Putnam Mazda

I had a nearly perfect car buying experience. I did my research and found the car that I wanted, and knew the price that I wanted it buy for. I used edmunds to send email to various dealers in the area. Putnam was the first to call back. I asked for the email confirmation and got it promptly. They didn't have the exact colors I wanted (and they told me on the phone, so no surprise there). Other than the color they had 5 cars in the lot in the exact configuration I wanted, while some dealers in the area didn't even have GT trim at all on that weekend. So I decided to go with one of the colors they had. There was no sales pressure in my dealing with Putnam Mazda at all and I _loved_ it. I hate it when dealers waste my (and their) time on trying to push something so hard, that it causes me to stay away from their dealership. I negotiated the price for my trade-in a bit up from the initial offer. Not as much up as I wanted, but it was a fair trade. Again, no tricks, all straightforward - they made their offer for my trade in, and as I negotiated it, they did not try to back out of their offer for the new car. So in theory I could buy a new car from them and shop around my old car, but who wants that? The price for the trade-in was about $2K below Kelly Blue Book trade-in fair value, and I knew that, but I wasn't sure if I could get more at another dealership and then, again, I liked the price on the new car side and the way they dealt. So I thought it was a fair deal overall, between the trade-in and the new car, so I went ahead. I drove back home in a new car. They needed the signature from my wife for the trade-in, so their representative drove with me in a separate car. He was very polite and supportive throughout the whole process, no sales comedy shows or "magic closing techniques". When you're spending that much, you want the sales person to be playing in your team. Kudos to Putnam and to Ali (the sales person). I read the other review here that mentioned Ali and I was hesitant to deal with Putnam, because of that review. So when I was treated nicely, I felt obliged to leave my own review. When you buy a car from them or any other dealer, share your experience. I know it varies over time, people and car, so the more "collective intelligence" we have, the better. I'm not affiliated with Putnam or Ali in any way except that I just bought a car from them. I seriously consider buying another Mazda from them soon, we'll see. If my great experience will be spoiled in the future in any way, I'll surely share that, but so far I'm happy.