[waymo]

Hi,

I'm new to forum and just wanted to start off by saying thanks, this forum is loaded with useful information that has been very helpful to me.

I have money down on a 3 that has been listed on Mazda's USA web site (by dealer and/or zip code) since Feb. 25th. For a few weeks, I was actually thinking the car was on the dealer's lot when in fact it wasn't. Finally, on March 31, I couldn't wait any longer and went in to buy the car. I figured it had been there for 5 weeks without being sold and that I'd be able to make a deal. I was wrong. The car was ordered by the dealer (Allen Patch Mazda in Orem, Utah) but simply had NOT yet arrived. Regardless, they made me a good deal, I bought it AT INVOICE pricing, and paid the ridiculous $298 "documentation fee." They also gave me 30% off any and all accessory item purchases during the first month, so I added all kinds of little extras that should keep the car looking nice for a lot longer.

Anyways, here's my problem (sorry about the long post): The dealer can't tell me where the car is or when it will arrive. They have given me an estimate of "April 12-16," but it honestly sounds like they don't have a clue and/or are NOT willing to take the time to nail down a firm date. Does anyone know of a way to find a car in transit? The dealer claims that the car shipped to Port Hueneme (misspelled but pronounced "why-knee-me) in California. He says that most of their Mazdas normally ship to some port in Washington and then get shipped by truck to Utah. He says my car is "special" and could possibly get shipped from California, up to the port in Washington and then finally to Utah. He also claims that there is only one Mazda rep for Utah (that is involved in the purchase/order/shipment process) and he doesn't have or isn't willing to find a location on the car, or an arrival date.

I WANT MY 3 :!: Where else can I turn to find it? How come Mazda lists vehicles by VIN # at a dealer as if they had the car when they don't? If Fed-Ex can track 10 million packages a day in real time, why can't Mazda come up with the location of one of 10,000 cars they shipped to the US in Feb.? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

--David (my "not-so patient" evil twin)

 

[factrzero]

Some rail companies let you track the # of days a train takes to get in. If you know the train # and company that is carrying your car, you can look that up on the appropriate rail web site and then you can get a rough idea of how long that will take to get to the rail yard in your area from port.

 

[waymo]

Thanks for the feedback. However, they (Mazda dealer) can't or won't confirm if it's on a train or not. They would tell me that normally, nothing from the port in Washington ends up on a train (bound for Utah). He said it all comes in by truck/diesel. However, it could be on a train from Cal to Washington, who knows. I wish there was a Mazda customer service # that you could call that would actually look this kind of thing up for you and tell you what you wanted to know over the phone... without having to go through a dealer.

 

[ManualShifterMz3s]

SIMILAR QUESTION I'VE ASKED..... NO ONE SEEMS TO BE KNOWLEDGEABLE or ERUDITE ABOUT THIS ASPECT!

just for the record, mine's was scheduled to be built the 1st wk of April.

check here for more info: HEADLINE: Reference / Order Numbers.

 

[LeeLee]

Since you've already paid for your car, you will be the last person to get your hands on that car. They will offer that car to everyone else who walks in the door. You will only get your car when it becomes absolutely certain that no one else will buy that car except for you.

When will that be? I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

 

[LeeLee]

Err, I didn't offer a solution to your misery in my last post:

The fastest way to get your car is to get your money back. If you've already signed a contract this may be difficult.

 

[ManualShifterMz3s]

LeeLee,
Are you implying that those whom have OFFICIALLY placed their respective orders are at a disadvantage of being privileged for the cars readily available?

See, the dealer was initially going to preform a search (looking at other dealerships) if they didn't have the car I wanted, but since they advised me that the color/trim/options (see sig.) that I required wasn't going to be easy to locate... then to be sure... I had to place an order.

I don't mind the wait (not really), but if they COULD give me an ETA then I do not have any (too much) problems in waiting. I suppose until there is a VIN assigned.... then they could tell when this particular car will be shipped out.

I don't have a VIN# yet (Reference/Order# I do have) since the car was scheduled for building 1st wk of April, therefore, I suppose I will have to check back with the vendor in a week or so.

 

[dja0323]

No ETA given until a Vin# is assigned.

I would have to take leelee's advice with a grain of salt. Here in Phx there are plenty of Mazda3's to go around so I don't see how or why my dealer would sell the one I ordered with my specs over the "more popular" configurations that all the dealerships seem to have. I also have not purchased the car, I just gave them a deposit for ordering (a requirement if purchasing by S-Plan).

Sorry i have no answer for your question, as I am in the same boat as you are. According to my dealer, Mazda's being shipped to AZ come in at the San Diego port and then are trucked into our state. I would be surprised if mazda sends cars bound for Utah to Washington first when it would make much more sense to ship to L.A. and rail freight them in. My car has an ETA of the 12-16 as well, so that makes me think that they may be on the same ship? According to the port of San Diego's schedule they post, a ship is coming in on the 11th carrying automobiles with a final port destination of Port Hueneme, CA. Unfortunately, no real useable information is given besides the fact that the cargo is automobiles. The next ship into San Diego with autos is the 15th with a final port destination of Port Hueneme, CA. The respective ship names (for those of you who care) are Pegasus Highway and Green Cove. Now if I only knew what port Mazda shipped from (may not be Hiroshima) and if I could read japanese, maybe I'd be able to figure this out on my own...

Sorry for the length of this post, but I figured this info would be interesting if not helpful for those of us waiting for cars on the west coast. PM me if you'd like the link for the shipping schedules for the port of San Diego.

 

[waymo]

Thanks for all the prompt replies. I went out on a limb and started calling other local dealers today, and found one in Salt Lake City that was actually willing to help, even though the Orem dealer already had my money and either couldn't or wouldn't help.

Basically, after giving him the VIN # (which I have had since Feb. 25), he was able to do two things. First, he confirmed that the port had "released" the car two days ago and second, he gave me the direct # of the Mazda port rep in Tacoma, WA. I called her and she verified that it had not come to that port (as most Mazda's bound for UT usually do) but instead was in Port Hueneme, CA. She was also kind enough to provide me with the direct # of the Mazda port manager at that location and before I knew it, I had every detail I hoped for. I know the freight carrier, I know that it's being trucked, I know when it's being loaded (tomorrow YES :lol: ) and that the first stop is Las Vegas, NV, the next is St. George, UT, and the next is one 3 for me in Orem. She thought based on the short distances (all of them directly off of I-15), I might have the car by Friday of this week, no later than Monday of this upcoming week. I finally have an answer. If anyone else's Mazda is coming through either of the two ports I mentioned and they want those phone #'s, just PM me.

--David

 

[LeeLee]

LeeLee,
Are you implying that those whom have OFFICIALLY placed their respective orders are at a disadvantage of being privileged for the cars readily available?

I am not implying anything - I'm saying that is what is going to happen. By placing an order or a deposit on a car, you will be the last person to be offered a car that match your requirements because you are no longer actively shopping for a car. What assurances do you get by placing an order, even with a VIN number? Absolutely nothing, zero, zilch, nada.

Got a VIN from the dealer? So what? Three months later "your car" finally shows up and its a different VIN, what are you going to do, sue them for breach of contract? No, you will just take the car because you've already waited 3 months and you don't want to go car hunting again. They may also come up with a story like "The factory left out one of your options on the car you ordered, but we were able to do a port swap for a car that's just the way you want it."

What are you going to do?

The fastest way to get your car is to take back your deposit, cancel your order if you can, start calling dealers and tell them that the first one to find your car at your price will get your money.

 

[LeeLee]

No ETA given until a Vin# is assigned.

I would have to take leelee's advice with a grain of salt. Here in Phx there are plenty of Mazda3's to go around so I don't see how or why my dealer would sell the one I ordered with my specs over the "more popular" configurations that all the dealerships seem to have. I also have not purchased the car, I just gave them a deposit for ordering (a requirement if purchasing by S-Plan).

As I said in a earlier post, the VIN doesn't matter. They will find a way to get around it.

Now I am not saying that if you ordered a car the dealer is going to put it on the front lot with a giant "Hot Deal" sign on it. No, but what they will do is list that car as being available to everyone else who walks in, while it is on order and for the few days after it arrives.

Even if they have 20 other Mazda3s on the lot, a walk-in buyer may like the one you ordered more, and the dealer won't think twice about selling it to him and make you wait longer. "Sorry, the factory pushed back their schedule because they had to divert a build shift to European models, twenty other people are in the same boat as you".

 

[LeeLee]

Thanks for all the prompt replies. I went out on a limb and started calling other local dealers today, and found one in Salt Lake City that was actually willing to help, even though the Orem dealer already had my money and either couldn't or wouldn't help.

That's good news! Hope you get the car soon!

It's amazing some times that certain dealers will be so willing to help. When I was hunting for a very particular Honda Element, I was having a very tough time locating it. Honda does not have a inventory system on their website so I had to call up each dealer to ask them what they had. Finally I called a dealer in Virginia Beach, about two hours away from me, and the guy that answered the phone looked everything up in his computer and told me that there are two cars in the state of Virginia that match my needs and one was about 15 minutes away from me. I had called this closer dealer about an hour before and they told me that they didn't have what I was looking for.

Anyway, here's to the helpful dealers.

 

[ruel24]

[quote author=LeeLee link=topic=4644.msg63348#msg63348 date=1081366334]
Since you've already paid for your car, you will be the last person to get your hands on that car. They will offer that car to everyone else who walks in the door. You will only get your car when it becomes absolutely certain that no one else will buy that car except for you.

When will that be? I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.
[/quote]

I know this is an old post, but I ran across it and wanted to straighten this myth out! I'm a former car salesman. The reality is nothing like this person claims. When you order a car, the car is not sold until the day you drive it off the lot. It's not financed, it's not registered with the manufacturer as sold, and the salesman, sales manager and finance manager have not receieved a single dollar worth of commission. They are anxious for you to take home your new car. Do slip ups happen? Yes. I've had ordered cars to find their way onto the lot because the person checking in the cars failed to flag it as a sold unit. Does it happen often? NO. However, believe me, everyone involved that receives a commission is dying for you to take your new car home.

Also, chances are, if you ordered your vehicle, you wanted something they don't normally carry on the lot. There is a reason they don't carry that combination on the lot, normally. Good sales managers track what sells and what doesn't sell. They watch how the inventory moves so that future orders will be ordered with the most likely combinations to move off of the lot the fastest. The last thing they want is a car to sit there on the lot with no potential buyers - every day the car sits costs them money past 90 days from the day it arrives. Therefore, your ordered car is not something they likely want to put in stock. For instance, I ordered my new '07 3 with the remote engine starter and the Auto dimming/Homelink mirror. This is not something they stock at the dealership I bought. They order 3 Grand Touring models for stock with just the Bose/moonroof package and sometimes wheel locks. That's it.

Also, long wait times are sometimes a reality. I ordered a, then, new 1998 GMC Yukon for someone and 8 months later, the vehicle still hadn't arrived. I found one on the lot that was exactly the same, less the two tone pain scheme (primary color was the same, though) and sold them that. I warned them about long wait times before they ordered. Like most people shopping for cars, they didn't believe the salesman and thought I was trying to push them into buying something that night, instead. My dealer told me to expect 4 months to wait for my new '07 3 Grand Touring. It's just reality and I'm willing to live with that.

I hope this nonsense is cleared up...