No Dealer Markup Classic Kia of Carrollton, Texas

[Girbles]

Tldr: The main reason i am not tagging this with good experience is because the dealer pretty much treated me like a number. I am personally not against this, but it also doesn't get you walking out the door feeling like a valued customer.

I picked no tag because my experience was pretty average. The first salesman i was with probably didn't think i was going to make a purchase because I'm under 30, but that's been pretty normal for every dealer of every company i went to. Quick test drive, not pushy at all, and respected my time. That last bit is very important to me since i work 10-12 hours a day, and occasionally Saturdays. Fast forward a week, and I've decided to make a purchase. The first salesman wasn't available, but they set me up with another right away and he took care of the purchase. They really lowballed the trade in i was offering, so i i end up just putting cash down instead. Paperwork was quick and straightforward. I
needed to do some planning on my end to coordinate having two vehicles and one parking space where i live. Told the dealer i would take delivery 3 days later. I ended up figuring out the vehicle thing in two days, and called them about picking up the stinger on the second day. They had it ready to go for me in 30 minutes.
The next item on the judgement list is how long the plates take to show up. So far it's been two weeks and i haven't received them yet.

 

[kerflook]

Just bought my Stinger from this dealership. You're 100% right about feeling like a number. I was one of two customer's in there, but I didn't interact with 1 person who was personable (not that they need to be.) But between the salesman, sales manager, and finance guy, I never felt particularly "valued."
I came in with a number in mind, and they eventually gave me exactly what I asked for which turned out to be a pretty great deal, but they gave me the typical run-around before they conceded my original proposal (go talk to the sales manager, come back with a number, tell me why I should take it, unwillingness to give me my current car's keys back etc.) I asked for my keys back to leave about 3 separate times because they wouldn't give me the deal I wanted. Even when they finally DID give me what I wanted, when I got moved to finance, the finance guy told me the credit system Kia uses is "overly pessimistic" and my credit score would be bumped from a tier 1 to tier 5. Then he told me all the other deals he could make for me that would "come close" to my original agreement. I told him that either it would have to be the original deal or I walk, and 5 minutes later he magically had my credit score at a high enough tier to honor the original agreement. Love the car, but the buying experience there was among the worst I've had. Not the salesman's fault, as he was courteous and thorough, but the dealership's style was pretty old school with my experience.

 

[DT88]

Texas car dealerships are among the worst in terms of greed and treatment of customers.

 

[Girbles]

Time for an update on this dealership. I went in for oil and inspection after 12k miles. Only went to the dealer because I'm planning to do some performance modifications and i wanted the dealer to give it a once over before i get that done. It took just over an hour for them to do this....i honestly can't imagine how. Anyway, total cost is higher than what i was expecting, $100 vs me thinking it would be $60-$80. But whatever, I'm not about to get all fussy about $20 over price.

Fast forward to later that day, and on my way home I noticed the ride felt harsher than i have been used to. I checked the tpms because I've had a slow air leak and a completely deflated tire in the past, and to my surprise i see all my tires are inflated to various pressures between 40 and 47 psi. So one of two things happened. Either 1) they messed up the tpms during their inspection, or 2) they managed to not only overinflate the tires but also inflate them all to different pressures. I'd check myself but I can't find my damn pressure gauge so I'm off to buy a new one. Needless to say i won't be going back to a kia dealer for anything but warranty work.

Anyone have local shop recommendations in the northern DFW area?

 

[kerflook]

Time for an update on this dealership. I went in for oil and inspection after 12k miles. Only went to the dealer because I'm planning to do some performance modifications and i wanted the dealer to give it a once over before i get that done. It took just over an hour for them to do this....i honestly can't imagine how. Anyway, total cost is higher than what i was expecting, $100 vs me thinking it would be $60-$80. But whatever, I'm not about to get all fussy about $20 over price.

Fast forward to later that day, and on my way home I noticed the ride felt harsher than i have been used to. I checked the tpms because I've had a slow air leak and a completely deflated tire in the past, and to my surprise i see all my tires are inflated to various pressures between 40 and 47 psi. So one of two things happened. Either 1) they messed up the tpms during their inspection, or 2) they managed to not only overinflate the tires but also inflate them all to different pressures. I'd check myself but I can't find my damn pressure gauge so I'm off to buy a new one. Needless to say i won't be going back to a kia dealer for anything but warranty work.

Anyone have local shop recommendations in the northern DFW area?

Sorry to hear about that. Frustrating for sure. Did you go full synthetic? $100 seems high for a blend. I still need to claim my free first oil change from them but won't go back for service after that, so I'll be interested to hear if there are any dealer/shop recommendations close to the Plano area.

 

[Girbles]

Did you go full synthetic?

Yes this was a full synthetic.

 

[Ecobust]

Classic claims Kia corporate now requires them to use full synthetic on Stingers. Whatever--I fought and forced them to use synthetic blend, which I have used for over 40k miles.

To me that's all they're good for, simple oil changes. I tried them for a spark plug change back in 2018 and they couldn't even get that right.

 

[Fast86gn]

I'm in the Dallas area and we just bought a Stinger from Bob Utter Kia in Sherman. It's was great all the way around. Jane was a very nice lady and seemed to actually care about her customers. Smaller town smaller dealership makes a difference in my opinion. And I'll take the lady sales person over a guy anyday.