Hey everyone! I just purchased my Mazda 3 HB (TiGray) about a week ago. I love the car and will hopefully be lurking around here a lot. But already I think I need some expert advice from y'all.
Here's the deal.
I did the walk around inspection right after I signed all the paperwork, but unfortunately it was at night because when I finally got around to washing/waxing this past weekend, to my horror there is a fairly substantial scratch on the dashboard (the part closest to the windshield) that I didn't notice, mostly because the steering wheel blocks view of that part of the dashboard when sitting in the driver's seat.
It's about 4 inches long and whitish-grey against the dark color of the dashboard piece. Not the end of the world by any stretch and not terribly noticeable from the driver's perspective, but annoying to have on a car with 200 miles on it. So I go to the dealer to see if they can fix it.
To my surprise the sales manager, without looking at it, said they'd fix it and gave me a "We Owe" purchase order to fix the scratch. Just like the should!! Great! Well, then he comes out, takes a look at it, feels it and goes "oooooohhh" (not in a good way). I asked him if they could fix it or if they could replace the front dashboard plastic part. He says concretely "That'll screw up the whole car to fix that." *my eyes getting big* He goes on to say that they would have to remove the whole entire dash to get to it and "it will never be the same again."
We agreed to have the uphostery fixer people to attempt to touchup paint, buff, whatever.
So... is this true about messing up the whole car to replace that front dashboard piece? WTF? Has anyone had experience fixing whitish surface scratches on that part of the dash board?
If it won't rub out or cannot be replaced, so be it since I don't care all that much, but I am flabergasted that it would "screw up the whole car" to fix it. I don't want a car full of rattles, but this sounds a bit far fetched.
Any thoughts?
By the way, on an unrelated note....I asked the dealer about the rear rotor wear (you can already see a little grooving on my car and I poitned it out on some other cars in the lot) and he also stated that a) "I haven't had anyone bring it to my attention." b) "It won't be covered by your warranty" and c) "No one has complained about anything related to the 3 yet." This last statement promting just a tad bit of sketicism...
Thanks so much!!!
Here's the deal.
I did the walk around inspection right after I signed all the paperwork, but unfortunately it was at night because when I finally got around to washing/waxing this past weekend, to my horror there is a fairly substantial scratch on the dashboard (the part closest to the windshield) that I didn't notice, mostly because the steering wheel blocks view of that part of the dashboard when sitting in the driver's seat.
It's about 4 inches long and whitish-grey against the dark color of the dashboard piece. Not the end of the world by any stretch and not terribly noticeable from the driver's perspective, but annoying to have on a car with 200 miles on it. So I go to the dealer to see if they can fix it.
To my surprise the sales manager, without looking at it, said they'd fix it and gave me a "We Owe" purchase order to fix the scratch. Just like the should!! Great! Well, then he comes out, takes a look at it, feels it and goes "oooooohhh" (not in a good way). I asked him if they could fix it or if they could replace the front dashboard plastic part. He says concretely "That'll screw up the whole car to fix that." *my eyes getting big* He goes on to say that they would have to remove the whole entire dash to get to it and "it will never be the same again."
We agreed to have the uphostery fixer people to attempt to touchup paint, buff, whatever.
So... is this true about messing up the whole car to replace that front dashboard piece? WTF? Has anyone had experience fixing whitish surface scratches on that part of the dash board?
If it won't rub out or cannot be replaced, so be it since I don't care all that much, but I am flabergasted that it would "screw up the whole car" to fix it. I don't want a car full of rattles, but this sounds a bit far fetched.
Any thoughts?
By the way, on an unrelated note....I asked the dealer about the rear rotor wear (you can already see a little grooving on my car and I poitned it out on some other cars in the lot) and he also stated that a) "I haven't had anyone bring it to my attention." b) "It won't be covered by your warranty" and c) "No one has complained about anything related to the 3 yet." This last statement promting just a tad bit of sketicism...
Thanks so much!!!