southside kia
Complaint 349804 Details

I bought a new car from Southside Kia and later found out it was crashed and smoked in. The car was a demo-vehicle with about 5000miles so all documents described the car as “new.” Taking a closer look at the car, I found cigarette burns on the leather and multiple paint scuffs and scratches. Our salesman assured us the car was never smoked.

The next day, my mother drove the car to church but and was nauseous from the smell of cigarettes. After being in the sun for a while, the car wreaked of cigarettes.

I called the dealership’s general manager to complain, and he said to me, “now that you’ve bought it, you’re gonna eat it.” Our salesman agreed to fix all the problems, so I dropped off the car for about a week at the dealership for odor removal and repairs. I picked the car up to find it still smelled like cigarettes and now, the horn would not work. I dropped off the car again for a few days and later picked up the car to find nothing was fixed. Again, I dropped off the car at the dealership for repairs which took well over a week. While driving, I found the front of the car was shaking badly. I pulled over to see why and found that the front bumper was cracked and almost falling off.

I dropped off the car again. Two weeks without a call so I stopped by the dealership to see what was going on. I was cursed at by the general manger in front of other customers, and he screamed he wouldn’t release the car for another 6 months. I walked over to the service department to speak with the technician working on the car. The general manager walked up to us, took the technician to the side, and told him not to work on the car right away.

I picked the car up the following week and asked for an itemized list of parts used in the repairs. On the print out, some of their internal notes were accidently added stating the car was previously wrecked.

**********************************

2.29.16 CAR IS HERE. WAS
JOEL\’S DEMO THAT WAS WRECK
THEN SOLD TO THE CUSTOMER. CAR
IS GETTING REPAIRED CUSTOMER
IS HIGHLY UPSET WITH SALES.

***********************************

The dealership knew this car was wrecked but still sold it to me as new. I contacted the DMV and they said there was nothing they could do since the dealership never reported the wreck. The DMV recommended that I write directly to you. Kia cars are high-quality, affordable cars that are probably the best bang for your buck, but this dealership severely ruining the brand. Who knows how they’ve been doing business like this.

Thank you for your time.