Dealer 'trick' on Accessory pricing or not?

[TheDestroyer]

I went to my closest Kia dealership and test drove/fell in love with a Telluride. Configured one via the website with lots of options and was excited to give over my $1000 deposit and wait for a long while... until the salesperson said - add $3k for a 'competitive market' fee. I walked, as I knew another local Kia dealership did not add such a fee. I feel terrible for the salesperson, actually. I would not have wasted their time on a test drive if they told me about the extra $3k.

Dealer #2 with 'no extra fees' took my build and said they can only add one of the several accessories I desired to the factory order at MSRP (Illuminated Scuff Plates) and therefore the other accessories need to be ordered 'to the dealership' and cannot be 'ordered with the vehicle' and therefore have different pricing than the online build configuration. These prices were captured from the dealerships public website accessory pricing. Here is the list:

• Cargo Net, $50 build price, $68 new price
• Cross Bars, $310 build price, $534 new price
• Skid Plate, $350 build price, $488 new price
• Mud Guards, $115, $158.40 new price
• Rear Bumper Protector $120 build price, $142 new price
• Side Step Bars $690 build price, $1014 new price

Essentially, this would have inflated the price of the accessories by $769.40 over MSRP from the build. I was going to spend $1635 on these accessories, and I opted instead to only get the skid plate and forgo the other options so they only soaked me for $138 over MSRP, but on the other hand I'm not really getting what I wanted/expected.

Has anyone else been told what I have been told, or had their price padded by inflated accessory costs? I don't want to name the dealer on the off-chance they are being truthful here. But I smell a rat here, especially after I said no to all the accessories and they came back with an MSRP that was only a few dollars less than my build price WITH the accessories. It was explained to me that 'oops we included the seatback entertainment system by accident'

 

[MrWednesday21]

Yeah the prices should be different than online build configuration because the dealership is installing it for you and not the factory. In a buyer's market, they would maybe install those items for free, but not in this market. It makes sense that they are factoring the labor costs and as a percentage as its significantly higher on the side steps compared to other items with a low labor cost. Sure the labor seems a bit inflated, but labor isn't typically cheap at a dealership generally. If you want to save time, just do it thru the dealership, if you want to save money, order the parts separately and install them yourself. This happened to me months ago when I got my Telluride from a dealership that had one someone backed out of. I had them install the scuff plates, paid a little extra than list price.

 

[mzun23]

I went to my closest Kia dealership and test drove/fell in love with a Telluride. Configured one via the website with lots of options and was excited to give over my $1000 deposit and wait for a long while... until the salesperson said - add $3k for a 'competitive market' fee. I walked, as I knew another local Kia dealership did not add such a fee. I feel terrible for the salesperson, actually. I would not have wasted their time on a test drive if they told me about the extra $3k.

Dealer #2 with 'no extra fees' took my build and said they can only add one of the several accessories I desired to the factory order at MSRP (Illuminated Scuff Plates) and therefore the other accessories need to be ordered 'to the dealership' and cannot be 'ordered with the vehicle' and therefore have different pricing than the online build configuration. These prices were captured from the dealerships public website accessory pricing. Here is the list:

• Cargo Net, $50 build price, $68 new price
• Cross Bars, $310 build price, $534 new price
• Skid Plate, $350 build price, $488 new price
• Mud Guards, $115, $158.40 new price
• Rear Bumper Protector $120 build price, $142 new price
• Side Step Bars $690 build price, $1014 new price

Essentially, this would have inflated the price of the accessories by $769.40 over MSRP from the build. I was going to spend $1635 on these accessories, and I opted instead to only get the skid plate and forgo the other options so they only soaked me for $138 over MSRP, but on the other hand I'm not really getting what I wanted/expected.

Has anyone else been told what I have been told, or had their price padded by inflated accessory costs? I don't want to name the dealer on the off-chance they are being truthful here. But I smell a rat here, especially after I said no to all the accessories and they came back with an MSRP that was only a few dollars less than my build price WITH the accessories. It was explained to me that 'oops we included the seatback entertainment system by accident'

I asked my dealership the same question and did not got an answer on why their accessory pricing was different than the online build. I just assumed they are inflating the costs a bit to squeeze a bit of extra $ out of the buyers since they are only charging msrp for the vehicle. Their final accessory list form when filling out the paperwork did say labor included in the pricing

folding cargo tray - $130
cargo cover - $230
wheel locks - $110
rear bumper protector - $150

I wanted a few other accessories but I figured I could just order them myself and install them myself

 

[WhiteSX]

Purchased my Telluride 3 yrs ago. Dealer installed the lighted scuff plates for me on delivery. No extra charge for labor. But, understand that was an eternity ago in this biz.

Enjoy the ride accessories.

______________________________

 

[Nac]

Dealer #2 with 'no extra fees' took my build and said they can only add one of the several accessories...

• Cargo Net, $50 build price, $68 new price
• Cross Bars, $310 build price, $534 new price
• Skid Plate, $350 build price, $488 new price
• Mud Guards, $115, $158.40 new price
• Rear Bumper Protector $120 build price, $142 new price
• Side Step Bars $690 build price, $1014 new price

Essentially, this would have inflated the price of the accessories by $769.40 over MSRP from the build.

I recently ordered our second Telluride, the sales person told me some accessories (mud guards) were unavailable because the factory did not have them so the dealership was unable to put them on the order.

It appears either the factory is out of all the accessories you wanted (unlikely since you were allowed to order any single item), or your dealer wants to make a few $$$ selling them to you.

Easiest way to not play this game with the dealer is to purchase the accessories online. Kia accessories are readily available online usually at a good discount from the dealers price. The majority of accessories are very simple to self-install. The Cargo Net, Cross Bars, Mud Guards and Rear Bumper Protector are all easily self installed and any of the Kia accessories I have purchased for my Stinger or Telluride came with installation instructions.

Based on you comfort level and mechanical ability you may (or not) want/need help installing items like the Skid Plate, and Side Step Bars, additionally aftermarket skids and side steps may be available at a better price for equal or higher quality items.

Without much searching (first website clicked on) I found some of your OEM Kia items at a lower cost than the factory, some were higher than factory and all of them are lower than what the dealer quoted you.

Kia Cargo Net PN: S9F17-AU000 = $42.00
Kia Cross Bars PN: S9F21-AC001 = $393.75
Kia Skid plate PN: S9F36-AU000 = $350.00
Kia Mud Guards Front PN: S9F46 AK000 = $51.80 & Rear PN: S9F46 AK100 = $51.80 Total = $103.60
Kia Rear Bumper Protector PN: S9F47 AU000 = $98.00
Kia Side Step Bars PN: S9F37 AC001 = $737.50