Kia Dealers Questions & Answers

This will not help you with your question, but my grand-daughter had a paint problem with her Kia Rio that she purchased new. She had bird dropping on the bonnet while at the beach and when she got home washed it off but it was too late because it had already eaten through the surface of the paint. When she complained to Kia, she was advised that she had voided her warranty because she did not have Paint Protection applied when she purchased the car new ( even when this was not explained to her on the purchase date ) Try Kia Australia. Good luck. Kia are known for inferior paint, especially on their Yellow and Blue Stingers.

Yes it’s just clicked over a year I ordered beginning of May last year. Have you received your car yet?

No. I'm told that the car will be ready for me by 27th May. 14 months after my order!

Oh gosh, that means mine is a few months off. I hope you get it on 27th!

Appalling

Thankfully this hasn't happened to me first hand but I have heard the warranties are very strict. A friend told me that her oil was sludgy and that she was told that voided the warranty as if you were getting regular services that wouldn't happen. Tricky situation, I hope it all works out for you!

Thanks for the reply. I'm just so afraid of being ripped off :)

Hi Anne ,Sorry to hear about your engine issue. The car warranty terms are very strict with the service history and that's the first thing they check when you have a major issue like yours. If your service history is not kept up to date they won't honor their warranty terms. You can try the wreckers to check if they have a replacement engine or you can get it rebuilt done from any other place. The dealers are lot more expensive in terms or parts and labour . You can get couple of quotes from different workshops to choose the right ones.

Thanks Alex

Hi Anne-Maree, I have a kia optima 2012 model that's never skipped a beat, until 2 weeks ago when the engine seized. There is currently a class action lawsuit in the US in relation to defects in the engines of Optima and Sorento vehicles. They have refused my warranty as I too went over on the servicing. The ACCC is investigating car makers and new cars next year. Kia need to recall all optimas as when the engine goes, and you are doing over 100km you have no control over the vehicle and consumer safety is jeapardised. I accept that they are able to void a warranty but I don't accept them knowingly selling cars with such a major defect. All symptoms are the same, dirty or oil thats sludgy. The defect restricts the flow of oil to the engine, and then it seizes. I will never ever buy another Kia or Hyundai, who own Kia now.How did you go with the Sorento?

Hi Louise, We ended up having to spend $10000 and this was a reduced amount after my father got involved and negotiated with the dealer. They originally quoted $3500 in an email in writing and then said no it's $12000 - full engine rebuild. After that was done the electrics (that we'd mentioned at the first service) still weren't right and they said they were waiting on a wiring harness for the car and this was going to take another 8 weeks from the time they ordered it. If they had have looked into things properly they could have sorted this out. Needless to say we were without our car for 31 weeks in total. After the engine was rebuilt and like I said the Electrics weren't the dealership were happy for us to collect the car even though the airbags weren't activated which apparently is illegal. To quote them "You can come and get your car but whether you choose to drive it or not is up to you" Seriously?? This is when Kia Australia only got involved otherwise they just put it back on the dealer as they said it was a franchise. I've also been contacted via FB from people on the East Coast with Similar issues with Kia. They seriously have no customer service whatsoever. Even sent a generic email to us asking "Tell us about your Experience" when we finally got our car back. We filled in the survey including the details of the phone call I copped from the Dealer Principals wife abusing and threatening me. Absolutely no response from Kia. Clearly just a matter of them doing their KPI's as no follow up at all. I would never recommend them ever. They're great when selling you a car but after that watch out. The only good thing to come of it is that we have had at least 5 sets of friends recently buy cars and completely steered clear of Kia's just because of our experience. We would love to have taken it further but the threats to destroy us from the DP Wife just weren't worth it. It would be great to bring it to the attention of A Current Affair or similar. They love this sort of stuff. Hope your's gets sorted out soon.Good Luck!

TBH i think you could dispute the whole issue of it being 2 months over the service period as they cannot prove or disprove that the car was still being driven. I was going interstate for a few months and my car was due 31/12 and i never took it until Mid Feb after asking them whether that was going to be a warranty issue and they assured me it would be fine. I'd be asking them for this info in writing and whether it makes a difference of KM's over or months over the service period.

Sorry Tom, I'm in Brisbane.

Good Luck! Kia Completely Suck! Especially when it comes to Warranty. Never ever buy another one.

I won't either

On our 2012 Rio the brakes are fine, no squeal, though a set of Bendix disc pads would be a better choice then the original pads, though I am not sure how long the disc's wil last, I am very easy on brakes, I get at least 90,000kms from a set on any vehicle I have had, hope this helps you, though on our Rio the air conditioner unit is noisy and the injectors tick loudly.

No knowledge of the Kia Rio brakes but the Sorento brakes were very quite and wore well.