Gonna tell my dealership story; you guys tell me if it makes it "bad."
JUST left Kia of Turnersville (NJ). Took a test drive, (FINALLY!), of an EX Telly, and here are the things that got my antennae up.
First, I didn't get 3 steps inside the dealership before I was intercepted by a salesperson; Aimee. Very nice, but.....
I let her know that I was interested in taking a test drive, and she got my info and we headed outside to look at the vehicle. On the way out, she made some offhanded remark that reminded me about gas mileage, so I just asked to verify what the MPG for the Tellurides was. (Really, it was more of a test to just see how she would react to, and answer a simple, easily verifiable question. I already know the answer.) She goes, "we'll get into that." She then immediately launched into an obviously preplanned, and well rehearsed schpiel about the vehicle. "blah, blah, blah, engine drops out in case of a collision.....blah, blah, blah lane departure and adaptive cruise control," etc. I then started interjecting with questions, and asking to like sit in the back 3rd row, just to stay in control of the conversation, because it was obvious that she was going off of a script.
So far though, nothing egregious.
On the test drive, we start conversing about why I'm interested in a Telluride, and about the "chip shortage" and all that jazz, and I ask her about custom builds. At this point she tells me, "no.....we don't do custom orders. Its actually not something Kia does, and if any dealership tells you that, they aren't being truthful." WHAT?! Not only is this forum FILLED TO THE BRIM with people who custom ordered their Tellurides, it's just common knowledge that you can order a car you want and have it delivered! I couldn't believe what she was telling me, even though I KNEW it wasn't true, so I pushed her:
"So wait, so you say you have zero inventory, but you don't custom order cars.....so how do you sell them then?" She said that they call the "waiting list" of people "as the truck comes on the lot." She said they don't even take them off the truck before they have them sold to people waiting.
Bullshit.
But, I let her continue with the lie. I then inquire about the dealer add ons that were on THIS particular vehicle; nitrogen in the tires ($500),
floor mats ($350), wheel locks ($70ish), etc, and asked if that is standard on EVERY vehicle, since "Kia doesn't allow custom orders." She said that EVERY VEHICLE gets those dealer add ons. The model I test drove was an EX, with a window sticker of $38k. After dealer add ons and market adjustments, they were asking $52k.
So, we do a pitiful lap around the block, and head back in, where she goes and grabs her manager, and he comes out for the hard sell. I love this dance, where he sits in HER chair, and she sits next to me, and he starts pushing for info. I cut HIM off as well, and go, "yeah, I just wanted to know about your market adjustment....I noticed on the window sticker that you are charging 95 hundred....is that standard for ALL Tellurides?"
At this point, he gets really evasive and says, "no....it depends......some of the sedans, you know......they get uh.....its like 4.....4 and a half." I say, "I'm only concerned with the Tellurides...." He says, "oh.....just the Tellys....well.....uh....you know, we work with you. If we can ever get the model you WANT in, you know.....we'll work with you."
I don't trust this dealership as far as I can throw it, and the fact that they told me to my face that Kia doesn't allow custom builds is just ASININE. That leads me to surmise that Kia is cracking down on dealerships; telling them that they can't add market adjustments on custom orders anymore, so dealerships are trying to lie to prevent people from doing it. I can LITERALLY go to kia.com right now and build a custom telly. I did it yesterday.
I asked the manager what his name was, since he never told me before he started his pitch, (Lou, btw), thanked him for his time, and got out of there. I wasn't to the door before I got an email from them, telling me that when I'm ready, please give them a call.
This is definitely "bad dealership," right?
If you have a chance to get a Telluride; especially exactly what you want, I’d pounce on it. IMHO
