using "Nitrogen" as a deal breaker

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GumbyJarvis

GumbyJarvis

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So, my roommate is in the market for a new car.
His 2003 Neon has served well in the hundreds of thousands of miles and still going, but the plastic isn't.

He has been looking at Mazda 3's, going to the Mazda dealer, the sticker has an upcharge of "1000$ Purigen Tire Treatment"

I have seen numerous dealers do this, I have seen nitrogen go for 100-1500$(on big 2500s and stuff its normally higher)

Mazda didn't want to budge on it, VW and Subaru offered to empty the tires, fill it with "Normal Non-Special Air that has been used for years"

Anyone ever have luck and used "deleting the nitrogen option" as a deal breaker on a car?

My Hyundai, Dart and Ranger all had nitrogen and I requested it to be emptied and saved darn near 1000$ on each car. Some dealers wont budge with it.

"Nitrogen is factory spec and will void your warranty with normal air"
-Actual mazda Salesguy

Maybe void your tire warranty, but a powertrain/bumper to bumper one? doubtful
 
Is this for real? $1k for nitrogen? I believe regular compressed air is already about 80% nitrogen. Paying anything for that extra 20% purity is not worth anything to me.

I think its a typical dealer profit strategy and those are always optional. Just insist on not buying it and walk away.
 
I've never in all my years seen the price as 1k, 100 yes. I'd tell the dealer sure keep the nitro in the tires and take 5k off sticker. Which would really be 4k off sticker net. All the dealer sees, is sucker written on your friends forehead. Get some online quotes from Mazda dealers that way they won't see the forehead.
 
If I was your friend, I'd go to the nearest Toyota, Hyundai or possibly Subaru dealership.

Complete [censored].
 
Originally Posted By: GumbyJarvis
So, my roommate is in the market for a new car.
His 2003 Neon has served well in the hundreds of thousands of miles and still going, but the plastic isn't.

He has been looking at Mazda 3's, going to the Mazda dealer, the sticker has an upcharge of "1000$ Purigen Tire Treatment"

I have seen numerous dealers do this, I have seen nitrogen go for 100-1500$(on big 2500s and stuff its normally higher)

Mazda didn't want to budge on it, VW and Subaru offered to empty the tires, fill it with "Normal Non-Special Air that has been used for years"

Anyone ever have luck and used "deleting the nitrogen option" as a deal breaker on a car?

My Hyundai, Dart and Ranger all had nitrogen and I requested it to be emptied and saved darn near 1000$ on each car. Some dealers wont budge with it.

"Nitrogen is factory spec and will void your warranty with normal air"
-Actual mazda Salesguy

Maybe void your tire warranty, but a powertrain/bumper to bumper one? doubtful


What a wonderful DEALERSHIP. ..........................

Reading this is turning me off to Mazda's....
 
Which warranty do they speak of? The tire warranty or the overall car warranty? I assume the tire warranty.

First thing I would do is tell them to prove to me it is a factory spec and that it will void the warranty. Show me where it says that. If it does say that (which I doubt it does); deal breaker. If it doesn't and they won't budge; deal breaker. If he says it is just the tire warranty, ask to see the tire warranty or call the tire manufacture.

I can't remember where it is, but I just read a study where study showed, if I remember correctly, that regular air eventually seeps into the tire over time and dilutes whatever percentage of Nitrogen is in your tire.
 
I'd be surprised of any factory literature that says nitrogen is a requirement for the tires. The notion that some dealers will not budge on nitrogen on the sticker price reminds me of me being picky about the dealership's decals on the rear of the cars; if it's on there and they won't take it off, I would not sign for the vehicle. Same for wheel locks, if they don't take them off, I would not sign for the car. And I own a Mazda.
 
Mazdas come off the truck with.........air, regular air. The only thing we would have to do when I was turning wrenches here was drop the psi on the cars shipped from Japan. The RX-8s especially would come off the boat with 75+psi in them, at least they didn't have any flat spots.

I would tell them to replace with "regular air" and I would take my chances with the "warranty" they claim is voided.
 
Stop worrying about line item charges and focus on the bottom line, out the door price.
 
Paging "stealership" employees, in 3...2...1...
lol.gif
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: ChrisW
I'd be surprised of any factory literature that says nitrogen is a requirement for the tires. The notion that some dealers will not budge on nitrogen on the sticker price reminds me of me being picky about the dealership's decals on the rear of the cars; if it's on there and they won't take it off, I would not sign for the vehicle. Same for wheel locks, if they don't take them off, I would not sign for the car. And I own a Mazda.
Most consumers do not know the empowerment they can receive by walking away.
 
Originally Posted By: Leo99
Stop worrying about line item charges and focus on the bottom line, out the door price.


Yeah. I know this.
Now, I have and have known people both that have knocked even more off via "deleting" dealer add on options.

When I bought the ranger, It was 2008, it was a dealer "go to autozone/go to carquest" truck, base model 2005 Ranger XL, crank windows, CD Player were about the only technology in that thing.
It had low miles (as it was dealer used and maintained)

I knocked about 2500$ off by simply asking for no bedliner, nitrogen or generic dealer Pinstriping.

In the end? I saved 2500$,
I took 500$ of that and got a Rhino line job,
And still saved in the long run.

Dealer add ons can be killers on price
"Pinstriping" especially, as an "appearance package"
Sadly, its not true paint pinstriping, and it seems as if every dealer uses the same generic pinstriping decals that break into a small maker logo.
 
I have seen "roadside assistance packages" that literally consisted of "OEM Fix a Flat, a bicycle pump, a dollar bin AAP tire gauge, and two qts of OEM motor oil (Motorcraft)" have a 900$ upsell added.
 
Originally Posted By: ejes
I can't remember where it is, but I just read a study where study showed, if I remember correctly, that regular air eventually seeps into the tire over time and dilutes whatever percentage of Nitrogen is in your tire.


Interesting, I had been under the impression that the opposite is true: the more you need to top up your tires with regular air, the higher the concentration of nitrogen gets. If oxygen is the problem and 'leaks out' like the nitrogen believers claim, and the nitrogen doesn't do that, then over time your tires eventually become more and more nitrogen-concentrated anyway.
When I got new tires last year I needed to add air fairly often. Now they're very stable, but of course correlation does not imply causation.
 
As a consumer you should just be thinking about the final price. Walk away if you don't like it, which means you have another dealer who can get you what you want cheaper.
I think its the wrong approach to even acknowledge and haggle over the nitrogen as it means you're admitting it has value.

The last two cars I got had wheel locks and door edge film applied, but I was only agreeing to the final price and no other dealer would sell it cheaper film or not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2LLB9CGfLs
 
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