Kia of Puyallup

Reviews 3

A

A Private User

I recently got a series of fliers from Kia of Puyallup to trade in my 4-year old Kia for an upgrade. The ad said that they would pay "up to 125% of car value on trade-ins" and offered an interest rate that was better than we currently pay. By our math, it seemed there was a small chance we would be able to step into a newer car without having to increase our monthly payments. Because Id be shopping with two kids under the age of 4 I called ahead and gave all the information to a salesmen named Steve, saying that were firm on our monthly payments, and asked if it was realistic to step into a low-end but new model without increasing those payments. If not, I explained, PLEASE let us know now before we drive 35 minutes from Tacoma with 2 active toddlers. Steve told me it was absolutely realistic, and to come on out. I ended up with a different salesmen, Freddie. I gave him the exact same information up front, saying PLEASE let us know if were going to have to increase our monthly payments now before we get too far into this process. He did some mental calculations and affirmed that my expectations werent unrealistic at all. After deciding on a model, we got back into the showroom and he asks me to move the car seats into the new car for a test drive. I said that I wasnt interested in a test drive until I knew what the offer was and if the payments would work out. He talks to someone, comes back, and says that theyd really like us to do the test drive first. I asked him to confirm that they could match the payments, and wed go for a test drive. Finally he tells me that based on his mental calculations, they wont be able to get us into the car wed been looking at for what we pay, but that if were willing to increase our payments by $35, he could make it happen. He offers the test drive again. At that point, I let him know that I was frustrated that both he and Steve had been dishonest, and that if he already knew it wouldnt work then he should have told me that up front. At that point, HE CHASTISED ME for thinking that I could get a new car without increasing my payments. So we left. The next day, I called to speak with the manager, letting him know about my experience and that two sales people had been dishonest with me. He said hed run the numbers to see if he could make it work -- with no apologies for the dishonesty of his staff. He came back with the best offer they could formulate: $75/mo higher than I currently pay... a 22% increase in our payments. These guys are dishonest and desperate to make the sale. I believe they were putting off giving us the numbers as long as possible because they knew it wouldnt work, but didnt have the integrity to tell me. Then they chastised me, telling me I should have known better. I didnt know better then, but I know better now: Do not shop at Kia of Puyallup.

JA

Jake Schumacher

The staff here has been very nice in person but there have been lots of issues with scheduling and in the transaction process. 1. We first leased an Optima for three years from this dealership. When we were about done they emailed me telling me to call and see our options. We were just going to buy the Optima because we were over the miles. I asked them if I would be charged for going over the miles if we stayed with them and leased/purchased a newer car through them. He said we wouldnt be since we are trading it in. Cool! So we picked out our car and got the paperwork in front of us to sign and the bill was $5,000 more than we were expecting. That was because our trade-in value of the Optima was that much less than what we owed if we were to buy it. Bottom line is that I misinterpreted the lingo but I felt that he should have been more upfront and honest with me considering he knew that we were worried about being charged for the miles. After saying no to that price, we ended up trading in the car for $3,000 less than what we owed (basically the charge for how much the mileage would have been). I know they need to make money but they advertise as fair and honest and I didnt feel like they were upfront with us. 2. When we signed the paperwork for our new car they didnt know who our loan would go through (we asked for Chase) and they said they would contact us within three days. That never happened and I called/emailed multiple times. I found out who had our loan by looking at my Chase Bank app and seeing it was finally on there. I probably called and emailed 5 times over a couple weeks and no one every responded with the actual information. 3. Right after we got our new car, we found out that the heater box was making some funny noises and thankfully it is still under warranty. They ordered the part and we were waiting for it to come in. We never heard back and I called them. The part had come in but it arrived broken so they ordered a new one. This happened two more times and since they are coming from Korea it takes a while. Not a huge deal considering it wasnt something that makes the car unable to drive. Almost two months go buy and I call and the part is finally at the dealership (they never called me to update me about the part- I always called). We scheduled an appointment for the next week and then dropped it off that day. After we left we got a call and they said that it would actually take 3-4 days to repair it since they need to take off the dash and the guy didnt realize that when we had set it up. It wasnt a big deal because they were fixing it for us but they didnt have a loaner car and they could have told us this ahead of time so we could have made arrangements to borrow another car. Overall the people are very nice and friendly, we have just had a lot of issues with lack of communication.

MI

Mike Cole

In a word, remarkable. Chris Coates, the salesman that helped us, was fantastic. He listened to what we wanted, showed us a couple of vehicles to see if he was in the right ballpark. He was, so we took one out for a drive. We left to go to another dealership to look at a another vehicle we were interested in. He didnt pull any high-pressure BS, he just asked us to please let him know if we choose to purchase somewhere else so he wouldnt be left hanging. We were at the other dealership for less than 15 minutes before coming right back and sitting down with him to talk price. Negotiations were great. We hadnt really discussed much about price, but Chris came back with some numbers showing some of the different options we had. We asked for more information about different terms, rates, etc. He came back with the requested info and more. We told him what we wanted to pay (within reason after looking at the price comparisons). He went off to check, came back and were done. The next move was the finance guy. Chris had us waiting for about 10 minutes while the finance guy finished up with the people he was helping. When we got in, we were introduced to Ryan Mirante. He was friendly and pleasant, and as it turned out related to one of the kids our daughter went to school with. Even more important, he had everything ready, neatly highlighted for signatures and initials with different colors for each of us. He gave us the 5 mile overview of everything, and made sure to ask if we had any questions several times. When we did have a question, he answered it, never going overboard into too much detail unless it was warranted or asked for, but answering the question we had asked succinctly. From the moment we first walked onto the lot, including our side-trip to the other dealership, this entire process took less than 2 hours. Last year we bought a car and it took easily double that, and we didnt walk away entirely satisfied with the purchase or the experience. Chris, Ryan, and the rest of the team at Kia of Puyallup have really raised the bar on automotive sales. They have earned lifelong customers, and I, as a Hyundai fan, will most likely be going there and purchasing a Kia for my next vehicle in large part because of the service I expect to receive. And if my words dont impress you, take a look at the reviews below. You may notice they have one thing in common. The owner has read AND COMMENTED on them. This shows that they care about customer satisfaction, even when they let their humanity shine through and cant hit the impossible to reach 100% goal. How many businesses do you know where the owner is personally involved enough to read, let alone respond, to the reviews posted on the web? Knocked it straight out of the park. Way to be!