Bad Boston area Kia dealer

[Sysy62]

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.

 

[BostonGTS]

Strange. When we bought our 19 GTS, they were like, "Nice to meet you. Are you ready to go for a test drive?"

 

[Sysy62]

May I ask what dealer you went to??

 

[BostonGTS]

Yeah. That was Kia of Attleboro.

 

[Sysy62]

Thanks for heads up, did you buy a car there? How were they overall?

 

[BostonGTS]

No, we didn't end up buying the car there. They said they could not offer the financing we wanted.

Unfortunately I can't recommend the place where we purchased the car, which didn't end up being in the Boston area. Just a lot of issues that suggest they really didn't have their act together.

 

[Sysy62]

The issue is the Stinger is meant to compete with BMW, Audi and MB. The experience should be excellent, what I experienced was horrific. Did I just find one bad apple?

 

[MerlintheMad]

Kia of Muncie is "not far away". Your Stinger would be mostly broken in by the time you got home. (not one negative thing has been said of Kia of Muncie; they advertise here too); and that scenario, of driving your Stinger home, has been played out more than once by forum members, not just with Kia of Muncie: a guy from Cali came up here to Utah and bought from Jerry Seiner and then drove home; so, be willing to do that and your options open up a lot. Good hunting!

(By the way, yes, that "no test drive unless you're serious" experience has been shared on here a number of times. It's not a "Kia thing", it's a crappy dealer thing.)

 

[Sysy62]

Kia of Muncie is "not far away". Your Stinger would be mostly broken in by the time you got home. (not one negative thing has been said of Kia of Muncie; they advertise here too); and that scenario, of driving your Stinger home, has been played out more than once by forum members, not just with Kia of Muncie: a guy from Cali came up here to Utah and bought from Jerry Seiner and then drove home; so, be willing to do that and your options open up a lot. Good hunting!

(By the way, yes, that "no test drive unless you're serious" experience has been shared on here a number of times. It's not a "Kia thing", it's a crappy dealer thing.)

Good option but I still want to test drive the car before buying. The main issue I have is I drove a BMW and Audi and they basically just handed me keys for a ride. If Kia wants to play with the big boys they need to fine tune the entire experience. I spoke to Kia Client Services about my experience and they were appalled but not sure they can really do anything.

 

[bostonjomo]

Got to dealership and was told I can't test drive a car unless I can prove that I'm "serious". Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?

Yes, I went to Dan O'Brien in Norwood and they wouldn't let me test drive 'until we ran the numbers and determined that I could afford the car'. Absolute BS. They also held my keys hostage and some 6'4, 380 lb guy had my keys in his pocket and kept talking to other people, after they checked out my car, and wouldnt give them back after I asked like 8-10 times. If I had known about common predatory tactics, I would have stood up and yelled for them to give back my keys before calling the police.

Other sketchy practices, including Finance Manager wouldnt talk to me in the dealership, but sprinted out to my car as I was leaving the lot and then called me twice on the way home.

I will wait 6 months for another dealer to have the specs I want, before going to them again.

 

[Sysy62]

Hahahaha this was same dealer I went to, amazing that Kia allows this kind of behavior from their dealerships. I actually spoke to someone in Kia Client Services logged a complaint a week ago but have heard nothing since. Their point was once they sell car to franchise it's out of Kia hands. But as I explained to the rep, this place is representing your brand... it's just so unacceptable.

Did you ever test drive the car? Did you try another Boston area Kia dealer?

It seems to me that the Stinger and Telluride should go to Genesis, create one luxury experience for customers of Hyundai and build new showrooms if they really want to compete with the Germans and Japanese luxury brands

 

[Luminary]

Kia of Muncie is "not far away". Your Stinger would be mostly broken in by the time you got home. (not one negative thing has been said of Kia of Muncie; they advertise here too); and that scenario, of driving your Stinger home, has been played out more than once by forum members, not just with Kia of Muncie: a guy from Cali came up here to Utah and bought from Jerry Seiner and then drove home; so, be willing to do that and your options open up a lot. Good hunting!

(By the way, yes, that "no test drive unless you're serious" experience has been shared on here a number of times. It's not a "Kia thing", it's a crappy dealer thing.)

I completely agree about Kia of Muncie. My Niece was looking to purchase the new Seltos before Covid hit. All the dealers in the area (Northern Virginia and Maryland) were marking the Seltos up 5-10K over MSRP as "Market Adjustment". So I reached out to Kia of Muncie in hopes they could help. Wonderful people! They not only got her in the top of the line Seltos that she wanted without crazy mark ups, they also shipped it to her for a fair price. She got her new Seltos for way less (thousands less) then what she would have spent buying one close to home.

Everyone at Kia of Muncie is outstanding.

 

[bostonjomo]

well theyre allegedly gonna drop the stinger line, maybe a midcycle refresh next year, but no mk 2 Stinger. No need to have the g70 and stinger cannibalize each other's sales.

I've heard great things about LEV Kia of Framingham, or would go to Dan O'Brien up in New Hampshire. (as scummy as their sales people are, the Dan O'Brien used car benefits package is unbelievable). I bought my first Kia at Napoli in Milford, CT, and wouldn't mind taking my business there or to another CT dealership, since I have family down there and am there often enough.

I'm looking for a '19 GT2 with Red Interior, so I've got my work cut out for me, looking for a very specific build. Just depends who has it, except Dan O'Brien of Norwood.


I actually got a call from them recently saying "we've cleaned house and almost 100% of our salesmen from your visit (Nov 2019) are no longer with us." But screw me once, shame on you, screw me twice....

And is Luminary trying to convince you to go to Indiana for a Stinger?

 

[Sysy62]

I still would like to test drive it, not buying anything yet. A bit turned off by my first Kia showroom experience. Just so very old school and unnecessary. The sales manager told me oh we don't really do test drives, nobody will buy the car if it has miles on it. Have they never heard of a tester or loaner? They expect to sell a $54 k car without testing? Have you driven the Stinger yet? Did you love it and have you tested the G70 as well?

 

[bostonjomo]

Nope, haven't. Will on Monday tho!

If I'm gonna get a stinger/g70/g80, I'm definitely going with the hatch.

my short list was '19 GT350, new Tacoma OffRoad, '18 volvo s90, '17/'18 Jaguar XF Sportbrake S, '17 M3 (was '17 M550i, but that engine is shit), and Stinger.

And its so pathetic. They treat prospective stinger buyers like they are forte/optima buyers who just want to joy ride the stinger. they have no problem with test driving anything else. With the BS excuse they gave you, I would've asked if I could test drive an optima turbo and then when they said yes, I would've asked "isnt that going to increase the miles?" hah

 

[Spaceme17]

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.

Some dealerships are just trash. The dealership I purchased my car from here in north Kentucky a month ago called me within 2 minutes after I browsed the car online. Went there a few hours later and test drove the car no problem. I wasn't convinced and so when I was about to leave the offered me to take the car home overnight and test drive it. Really surprised me.

And I did buy the car and it has been great.

 

[Sysy62]

Nice to hear there are good dealers out there as well. Did you look at the G70 as well before buying? I def love the looks of stinger and the fact it's a sportback

 

[P22Tyler]

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.

Dealers like this are a joke, it's not a Ferrari just let a potential customer take it for a spin. Good Lord.

 

[tooyika]

Strange. When we bought our 19 GTS, they were like, "Nice to meet you. Are you ready to go for a test drive?"

 

[Brandonfontes]

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