was their car and they werent going to release it to motorcity for a sale. He wasn't too happy when i shut the hood and said "we'll see about that" and left the lot.

2 days later I had the motor city dealer bring the car down from the woodmen store (after the store manager brought it back from driving it home for a night) and did the deal there. Had them take $5k off the sticker (plus a little extra since the jack wad at woodmen took it home), no trade in, my own financing, and an additional $5k down payment. My only complaint was that the Douschtastic sales team at woodmen lost my manuals, so i had to get Motorcity to order them.

Army RX8 wrote:I guess i must be the exception to the penkhus world. I had a good deal with the Motor City mazda for my R3.

Dumb question coming... what's an R3?

If I'm not mistaken it's the newest top sport model of the RX-8.

jankyboy wrote:Dumb question coming... what's an R3?

R3 is a version of the RX-8. They had the same type of thing for the RX-7s. It's one step above GT. So it's like S, GS, GT, R3. Just the Trim of the RX-8.

Better Suspension, No Moonroof, ect. It's basically the most "Track-Ready" model seeing they made it handle better and weigh as little as possible.

I painted My '04 R3 Blue.