Bad Boston area Kia dealer

[OhioStateStinger]

I am pretty sure dealers like that do not have much in the way of long term thinking. With the number of cars that I have bought over the years I always return to the dealerships that do not treat me like crap.

Had a great experience when my ex-wife bought her GMC Acadia back in the day. The Salesperson was such a great person that I walked in 3 years later, he remembered every little detail about the family right on queue and quickly helped me strike a deal on a Regal GS. I have not purchased another car from them, but again several years later I walk in to test drive a new Terrain (HORRIBLE btw...) and he remembers me like it was yesterday.

My Kia Stinger purchase experience was also great. I have a post here about it. I walked on to the lot, did a totally random test drive of a Pathera GT AWD just to evaluate the twin turbos. I was honest about my intentions at the time. I hadn't driven the GT. It was at the top of my list for vehicles I am looking in to if I can fit my 6'2 butt in the car along with my 2 kids. Salesperson introduced himself tossed me the keys and let me have at it. He didn't even try to join me on the drive. I then briefly talked about the model I wanted (the vehicle I now have). He took notes. I walked off the lot without hassle, followed by a phone call and email negotiation while this baby was en-route to the dealership.

Those are the salespeople I will work with, even if I do not get the best of the best deal wise. It doesn't take much effort. Whether I keep the Stinger or head back to Mopar in a couple years, he will be the salesperson I will go back to if he is still around.

Meanwhile another salesperson with the dealer group I purchased the Stinger from was a gentleman who I did a Wrangler test drive with (for the gift card money), was an absolute sleazeball. He was so excited that I stopped by and was tied to him....tried texting me a few times about the Stinger, rught up until I told my new salesperson to drop him completely from my file. Poor bastard will never get my business. It isn't worth my time or money to deal with that.

tldr; Keep searching and you will find someone who is willing to work with you. Even within the same dealership or dealer group. Some salespeople just go rogue and don't understand how to do a deal, or have the ability to think long term knowing someone might return to make a purchase some day.

 

[Kimberly Lazarski]

Well I made an appointment to test drive a 2020 Stinger GT2 today and had a terrible experience. Got to dealership and was told I can't test drive a car unless I can prove that I'm "serious".

That is when you give them "it's a f@#%ing Kia" line. I didnt deal with that sort of nonsense when I test drove my ZR-1 and a Grand Sport Corvette... but I did at another Chevy dealer a few months previous when checking out the Camaro Z28. I would report the sh^H^Hcrappy dealer attitude to Kia corporate, buy elsewhere, and drive by the dealer, ask for the sales manager and inform them that they lost the sale because of their crappy attitude - and don't forget to hit Google, yelp, Facebook (dealer and Kia and Hyundai's), Twitter, etc.

When I did that to the Chevy dealer who gave me lip about the Z28, he stammered. I not only didn't buy a Camaro from him, I spent far more with another, less crappy dealer. I only wish social media existed beyond Citadel BBSes in the mid-90s.

 

[JohnH]

Well I made an appointment to test drive a 2020 Stinger GT2 today and had a terrible experience. Got to dealership and was told I can't test drive a car unless I can prove that I'm "serious". Not sure what that meant but I believe I had to do a credit check or something. I'm coming out of an Infiniti Q60 lease and was seriously considering this car. Has anyone ever heard of such a thing? The whole experience was surreal. My first experience walking into a Kia dealership.

I had the same experience at the first Kia dealership (San Antonio, TX) I visited. Did not want to let me test drive the vehicle until I agreed on the numbers.

Luckily, the second Kia dealership was great.

BTW, I traded in a Q50 RS400.

 

[Stump-1]

I had a relatively new sales guy a few months ago at Kia of Attleboro. Friendly and attentive. No hassles. I took a look at the website and he is no longer there. Maybe too good for the dealership...

 

[SafetyPilotCal]

This is exactly the behavior that Kia was called out for when the Stinger first launched. My buddy worked for a dealership in Pittsburgh at the time and they were told under no circumstances was someone to drive a Stinger without having a credit check done first. It turned me off of the car and the brand entirely. It wasn't until late last year when they couldn't push any Stingers out the door that I decided to finally stop by a dealer. Had I been treated in that manner, I would have told them to go f*ck themselves and to keep the car. Fortunately, my experience was mostly positive.

Kia dealers like this need to get over themselves. It's a f*cking Korean car, not some Italian exotic. I have been to plenty of luxury dealers and I have NEVER been treated anything like how Kia routinely treats some of their customers. Shit, I had a Cadillac dealer keep trying to get me to test drive a CTS-V and the dude just wouldn't let up, this was probably 2014 or so.. and again this was at a GM dealer! A brand notorious for terrible dealerships.

I can only guess that the problem is the typical former Kia clientele. The people who were only there buying a Rio because even Nissan turned them down on a loan, not because they actually ever wanted to own a Kia product. The dealerships haven't shed that image or that mindset.

 

[DEUXTIME]

Well I made an appointment to test drive a 2020 Stinger GT2 today and had a terrible experience. Got to dealership and was told I can't test drive a car unless I can prove that I'm "serious". Not sure what that meant but I believe I had to do a credit check or something. I'm coming out of an Infiniti Q60 lease and was seriously considering this car. Has anyone ever heard of such a thing? The whole experience was surreal. My first experience walking into a Kia dealership.

The wouldn't let me NOT test drive it...

 

[Eric Lundberg]

I live in central MA. Lev Kia in Framingham was my go to for cars. They always treated me perfectly fine. I always walked in with all of the numbers so there wasn't much to haggle over. The issue I faced was dealer allotment!! No such thing as ordering what you want. I spent some time looking for the exact(or close to) model I wanted. 2018 GT2 AWD 19" wheels. I finally found it at Wagner Kia. I believe since it is right next door to Wagner Audi they understood the Stinger is a different beast from the typical Kia. I did most of the negotiations via email with them. When I got their it was ready for the test drive. At this point they didn't have anything more than a copy of my license.
The only two issues I had was,
#1 this is a company lease, their finance dept had trouble understanding that I was not going to personally guarantee the lease. After they made a few calls to KMF they found an intelligent person that told them how to proceed.
#2 the service dept. They did try to treat me like I was next door at Audi, but I believe they are just set up for the soccer moms complaining about everything.
All in all a good experience, Kia just has a way to go if they really want to compete with the big boys.
I have had this lease since summer of 2018. Only one issue came up, the g-force sensor needed to be replaced. At this point the Stinger just came out, so their techs took two trips to order the correct part. The car has been a non issue since then.
I have been debating on leasing another Stinger or going back to Audi. I just have a issue with paying 18K more for less. The S5 is a good car but less tech for much more $$.

One thing to remember is the Kia website has all of the current and best rebates listed. The dealer will pretend they dont exist until you show them. Not hard to get the correct price out of the dealer if you have all of the facts before you go in. The web is killing their profits, but that is how it should be. Dealers should make their $$ off of service and receive a nominal amount for "processing new car sales"!

OK rant over

 

[JohnH]

One thing to remember is the Kia website has all of the current and best rebates listed. The dealer will pretend they dont exist until you show them. Not hard to get the correct price out of the dealer if you have all of the facts before you go in. The web is killing their profits, but that is how it should be. Dealers should make their $$ off of service and receive a nominal amount for "processing new car sales"!

I had the exact issue at the first Kia dealer I visited. The sales person and his manager ignored the incentives on the Kia web site. Both made it sound like it did not matter or I did not know what I was talking about. Perhaps, a little gas lighting.

I also had an issue with Stinger selection. Since I live in a major US city (over 1.7 million), I was a little baffled by the lack of selection. Kia Stinger is a phenomenal car, but I am not sure Kia dealerships understand the Stinger clientele. We are not there for a vehicle that goes from Point A to B. We are generally car enthusiasts.

 

[bostonjomo]

Ended up taking my search to Connecticut. Crowley Kia in Bristol CT is a serious Stinger dealership with tons of inventory and tons of Stinger Sales. They knew what they were talking about and had me in a car within 20 minutes. Specifically a car with bags on the seats, little Styrofoam pieces still on the outside, and less than 5 miles on the odometer.

Didn't think I would ever drive a light blue car, but thats what they let me drive and it was a hot f*cking car.

Driving 250 miles for maintenance would suck, but the dealership finally treated me like a person and not a peasant and it was such a nice change of pace.

 

[Sine Qua Non]

Glad im not the only one. Been searching in the MA area for a couple weeks. Kia dealers in the Boston area are awful. I also went to Dan O Brien in norwood and they tried running a credit check before test driving. I stood a firm ground and they ended up letting me test a gt line. I had already driven a gt1 so new what that felt like. But now I'm emailing with every kia dealer in MA to get offers and talk options over email and response rate and customer service is garbage. Its very frustrating, i want to buy a stinger and have decided to spend money on a gt1 or gt2 and literally no one will work with me. Its as if they dont care about getting a sale.. If anyone has any suggestions, im all ears

In the same boat. However you will need to pick one to start negotiations in person. If that goes south....WALK away. Go to a different one and do it all over again. The first one is going to call you anyway to get you to come back. Yeah, I know that it’s going to be a lot of time spent in a dealership but it will help to get the ball rolling. Good luck.

 

[Eric Lundberg]

I would utilize Kia's website for locating what you want(availability) then try to hammer out as much as possible by email. If they require you to come in say thank you and move on. I have found they will deal with email after they know you wont budge. YMMV