Koeppel Mazda — Local services in New York

I purchased a pre-own "certified" 2019 Mazda cx3 from Koppel Mazda. The vehicle had 2k miles, close to new. In my excitement, I missed a significant indentation on the roof of the vehicle. After closer inspection, I noticed the roof antenna was also loose. I took it back to the dealership 3 days later. They explained to me that the damage occurred in their parking lot, with one of their lifts. The employee responsible did not notify the incident. The car had to be sent for bodywork and the antenna had to be replaced.

I was given a courtesy vehicle. At this point, I was not happy but at least they were willing to repair the damage. I was told by the service representative “I must bring back the vehicle clean”, in order to avoid cleaning charges. That makes sense I thought. I walked over to the courtesy vehicle, it had bird droppings on its roof and a thick layer of dirt. The inside was no better. I took this car anyways and when on with my life. The dirt made It difficult to see out the windshield when the sun was at a certain angle.

The next day I received a call, the dealership is asking me to bring the courtesy vehicle back because the tags were about to expire... At this point I was frustrated and I refused to have to drive back to Mazda. Carlos, the service manager offered me to have the car pick up and swapped wherever I was. He apologized for the inconvenience. I took this opportunity to tell him about the poor condition of the vehicle I received. Carlos apologized for all the inconveniences and send over a much nicer vehicle in its place.

Meanwhile, I tried to reach out to Christian, the used car sales manager, and make him aware of the situation. He did not seem very empathetic, however, he said he would take care of it and that he would be my point of contact. A week passed, I did not know when and getting my vehicle back and decided to call Christian. He picked up and quickly told me that I must contact the service department because he did not know. “So much for being my point of contact,” I said to my self.

Two weeks later I finally got to pick up my vehicle, the roof and antenna looked they way they are supposed to. I get inside my car ready to drive off into the sunshine when I noticed a huge wrinkle cutting across the roof liner. Also, the two plastic covers for the two front pillars were poorly installed. The interior roof liner got damage during the roof repair. At this point, I lost my patience. Carlos took a look, apologies again, and said that he would get it taken care of.

I decided to talk to Christian (use the car sales manager). I wanted to simply get a different vehicle. After a pointless and redundant conversation, he said that I should have been more careful when purchasing a used car, that even when the broken antenna was part of the "161 point inspection" I had no right to exchange the vehicle since the damage occurred after the inspection, and it was not really his fault. Furthermore, He said that I could trade the car in for less money. He even had the audacity to say that “a damaged vehicle depreciates even more”. He said this knowing that the damage happened at his lot before I purchased the vehicle.

What else can I say.... It has been 20 days since I made this regrettable deal, I got to drive the car for 3 days.

These could be an isolated serious of unfortunate events that felt on me. Based on Kopeles Mazda’s good reviews, it probably is. However, this is my story.

To be fair, most of the employees at Koeppel Mazda are friendly. Carlos in particular was very understanding and responsive. However, when it comes to the quality of the products and services I received, There is a lot of room improvements.

I had explained to Carlos that this review is about my purchase experience rather than service department. I had initially decided to go to Koeppel Mazda to purchase a vehicle, not to have my car service.

21 days after purchasing my vehicle I finally got it back. Everything looks good so far, a new liner was installed and the pillar...

They literally left my air intake/filter off under the hood.

The first time I came in was because I had a blinker out (under 5K miles on my CX-5). They changed the blinker, I picked up my car, and driving back noticed my emergency light was on when I got the car back. I came back and they reset the light. A bit careless to give me the car back without checking that , but truly no big deal if that was all.

This last time time, I came for routine oil change/10k mile check. For the second time I waited 20-30min for someone to talk to me despite having an appointment, but otherwise everything seemed fine. I hadn't driven my car further than home and around the block a few times for alternate side parking until a few days later, when I took my first longer drive since bringing it to Koeppel Mazda, at which point I turned the music down and noticed an odd sound from the engine/turbo. I popped my hood and the air intake was literally never reattached under the hood. I was absolutely blown away. They literally left my car in a state where running it as such could cause permanent damage to the engine if I hadn't heard the slight difference in sound and addressed it.

I have no idea if the people working there are just sloppy, or if they are so short staffed that even a reasonable worker would make such mistakes (I've pulled up with an appointment and had to wait 20-30min for someone to talk to me both times) but regardless if they're messing up this really obvious visible sort of stuff, I can only imagine what kind of nonsense they're doing that I can't readily see when they actually service my car.

I emailed the manager everything here, he called me a few days later, and basically said "I'm sorry, not sure what else to say" and that was that. You'd think they'd give a refund for my service or some discount... fairly basic move when your business screws up like this, which leads me to believe that it's not just the technician but that this place is just straight up incompetently run. He asked if I wanted to come back to have my car looked at. I didn't bother asking if that was for free or for a charge because I would not let this place pay me to touch my car at this point. If you care about your car, find a corner shop that you can trust and pay literally 1/4 of the price for service that wont...

This is a wonderful dealership with a great staff. It's incredible how much of a difference you can get by switching brands. I never felt like this dealership had tried to take advantage of me, play psychological tricks, or squeeze every little dollar out of my soul.

I especially wanted to give a thank you to Raul for helping me to get my CX5 Signature, and  for being patient and kind with me while we negotiated and helped me not just beat the trade in value I would have gotten at Nissan, but also to eliminate the markup in a markup-heavy environment. He answered all my questions, and he was more of a partner and advocate, than a salesman. Steve, the finance manager, was also a pleasure to work - he's a friendly face amidst a process that is traditionally stressful.

When other dealerships told me, "Markups are what they are, can't do anything about it", Raul and Koeppel Mazda worked with me. Sure, I could have afforded the markup, but I would have resented Mazda and the dealership for forcing me to pay it, and I would have looked elsewhere for a car. (Even then, it's worth noting that Mazda's markups were already lower than their competitors).

So here I am now with a car that's safe, fun, packed with features, and from a dealership who I've had a very pleasant experience working with.

I just finished my first scheduled maintenance, and I'm very happy with the experience. Even from the moment you drive in, they're going above and beyond, with a machine that uses lasers to check the wheel alignment on your car the moment you drive in. Todd, my service advisor, is super friendly. Scheduled service took about an hour - their customer wait area is filled with comfy chairs and free snacks. Even their bathroom was shockingly clean and I don't feel like I got norovirus from using it.

At the end of the service, I got a video from the technician explaining what he examined in my car. My 2023 CX5 Signature was in great shape, and I didn't have to pay anything since the oil change was complimentary. This service visit truly felt like a doctor's visit for my car, making sure that my car is healthy - instead of a dreadful waiting game to find out what's wrong with my car this year.

Thanks,...