Dealer Markup Peoria Kia - Arizona - Ridiculous "Fees"

[Mach_Tuck]

Hi All,

Dealer finally received the Yellow GT2 RWD on Friday and I went down to see, drive, and purchase. We will start with the good...car is beautiful and the color is def brighter and more vibrant in person then in picture. Drives very nice with the exception of the soft suspension in sport mode as others have commented on. Coming from an E46 M3 it was quite a noticeable difference in body roll, etc. Get back to the dealer and proceed to discuss the lease/purchase options. Now we get to the BAD.

i had already secured a Costco Authorization for this vehicle so expected to be presented with the Costco Form and associated numbers. From email with the internet manager, i expected the purchase price to be approx. $47,300. Well, we sit down and the sales manager available (diff then i had been dealing with...he was "out") brings me his sheet with purchase price of MSRP + $5,400 ($3k market adjust and $2.4K dealer add ons) bringing the new purchase price to $55,575 before taxes and fees! I actually laughed and advised him that i had my Costco form and to see the Costco Offer, to which he responded, we are no longer honoring that program. After some back and forth with him and another guy "behind the desk" and showing previous email traffic stating the Costco price would be honored, they dropped the $3K market adjust and then proceeded to tell me that i HAD NO CHOICE but to pay for the add ons as they were REQUIRED BY COSTCO. Also understand that the car had just been taken off the delivery truck and none of this was actually installed. Perhaps they thought i would leave the car with them to install after the fact...nope. Obviously lying and Costco has been engaged separately on this account. Dealer adds were tint, GPS Alarm, and Paint Protect package at $800 each. They wanted the car back each 6 months for one day to "clay bar and polymer seal" the paint for a three year term. A little more discussion and after a phone call to the GM, they "agreed" to drop the GPS and Paint Protect and compromise at $400 on the tint. Ok, i can live with that. Then i said i wanted to lease and to apply the Lease Cash. Their response..."this car does not qualify for lease cash???" So, i pull out my phone and have to show them. They agree after that to apply the $6500 rebate. Not as smooth as i had hoped but at least to a point where i think we are good.

I then ask them to draft the lease paperwork for review. They do and, to my surprise, the rebate has dropped from $6500 to $4100 on the lease paperwork? i point this out to the finance manager and am told, "I dont know how it works but the numbers are correct." WTF, really? I also notice the Gross Cap Cost is different then we had just agreed to. "Oh, the GM called back and said the tint was $800, no budge," was the response. Ok. Further down the lease i notice the rent charge seems to be high...yep, they applied an MF of .00239. Mind you, i have 820 credit and it was already agreed that .00199 would be used. Again, their answer, "GM says its .00239 and credit score doesn't matter." Ok, this just keeps getting better. Please also note they applied a $489 Doc Fee and a $650 acquisition fee. One of the other i am fine with, both, not so much. At this point i was done with the back and forth and decided to leave.

During this entire process i kept hearing, we dont normally do leases so we really dont know how it works and so forth. Too many I don't knows and obviously used to dealing with selling Kia Rio and Souls. I was actually told, "this would be a lot quicker if you would just sign and pay the sticker price." Unreal.

I emailed them a reasonable lease offer yesterday and will see if i hear back. I dont need one of these that bad to pay all the hidden and ridiculously marked up fees. Ill find another Yellow GT2 elsewhere in the country or wait for MY2019. Hopefully they dont get some sucker to pay $55K + tax and fees for this vehicle.

Ill provide the lease details for review and general info under the How to Buy a Stinger thread.

Cheers

 

[iclicku]

If this isn't the only Kia dealer around I would have run away long ago...

 

[Rufus]

Man, sorry to hear about your experience. There's a new member on here named @Franklin Bing who is also a Kia salesman in SoCal. He just advertised a yellow GT, but not a GT2. Give him a query...you have nothing to lose at this point...

 

[SEA Stinger]

Grrrr.... That dealer is full of:

I agree with @iclicku about walking away when dealers start trying to pull that stuff. Sounds like you were very patient, willing to give the dealer every opportunity to honor their promises. Others might have caved, but it's good that you didn't.

If it were me, I wouldn't touch that dealer again, under any circumstances.

However, I would report them to Costco and KIA, providing all of the details of your experience and requesting both of them to respond with a description of what they are going to do about it. Their response should be more than "okay, we'll make a note of it for our files".

The more I hear about the Costco program, the clearer it becomes that it's frequently being used by dealers as part of bait and switch scams. Costco must know this is happening, and they need to do a better job of kicking out dealers who abuse the program.

 

[ballistic]

what a ridiculous story. sorry you had to go through all of that. how ridiculous. i agree with @SEA Stinger that you should report this dealer to kia and costco. and even show them the link to this talk we're having so that they know their actions are being observed by a great many people.

 

[Mach_Tuck]

If this isn't the only Kia dealer around I would have run away long ago...

Yeah, i was making progress, albeit bit by bit, until they put everything to paper. Once that was done, so was I

 

[Mach_Tuck]

Grrrr.... That dealer is full of:

I agree with @iclicku about walking away when dealers start trying to pull that stuff. Sounds like you were very patient, willing to give the dealer every opportunity to honor their promises. Others might have caved, but it's good that you didn't.

If it were me, I wouldn't touch that dealer again, under any circumstances.

However, I would report them to Costco and KIA, providing all of the details of your experience and requesting both of them to respond with a description of what they are going to do about it. Their response should be more than "okay, we'll make a note of it for our files".

The more I hear about the Costco program, the clearer it becomes that it's frequently being used by dealers as part of bait and switch scams. Costco must know this is happening, and they need to do a better job of kicking out dealers who abuse the program.

I actually negotiate contracts for work so am very comfortable in these scenarios and was thinking eventually they would come to my numbers Costco has been notified and i have requested a phone follow up with them. I will look into reporting the same with Kia.

There are other dealers around...none with a Yellow GT2 however.

 

[Franklin Bing]

something to keep in mind is that all dealers are independently owned. you're dealing with individuals. for instance, at my store there are some deals that one of my desk managers will take, when another (different desk manager) might not. there are a lot of variables. just the other day we sold a Niro plug in hybrid for a couple hundred profit. and that car is more rare than Stinger right now. I won't see another one for a couple weeks. you never know. persistence is key. it may sound silly, but buying at the end of the month or last day of the month sometimes makes a difference. there's not much profit built into Kias between invoice and MSRP, it's not like a domestic make. most all stores make their profit on dealer add-ons and products. but an additional unit on the last day of the month can make sense even if it's a loser.

 

[Rufus]

Kinda makes me wanna light up this dealership's website and/or the phone lines. What a dishonorable dealer. Ok, maybe dishonorable doesn't sound like much, but a person without any honor is near the bottom of the food chain in my world.

 

[Franklin Bing]

wish I had a yellow GT2 for you... in case you were wondering, the Sunset Yellow GTs weren't ordered by the each store. they couldn't be ordered. they were won by contest. my store got one because we sold more cars than the store we were competing against. just fyi.

 

[Mach_Tuck]

something to keep in mind is that all dealers are independently owned. you're dealing with individuals. for instance, at my store there are some deals that one of my desk managers will take, when another (different desk manager) might not. there are a lot of variables. just the other day we sold a Niro plug in hybrid for a couple hundred profit. and that car is more rare than Stinger right now. I won't see another one for a couple weeks. you never know. persistence is key. it may sound silly, but buying at the end of the month or last day of the month sometimes makes a difference. there's not much profit built into Kias between invoice and MSRP, it's not like a domestic make. most all stores make their profit on dealer add-ons and products. but an additional unit on the last day of the month can make sense even if it's a loser.

Thanks for the info. I will follow up with them on a weekly basis and only take the deal i want. My hope is that others can learn from this and be mindful when shopping.

Perhaps the car sitting a few weeks will change their "attitude."

 

[Mach_Tuck]

wish I had a yellow GT2 for you... in case you were wondering, the Sunset Yellow GTs weren't ordered by the each store. they couldn't be ordered. they were won by contest. my store got one because we sold more cars than the store we were competing against. just fyi.

Thanks for the heads up. Fortunately being on this forum has provided much intel on how these were acquired by each dealer.

Whereabouts in SoCal are you? I am there for work on a fairly regular basis, maybe i can stop and see what you have. Second choice would be a Ceramic Silver/Red GT2...

 

[mldavis2]

Dealers are either honest or they are not. One misunderstanding by the dealer is perhaps understandable, but that is their business and their only field of expertise, so I seriously doubt they don't know anything about leasing. It is also unfair to charge for something that is not installed and that you don't want. It is also dishonest to claim Costco pricing and then bait and switch. Put all of that together and you have one greedy, dishonest dealership. Not only would I never consider buying anything from them, but I sure as hell would not trust their service department either. That dishonesty is a dealership M.O., not the ignorance of one sales manager. Walk away and forget the color. Get what you want elsewhere. They all look great in all colors, and you can't see the outside of the car while you're driving.

 

[Rufus]

wish I had a yellow GT2 for you... in case you were wondering, the Sunset Yellow GTs weren't ordered by the each store. they couldn't be ordered. they were won by contest. my store got one because we sold more cars than the store we were competing against. just fyi.

Thanks for chiming in with that info, sir! As much as it sucks for @Mach_Tuck, I'm sure I'm not the only one who is appreciative of how helpful other forum members have been. Not only in sharing their experiences (good or bad) but also the depth of detail provided for all of us to benefit from. I certainly appreciate your POV from the dealer side. The fact you are also a Stinger owner is also a plus, as you obviously like what you're selling.

 

[Rufus]

Hi All,

Dealer finally received the Yellow GT2 RWD on Friday and I went down to see, drive, and purchase. We will start with the good...car is beautiful and the color is def brighter and more vibrant in person then in picture. Drives very nice with the exception of the soft suspension in sport mode as others have commented on. Coming from an E46 M3 it was quite a noticeable difference in body roll, etc. Get back to the dealer and proceed to discuss the lease/purchase options. Now we get to the BAD.

i had already secured a Costco Authorization for this vehicle so expected to be presented with the Costco Form and associated numbers. From email with the internet manager, i expected the purchase price to be approx. $47,300. Well, we sit down and the sales manager available (diff then i had been dealing with...he was "out") brings me his sheet with purchase price of MSRP + $5,400 ($3k market adjust and $2.4K dealer add ons) bringing the new purchase price to $55,575 before taxes and fees! I actually laughed and advised him that i had my Costco form and to see the Costco Offer, to which he responded, we are no longer honoring that program. After some back and forth with him and another guy "behind the desk" and showing previous email traffic stating the Costco price would be honored, they dropped the $3K market adjust and then proceeded to tell me that i HAD NO CHOICE but to pay for the add ons as they were REQUIRED BY COSTCO. Also understand that the car had just been taken off the delivery truck and none of this was actually installed. Perhaps they thought i would leave the car with them to install after the fact...nope. Obviously lying and Costco has been engaged separately on this account. Dealer adds were tint, GPS Alarm, and Paint Protect package at $800 each. They wanted the car back each 6 months for one day to "clay bar and polymer seal" the paint for a three year term. A little more discussion and after a phone call to the GM, they "agreed" to drop the GPS and Paint Protect and compromise at $400 on the tint. Ok, i can live with that. Then i said i wanted to lease and to apply the Lease Cash. Their response..."this car does not qualify for lease cash???" So, i pull out my phone and have to show them. They agree after that to apply the $6500 rebate. Not as smooth as i had hoped but at least to a point where i think we are good.

I then ask them to draft the lease paperwork for review. They do and, to my surprise, the rebate has dropped from $6500 to $4100 on the lease paperwork? i point this out to the finance manager and am told, "I dont know how it works but the numbers are correct." WTF, really? I also notice the Gross Cap Cost is different then we had just agreed to. "Oh, the GM called back and said the tint was $800, no budge," was the response. Ok. Further down the lease i notice the rent charge seems to be high...yep, they applied an MF of .00239. Mind you, i have 820 credit and it was already agreed that .00199 would be used. Again, their answer, "GM says its .00239 and credit score doesn't matter." Ok, this just keeps getting better. Please also note they applied a $489 Doc Fee and a $650 acquisition fee. One of the other i am fine with, both, not so much. At this point i was done with the back and forth and decided to leave.

During this entire process i kept hearing, we dont normally do leases so we really dont know how it works and so forth. Too many I don't knows and obviously used to dealing with selling Kia Rio and Souls. I was actually told, "this would be a lot quicker if you would just sign and pay the sticker price." Unreal.

I emailed them a reasonable lease offer yesterday and will see if i hear back. I dont need one of these that bad to pay all the hidden and ridiculously marked up fees. Ill find another Yellow GT2 elsewhere in the country or wait for MY2019. Hopefully they dont get some sucker to pay $55K + tax and fees for this vehicle.

Ill provide the lease details for review and general info under the How to Buy a Stinger thread.

Cheers

Just gave their FB page my 2 cents. They wouldn't allow me to reference this forum's URL, however.

 

[Kia Stinger]

Just gave their FB page my 2 cents. They wouldn't allow me to reference this forum's URL, however.

I commented with the link for you.

 

[Jumpy]

you can't see the outside of the car while you're driving.

You can see the hood. And you see the color every time you get in and out of your car. And you know everyone else is seeing that color as you drive.

 

[mldavis2]

You can see the hood. And you see the color every time you get in and out of your car. And you know everyone else is seeing that color as you drive.

Not saying you shouldn't get the color you want. But rewarding a greedy and dishonest dealership that tried every which way to pry more money out of the deal just because of the color is what continues to give dealers like that the incentive to continue doing it. I'll be interested to know if the buyer hears back from Costco and/or Kia.

 

[Jumpy]

Not saying you shouldn't get the color you want. But rewarding a greedy and dishonest dealership that tried every which way to pry more money out of the deal just because of the color is what continues to give dealers like that the incentive to continue doing it. I'll be interested to know if the buyer hears back from Costco and/or Kia.

We all agree with that. I wouldn't settle for another color, though.