Bad Dealer Dealings - List Your Bad Dealer Experience

[Mimi]

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.

All CA dealers are behaving this way. Just YELP all the dealerships and type in 'Telluride' in the search for the reviews and you'll see.

 

[AshMan]

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.

I would happily pay $1500 above msrp without any other dealer fluff (like rust and paint protection..). In southern California, min markup (gouge) is 5K

 

[JAM]

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

Tesla never had independent dealers, so they are not competing with any (the laws in a lot of states) and for the states that flat out outlaw direct to consumer sales, i think the laws were changed or they don't sell there.

 

[movnviol]

I am now having my dealer investigated by Kia of America. I told you how I went to get my first "free" oil change out of 11. The dealer told me that they are the new owners and would not be honoring the old dealers business promises. I complained to corporate. I ended up finding in my paperwork, a page talking about Global Administrators, a "warranty company". I did not purchase ANY warranty at my sale and I called them to ask if they had me listed. I gave them my VIN # and they said "yes" you purchased a plan with us. NO THE HELL I DIDN'T !! They guy sends me a PDF of the paperwork. I was astounded to see that my finance guy , somehow purchased a warranty under my name for ...get this....$5390 !!!!!!!!!
The old owner of the dealer has started a new dealership with Kia , almost 30 miles away. They tell me that THEY will do the oil changes for "free". Apparently in their $7000 mark up, they used it to buy a $5390 warranty. I have contacted the warranty company and have demanded a cancellation and refund of the money. Their paperwork says I can cancel at anytime and they will pro rate the refund. By my math, they owe me $4600-4800 bucks. I will have to wait and see what bullshyte they now come with, not to pay me. I believe I now have enough evidence to go after these people in the court of public opinion with my sister in law , who is a reporter for a major news channel. I now that this finance guy pulled this crap without people knowing he was doing it. I may go to the District Attorneys Office also.
I'm just hoping I can get back the 4600-4800 and grab back some of the mark up they hit me with.
Stay away from Karp Kia of Rockville Centre , NY and South Shore Kia of Copiague, NY. Something tells me that they are ALL scammers.

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[JAM]

I am now having my dealer investigated by Kia of America. I told you how I went to get my first "free" oil change out of 11. The dealer told me that they are the new owners and would not be honoring the old dealers business promises. I complained to corporate. I ended up finding in my paperwork, a page talking about Global Administrators, a "warranty company". I did not purchase ANY warranty at my sale and I called them to ask if they had me listed. I gave them my VIN # and they said "yes" you purchased a plan with us. NO THE HELL I DIDN'T !! They guy sends me a PDF of the paperwork. I was astounded to see that my finance guy , somehow purchased a warranty under my name for ...get this....$5390 !!!!!!!!!
The old owner of the dealer has started a new dealership with Kia , almost 30 miles away. They tell me that THEY will do the oil changes for "free". Apparently in their $7000 mark up, they used it to buy a $5390 warranty. I have contacted the warranty company and have demanded a cancellation and refund of the money. Their paperwork says I can cancel at anytime and they will pro rate the refund. By my math, they owe me $4600-4800 bucks. I will have to wait and see what bullshyte they now come with, not to pay me. I believe I now have enough evidence to go after these people in the court of public opinion with my sister in law , who is a reporter for a major news channel. I now that this finance guy pulled this crap without people knowing he was doing it. I may go to the District Attorneys Office also.
I'm just hoping I can get back the 4600-4800 and grab back some of the mark up they hit me with.
Stay away from Karp Kia of Rockville Centre , NY and South Shore Kia of Copiague, NY. Something tells me that they are ALL scammers.

I’d take a breath and figure out what is best for you. You agreed that that huge markup. If you can cancel and get $5K back that is a big win. Why would the dealer take out a warranty that you didn’t ask for, what’s in that for them? (Not saying they didn’t, but I’m trying to figure that one out). Also if they honor the oil changes at RVC you are kinda getting what you bargained for (minus the extra drive). So now you are looking at $5k back and 11 free oil changes.

 

[rcoplien]

So you didn't know you where getting charged a markup??

 

[byscott]

Sounds like you’re in New York. You may want to file your complaint with the Office of the Attorney General.

 

[movnviol]

I’d take a breath and figure out what is best for you. You agreed that that huge markup. If you can cancel and get $5K back that is a big win. Why would the dealer take out a warranty that you didn’t ask for, what’s in that for them? (Not saying they didn’t, but I’m trying to figure that one out). Also if they honor the oil changes at RVC you are kinda getting what you bargained for (minus the extra drive). So now you are looking at $5k back and 11 free oil changes.

Why would I want to deal with a dealership that knowingly falsified a warranty at a price of $5390 for a car that comes with a great factory warranty already?! They have already displayed that they cannot be trusted and I will not be driving almost 60 miles round trip, when there is another Kia dealership (only 6 months in business) about a half mile from my house. The oil changes cost $80 bucks each, the rotations are $45 each. When you do the math for what they promised, the oil and rotations only comes out to $1105. I'm sure that the finance guy has some sort of kick back scheme going on. What's BEST for me is to get the $4600 back and lessen the mark up. If they just would have given me the oil change for free, I would have never known about what they pulled. You damn well know that this guy has pulled this fraud on probably every one who bought a car from them.

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[movnviol]

So you didn't know you where getting charged a markup??

I willingly accepted the mark up. I did not sign for , nor was I told about purchasing a warranty. There is nothing on my purchase paperwork about this "warranty". The "free" oil changes were an incentive given for me to buy the car. I bought a "lifetime" warranty on my Dodge Challenger for only $2500. This warranty paperwork says its for 48 months or 55,000 whichever comes first. The Kia comes with a 5year 60,000 mile basic warranty from the factory. Nobody in their right mind would have accepted this $5390 fraud.

 

[Waiting4Rain]

Just curious: if you accepted the markup, does it matter what it consisted of? Maybe the dealer added it to their revenue stream, maybe they donated it to a good cause, maybe they applied it to a third party warranty company, or maybe they did something else with it. Once it was accepted, I'm thinking it's mostly out of your hands what they choose to do with it. This is solely my opinion, and I assure you I'm not taking their side.

I think dealers, in the end, will reap what they sow. The current shortage of vehicles is somehow making the practice of adding these so-called "market adjustments" more digestible to a lot of people. Some folks don't have the luxury of being able to wait, and I can appreciate those constraints. For others, some are choosing to pay the additional costs. I don't necessarily understand that, but so be it. At some point, I'm hoping that car buyers (and I'm in the queue right now to purchase a Telluride) will decide that they simply won't allow the dealers to get away with those markups. It's going to be really painful to the dealers when that happens, and it's going to hurt their employees significantly. When (and if) that happens, I'll be curious to see if those same dealerships attempt to pass that blame elsewhere.

 

[JAM]

Why would I want to deal with a dealership that knowingly falsified a warranty at a price of $5390 for a car that comes with a great factory warranty already?! They have already displayed that they cannot be trusted and I will not be driving almost 60 miles round trip, when there is another Kia dealership (only 6 months in business) about a half mile from my house. The oil changes cost $80 bucks each, the rotations are $45 each. When you do the math for what they promised, the oil and rotations only comes out to $1105. I'm sure that the finance guy has some sort of kick back scheme going on. What's BEST for me is to get the $4600 back and lessen the mark up. If they just would have given me the oil change for free, I would have never known about what they pulled. You damn well know that this guy has pulled this fraud on probably every one who bought a car from them.

I guess I just don’t understand- you were not charged more than you know they were charging you, were you?

 

[movnviol]

The sticker price was $43,890. They told me that they were charging $7000 OVER msrp. That equals $50, 890 without tax. Tax should have been 8.625% + I traded my Suburban in for $18,500 and I got a military discount of $400. = 18,900. The amount financed was 33,701 after trade and all fees applied. 1.9% Kia financing (which they tried to get 2.5% knowing that Kia offered 1.9% ) THAT was fraud attempt #1. I caught them and they changed it back to 1.9%. My paper work states , after all interest and payments after 5 years = $56,754. Nowhere in my paperwork does it state that I purchased a warranty for $5390. That is fraud #2, that they apparently succeeded in getting past me. Why would they do this without putting it in my paperwork or "verbally" discussing it with me ? They were selling the dealership in the next 30 days. It takes months to buy a house and get a mortgage. I am positive that they (finance officer /salesman) knew that a change was coming and never told me that fact. The new owners fired EVERY employee , EXCEPT my finance officer and salesman. Wonder why? I would have been none the wiser until they denied me the "free" oil change and charged me for the tire rotation, which is supposed to be "free" also. I have also just noticed that my sales agreement wasn't done on the long yellow or pink 8x14 inch form (done on 8x11) that has been used by every other new car purchase that I have ever done. Wonder why on that also? They didn't even put down how much tax was paid. Wonder why? At the end of the day, something fishy transpired . I do believe that my finance officer needs to be investigated and I'll bet that he has done this to every sale that he was involved with.

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[rcoplien]

Did you check to make sure you got credit for your trade-in so you didn't get hit on state taxes as high? Might want to double check that as well.
Only problem is you agreed to a markup so basically the dealership can take that money and do whatever they want however being that you have the right to cancel the warranty now that you know about it you can actually make quite a bit of that money back. I'm sure the dealership was hoping you would never find out and ask for that any of that money back. I agree though seems pretty shady on the dealers part

 

[movnviol]

That is where I believe the shady warranty purchase came in. The finance guy , I believe, was taking money from each sale and somehow hiding it from the owner of the dealer, or sharing in it. Before I went in to see the finance guy, I sat with the salesman and we went over everything and I was happy with the numbers. After 4-5 hours at the end of long day looking at cars at different dealers, they send you in to see the finance guy and somehow all the paperwork begins to change. They know how to BS you on where the numbers are . Somehow/somewhere there was a scam, involving purchasing a warranty on a car that comes with a 5yr/60,000 mile warranty from the factory. ANNNNNND, I am getting those annoying phone calls about my "expired warranty". LOL !!

 

[JAM]

I still don’t understand what harm was done as long as they didn’t charge you more than you agreed to be charged. And personally I’d rather have a 3rd party warranty than nothing - no matter how redundant or useless it might be, as long as it came out of the markup that I already agreed to pay. The 11 free oil changes knowing they were selling the dealership would puss me off. And if the dealership still has the same name, and is confusing the public into thinking it’s the same business (assuming it was an asset sale) might be enough to get you your oil changes at the original location.

i‘m just not sure I could be upset to learn what they were doing with the markup that I agreed to pay unless they somehow over charged me. Essentially, they took $5k of the agreed upon markup and bought you a warranty. How is that worse than pocketing it?

 

[RAD]

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 received the same call from Bob on 2/25. I ordered at MSRP on 2/1

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[rcoplien]

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.

Did you put money down and have a signed agreement? If so that is legally binding. They can't change the price.

 

[Sparkle Girl 47]

Parents are looking to sale their 2021 Telly to get a 2022 Telly cause they don't like the really light gray interior. Basically the guy came with a price of 43k saying it was the market price, I said oh that's the price yall are selling it at? He responded with you can't get them at MSRP right now and I told him yes you can so don't tell us that. Eventually after I stepped away for a minute the manager came over trying to use his sales pitch on my parents and then I came back. He tried to say the same thing and I told him they can get one at MSRP, he was like someone will buy it cause they are hard to get, I told him yeah I understand that but it won't be them...we then got up and left. Mom said when I came back it through him off his pitch cause he repeated the same thing he had just said before he saw me coming back I guess he thought I was gone.

Thanks to this site for all the info and the people on it for sure.

Just read an item about a Honda dealer in Rhode Island being sued by the AG for deceptive Pricing of 5000.00 over MSRP. This bears watching, with all these Kia Telluride dealerships jacking up over MSRP!!!

 

[movnviol]

The bottom line is...... what occurred is no where documented in my purchase agreement. No where does it say that they "marked up" the price, no where does it say that I purchased a warranty, the paperwork doesn't even have what tax was charged. Shame on me, for not going back over the purchase agreement with a fine tooth comb. Shame on me for being a trusting person . They told me what my monthly payment was going to be and I only checked to make sure that those numbers was what I agreed to. I received a response from Kia. Short and sweet......" Kia does not get involved with the purchase process". I have contacted Global Admin and requested a prorated refund (expecting $4500-$4800). If I receive this, it will take the sting out of the mark up. I will now wait and see what happens next. More to follow.

 

[Jsanderson]

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!

Sean from Ricart called me back Saturday to say they put my name on a new allocation that they got on 3/10. All the wolf gray ex have been spoken for - after a bit of stalking I see you got one lol. My question is How long did it take from the date Ricart got the allocations for yours to arrive? They haven’t called me with an eta yet.