Bad Dealer Dealings - List Your Bad Dealer Experience

[sparky930]

Who did you talk to at Ricart? I’d like to call them. (Sorry trying quite but I must not be doing it correctly. This msg is for Sparky)

I worked with Nathan. I'd just give Ricart a call and ask for "Nathan in Kia Sales". He had me matched up with an incoming telluride within a month and an ETA within the next 2 months!

 

[Ifykyk]

Been shopping for Telluride for a couple weeks in Colorado. About to pull the plug on an order with either Arapahoe or I25 KIA (Both awesome to work with so far) here in Colorado.

Bad dealer: Phil Long KIA in Colorado Springs called me to follow up on a website inquiry. Offered me an S and an EX both with an approximate 10k markup (She wouldn’t give me the MSRP price on them claiming she had no other info or VIN just a price with market adjustment). I don’t remember the S price but the EX Premium with nightfall was 59k When I said no thanks, I have two local dealers offering to order at MSRP with a approximate 4 month wait, sales lady became unprofessionally rude telling me it was a 23-24 month wait for a order on a EX or S Trim and there was no way I could get one that soon. I clarified thinking she may have said 3-4 months but was not the case. I was told, “Good luck with that” and hung up. Felt like she straight up lied in a last ditch effort to get me to buy from them. I hadn’t made an order yet, she could have offered the same deal and sold me on why they were the better dealer.

I ended up ordering with Jim at Arapahoe KIA.(Choose them over I25 only because they are 15 minutes from my house and they provided our first test drive, treating us well and upfront. ) Jim assured me no mark ups on arrival, up front with a dealer processing fee, not going to sell it out from under me. He explained the process and time line which matched everything I read here. Further he talked to me in length on how to get the most for our trade even if it wasn’t trading it in at his dealership. Hopefully I will be posting more in the “Good Section” about them this spring.

Are you still on track for the ~4-month timeline?

 

[justcurious]

Shopping around and would like to mention stay FAR away from Greenway Kia of Rivergate in Madison TN, 50k for a telluride S model BEFORE taxes and dealer fees. WTF

Barnes crossing in tupelo

All of the crain kias in arkansas

Serra Kia of trussville

 

[AshMan]

As a dealer, I don't like mark ups at all. I agree it adds to the dis-trust consumers already have toward dealers.

But the side consumers don't see, is small margin between MSRP and Invoice on these units Kia gives us, and what Kia did to the dealers during the shortage. Some brands have margin at MSRP, Kia and Hyundai aren't in that group

In the "old days" (last year) if we hit our unit "number" from Kia we got money to bridge the gap (step money, around an extra $1000 per car payed on the back side). Due to the shortage the manufactures have taken away incentives from the dealer and the customer. There's nothing at all. On a Forte or a Rio/Niro there is less than $800 profit

So we go from selling 130 new cars a month to 20, and those 20 make maybe $1500 profit on average if sold as MSRP, you can see how it isn't sustainable with the overhead. Today dealers are seeing 65 percent or more cash deals or outside financing, so we don't see money from that either (usually $200-500 per deal).

Maybe this is a sign that dealership business models are outdated and direct to consumer (Tesla) is the future. Seems highly inefficient and a pain for consumers in this day of age. Incentives between dealers and buyers are also diverging rapidly, that only a few will survive once the buyers are in control again. so many are disgruntled now by the shear arrogance shown to us. Yet again, there's enough people willing to be taken advantage of, at least in So-Cal. Hopefully the increase in interest rates coming will slow down these insane 1k/month 6 year loans people are taking, when its a lock they will be underwater 2 years in.... not a shot at you, just the dealers in general

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[detroitmalujoe]

My metro Detroit dealership, Golling Kia of Madison Heights charged me a $3k markup, "market adjustment" over sticker for my fully loaded SXP. I wish I could get those 3 Gs back.

 

[rcoplien]

You could have said no.

 

[jbizzle]

I've been chatting with KIA El Cajon in San Diego (owned by John Kiefer of Kiefer Automotive Group) about buying a Telluride. After negotiating over phone, text, and email, we came to an agreement on a price and financing. They sent me the financing paperwork and the window sticker/VIN of the car. They did not ask for a deposit. Since the car was in transit and I live far away, I asked if we could do the paperwork over email. They said I needed to come in. They confirmed our appointment multiple times over a few days. On the day of the appointment, I drove 45 minutes to finalize the paperwork only to find out they had sold the Telluride to someone else. They kept saying they didn't know what happened and they didn't know where the car is. I could not get a straight answer out of them. They never reached out to me to tell me they sold the car. They tried to sell me a different vehicle. Is this typical of KIA dealerships? It left a bad taste in my mouth, and I am not sure I want to buy a KIA after this experience.

 

[JAM]

I've been chatting with KIA El Cajon in San Diego (owned by John Kiefer of Kiefer Automotive Group) about buying a Telluride. After negotiating over phone, text, and email, we came to an agreement on a price and financing. They sent me the financing paperwork and the window sticker/VIN of the car. They did not ask for a deposit. Since the car was in transit and I live far away, I asked if we could do the paperwork over email. They said I needed to come in. They confirmed our appointment multiple times over a few days. On the day of the appointment, I drove 45 minutes to finalize the paperwork only to find out they had sold the Telluride to someone else. They kept saying they didn't know what happened and they didn't know where the car is. I could not get a straight answer out of them. They never reached out to me to tell me they sold the car. They tried to sell me a different vehicle. Is this typical of KIA dealerships? It left a bad taste in my mouth, and I am not sure I want to buy a KIA after this experience.

I would feel free to email Kia of America this experience. There are similar stories from other people at other dealers documented here. The dealerships that people recommend here tend to be the kind that honor a handshake deal, but there are a lot of shady underhanded dealerships out there.

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[rcoplien]

That is horrible. Though I would have put money down to solidify the deal as that would have set aside that vehicle in you name with the dealership. Sounds like communication on you salesman was not good with his counterparts.

 

[jbizzle]

I would feel free to email Kia of America this experience. There are similar stories from other people at other dealers documented here. The dealerships that people recommend here tend to be the kind that honor a handshake deal, but there are a lot of shady underhanded dealerships out there.

Thanks for the recommendation. How do I contact Kia of America?

 

[AshMan]

I've been chatting with KIA El Cajon in San Diego (owned by John Kiefer of Kiefer Automotive Group) about buying a Telluride. After negotiating over phone, text, and email, we came to an agreement on a price and financing. They sent me the financing paperwork and the window sticker/VIN of the car. They did not ask for a deposit. Since the car was in transit and I live far away, I asked if we could do the paperwork over email. They said I needed to come in. They confirmed our appointment multiple times over a few days. On the day of the appointment, I drove 45 minutes to finalize the paperwork only to find out they had sold the Telluride to someone else. They kept saying they didn't know what happened and they didn't know where the car is. I could not get a straight answer out of them. They never reached out to me to tell me they sold the car. They tried to sell me a different vehicle. Is this typical of KIA dealerships? It left a bad taste in my mouth, and I am not sure I want to buy a KIA after this experience.

Glad to see you followed up from Reddit! from what I have been reading, this is very dealer specific. In our case (I'm in SoCal as well), all the Kia dealers around here are scum and seemed to have created a markup cabal. I'm looking out of state, likely Denver for mine.

 

[Jsanderson]

Had an order in at MSRP for over a month at Hallmark/Wilson Kia in MS now and just got a call from Bob that they are now wanting $2,500 over MSRP for my order.

Talk about bait and switch! Classic stuff right there.

I also reserve one of their allocations back in Jan. Due end of this month. Joseph is reassuring me the price is still as we agree, msrp + $450 and tax. What did they say when you pushed back in the increase or did you cancel?

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[Patsfan29]

There is another example of one of the worst dealerships in upstate South Carolina. Explain how this sells....

 

[JAM]

How is that the retail price? Ha

 

[STLKia]

Maybe this is a sign that dealership business models are outdated and direct to consumer (Tesla) is the future. Seems highly inefficient and a pain for consumers in this day of age. Incentives between dealers and buyers are also diverging rapidly, that only a few will survive once the buyers are in control again. so many are disgruntled now by the shear arrogance shown to us. Yet again, there's enough people willing to be taken advantage of, at least in So-Cal. Hopefully the increase in interest rates coming will slow down these insane 1k/month 6 year loans people are taking, when its a lock they will be underwater 2 years in.... not a shot at you, just the dealers in general

.

 

[STLKia]

Maybe this is a sign that dealership business models are outdated and direct to consumer (Tesla) is the future. Seems highly inefficient and a pain for consumers in this day of age. Incentives between dealers and buyers are also diverging rapidly, that only a few will survive once the buyers are in control again. so many are disgruntled now by the shear arrogance shown to us. Yet again, there's enough people willing to be taken advantage of, at least in So-Cal. Hopefully the increase in interest rates coming will slow down these insane 1k/month 6 year loans people are taking, when its a lock they will be underwater 2 years in.... not a shot at you, just the dealers in general

Prices will go up even more if the dealers are cut out (look at the overpriced Tesla cars), the manufacturers rely on dealers to fix all the new car issues before delivery (there are many, more than the customer knows). The reason Tesla customers are waiting 4-6 months to get their vehicles fixed is due to the lack of service centers and parts distribution centers. Prices are up now due to the manufacturers have cutting dealer profits, which is why you see market adjustments. Anything more than 2-3k is gouging in my eyes however. Marking up $1500 over MSRP would make up for the losses the dealers took from Kia cutting out all the behind the scenes money, anything over that is excessive.

A lot of the fit and finish issues you see on Tesla is due to a dealer not correcting the issues upon arrival. I've seen turbo hoses not connected at the factory, wiring harnesses not plugged in etc - all issues we catch at PDI.

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[The Funky Boss]

There is another example of one of the worst dealerships in upstate South Carolina. Explain how this sells....

Hey! They are giving you an $8k “discount”… what more do you want?!?!

… after what, a $20k markup?!?

 

[icarus8]

Maybe this is a sign that dealership business models are outdated and direct to consumer (Tesla) is the future. Seems highly inefficient and a pain for consumers in this day of age. Incentives between dealers and buyers are also diverging rapidly, that only a few will survive once the buyers are in control again. so many are disgruntled now by the shear arrogance shown to us. Yet again, there's enough people willing to be taken advantage of, at least in So-Cal. Hopefully the increase in interest rates coming will slow down these insane 1k/month 6 year loans people are taking, when its a lock they will be underwater 2 years in.... not a shot at you, just the dealers in general

I honestly just agree.
Another commenter commented on Tesla's issues which I think have more to do with Tesla's newness as a car company and other factors... this entire forum is people trying to avoid getting screwed by the middlemen. How great would it be if we could just order from Kia and pick up at the local Kia service/showroom ala Tesla?

 

[JAM]

The issue i have are the laws of the states mandate the dealer system - if the dealers provide great value then the market would support their existence - and I am also hearing that the dealers make almost nothing on sales but rather on service - so keep factory certified service centers that also double as showrooms and let the people order directly form the factory.

 

[icarus8]

The issue i have are the laws of the states mandate the dealer system - if the dealers provide great value then the market would support their existence - and I am also hearing that the dealers make almost nothing on sales but rather on service - so keep factory certified service centers that also double as showrooms and let the people order directly form the factory.

Yes, agree. But wonder how Tesla does it?
ie how do they get around the dealer thing?