Kia Reviews

I call. They said of it was for a flat bed fee. I would have to call the towing company. I said it on my Kia account that’s not a flat bed fee. I paid all fee needed to pay in July. What is this charge for - no one know nor can find the real reason. Called towing company. Spoke to owner. He stated they bill Kia for nothing another what was due at the time - my account was paid in full and closed with them in July!!! Kia trying to get extra money from me and I’m not gonna back down until this is resolved. Then after days and hours on the phone I then speak to about 10 agents so far because they keep transfer my call. One agent say my October bill was not paid. THAT'S A LIE!! And this needs to be escalated at this point!! 4 month later they say it’s a repo fee!??!! Absolutely not!! Then they say a late fee!!

Spoke to several agent. They saying the $269 was for a flat bed fee. After my account was paid to 0. But after my own investigation come to find out the towing company never sent another invoice for a flat bed fee!!!!! Then they charge me a late fee because I am not paying $269. I need this handle IMMEDIATELY OR I WILL FURTHER PURSUE WITH THE COURTS.

I went to pick it up… and it cut off while pulling out of the parking lot. I left it in the road and let them know. They later called and said it needed a new fuel pump, which they replaced under warranty. After that, it ran fine. Fast forward to today — I leave work, crank it up, start to back out… and it cuts off again. At this point, I’m livid. I’m supposed to go out of town Monday, so I called Kia Customer Affairs. No loaner vehicles. No real concern. No urgency about a vehicle with only 40,000 miles going back to the shop for the third time. I’ve been loyal for years, but this experience has completely changed how I feel. 10/10 do not recommend.

Now I’m being told I was denied, because I don't meet company policy, I have never missed a payment or ever late, but no one can explain the policy or why I was told I was approved in the first place. Every call goes to the Philippines, and I can’t reach anyone in the U.S. for real help. I’ve been placed on hold, hung up on, and given conflicting information every time. Because of their mistakes, I’m now showing two months past due, even though I followed every instruction they gave me. This situation has put me in a worse financial position, and Kia Finance has offered zero accountability. This has been extremely stressful and unprofessional. I expected better from a major finance company.

I was also charged $256 for a diagnostic that only confirmed what I feared, with zero effort to help me find a realistic path forward. No goodwill. No flexibility. No concern for the fact that this is a massive financial hit to a customer who has trusted the brand for nearly a decade. What makes this worse is the attitude. The responses I received were cold, dismissive, and completely policy-driven, with no human element whatsoever. Kia Canada was equally rude and unhelpful. It felt like once the problem became expensive, loyalty meant absolutely nothing.

A company shows its true values when something goes wrong. In this case, there was no ownership, no accountability, and no attempt to stand behind their product or support a long-term customer. Just a refusal to help and a demand to pay. This experience has been exhausting, stressful, and deeply frustrating. I trusted Kia. I maintained loyalty. And when I needed support the most, I got indifference. If you’re considering Kia, ask yourself how you want to be treated when something major fails. Because based on my experience, and others' experience on this chain, loyalty counts for nothing once the repair is costly.

This is, without question, the worst customer service experience I have ever encountered. Due to this experience, I will not consider purchasing another Kia vehicle in the future. I expect better communication, professionalism, and care from a company of this size and reputation. I am requesting that this matter be reviewed promptly and that someone contact me to address the unresolved issues and charges.

I picked up my car and the battery was dead. They did something to it. Not too long after that the engine fails and I take it to another KIA location with my own recourses to verify the motor failed because of this motor recall and this new place claims the motor failed because someone unplugged something. Either the other KIA place left something unplugged when they check it (explains why my car’s battery is dead when I go pick it up and continues to die and have mechanical issues) or this new place lied because they find any excuse to not replace their faulty cars they sell. Of course I have to pay for a new motor.

It doesn’t help I have to travel so far for so many recalls that don’t even get fixed. I’m surprised they are allowed to get away with such dishonesty. I will post the location's name that I think messed up my vehicle on purpose. I would never conduct business with any KIA location or purchase their products. It’s unethical and theft! They have no sympathy or shame!

Consumer Affairs did not help when asked for a goodwill request, not even a discount so they pretty much will leave you stranded if not in warranty. The brand is just not reliable and they know it. The only good thing about the car was MPG but that ultimately came with a cost, expensive repairs that your local mechanic won't really have the expertise for. Go with a more reliable brand.

Looking back on everything I went through, I can’t stop thinking about the people who don’t have a second car, or family who can lend them one, or the confidence to challenge a dealership. What would have happened to them? After living through this experience, I’m honestly scared to imagine it. This is the story of how my Kia went from a trusted vehicle to a source of stress, confusion, negotiation, and financial strain, at nearly every step of the process.

The First Signs Something Was Wrong. It started quietly this past summer during a routine oil change. The technician told me my vehicle was low on oil and said many Kia models from recent years are known to burn oil, sometimes at alarming rates. This was the first time I had ever heard this, and it stuck with me. On August 29, while my wife had her Kia in for service at Eastside Kia, I brought up the oil consumption concern. Instead of taking the issue seriously or booking me for diagnostic work, the service advisor brushed it off. She said my oil was “too thin,” warned me against synthetic oil, and told me to use thicker oil next time. Then came the instructions that made me pause: buy fuel treatment from Canadian Tire, “hit the gas” to burn off carbon, and expect to lose up to two litres of oil between changes. I left confused. Was this normal? Shouldn’t a brand-new engine not be burning that much oil?

When I returned for an oil change on September 12, asking for thicker oil as directed, the technician contradicted everything I’d been told. He recommended synthetic oil and hinted the dealership might be avoiding addressing a more serious underlying problem, like faulty piston rings, something he’d seen in many Kia models of similar years. He encouraged me to contact Kia Canada. So I did. My wife and I bought both of our Kias brand new. We take care of them. This was the first time we had ever asked for help, and what we got was mixed messages, conflicting guidance, and a growing sense that nobody wanted to look deeper.

The Manager Who Never Called Back. On September 19, a man claiming to be the service manager at Eastside Kia called to say he had received my concern from Kia Canada. He promised to check dates and call me back "right away." He never did. It was the first of many times where Kia promised support and delivered silence.

We barely made it to Kananaskis Lodge, and thank God we were that close. Most of the area leading up to the Larches has no cell phone coverage. If it had happened 10 minutes earlier, we would’ve been stranded in the mountains with no ability to call for help.

Roadside Assistance arranged a tow to Northland Kia. I called ahead to see if they had a courtesy vehicle, something I thought my extended warranty was supposed to help with. The answer was no. They didn’t have any courtesy vehicles. But I was told Kia had “great rates” through Enterprise. I asked whether the extended warranty covered rentals, diagnostics, or anything else. Every answer I got was vague. Almost everything seemed to come with a quiet “that’s up to extended warranty” or “you’ll have to pay first.” The diagnostic fee alone, $165, was entirely out of pocket. Again, I felt like I had no choice. I needed to know what was wrong with my car.

The Shocking $3,700 Estimate. Over the weekend, my wife and I stopped by to grab a few things from my Sportage. I learned the diagnostic was already done. They printed me the estimate. It totalled over $3,700. I stared at it in disbelief. Nearly everything on the sheet had nothing to do with what caused my breakdown. Some examples: Replacing all four injectors: $1,536.62. Rear differential carrier bushing: $942.91. Major fuel service: $329.95. Brake replacement: $1,465. Daytime running lights and sockets: $107.

The service rep saw my expression and casually said, “Yeah, it’s a lot.” My wife and I sat in the car afterward in disbelief. We asked each other what we always assumed was obvious: “Isn’t this what the extended warranty is for? Why are we being told to pay all this?” We decided to slow down before making a huge financial decision. That decision probably saved us thousands. Because the truth was: none of that $3,700 actually fixed the problem.

The Endless Negotiations: $3,700 → $1,890 → $911 → $701. Every step from there was a negotiation, something I never expected from a brand-new vehicle’s warranty process. Initially, the extended warranty approved only one injector and the differential bushing, totalling just over $544 + $609. But the dealership insisted I should still replace all four injectors “while we were in there,” and then added other recommended services. My “out-of-pocket minimum” became $1,890. When I pushed back, questioning why I needed to replace parts that weren’t faulty, the number dropped again to $911. Then later, after more back-and-forth and managerial involvement, the final number became $701.36.

This entire process made me feel like I was in a used-car lot, not a warranty repair shop. Why was I negotiating my way down from $3,700 to $700? What would have happened to a customer who didn’t know to push back, or who trusted the first answer? I already knew the answer: They would have paid thousands, and their vehicle still wouldn’t have been fixed.

Five Weeks of Delays, Repeated Requests, and Unanswered Questions. From mid-October to late November, the situation dragged on. It felt like every time I asked for an update, I was told someone was: waiting on parts, waiting on authorization, waiting on an adjuster, waiting on photos, waiting on additional teardown, waiting on service records.

At one point, I was told that extra teardown photos were needed, and that I had to pay for it. Another $170. Once again, I was cornered between “no choice” and “more delays.” The technician later advised that everything looked good in the photos, which raised another question: why was I paying to prove something wasn’t even wrong? I spent days chasing down old service records from an oil shop that had closed. I supplied everything I had, but still kept hearing that the extended warranty company was “missing information.” Meanwhile, my vehicle sat. And sat. And sat. I was up to three, four, five weeks without a vehicle.

The Rental Car Runaround. The rental situation was even worse. Northland Kia insisted I needed to arrange my own rental. The extended warranty company said the dealership should arrange it. The dealership said extended warranty wouldn’t cover the full cost. The extended warranty company told me the dealership gets reimbursed anyway. One line from the warranty rep still stands out: “So they haven’t had a courtesy car returned in five weeks? Come on.” I was approved for only $283.50, which Kia translated into six days of rental coverage, even though they had already told me parts were 7–10 business days away, before installation even began. I eventually found a 17-day deal on my own for $395. More money out of pocket, but I needed to function. A family without savings simply wouldn’t have been able to.

Finally—A New Engine. In late November, I received the message I had been waiting for: The new engine had arrived. It took several more days for installation, but on December 2, the repairs were finally complete. I returned the rental car on December 3, paid the overage myself, and picked up my Sportage. The dealership simply handed me the keys and said “thank you.” Fifty-five days after the breakdown, I finally had a vehicle again. Two months of disruption. Two months of stress. Two months of negotiation. Two months of feeling like the burden was on me to push the process forward.

What This Experience Taught Me. I share this story not just because of what happened to me, but because of what this showed me about Kia’s systems, communication, and customer protections. I’m a first responder. I understand processes, stress, pressure, and communication breakdowns. I also understand how institutions sometimes fail people who don’t know how to push back. And I can say with absolute certainty: If someone with limited knowledge, limited transportation, or limited financial flexibility had gone through this, they would have been devastated. They might have: paid $3,700 for repairs unrelated to the engine failure, lost their only vehicle for months. Missed work, fallen into debt, accepted misinformation because they didn’t know it was wrong, walked away without a vehicle that worked. That reality is what keeps me writing this.

A System That Needs Change. After living this experience, I believe Kia needs to take a hard look at: how dealerships communicate, how extended warranties are managed, how vulnerable customers are protected, why estimates swing wildly depending on whether someone questions them, why customers go weeks or months without transportation, why so many of Kia’s known engine issues are pushed aside instead of acknowledged. My story shouldn’t have happened. And it certainly shouldn’t happen to someone else.

We paid $36,000 when we bought the car brand new the year before. I complained to KIA that the vehicle design was defective if so much damage could be caused by a minor collision. I asked for some kind of reimbursement for the repairs but they refused. If I had submitted a claim to my insurance company they probably would have canceled the insurance after they paid out because of the insane high cost of repairing this vehicle. Had we known how fragile this car is we would never had bought it. For $17000 we could have bought a decent used car! Since Kia refused to protect the consumer in this case. I wanted to warn people not to make the same mistake as we did in buying this car.

Timeline of Issues. 1. March 28–April 27, 2022 – Service Negligence Creating a Safety Hazard. After a routine service appointment (oil change and sunroof motor replacement), the dealership failed to reattach a critical clip securing the front passenger wheel well liner. On April 14, the liner detached while I was driving with my daughter in the car, lodging between the tire and axle and triggering the ABS light. This was a direct safety hazard caused by negligence. Despite numerous messages left with the dealership, no one called me back until I escalated the matter to Kia Corporate on April 18. The vehicle was eventually towed and repaired by April 27, yet I was denied a loaner vehicle and left without transportation to get to work and home.

• Loud exhaust/catalytic converter noise (warranty repair)

These failures — combined with delayed repairs, lack of transparency, and no loaner availability — significantly impacted my daily life and eroded confidence in the vehicle’s long-term reliability or even Kia's care for consumers.

3. January–May 2025 – Engine Failure, Warranty Issues & Misleading Communication. In early 2025, I received a letter from Kia regarding a potential engine warranty extension due to a coolant leak. Soon after, I began experiencing coolant smell and burning oil. Rick Case Kia (Duluth, GA) confirmed a faulty head gasket on February 17, 2025.

While the engine replacement was covered under warranty, I was told I must pay $1,700 out-of-pocket for a radiator and hoses — or lose warranty coverage on the new engine. This is unreasonable given that Kia had already acknowledged the defect and the oil that mixed with the coolant in radiator was due to the head gasket failure.

Important details: I clearly told Service Manager Joshua ** and Service Advisor Wesley ** that I did not have $1,700 for repairs caused by a known defect. I was told Kia “approved everything.” Communication then ceased for weeks. On April 16, Wesley stated again that Kia “approved everything” and that there was nothing else I needed to worry about. Suddenly, on May 1st, I was told I now owed $1,000 — without any written breakdown of parts or labor. I later discovered that my invoice stated repairs would be completed at no charge under goodwill authorization, yet I still paid $595 out of pocket. This was a nearly three-month ordeal (February–May), during which I was without a vehicle and received inconsistent, misleading communication from dealership staff. I did not receive a loaner until March 11, with a return date of March 24 — despite Kia holding my car for weeks with no update.

4. November 2025 – New Transmission Issue & Lack of Proper Diagnosis. In November, I began experiencing a hard “jump” on acceleration. Kia Mall of Georgia diagnosed the car as needing a transmission replacement — after driving one mile and checking for codes in which none were found. No thorough diagnostic procedures were performed, but I was told by advisor Junior that tech came to conclusion that transmission needed to be replaced, when I specifically requested:

• Printout of ALL current, pending, and historic codes.

During this review, I discovered that the vehicle had a prior transmission issue on May 18, 2018 (Issue SA337/8 YG Transmission Gear Shift – Dealer Code GA073). This was not disclosed on the CARFAX I received when purchasing the vehicle in July of 2020 nor is it disclosed on the CARFAX app that I regularly check because I'm obsessed with cars and car information. This omission is deceptive and will also be escalated to the appropriate consumer authorities. As of now I'm left with a harsh decision to make between paying $5,000 for a new transmission or disappointing my kids for Christmas, in which my kids will be here until I die while this kia has already showed me it's not here for the long run without costing me a bunch of money.

Consumer Expectations & Requested Resolution. I purchased this vehicle based on Kia’s reputation for safety and reliability. My experience has been the exact opposite. After years of mechanical failures, safety incidents, warranty confusion, and poor dealer support, my trust in Kia has been severely damaged. I was previously planning to purchase a Kia Telluride, but that decision is now on hold pending Kia’s resolution of this matter.

At this point, I am requesting the following:

1. Full coverage — by Kia — of all repairs related to the head gasket failure, radiator, and hoses, with reimbursement of the $595 I paid out of pocket despite “no charge” being documented.

2. Immediate provision of a loaner vehicle for the full duration of all pending repairs, including transmission evaluation or replacement.

• Steps Kia will take to prevent this from happening to other customers

I have documented all incidents with photos, videos, and written communication. If needed, I am fully prepared to escalate this matter to state and federal consumer protection agencies, pursue arbitration where applicable, and share my experience publicly. I am requesting a prompt response and a resolution that reflects Kia’s stated commitment to safety, transparency, and customer satisfaction. Sincerely, Kevin ** 2017 Kia Cadenza SXL VIN: **

After all of that, my car was recently stolen successfully, and now I’m forced to deal with insurance, rental costs, and gaps in coverage — all because Kia sold me a vehicle that criminals specifically target due to poor manufacturing and lack of basic anti-theft features. Even worse, these issues are happening after the class-action settlement deadline, meaning people like me are left with NO help, no compensation, and no accountability from Kia.

I live alone. I work hard. I should not have to constantly fear that my car will be stolen again or that my insurance company will drop me just because Kia refuses to take responsibility for the vehicles they made. Kia has failed me at every step — in safety, in quality, and in support for victims of these ongoing thefts. I need Kia to take responsibility and provide a real resolution for owners who are still suffering long after the settlement. This is unacceptable and unfair, and I refuse to stay silent about it.

• And most recently, my car was successfully stolen, adding even more trauma, expenses, and instability to my life.

What makes this even worse is Kia’s response. When I reached out for help, hoping they would take accountability, I was basically told to “handle it with my insurance.” That felt like a slap in the face. Why should my insurance company — or my future premiums — be punished because Kia released cars that are so poorly designed they became nationwide targets? I’m only 23. I should not have to jeopardize my relationship with my insurance company or face long-term financial consequences because of a defect Kia created and continues to downplay. I have tried to do everything the right way. I bought my car brand new. I followed their recalls. I maintained it. And yet I am the one left paying the emotional and financial price while Kia avoids real accountability.

At this point, I just want someone at Kia to finally acknowledge the hardship their negligence has caused and provide a meaningful resolution — not dismissive instructions to “call your insurance.” Kia, do better. Your customers deserve better. Buying my Kia BRAND NEW was supposed to give me peace of mind. Instead, it has brought me nothing but fear, financial pressure, and constant stress. I haven’t even touched base about the poor customer service at Kia America…

I live 2 1/2 hours away. The reason I'm told for the delay, as a warranty paid customer of $4181.00, I am not a priority, and that it is tire season, so do not buy a car or a warranty from Kia. I have never dealt with such poor customer service ever in my 50 years of driving and owning vehicles. This is my first Kia and it will be my last. I'm actually planning a trade in after the new year, as I'm fed up with this company. I had also spoke with Corporate and was told they would follow up and get back to me. Well that was a lie. No one followed up.

The service manager is and was very rude not wanting to try to at least do a diagnostic as he had verbal diarrhea as to the priority of tire season has on someone that lives remote, and older woman who has medical appointments in Thunder Bay with no way to get there, and has paid $4181.00 for a warranty that I am having issues getting the service and repairs. Kia fails totally on all aspects of customer service, and the warranty. 3 WEEKS I HAVE WAITED. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.