Beware of Jenkins Mazda in Ocala
 

Being in the market for a new, small suv I had been looking at Mazdas extensively online (doing my homework) so I drove up to Jenkins Mazda in Ocala this afternoon to get a closer, hands on look at the CX5. I told the salesman upfront that I was "just looking" and would not be purchasing today. I had looked at enough models online and I had a pretty good idea of "sticker prices". As I stood beside the "touring" SUV I glanced at the window sticker and saw that it was approx $25,000 which is what I expected. I asked the salesman if he had a "grand touring" model, he said he did but they ran $36,000. I said, I thought the "grand touring" was only a few thousand more than this one! He said, it is, this one is $32,000. I said, no, the sticker right here says $25,000. He laughs and says no, we don't go by that sticker, we use this one and indicated another sticker that had been affixed by the dealer adjacent to the window sticker. Sure enough, there were various charges on it totaling $7,000 over and above the sticker price! The first was an almost $4,000 JENKINS VALUE ADDED PACKAGE, which he said was for "dealer added" options (He couldn't really tell me what those options were except for roof rails and cargo net!). REALLY, $4,000! The one that really bowled me over was the $1,995 charge for ADJUSTED MARKET VALUE! This one, he said, was because this SUV was the hottest car on the market right now and they were allowed to do it! Although I won't say what I told him, needless to say I was out of there pretty fast, sans a new car! He followed me to my car saying that if I was willing to buy today he could make me a really good deal! I told him I did not deal with those kind of dealers and he should know there were plenty of new SUVs available that did not tack on such ridiculous charges! Who do they think they are fooling?

Their Hyundai dealer does the same thing.

I guess I'm lucky Jenkins Hyundai didn't have my car. I bought a 2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo which had a window sticker price of $23,925. Also, the turbo was very hard to find at the time and many dealers were selling for $1,000 above sticker. I wanted a white or silver automatic and after two weeks of searching I found one at Red Hoagland Hyundai in Winter Haven. I first looked on KBB and they gave me the trade in price for my Mazda 3 and the price I should pay for the Hyundai. I drove the 75 miles down Hwy 27 to Red Hoagland and told them the price I should pay for the Hyundai was $22,600 and the amount for my trade. That salesman said wait a minute, and came back and said you have a deal. It was the best car dealer experience I've ever had.

I did all my searching on http://www.autotrader.com/ All dealers are included. You can set a parameter such as I did as dealers within 100 miles. You can select the make, model, options and price and search away all day. When a dealer has the car you want, go to http://www.kbb.com/ and it will tell you the price you should pay and what your trade in is worth at a dealership.

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I don't know how they stay in business - went up there once to buy - worst car buying experience we have ever had. Never, ever again.

Good Experience
 

WOW !!! I am so sorry to hear such comments about Jenkins Hyundai. I am a loyal customer to Jenkins and the Hyundai autos. In fact I don't even shop anymore, I simply go to Jenkin's Hyundai in Ocala and have always made a good trade. Jenkins certainly sells a lot of Hyundais, any parking lot appears to have more Hyundais than any other brand. I can understand your feelings, especially if you believe the buying experience was bad.

Keep in mind, it is the job of car sales at every level of every dealership to take you for as much as they can. They focus first on finding your hot buttons. Get you hooked on a car, confuse you with your trade value and if that fails, get you with add ons, extra insurance, extended maintenance financing tricks and more. The best are very slow up front, trying to convince you that they are your friend and they will take care of you. Do all your research from home and then YOU GO BUY A CAR, DO NOT LET THEM SELL YOU ONE.

Watch out for the Honda dealer in Ocala too. I traded $700.00 less in Illinois for the exact sticker price Honda Odyssey just two years ago. Bottom line, it really pays to shop around. Blount Honda in Leesburg was a little better but not much. Sometimes, I think the car dealers in this area think everybody in TV is "rich" so we don't care what it costs.

I encountered the same added sticker sales tactic at Jenkins Hyundai in Leesburg. We were greeted by a salesman as we looked at the Genesis models on the lot. He asked if he could help and I told him he could if we disregarded the add-ons listed. He told me that was possible. In the end, the only add-on I took was one I wanted anyway.

I agree that the prices listed on those added stickers are nowhere near realistic. I think they had a price of $1000 for the pin stripe which is just a stick on tape. Plus they also had the $2000 charge for Jenkins Value Package which included nothing of any value whatsoever. If the salesman wasn't so agreeable to ignore the charges on that sticker, I also would have just walked away.

The worst. I went in to check an SUV and told the my lease still 8 months left and I was just checking cars off my list.
They tried hard pressure so I told them that's not how I do business and left.

I do recommend Parks Lincoln in Longwood. Last 2 vehicles came from them.

That was not my experience at Jenkins Acura in Ocala, In fact they have been above board both when selling me a vehicle and with the follow up service. I have rated them A+ on every survey.

I went to many places when I was buying and everyone either tried to talk me into a bigger car than I wanted or they seemed that they did not want my business. I went to Jenkins Hyundai in Ocala and was satisfied with my treatment.

I have never been a good car buying person but I do not feel like I was "taken" on my purchase.

Z

unbelieveable story
 

I had purchased my first Hyundai ( it was a demo) and had some problems with it. for at least a year the Ocala Jenkins group attempted to make the neessary fix. Jenlins knew what was really needed for the fix, but the Hyundai corporation refused to okay the work. On about the fifth attempt to make repairs, we sat down with the dealership manager "Tom" who stated , "Mr. Jenkins does not want unhappy customers" Tom said, I want you and your wife to go have lunch on me and come back when you are finished. What I am about to say is absolutely true. When we returned to the dealership, Tom said Mr. Jenking wants you to go out onto the new car lot and pick out any similiar model Hyundai Sonata as a replacement. We were "given", yes given, a car two years newer than out problem car and with zero mileage. I said it was an unbelieveable story. All we were required to do was pay the sales tax on the difference in value of the two cars. How about that for a dealership and is the reason Hyundai is the hottest selling auto in the area.:a040::a040::a040::a040:

Wow, we did look at Jenkins Hyundai several months ago and did not have a bad experience, however we told them we were not ready to buy at that point. I did not notice any kind of up charges added to the sticker price. Perhaps it is because the salesman said the Mazda CX5 is the "hottest SUV on the market" right now! I like the Tucson and the Santa Fe but thought something smaller would do ok for us.
Thanks all for your comments!

I like your Veloster! Thanks for the info!

Agree. I took my Accord there for service. I'd purchased it in NY just before I bought the house in TV. They always tried to pressure me into unnecessary service which I always declined. While there waiting for my car to be serviced I noticed Accords like mine with up to $7000 added to the price of the car. After a couple of adventures to Ocala I started going to Blount in Leesburg and never had a problem with service. They did what I asked, no hassle, to pressure. Sticker price was just that. No add ons.