Bad Dealer Dealings - List Your Bad Dealer Experience

[Joflo0705]

It's a shame really. And Kia should know... folks wrote about these problems when they launched the Stinger. Very frustrating...

Kia Will Have A Hard Time Selling The Stinger GT Unless It Fixes Its Antiquated Dealerships - Jalopnik

Kia has now officially taken a serious shot at the usual European sports sedans with the Stinger GT. According to the reviews, the new Stinger is pretty impressive, but to truly make a dent in luxury market, Kia needs to look beyond the cars and fix their dealerships, which, for the most part...

jalopnik.com

What a shame, there is 1 or 2 dealerships who iv had good experiences with but other than that its cocky salesman trying to sell me “tint” protection and “scotch guard” protection for 2k Im seriously done with this bs.

 

[Gwyn]

Iv tried dozens, literally dozens of dealers in Texas. From south to central and northern Texas and have yet to find a dealer who is willing to charge only msrp. Im not even asking for a discount just dont charge me for bullshit i dont want. Nitrogen, pinstripes, paint/interior warrenty etc etc the list goes on and on. This really turns me of this brand. These dealerships could care less about the customers, literally all they care about is how much they can take out of your pocket, they are taking advantage of a situation. I get it, its a hot car, but its no limited production/special edition. Its going to depreciate just like any other car out there. Good job on kia but they should really get their dealerships in check, its disgraceful. How hard is it for someone to take my 45k for this truck! Damn!! I just had to vent had a long day of getting the same bs over and over again.

@StephenCantrelle order from DFW here

I am excited to say I am back with Kia. Happy to help the community any way possible. Will be posting inventory that is available and coming to new location I am at. Feel free to email me at S_cantrelle@yahoo.com Cell number is 214-205-6490 Will update this page as frequent as possible...

tellurideforum.org

Good guy.

 

[jw_tx21]

Yes, there are only a few good ones. When I told a salesman I didn't want to discuss the payment first, he looked shocked and said well, "you're not our typical Kia buyer. Most come in here with barely any money in the bank and marginal credit." Then, he proceeded to tell me about his antique car collection and other luxury cars he and his wife like to drive. And next, shared his side hustle (or is that selling Kia?) home business with me. That was in mid-March... haven't heard from him since. Same dealership lists an SX model as "new", but then in the car photos the odometer shows about 1090 miles. Love it. I believe that one was the one that the dealership owner's daughter drove for a while.


Another sales guy at a different dealership told me that I could order with a deposit amount equal to what I would put down on the car at purchase - I laughed and told him 0, and he was confused. Then I asked if whatever amount I put down would be refundable, and he claimed to have never been asked that question before. (Basically he wanted me to put down several thousand as the deposit knowing well enough that deposits in Texas aren't necessarily refundable). It would be funny if it weren't so sad.

But, as Jersey City Kia wrote on this forum, it is a competitive business, and sales consultant compensation has been marginal from selling a new car. That doesn't excuse their behavior though, as we still should be able to successfully negotiate a deal in person, via email or phone without surprises or unbounded frustration!

 

[WhiteSX]

It's a shame really. And Kia should know... folks wrote about these problems when they launched the Stinger. Very frustrating...

Kia Will Have A Hard Time Selling The Stinger GT Unless It Fixes Its Antiquated Dealerships - Jalopnik

Kia has now officially taken a serious shot at the usual European sports sedans with the Stinger GT. According to the reviews, the new Stinger is pretty impressive, but to truly make a dent in luxury market, Kia needs to look beyond the cars and fix their dealerships, which, for the most part...

jalopnik.com

Agree 100%.

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[Kirkster]

Thanks for the info. I'll go one step further and say a lot of the dealerships themselves need some TLC. I had a good sales experience in Bloomington, MN, but the dealership itself is pretty antiquated. I haven't seen one where you drive into a individual service bay from to outside. It remined me of a discount tire store set up.

 

[landwarrior]

Had to chime in here. I looked for an available SX (Moss/White) with towing and prestige package for a few weeks now. I am based in San Francisco and looked at most dealerships from OR, CA, NV and western AZ. Pretty much any vehicle listed was spoken for. Car Pros in Glendale had 3 and were extremely arrogant and condecending when I talked to them about buying one. When I asked for a vehicle to be held they declined and when I randomly called their dealership I was told there would be a 10K markup that had never come up before. Super shady. Weeks later Kia of Irvine contacted me and told me they had one coming in the 1st week of June and I could secure it with a refundable depost. I was so eager that I agreed to 2K on my CC via phone (which was never actually charged, but I didn't know that at the time). Ok, so far so good - Got a call 2 days ago that the vehicle had arrived early and booked a flight next day. We had "agreed" on numbers beforehand (and we went from a 10K markup down to 3K). The experience overall would have been good except for the extremely shady finance guy. He was flying over the numbers, almost zero explanation. We went back and forth on maintenance and I had a certain monthly I wasn't able to budge on. Easy fix, 6 month longer term. I did the numbers and was OK with that. Then look at the sales contract and the interest went up by 1% (again, no mention of that). 2 hours later we had a deal and after driving the long long way from LA to San Francisco I don't regret it. Overall the experience wasn't good though. Way too much stress, the constant double checking during the financing made this a sub par experience. Sad to say I would go through it again. I really like the car. Hope inventory will catch up and folks can buy it like a regular car soon.

 

[Wap52]

Iv tried dozens, literally dozens of dealers in Texas. From south to central and northern Texas and have yet to find a dealer who is willing to charge only msrp. Im not even asking for a discount just dont charge me for bullshit i dont want. Nitrogen, pinstripes, paint/interior warrenty etc etc the list goes on and on. This really turns me of this brand. These dealerships could care less about the customers, literally all they care about is how much they can take out of your pocket, they are taking advantage of a situation. I get it, its a hot car, but its no limited production/special edition. Its going to depreciate just like any other car out there. Good job on kia but they should really get their dealerships in check, its disgraceful. How hard is it for someone to take my 45k for this truck! Damn!! I just had to vent had a long day of getting the same bs over and over again.

See Kevin at Huffines KIA in McKinney. He did my sale and was very good and not over MSRP, in fact a little below the sticker price and no addons unless I asked for them. Mine was ordered on March 21 and due to hit lock end of next week

 

[2Golfers]

If you are searching in DFW I would avoid Southwest Kia - Mesquite like the plague.

We are experienced car buyers with great credit and we never set foot on the lot until we have a firm deal in writing. Of course our Telluride purchase has been a completely different situation. I had been in contact with Destiny Smith ("Client Care Specialist") via phone and text all afternoon. We were looking for an SX with Prestige Package which we knew was going to be hard to find and we knew we would probably be paying over MSRP. She said that she had one on the lot. When we asked if she was certain that it was there and that it wasn't reserved, on order or on a truck her response was "no and I'm looking right at it". She sent us the window sticker to review as well. I was tied up at the moment so I sent my wife directly there from where she was working about 20 minutes away. I texted Destiny that my wife was on the way and that she would ask for her when she arrived.

My wife arrives post-haste and asks for Destiny. She does not come out but sends a young man to talk to her. To make a long story short, the car is not there (was it ever?) and Destiny never even has the decency to make an appearance since she is the one that misled me. Their story is that the car was "sold in the last five minutes" even though Destiny never mentioned that anyone else was looking at it at the moment. If that were truly the case I would think she would use that fact to try and get us into a bidding war and make even more on the car. The young man proceeds to try to sell my wife an SX that is sitting in the showroom. My wife is incensed and is on the phone telling me to not bother coming in since they don't have the car. Just for fun she asks how much the showroom floor SX is and the young man tells her $57,000 without batting an eyelash!!

She laughs and says is this a joke and he says someone just bought one for close to that. She proceeds to tell him that if he can sell that car to someone for $57K then he should do just that. She immediately leaves and I have been kicking myself for even sending her into that crappy situation. Obviously a dealer is in it to make money just like I am trying to get the best deal possible. I just can't stand the sleaziness and outright lying. The irony is not lost on me that the person who treated us poorly was the "Client Care Specialist" for the dealership. We ended up buying the car we wanted after an exhaustive search. We have been very impressed with the Telluride so far and I can now definitely see us buying another Kia at some point. If we do I would buy it anywhere but here.

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[JenB]

If you are searching in DFW I would avoid Southwest Kia - Mesquite like the plague.

We are experienced car buyers with great credit and we never set foot on the lot until we have a firm deal in writing. Of course our Telluride purchase has been a completely different situation. I had been in contact with Destiny Smith ("Client Care Specialist") via phone and text all afternoon. We were looking for an SX with Prestige Package which we knew was going to be hard to find and we knew we would probably be paying over MSRP. She said that she had one on the lot. When we asked if she was certain that it was there and that it wasn't reserved, on order or on a truck her response was "no and I'm looking right at it". She sent us the window sticker to review as well. I was tied up at the moment so I sent my wife directly there from where she was working about 20 minutes away. I texted Destiny that my wife was on the way and that she would ask for her when she arrived.

My wife arrives post-haste and asks for Destiny. She does not come out but sends a young man to talk to her. To make a long story short, the car is not there (was it ever?) and Destiny never even has the decency to make an appearance since she is the one that misled me. Their story is that the car was "sold in the last five minutes" even though Destiny never mentioned that anyone else was looking at it at the moment. If that were truly the case I would think she would use that fact to try and get us into a bidding war and make even more on the car. The young man proceeds to try to sell my wife an SX that is sitting in the showroom. My wife is incensed and is on the phone telling me to not bother coming in since they don't have the car. Just for fun she asks how much the showroom floor SX is and the young man tells her $57,000 without batting an eyelash!!

She laughs and says is this a joke and he says someone just bought one for close to that. She proceeds to tell him that if he can sell that car to someone for $57K then he should do just that. She immediately leaves and I have been kicking myself for even sending her into that crappy situation. Obviously a dealer is in it to make money just like I am trying to get the best deal possible. I just can't stand the sleaziness and outright lying. The irony is not lost on me that the person who treated us poorly was the "Client Care Specialist" for the dealership. We ended up buying the car we wanted after an exhaustive search. We have been very impressed with the Telluride so far and I can now definitely see us buying another Kia at some point. If we do I would buy it anywhere but here.

Wow... but this story doesn’t surprise me, unfortunately. I’ve gotten lots of offers from dealers over the last week, and they’re all ridiculous. I am glad it worked out for you, ultimately. Are you willing to share more about the good ending with your new SX? Did you have a decent price offer or was it well over MsRP?

The latest offer I got today on an EX, no extras, FWD was $47,000. When I chuckled at that number, the salesperson couldn’t wait to get rid of me. He did say that that is a deal price, and that all dealers have “amendments.” When I asked him to define amendments, he said it’s a flat markup and right now the ‘amendment’ usually is $10,000!

There’s been no accommodation for buyers in my experience on this Kia, just cocky pricing and attitude. I have had my Kia for 6 years and I let all these guys know I love Kia and have a great trade in, but no one cares right now. I actually bought my Optima at Huffines McKinney when I lived in DFW, but now I’m in the San Francisco Bay Area. Dealers may be independent of Kia, but this turns me off from the brand as a whole and Kia may need to consider the long term impact. Of course, if people are paying $10k over sticker, then I have no leverage or argument here. I still don’t know who/why though!

 

[2Golfers]

No I don't mind. We were actually lucky to find what we wanted from a private seller (I know right?!). He is a Kia enthusiast and he also owns a Stinger. He bought the Telluride on day one that it was available and got a fantastic deal. I believe he had a change in his work situation so he could no longer justify keeping both cars. Good news for us is that he does not smoke and keeps his cars extremely clean. He even gave us the little quick start hang tags that they give you when the car is new to figure out the UVO, etc. He definitely ended up making money on the car but given the current availability situation that was okay with us and it ended up being a win-win.

In this whole process of contacting dealerships we have probably worked with only a couple of people who seemed like straight shooters. I totally agree with you that the Kia dealership experience generally leaves a lot to be desired. Good luck and I hope you find the Telluride you want soon!

Wow... but this story doesn’t surprise me, unfortunately. I’ve gotten lots of offers from dealers over the last week, and they’re all ridiculous. I am glad it worked out for you, ultimately. Are you willing to share more about the good ending with your new SX? Did you have a decent price offer or was it well over MsRP?

The latest offer I got today on an EX, no extras, FWD was $47,000. When I chuckled at that number, the salesperson couldn’t wait to get rid of me. He did say that that is a deal price, and that all dealers have “amendments.” When I asked him to define amendments, he said it’s a flat markup and right now the ‘amendment’ usually is $10,000!

There’s been no accommodation for buyers in my experience on this Kia, just cocky pricing and attitude. I have had my Kia for 6 years and I let all these guys know I love Kia and have a great trade in, but no one cares right now. I actually bought my Optima at Huffines McKinney when I lived in DFW, but now I’m in the San Francisco Bay Area. Dealers may be independent of Kia, but this turns me off from the brand as a whole and Kia may need to consider the long term impact. Of course, if people are paying $10k over sticker, then I have no leverage or argument here. I still don’t know who/why though!

 

[Wap52]

If you are searching in DFW I would avoid Southwest Kia - Mesquite like the plague.

We are experienced car buyers with great credit and we never set foot on the lot until we have a firm deal in writing. Of course our Telluride purchase has been a completely different situation. I had been in contact with Destiny Smith ("Client Care Specialist") via phone and text all afternoon. We were looking for an SX with Prestige Package which we knew was going to be hard to find and we knew we would probably be paying over MSRP. She said that she had one on the lot. When we asked if she was certain that it was there and that it wasn't reserved, on order or on a truck her response was "no and I'm looking right at it". She sent us the window sticker to review as well. I was tied up at the moment so I sent my wife directly there from where she was working about 20 minutes away. I texted Destiny that my wife was on the way and that she would ask for her when she arrived.

My wife arrives post-haste and asks for Destiny. She does not come out but sends a young man to talk to her. To make a long story short, the car is not there (was it ever?) and Destiny never even has the decency to make an appearance since she is the one that misled me. Their story is that the car was "sold in the last five minutes" even though Destiny never mentioned that anyone else was looking at it at the moment. If that were truly the case I would think she would use that fact to try and get us into a bidding war and make even more on the car. The young man proceeds to try to sell my wife an SX that is sitting in the showroom. My wife is incensed and is on the phone telling me to not bother coming in since they don't have the car. Just for fun she asks how much the showroom floor SX is and the young man tells her $57,000 without batting an eyelash!!

She laughs and says is this a joke and he says someone just bought one for close to that. She proceeds to tell him that if he can sell that car to someone for $57K then he should do just that. She immediately leaves and I have been kicking myself for even sending her into that crappy situation. Obviously a dealer is in it to make money just like I am trying to get the best deal possible. I just can't stand the sleaziness and outright lying. The irony is not lost on me that the person who treated us poorly was the "Client Care Specialist" for the dealership. We ended up buying the car we wanted after an exhaustive search. We have been very impressed with the Telluride so far and I can now definitely see us buying another Kia at some point. If we do I would buy it anywhere but here.

Southwest KIA Rockwall on the list same Mesquite... They are like 5k over MSRP on SX model. Stopped in there today to check on a Black Copper that was suppose to be on lot but guess what no where to be found. Talked to sale manager and he took my info and I asked price on Black Copper SX and when I asked him he said what trim u want for that Black Copper and he did not know only comes in SX. Anyway he said such high demand for the SX that no way would sell at MSRP. I ask is this not the same as price gouching? Maybe time for the govermenet to see what the dealers are doing

 

[Spider07]

In the Houston area, avoid Fredy Kia like your life depends on it. They prey on the weak and un-informed and lie about everything. I got up and walked away from them after about 10 min discussing a Telluride.

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[gzy99]

Avoid Winn Kia from Fremont, CA.

They were asking for a 4k markup for an EX. When I called them on it, they replied by saying supply and demand.

I asked for a Costco pricing, and he basically said that when Hell freezes over, that's when he would match Costco pricing. He kept saying that to his fellow employees, as if to taunt me.

When I told them that I was willing to wait, his behavior was racist and stereotypical. His justification was that he was open, fair, and tells what he thinks.

I would just avoid this dealer at all costs.

 

[Greengoblin]

Iv tried dozens, literally dozens of dealers in Texas. From south to central and northern Texas and have yet to find a dealer who is willing to charge only msrp. Im not even asking for a discount just dont charge me for bullshit i dont want. Nitrogen, pinstripes, paint/interior warrenty etc etc the list goes on and on. This really turns me of this brand. These dealerships could care less about the customers, literally all they care about is how much they can take out of your pocket, they are taking advantage of a situation. I get it, its a hot car, but its no limited production/special edition. Its going to depreciate just like any other car out there. Good job on kia but they should really get their dealerships in check, its disgraceful. How hard is it for someone to take my 45k for this truck! Damn!! I just had to vent had a long day of getting the same bs over and over again.

I hear you man. Community Kia in Texas wanted to charge new 52k for a SX. They quoted me this price before they can even provide a VIN number and sticker. How do you know what the vehicles price will even be? A FWD SX should cost around 42,000. A 10k (20%) mark up is a damn joke. Why would anyone agree to do that? On a depreciating asset? They can charge anything they want for the vehicle but giving a price without even knowing what options are added is ludicrous.

 

[jw_tx21]

I hear you man. Community Kia in Texas wanted to charge new 52k for a SX. They quoted me this price before they can even provide a VIN number and sticker. How do you know what the vehicles price will even be? A FWD SX should cost around 42,000. A 10k (20%) mark up is a damn joke. Why would anyone agree to do that? On a depreciating asset? They can charge anything they want for the vehicle but giving a price without even knowing what options are added is ludicrous.

Yes, they called me a while back too trying to get me to place a deposit on an "SX" that was incoming... I said I needed the VIN first to review details... kept telling me the VIN was coming. Also got an email from them stating that they had an SX in stock (FWD, white) but when I ran the VIN in Kia's window sticker system, it indicated an EX model. Tread carefully with that dealership!

 

[Wap52]

I hear you man. Community Kia in Texas wanted to charge new 52k for a SX. They quoted me this price before they can even provide a VIN number and sticker. How do you know what the vehicles price will even be? A FWD SX should cost around 42,000. A 10k (20%) mark up is a damn joke. Why would anyone agree to do that? On a depreciating asset? They can charge anything they want for the vehicle but giving a price without even knowing what options are added is ludicrous.

Try Huffines in McKinney Texas and ask to speak to Kevin. He has done me right. I placed an ordered on March 21 and he has kept me up to date on it. I don't think the dealers have any control and time frames for being built. I just seemed to order a SXP that was way down the line to be built. Ordered a Black Copper SXP AWD with nappa dune brown leather and towing and I have an ETA of June 26. Get ready for a wait if you are needing one now but if you have to have it expect to pay MSRP plus TTL Good Luck on finding one u want. I got lucky in March and go discounts before all the shortages came about.

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[kmkia]

Received a call Friday from a dealership in North Carolina where I had taken a test drive of Telluride in early May. Salesperson said dealership had two SX FWD arriving between June 15-27 and they were calling people on the waiting list and wanted me to give a $1000 non-refundable deposit (which I would not do anyway). I said OK tell me the price of either vehicle. He replied $49150. I said the window sticker at most should be $44K. He said it was $44150 with a $5K market adjustment. I said thanks and to give me a call when he got to MSRP.

 

[Gr8pumpkin]

The same exact thing just happened to me over the weekend with a phone call from Auto World Kia in East Meadow, N.Y.
They asked for the $5000 over window sticker as a "Market Demand Charge", I told them I am NOT INTERESTED ENOUGH TO OVER PAY.
Although I do want one, I will just wait until it becomes reasonable.

 

[popcrnchicken]

I also got a call about putting down a deposit, but they said it was refundable. Either way, just use a credit card and initiate a charge back if they try to pull anything. They want $6k over MSRP, and would not budge. This is from a dealer someone recommended that would not charge over MSRP. Times have changed in the last 2 weeks.

It seems Tellurides are making their way to dealers mid-June. However, with all the frenzy, they will not last long. People will pay those prices.

 

[popcrnchicken]

I'm sure this has already been mentioned, but stay far away from Kia of Downtown LA. They initially marked up the cars $13k, but have since lowered them to $10k. That seems to be the sweet spot as they are selling at that price. I was also told by my local dealer that the LA dealers are trying their hardest to buy all the Tellurides (@ MSRP) from dealers around the country to bring them to their dealership. They will be rude and antagonizing if you're not willing to pay their price.

I'm completely turned off by Kia at this point.