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Dealer Experiences (Share your horror story)

Part of what finalized my decision to buy a Kia Sedona was the dealer experience. I was nervous about buying the car because Kia is relatively new in the US. Because of this I went to the Kia dealer 3 times to test drive the car. Once with my family and twice by myself. On all occasions the salesman just gave me the keys and waved goodbye and didn't try to pressure me to buy the car right away. Also buying the car was quick and painless as well. Not a lot of trips to the manager and that nonsense. Mazda was the only other dealer that let us drive the van without a salesman riding with us. Toyota was the worst experience I ever had looking at a car. Here's what happened there.

I was put in touch with Beechmont Toyota in Cincinnati through a car buying service. They said that they had 2004 Siennas in stock from a "special purchase". Upon arrival at the dealer I found out that "special purchase" means they bought some cars from a leasing company in Canada and modified them for sale in the US. I didn't like being tricked into going to their dealership like that but I decided to drive the van anyway and order a new one if I liked it. They wanted to value my trade in while I was gone so I left them the keys to our old van. To drive the van I had to sign a bunch of paperwork swearing that I would pay for damages if I wrecked it and so on. The salesman who must have weighed in at 350-400 pounds said he had to ride with us and sit in the front seat because he was so fat so my wife and I had to ride this jerk in the front talking the whole time. When we returned they tried to hard sell us van and we found out that they wanted $4000 over sticker for the canadian import van and they couldn't sell it as a new car. I was really pissed by this time and decided to leave. They played their last trick on me on my way out the door. They suddenly couldn't find the keys to my old van. Luckily my wife had hers and was already loading the kids in the car. After they saw this the keys reappeared. Toyota makes a fine car but if this is typical of their dealers I won't be buying one.

This was the night we went back to the Kia dealership an bought our Sedona.

Joe Fugazzi

Reply to
Joe Fugazzi
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I had an excellent experience when buying my Sedona. Mine was purchased from Laurel Kia in Laurel MD. I was kinda skeptical at first because it's a smaller dealership compared to a lot of the huge dealerships out there, and I wasn't too sure about how I'd be treated at a "value" brand's dealership. I was very happy. I took the Sedona out for a drive as they were getting the appraisal on my 99 Windstar. Had a nice drive, and the salesman actually knew about the van he was trying to sell (I'm very used to salesman who know next to nothing about the cars they sell). We got back, and I told the salesman how much I'd pay for the van, how much I wanted on my trade, and I already had my financing locked in at 4.9% (all of my numbers were very reasonable figures from the Bluebook pricing guides). They came back only a few hundred dollars apart between my numbers and theirs and they had a better interest rate for the financing, so we split the difference. And, NO HARD SELL ON PAINT AND FABRIC PROTECTANT TREATMENTS! I hate that stuff. All in all, I'd definately buy from them again.

Jamie

Reply to
Jamie Aycock

I feel your pain. The Toyota dealers around where I live are snots, plainly put. They act like sleazy liars and cheats. One woulldn't even let me look IN the car(unlock it) to check without first verifying that I was going to buy *today*.

OTOH, the vehicles are great.

Mercedes used to have this problem as well, but has been better overall since the merger.

Reply to
Joseph Oberlander

I had a great experience when I bought my Sedona. I actually went into the dealership with all my iternet research and told them what I wanted to pay for the car ($500 over invoice). They came in $1,000 below what I wanted to pay. No pressure, no stress. Left me alone to look at the car.

The sales part of the car was great. The car has weird problems, but I like the warranty and the roadside assistance has been invaluable. I just don't like my service department....and I've made that very clear to them! :o)

Pam

Reply to
pam225

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