Need a LOT of help: Mazda dealer pulled a switch on us - We bought/paid for AWD, they sold us FWD

Not an excuse.....

We know the "horrors" of car buying... that was my wife's (a bit of mine) first fear.  She looked into buying services (a few hundred to a few thousand), and I poo pooed spending money on a service to get the Mazda as I felt there wasn't a lot of real negotiating on this particular car.  She did a bit more research and found Costco has this service...   It seemed like a perfect fit - no negotiating.  Costco advertises a moderate % off (I believe it is 8%).    The ONLY reason we went to THIS dealer is that is where Costco had this deal.   There are dealers a lot closer (John Walsh it isn't a nearby place) we only went to this dealer because it was what Costco said their deal was.  

As to vin numbers Costco didn't have a vin, their end of the deal was for this dealer to supply us with an AWD Mazda3.  We didn't question the vin, because this was to be a no negotiating deal.  I and my wife felt(yes - I understand our end in this) that the Costco deal allowed us to not worry(believe).

Get the VIN from the car, confirm it matches the paperwork you signed at the dealership, get the actual specs of the car from Mazda, go to Costco with it. They will not want their partners to pull a switch. Getting a GM from the dealership involved would not be a bad thing either, but I'll bet Costco will put immediate pressure on them to give you the car you thought you bought. Chances are this was simply nothing more than a mistake and you caught it fairly early.

Also, the dealership has only had a day for this to work its way up the chain of command. It will probably take a few days to sort out. Forums are pretty impatient about stuff like this.

I've observed three things here:

-Costco sells cars.

-There is a such thing as an AWD Mazda 3

-Dealerships do things which are either shady, incompetent or conveniently incompetent (I.e. - shady).  It is impossible to tell the difference at times.  When called on it, they invariably point to the horribly dealer slanted 37 page "contract" which they slid across the table at you and said "sign here." 

Two of those three things surprise me, one does not. 

wae said:

z31maniac said:

Kreb said:

I had a similar thing happen back in the day with a Chrysler Minivan. Didn't know that I had the wrong motor till I got my first oil change. The dealership flat-out wouldn't work with me on it. In the social media age I cannot imagine that happening again. 

Unfortunately, I'm not so sure. Because just to be contrarian there will be plenty of people of who will do the "didn't you read the contract" point of view. 

I don't think that is being contrarian so much as being someone who understands how a contract works...  If it was on purpose it's certainly not ethical or moral and if it was accidental then it would certainly be the ethical and moral thing to do to offer to correct the mistake at their own cost.  But, by the letter of the contract I don't think they would be under any legal obligation to do anything.  In both of these cases, the purchaser worked under the assumption that the seller was giving them the product that they expected and signed a contract saying that what they drove home is what they wanted to buy.

All that said, I would certainly prefer to do business with a company that acts ethically and will do what they can to correct their mistakes.  And if they stand by the whole "you signed it, you're stuck with it" thing, I think that's pretty sleazy and awful.  But the best case scenario here is that both parties made a mistake: the seller put the wrong car on the contract and the buyer failed to inspect the goods before accepting delivery. 

I was meaning the person who will be snarky vs empathetic. 

I'm well aware of how contracts work, but if the dealership wasn't acting in good faith, then I see the contract as non-binding. 

A couple comments: 

I find it interesting that the car wasn’t checked over thoroughly prior to signing the paperwork. I would not sign any paperwork committing to a specific VIN until looking it over to make sure it was exactly what I wanted and in the condition I wanted.  I wouldn’t do the same type of inspection I would do on a used vehicle, but I would (and have) check for options,  paint and interior issues, or shipping damage, and test drive to make sure it ran properly and didn’t have any readily apparent manufacturing issues (vibration, alignment, etc).  It’s a lot easier to get the dealer to address issues or find a different vehicle before signing  

Finally, the current car may potentially be considered used if it is exchanged for an AWD. Depending on the state,  the process may already be in motion for title and registration (or completed), and now there has been an owner. That puts the dealership in a tough spot because they are going to lose money if they make a switch because they will have to sell it as used. 

A resolution is in the works.........  

Costco does not sell cars, they refer you to a dealer for a pre negotiated price.  Costco is not liable in this at all and really can not help.  There is a good chance they will not even put pressure on the Dealer, as the dealer can say the customer changed their mind and bought a different car.

Calling the Dealer shady will not help, they made a mistake, you made a mistake.  The AWD car clearly has an AWD badge on the back, if it was important, you should have looked.  It is not buried on "page 37" of the contract.

The window sticker is not "altered" in any way, that is how it comes from the factory.

All of the above will not help your case at all, so calling Costco, bad mouthing the dealer, and suggesting fraud is the wrong way to go.  The best way is to let the dealer know you were quoted the price on an AWD car, but no one noticed the actual vehicle you bought was not AWD and you'd like to work with them toward a resolution.

I would think any good dealer will work to a resolution that everyone agrees on and a lousy one will just say "The customer changed his mind and bought X" hopefully you got a good one. Unwinding a deal is not easy as taxes and fees have already been paid out, tags issued, etc.  It is not a simple task, so I would expect a day or so for an answer.

Edit: You posted as I was typing, glad to see a resolution is on the way

Keith Tanner said:

 

Also, the dealership has only had a day for this to work its way up the chain of command. It will probably take a few days to sort out. Forums are pretty impatient about stuff like this.

Yes, this.  In the meantime, I'm thinking a track day is in the works....

I think we as “car guys” give ourselves a lot of credit and what we should be doing is pretend we’re just like any other normal person out there:

Of COURSE we feel he should’ve noticed the lack of an AWD badge. But I wouldn’t expect my (dare I say) wife or non-car-guy buddy to be up on these things.

Play dumb. It’s easy to feel dumb about missing the AWD detail but like I have to do at work when I was put in charge of seriously dangerous people because of my size, I had to argue that I couldn’t be treated differently due to physical traits just as you couldn’t be expected to know “car-guy” stuff. What I mean is, drop the pretense of any car knowledge. The fact is, you’re just another person who thought AWD sounds like a good idea and couldn’t be expected to notice “car-guy” stuff like badges.

Know what I’m getting at here?

I'm with you. While it's easy to strut around and claim that you'd check every single item, in reality you would expect the dealership to lay down paperwork for the vehicle you had already agreed to purchase. AWD cars have AWD badging, but non-AWD cars have nothing at all. Easy enough to miss, especially if you haven't nerded out over every detail of the badging at some previous point in the decision process.

I have faith that this will have a happy ending. Costco is the broker here, they'll not want this sort of thing to happen. The dealer will fuss about the car being used, but they'll probably just deal with that. 

It sounds like a resolution is already on its way. I was just gong to add that COSTCO has more flexibility than you might think. Our local Costco had this huge wooden carousel horse on sale for something like 6-8 grand. Really an odd item for a mass-retailer like that. It sat there for almost a year. Finally my sister asked to see the manager and said "Would you take two thousand for it?"  "Deal" he said.

Wow, thats quite a mix up. Glad it sounds like things are moving forward. I would chock it up to honest mistake, a big one, but hopefully just a mistake.  I don't think I would have caught the lack of badging.

Awd.  Mazda.  3.  My head just assploded.

Dealerships are in the business of selling the cars they have, not the car you want.

My best guess is that there was a miscommunication along the line somewhere that no one noticed until it was too late. The dealer probably wants to work with you, but they have limitations based on state law, manufacturer policies, etc. Once the car is driven, it is considered used and the value is diminished. As much as they would like to, they can't always just swap it out. If you are not local, they can't even count on revenue from service or additional vehicle sales. I hope that they are a good dealer and there is paperwork to back up your side of the story, but temper your expectations. I am 100% with you, I always expect companies to deliver on their promises and rarely look too closely before accepting a shipment, but that puts us at fault sometimes.  

@ the OP

Good luck with that situation.  Keep us informed

I worked at a dealership about a million years ago. I don't think there was any kind of bait and switch or shady dealing going on.

The dealership has enrolled in the Costco program, but they may only get a small portion of business through them. These transactions follow a simple process, and that process is most likely handled (or at least initiated) by a fairly low level employee, probably the same person who handles price requests by email. That person probably just overlooked the AWD on the initial request. They screwed up, and then you screwed up by not noticing their screwup, both on the contract and when you picked up the car. No deception, just a couple of mistakes.

Even back in the 80's, those Monroney stickers were a big deal. The law said that they needed to be in the window at delivery, but almost no one wanted them on there when they drove their new car home. So we would ask the customer if they wanted it removed. In most cases, the salesman would remove it when the customer was signing papers in the finance office.

Now, contractually, the dealer probably doesn't need to do anything, but they should. They will take a pretty substantial hit on the now used car, and it will be a big thorn in their side. Costco will probably lean on them a bit for their mistake, but the whole Costco program may not have generated the kind of business they were hoping for anyway.

If neither the dealer nor Costco get you to where you want to be, I would go directly to the biggest local TV news station. They love to do those consumer ripoff stories that generate enough attention that both Costco and the dealer are going to want to tear up that contract and make it go away. Then you get your car and both Costco and the dealer come out looking like good guys in the end for fixing the mistake.

In reply to Woody :

Have you seen how much advertising car dealers do with local print, radio, TV? 

Don't expect local media to bite one of the few hands still feeding them! 

pinchvalve said:

Dealerships are in the business of selling the cars they have, not the car you want.

I was going to order a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado and ended up buying a 2016 off the lot.  I bought the vehicle I didn’t want because the price was right.  

I didn’t want a Silver color, LT, 4WD.....LOL

I hope it all works out.

I, too, am scratching my head regarding the costco thing.

I am a car guy , I admit that I did not ask if the car I was buying was a 5 speed , I just figured it was , as the seller never drove it.......so I had it shipped across the country and found out that when it arrived it was an automatic !    Oops...

Then there was the convertible that was a hardtop with the roof cut off , 

You get excited you forget things !

John Welsh said:

In reply to Woody :

Have you seen how much advertising car dealers do with local print, radio, TV? 

Don't expect local media to bite one of the few hands still feeding them! 

I disagree.

Woody said:

John Welsh said:

In reply to Woody :

Have you seen how much advertising car dealers do with local print, radio, TV? 

Don't expect local media to bite one of the few hands still feeding them! 

I disagree.

 

I do to.  Our local news eats this kind of thing up.  It comes to them pre-packaged, requires little/no investigation and looks like journalism.  Then they get to crow about their "hard hitting journalism".  Then if the offending party makes it right, they get a combo "look how tough we are" and "feel good" story, which is 2 for the price of one. 

Sometimes, though, it actually does help.  They've chased several shady contractors out of the area.  

We had a guy show up for his first oil change on a used 2011 Silverado he had recently purchased. Truck was an 09. The dealership fixed his issue quickly. Turned out they had a pair of white Silverados and he was given the wrong one. But the VIN on his paperwork did not match the truck he was driving and I'm sure that makes a difference

Interesting that nobody seems to think the mix-up might have come between the Costco rep and the dealership.  Yeah, she’s telling you she told them AWD, but...  Without a lawyer to read any paperwork she might have sent (it might have all been handled by phone), you’ll never know.

I really hope this works out for you. It's easy to say "you should have checked this and that" however it's also easy to get caught up in the stress of the mess that dealerships are. You had a pre-negotiated deal from Costco and you put your faith in the dealer to deliver their end of it. I would be attacking from both angles (Costco and the dealer) while also studying up on your local and state laws on this sort of thing. Ensure that you are highly knowledgeable on the subject or if nothing happens soon, then higher legal assistance. 

Some years back I used a car buying service through a bank to get a new 5.0 Mustang. I used financing as well because I was young and had a hot new job. PIcked the exact car out through the dealers online inventory, got the bank to approve everything, show up to pick it up and not only was it a Base GT, it was a different color and a year older (2012 vs 2013) that they were just trying to get off the lot. I called the bank, they cancelled the loan, I'm sure the dealer lost brownie points with them, and I bought a WRX hatchback like a dumbass instead. Moral of the story....there is faith that things will work out and that hopefully one side advocates to get this fixed for you.