My husband and I were very apprehensive about buying a newer vehicle since we have spent the last several years trying to fix our poor credit rating. We could not be happier customers; nothing during the process of buying a vehicle at Fred Mueller was what we had anticipated.
We had absolutely no intention of even looking at a Mazda. I like Buick, always have and that is what I am comfortable with. Mike listened to my preference and followed with an incredible amount of information on Mazda's high safety rating, popularity and ease of use. We were also very concerned about warranties. We have mostly done our own maintenance and work on our past vehicles. My only dealings with a foreign car were finding out that I would have to take it to a shop because the filter was in an unreachable place. We were shown under the hood and were surprised by how accessible everything was. We were very impressed with how much Mike knew about Mazda, too. It was easy to take him for his word since he owns one himself.
Now on to the kicker... the price involved. As I mentioned before, we were in a tight spot with only a certain amount to spend through our own lender and no money to put down. The used vehicle we looked at was only a year old with 2900 miles. It had been used by the dealership as a loaner to guests getting service work done. It was already marked down almost $4500 from the market price and had enough bells and whistles to take my breath away. It was $2 less than our maximum and I knew there was no way we could swing more from our lender. Mike mentioned on day one that Russ, the finance manager, could see about getting our lender to finance more for the taxes and title fees. He also mentioned they could just search for a better rate on a larger amount. We were skeptical and declined his request the first day to sleep on it. After dreaming of our new car we decided to take our chances and let Russ and Mike try to help us in getting a better deal. What did we have to lose?
Nothing short of amazing, Russ worked his magic despite our difficult situation (no need for details but our situation is not the norm for a couple with poor credit). We were expecting a huge disappointment but could not have been more shocked with the outcome. Russ found us a lender who was willing to finance the total cost plus a 100,000 bumper to bumper warranty (different and aside from the 100,000 mile powertrain warranty covered by Mazda and more than the 36,000 bumper to bumper which is the standard Mazda warranty) and also a great deal on gap insurance. He worked all day with over 20 lenders to satisfy our needs and truly blow us away, getting us a lender that offered a rate 5% lower than what we were originally working with.
When we got to picking up our vehicle, I was still waiting for somebody to tell us that they had discovered a problem and we could not. I was wrong and stunned yet again at how smooth it was to drive off in our new car. A lot of paperwork to sign, no doubt, but necessary and I appreciate having everything in writing. Every topic applicable was covered to include a paper indicating that NONE of our personal info would be given to any 3rd party that wasn't directly involved it the sale, which happens to be a personal peeve of mine. Mike took us to the shop and introduced us to everybody after handing us a coupon for our first free oil change. We were offered coffee or cappuccino while we waited for Mike to put the new plates on our car. Again, surprise, surprise... Mike then took us to our vehicle which has been nicely polished up. He had my husband and I get in as passengers. He programmed my husband's phone to the Bluetooth capabilities in the car and even did a test call to be sure it had connected. He thoroughly went over all the gadgets and buttons on the steering wheel and dash and handed us a cheat sheet to use in the future. We were given business cards for all the people we had and may need to talk with in the future. We were given spectacular service from very knowledgeable people in their respective roles. We left with no questions about what we need to do in the future regarding any aspect from our financing to servicing our car. We are the most satisfied we have ever been with ANY purchase and already know where we will be going for the next vehicle for our family.
5 Stars: Highly Recommended & Our Dealership of Choice! read more