Andrew Engstrom

Review of Walser Mazda

PRO: Helpful staff, Up-front discounts

PRO: Helpful staff, Up-front discounts
CON: No negotiating (also a Pro if you're not a slick car salesman yourself), Not as much free service/maintenance offers as other dealers
BOTTOM LINE: Recommend purchasing here if they have your car at the right price.

I came into the Walser Mazda dealership knowing that I wanted a Mazda 3; it was only a question of finding one at the right price. The sticker prices on the cars are cut by some standard discounts that apply across the board, and after including the dealer discount the prices were actually at or below some of the online price calculators I had run for this region.

The sales staff were enthusiastic without being overbearing, reasonably knowledgeable about their product, and respectful of my decision-making process. If you're above-average in car knowledge, you might find you have detailed questions the staff can't answer, though. My salesman was Aaron Birkeland; good guy, and he answered all the questions I personally had about the car.

The extra services offered at this dealer tend to be "add-on" packages or service plans with an extra cost. They do have a free car wash card they'll mail you after the purchase of a vehicle. If you are really hard on your vehicles it may pay to buy the "lifetime" warranty extension. I do like having the option of taking my car here for specialized service, since they've got a full garage in back.

Walser Mazda is also a no-negotiation dealer, and they're really serious when they say that. I suppose I was a bit of a difficult customer because the car I decided on was slightly above the amount I wanted to spend, and I tried to get them to come down just a little to make the sale. If you're into haggling, take note: the management respectfully held to their "non-negotiator" position, and I ended up leaving the dealership to see if I could find my vehicle for a bit cheaper.

Within 15 minutes of leaving, I had three voicemail messages, including from the general manager, saying that they'd found another car in their inventory--same model, same everything--at a better discount, but had simply overlooked it earlier. Yeah, you can say they just wanted to make a sale, but they made an effort to find my car in the price range I needed, not just write me off as too difficult and move on to the next guy. I actually respect that. The other car was the right price, so I ended up going in to do the paperwork that afternoon.

Definitely worth your time to check out Walser Mazda. Five stars for making me a satisfied customer.