werewolf

I think 41K for a Mazda 6 is stealing...especially the way they depreciate

GS69

Woman Pays $66,000 for Car Worth $41,000

The Mazda dealership in Orangeville may have given new meaning to the automaker’s slogan of “zoom, zoom, zoom” for motorist Madeline Leonard.

Leonard, who is unemployed and receiving a disability pension, walked into the dealership wanting to replace the tires on her 2004 car.

By the time she left she was on the hook for a spiffy, black 2010 Mazda6 sedan at the eye-popping price of almost $66,000, after taxes and the value of her trade-in vehicle.

That’s $25,000 more than she should have paid, according to Ontario’s auto regulator.

She says “Moe,” the salesman, talked fast. The numbers whizzed by and before she knew it she had bought the 2010 model.

“I was overwhelmed and confused and I soon felt like I had been mistreated,” the 56-year-old woman said in an interview from her small, subsidized apartment in the town 85 km northwest of Toronto.

The Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council, which regulates new and used car dealers, took action after she complained. Its investigation found she should have paid about $41,000 for the vehicle — which wasn’t even new.

“In my eight years here, I haven’t seen a case like this,” said Carey Smith, the regulator’s director of investigations. “The deal was way over the top regarding pricing.”

Smith has charged Mazda of Orangeville and two senior employees with breaching Ontario legislation that protects consumers. The dealership could face a fine of up to $250,000 if found guilty.

Kien Trung, business manager at Mazda of Orangeville and one of the employees facing charges, said he did not treat Leonard improperly or make any big profits in the deal in late December.

“We didn’t do anything wrong in the case of this transaction,” said Trung. “We made a little bit of money on the deal. I guess she was not happy with it.”

In promotional messages, the dealership says it treats customers “with dignity and respect.”

But Smith said in Leonard’s case, the store and two employees used several tactics to unfairly jack up the price.

“They put a list price of a new vehicle on the model but it was a demonstrator that the dealer used with about 6,000 kilometres on it,” he noted.

Mazda Canada lists the base price of the new sedan at $39,969 on its national website, but the dealership allegedly posted a sticker of $45,846 on the car.

Smith said the salesmen also billed Leonard, who is intellectually disabled, about $4,500 for a “protection package” that included fabric guarding, rust and sound proofing and window etching. Other dealers charge about a third of that for the same items, he said.

Furthermore, Smith said Leonard should not have qualified for a loan from the dealer because her monthly income including a disability pension is less than $2,000.

But Smith added that didn’t stop the two employees from offering an eight-year loan that will result in about $16,000 in financing costs for her, including a final balloon payment of $7,000.

Mazda of Orangeville says in a promotional message for phone callers that owning “your dream vehicle might be easier than you think.” The message goes on: “If you are a great person with not-so-good credit, we have you in mind.”

Leonard said she originally came to the store to replace the tires on her 2004 Mazda3 and didn’t even want to buy a car.

“I wished I had never walked into the place,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of trouble keeping up with these payments. The stress has been terrible.”

Leonard described the salesman at the dealership as “slick” and the process mesmerized her. But after signing a contract and driving the vehicle away, she checked prices at other Mazda outlets.

“The differences were shocking,” she said. “I felt very disappointed how I was treated.”

The regulator charged the dealership; Trung, 38, of Vaughan; and sales manager Mohammed (Moe) Shaikh, 46, of Mississauga with “engaging in unfair practice by making an unconscionable representation,” contrary to the provincial Consumer Protection Act.

Trung said the defendants will plead not guilty when they appear in court this month.

Under the act, the employees could receive penalties of up to $100,000 each and/or two years less a day in jail if found guilty. The defendants could also be liable for damages to Leonard.

The regulator could also revoke the registrations of the dealerships and salesmen.

“Dealers tell me there is nothing wrong with making money but the law says there is something wrong if you take advantage of someone,” Smith said.

Mazda Canada said it would not decide on any action involving the dealership until a court rules on the charges.

“Obviously we expect our dealers and staff to operate professionally,” said spokesman Greg Young. “We’ll see what the (court) determination is.”

Mazda of Orangeville has also popped up on the radar screen of the Better Business Bureau of mid-western and central Ontario.

Although the dealership is not a member, the bureau has received six complaints and issued a D+ rating on a scale from A+ to F since January 2008.

“It speaks for itself,” said a bureau official.

jwong77

Wow, what scum, he doesn't even think he did anything wrong. Shows you how out of wack some people's morals are.

omaha_lex

Holy crap, $66,000 for a Mazda6 and they didn't even give her alloys, or even hub caps?! Mazda did the right thing pulling their franchise.

Jewcano

iTrader: (4)

While I don't agree with what this dealership did, what you are saying is also somewhat wrong as well. They have to markup to a certain extent. Afterall they are a business to make money, what incentive would they have to stay open if their business model revolved around breaking even only. What you consider 'ripoff' and 'overpriced' for them = overhead and profits. Are some dealers crooked like in this scenario, of course, others will charge what they need to survive. I highly doubt they all have HUGE profit margins.

I8ABMR

business is business but when they steal, misdirect, and bend the truth its just business as usual. Car sales people should be treated like.....well "used car salesman". I wouldn't trust a car sales person as far as I could throw them

mmarshall

Car salespeople are not all a bunch of crooks.......especially once you get to know them, or are repeat buyers. They look out for their regulars, and, of course, want repeat buisness. They know that in most cases, if they screw people too bad, they won't come back. The auto-selling buisness today is substantially more honest than it was decades ago (the used-car buisness, in particular, is much better), but, unfortunately, the industry still has its share of bad apples, both with dealerships as a whole and individual salespeople.

It is, of course, a buisness to make money, and subject to the laws of supply-and-demand. Even no-haggle dealerships, and dealerships with fixed-discount Internet prices (I like the easy, simple, Internet-discount system) have to have some margin built-in. In Saturn's case, the no-haggle, list-only deals included an average 14% mark-up, which allowed Saturn to use that profit, of course, for its famous customer perks.