Palmen Kia of Kenosha

Reviews 3

MI

Minh Vuong

I dont even know where to begin to describe how bad my experience with this dealership was. My previous Honda dealerships had been so great that I did not expect such substandard service. First off, customer service was unimpressive. When I made an appointment for a test drive, I indicated that I was interested in buying the Optima Hybrid XE with the full technology package. The appointment was made a week in advance, and when I showed up, they said they didnt have that model available. I was left to test drive the most basic model of the Optima Hybrid Premium instead and was not able get a feel for the technology package. They also did not have the colors that I wanted to see, so they showed me brushed-up pictures instead. Second, when asked if I would be qualified for the recent graduate discount, the salesman said I would not because I was not going to graduate until next month. I told him that I will wait until then to buy the car if thats the case. He immediately went to get his manager. The manager came over and said in arrogant tone that he would let me have the discount if I bought the car that day. I asked if I could have couple days to go look at the color I wanted at another dealership since they didnt have it here. The manager said the deal would have to be today because it was the end of the month. He was very pushy, and I was rushed to make a decision without even seeing or test driving the actual car that I wanted. I also noticed that there were extra charges for paint sealant and nitrogen tires for $432. I asked the manager if I could leave those out when building the car. The manager hesitated for a moment and then told me that they apply those options to almost all of Kia cars, so I couldnt take those off, which seemed suspicious to me. Third, when I arranged a date to come pick up my car, my salesman could not be there, so he set me up with another salesman. He told me that all the paperwork was taken care of, and the car would be all shiny and ready to go when I show up. When I got to the dealership, I waited for 10 minutes before someone would show up for me to ask for the arranged salesman. They paged him, and I waited for another 30 minutes to find out that he was out test driving with another customer. He then asked me for the down payment receipt, although I was never informed to bring it, and the down payment was already recorded in one of the many papers that I had to sign. Thank goodness another salesman said it was fine that I didnt have it. Talk about poor communication! I was then taken to my car to go over the different features. I was disappointed to see that many plastic seals were still left all over the car despite the fact that I didnt come to pick up several days after the purchase. Finally, after going home and taking a closer look at all the charges, I noticed that there extra charges for a total of $615 for rear bumper applique, cargo mat, EC mirror (plug & play), and mud guards, all of which I was neither informed about when purchasing the car nor did I want. In addition, the tires werent filled with nitrogen, and the paint didnt appear to have the sealant coating that I was charged $432 for because they were not optional according to the manager. Overall, I was happy with the car itself and really enjoyed the different features that came with it. However, the service that I received at this dealership was nowhere near being pleasant. The manager was pushy and arrogant. There was poor communication among the team members. And I was charged for optional features without my knowledge. I would NOT recommend this dealership to anyone. But if you have to go here because of no other option, please look closely at all the charges and dont assume that the salesman will bring your attention to all the "minute details" like I did.

IG

Ignacio Alvarez

My wife and I recently decided it was time to purchase a new (well, almost new) minivan. Being fond of the Dodge Grand Caravan, that is where our search focused. We drive from Illinois to Mexico once a year and started looking at vehicles as far as Texas this past Spring. Unfortunately, nothing panned out, mostly based on personnel and failure to return calls. I’m naturally an untrusting person when it comes to car dealerships due to a bad past experience. My wife and I make at least monthly, if not more, visits to Wisconsin so we decided to look at vehicles in the Kenosha/Racine. After visiting several dealers along the way, we decided on Palmen Motors in Kenosha, WI. We purposely stopped by the lot on a Sunday so that we could freely check out vehicles, make our notes of vehicles we were interested in and then go from there. I called the dealership the following Monday and made an appointment to talk to a sales person. We made the drive back up to Wisconsin, walked into the dealership and was greeted by Dave Knudson. We asked questions, he provided answers, we test drove 2 vehicles and made up our mind. For us, the decision to purchase from Palmen was easy thanks to Dave. He walked us through the process and it was actually painless. We put a deposit down, left and made our financial arrangements. We did not receive any pesty phone calls asking when we were coming back – he had our deposit and our word that we were coming back, which we did 10 days later and off the lot we drove with a great vehicle. Dave was very easy to deal with and I can honestly say that if I ever need to purchase another car, we will be back. Thank you Dave for making the entire transaction very easy for us. Ignacio & Pam Alvarez

JO

Jonny Bravado

1 year experience: Leased a car from here and the following sales men were AMAZING: Mario Aiello, Joe Soto, and Nikko (manager i think) Also The service staff are amazing people! Not some of the porters though... I try to get a car wash 30-40 minutes before close (I work till 4:45 - 5pm) and they always have an excuse of why I need to come earlier etc... Also I dont like that they drive my car like its speed racer. Every time I get service done, its the same porter that drives MY car like a crazy person! However there is ONE porter that I really like, hes the only black kid (not trying to be racist or rude), Dont remember his name but he is the best! Treats my car great and recommended a great tattoo artist too! Every time I call the facility I am greeted by a really nice girl... I love her and her wonder personality. Now I also have been shopping for my 3rd car... I have looked into the other 2 buildings on site and good experiences, I went to the Fiat/Alfa building where I got great info and had an awesome experience with the guy there and they lady from the jeep building who came to help (I think she was a manager). I used to own a 2007 Dodge Durango (may she RIP) and these guys were great! The only MINOR Downsides of my 1 year experience are : *some employees drive my car too fast! *There are 2 sales guys in the KIA building NOTE: They are NOT mean or rude guys but they act like their too cool to work which is kind of a turn off for conversations. *never being able to really enjoy the car wash.