After listening to the endless ads that West Palm Beach KIA uses on the radio, my wife and I decided to give them a try as we had, several years ago, some credit issues. Their ad on the radio boasts, "If you make $350.00 a week at your job your credit is approved, GUARANTEED!"
I was also not real trusting of car dealerships, as I have had some unpleasant experiences in the past, so I thought I would play it safe and call first before wasting my time going there. I called and spoke with the FIANANCE MANAGER who after explaining to him my past credit situation said, "No problem, come on in and we will get you financed."
So I gathered every possible document I thought they might need and my wife and I went to the dealership. First impression was not good. Their reception "lobby" looked more like a sweatshop with dozens of tables and salespeople bumping into one another. Not exactly what I would call a relaxing atmosphere.
We did get hooked up however, with a pleasant salesperson who was patient in showing us the different models they had on the lot. One thing I did catch is that the "serial number" of the advertised special on the radio did not exist. Apparently they had one in stock and it "sold real quick." The rest of the deals don't apply to their current stock which was minimal at best.
My wife and I did find a vehicle that we liked, a bit more expensive then we planned on, but we figured we were told we could get financed and we had a paid off trade-in worth well over the $9000.00 the dealer was advertising as a guaranteed minimum trade offer so we figured why not!?
Once inside the "lobby" we gave the salesperson all of our information, provided all of our documents and were ready to submit, when the FINANCE MANAGER whom I spoke with on the phone stopped by to "congratulate" us on our new car and he was going to get "our keys."
At the end of the hour long application process, I told the salesperson of our past credit issue and all of a sudden he got this strange look on his face and told us under the circumstances they may not be able to finance us. Obviously this was a HUGE surprise to us after speaking with the FINANCE MANAGER on the phone, explaining the situation to him and getting the "come on in" invite, I did not see what the problem would be.
As the advertisment states constantly on the radio, "If you make $350.00 a week at your job your credit is approved, GUARANTEED." Both my wife and I work full time making $85,000.00 a year which I am sure is much more that the majority of their walk-in customers make.
So the paperwork was submitted to their fianance department and sure enough, WE WERE NOT APPROVED! They also could not, to our satisfaction, expain why. Needless to say we were very upset at the untruthfullness and deception of this dealership, we gathered up our paperwork and left after wasting our time for over two hours.
I have no problem with the KIA vehicle as a whole, other than not being built in the U.S. A, but the deception, untruthfullness and overall sweatshop atmosphere of WEST PALM BEACH KIA dealership will assure that we will never, ever, consider a KIA from any dealership especially WEST PALM BEACH KIA. Buyer beware!
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