I had an amazing experience at Celebration Kia in Central Ohio. I walked on the lot back in February and was greeted by Colleen. Told her I was there to look at a Telluride (at that time I had no clue about the Telluride or the demand). She told me they sell at MSRP and she had an S trim that just came off the truck and had not been processed yet. I could look at but couldn't drive it until it was processed. Looked it over told her I was interested but wanted to test drive before committing. So I was scheduled to test drive next day after it got processed. Unfortunately the Kia system went down and it took a week before I was able to drive it. Colleen kepted me updated and made sure I was able to squeeze in a test drive before they sold it.
During that week, I found this forum and learned a lot. At the very end of February, I told Colleen I was looking for a SX and wanting it in May. She called me March 13th and said they had my dream car coming in on May 24th. Put down a deposit $1k and the waiting game began. I reached out in April and Colleen answered my questions and helped calm my anxiousness and gave ETA update of May 30th.
On May 6th, I saw my
VIN on failcat and texted to ask for an update. Colleen replied and shared details including an ETA of the 20th.
On May 13th, She called to update me about the ETA. She set it up just right telling me she had an update and reminded me of the previous ETAs. I thought she was going to extend the date as SC had said the 24th. Instead she asked me what I was doing tomorrow. I was shocked and it took a second to realize my ride was here a week early.
I worked it out to pick up on my way home from work, test drive, then come back to do the paperwork. She texted throughout the day to collect any needed details ahead of time. When I arrived, she made sure I knew how things worked and off I went.
Came back with my husband and the needed additional paperwork. She went over the purchase price of MSRP, doc fees, tax, and the warranty ($2500). I told her take off the warranty and we have a deal. She immediately did as I asked. The managers encouraged her to try to get us to finance through them. They even offered a rate and term slightly lower than my credit union but I told them I was sticking with my own financing.
We did have a small wait for their finance guy. They had 4 Tellurides that came in on that truck and we all picked up after work on Friday. The wait was no big deal to me given the situation. The finance guy did offer us the standard extra packages. He accepted my no thank yous. He did offer the warranty again and also accepted my no thank you.
The store manager made sure I got copies of all my receipts including the deposit I did over the phone.
Colleen texted me Saturday to see how the family was enjoying the new ride and apologized again for the wait for finance.
I never felt pressured even when they were doing their up sales. Celebration Kia and Colleen made the process easy. I will be buying a used car from them for my teen in the next few months.
