Disappointing service experience and questionable - Patrick.Christie
Disappointing service experience and questionable trade-in practices at Port City Kia
I purchased a used 2016 Kia Soul EV elsewhere and brought it to Port City Kia for service when the vehicle stopped accepting a charge. Initially, the service department turned me away and claimed there was no issue. It was only after I brought in video evidence proving my home charger worked on other vehicles—just not mine—that they agreed to re-evaluate it. They then suggested potential battery or component failures, leaving me with high repair estimates and little confidence in the vehicle's reliability.
Feeling pressured and out of options, I decided to look into trading the vehicle in. Port City Kia offered me a mere $300 for the Kia Soul EV, claiming nobody knew what was wrong with it and that it was essentially worthless. With limited inventory available on their lot, I felt forced into taking a poor deal on a replacement vehicle just to resolve the situation.
I later learned that Port City Kia turned around, repaired the exact same Kia Soul EV, and sold it for a tidy profit.
Taking advantage of a customer's difficult service situation, drastically undervaluing a trade-in based on an "undiagnosable" fault, and then promptly repairing and reselling that vehicle for profit shows a severe lack of transparency and integrity. I strongly advise prospective buyers and service customers to exercise extreme caution when dealing with Port City Kia.
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