To begin with, they have the world's most annoying AI answering system. I called because I was…read moreinterested in a Kia Niro EV and wanted the out-the-door numbers before driving an hour and a half to see it. I was told a sales representative would call me back with those numbers. When she called, she had an attitude from the beginning and didn't even introduce herself, so I had no idea who I was speaking with. I asked for a sales representative, which seemed to upset her, and she eventually told me she was the sales manager. I still never got her name. Nevertheless, I wanted the car. It was basically perfect for what I was looking for, so I asked for the OTD price. She gave me a number somewhere around $16,000-$17,000 for a vehicle listed around $12,500 and said the final number could go up or down depending on the tax rate. In my experience, the tax rate doesn't fluctuate enough to explain several thousand dollars on a car at this price, so naturally I asked for the breakdown showing the selling price, taxes, registration, dealer fees, add-ons, etc.
I asked her to send me the breakdown before I drove an hour and a half to the dealership. She refused. When I asked why, her response was essentially, "because I don't want to." She then told me I could "get a piece of paper and write it down." If she had actually been providing a complete itemized breakdown over the phone, fine, but she wasn't. She was throwing out a total thousands above the advertised price while refusing to provide anything in writing showing how she arrived at it. At that point, I asked to speak with someone else. She clearly didn't like that, and her attitude continued to get worse. Eventually, I asked for a manager and she again told me she was the manager. I clarified that I wanted whoever was above her, and she told me there wasn't anyone and that she was the general sales manager, or something along those lines. So I asked if I could speak with someone below her because, at that point, they had to be able to handle the situation better than she was. She refused to let me speak with anyone else, so I ended the call.
The most frustrating part is I was already sold on the car. I had waited hours for the callback because this Niro EV was exactly what I was looking for. I wasn't calling to waste anyone's time or haggle over every dollar. Assuming the vehicle passed my pre-purchase inspection and the numbers checked out, I was prepared to make the drive and buy it. Instead, a deal that was basically already closed was ruined because a rude sales manager couldn't recognize that she wasn't the right representative to close it and simply pass me to someone else. Asking for an itemized OTD price before making a three hour round trip especially when a car listed around $12,500 suddenly becomes $16,000-$17,000 is completely reasonable. A written breakdown and a professional conversation probably would have resulted in a sale.