So let me share my Telluride story (rant) with you folks. If I help ONE person not buy a Kia product, this will have been worth it. It was a shit show from day one; we were in the market for a 3-row suv (October of 2019). To be honest, Kia wasn't even on my radar but wifey saw one and we went to test drive it. It's a nice vehicle, I won't deny that, and it's a good value....until they tack on $5-10k onto the MSRP. No way would I ever pay a premium on an SUV. A rare Shelby or Porsche build in limited numbers? I get it, but a Kia? Hell no. So we shop every dealer within 100 miles of our home (NY/NJ/Conn tri-state area, so that's a lot of dealers). All wanted at least $5k over MSRP, all the way up to $10k (Jack Daniels Kia in NJ) and I was buying the top spec SX-P. So we finally find a dealership that will do MSRP if I order and wait. The dealership was full of misinformed morons selling a car they knew nothing about, typical car salesman shit (sorry to the decent guys here but this stereotype exists for a reason). They're all puffed-up over the success of the T-ride yet they knew nothing about them. I give them a deposit because once I've got the car, I've got lots of options for service. The salesman lied about placing the order, couldn't provide proof of the order gave me BS about Napa leather being unavailable, and this was contrary to what some reputable dealers on this forum were saying. I called Kia corporate and they were useless. Couldn't tell me anything. I wanted to walk away so many times but my wife wanted this car. So fast forward 5.5 months and the salesman calls me with "good news an bad news". My car is coming in but the interior is black, not Dune. I said "well you must be mistaken, I custom ordered a car with Dune and this has black, so that's not my car. He said according to the records, this is your car. I said "Call Kia and tell them they ****ed up and divert the right car here". He said impossible. I wanted to walk away again but my wife didn't hate the black so again, I concede. She beats him up for another $500 off MSRP, so there was that.
Took delivery in early March when Covid hit so it wasn't getting driven much. Nice car but no way worth the wait. I would have preferred an Explorer ST.
On May 17 my wife is in a head-on collision with a POS crackhead and the car is totaled. She and my daughter were banged up but all-in-all ok. My insurance company is awesome. The only money I stood to lose was some delivery and dealer prep fees and $0.53/mile and it only had 1,200 miles. Wife wants another one because "it saved her life". I'm like, you've gotta be shitting me. Dickhead salesman said the wait is even longer now and he can't even take an order till 2021's come out.
In the mean time, It took my insurer over 2 months to get the "letter of guarantee" from Kia finance, explaining what was owed and their terms. My insurance mailed a check that same day it was received (6/23). Kia sent me a late notice for a payment due 7/2. I call and they have no record or receiving the check. So I said, are your Fountain Valley California offices short handed due to COVID? And she say yes. I said is it possible that they may not have processed the payment? She said it's possible. I said can you extend a grace period, keeping in mind that it took 2 months for Kia to send a form letter? Nope, can't do anything about your payment. That's automated. So they're advertising deferred payments on TV due to COVID but their collection Nazis have no ability to offer a grace period?
So this morning my wife is screaming that it hit our FICO already. She flips her shit and calls Kia. Fifty minutes later she get nowhere, was told she has to write a letter asking Kia finance to forgive the late payment. No guarantees though. She goes "Full Karen" and demands a supervisor. When "Angelique" transfers my wife, she hangs up on her.
Never, ever again will I give them my money. I'd love to see how they handle a warrantee claim on their amazing 10 year/100,000 mile warrantee when they can't issue a letter. Kia engineers did an amazing job but the rest of the company is still the laughing stock of the auto industry.
TLDNR: Kia sucks from top to bottom, before, during and after a sale. Skip and buy something else.
