For the folks who have ‘started (or completed!) the buyback process’…
How do you start that?
My 2016 Soul EV has been at the dealer for 3 months now, was originally in for a covered under warranty EV battery replacement (SOH was under 60%) and now the new battery has been ordered and installed under warranty, and the car will not start.
They have had it since December, and they cannot fix it.
I opened a case with corporate, and they haven’t given me any substantive updates or estimates on the timeline to fix. They keep saying that the service department at the dealer is still working through the ‘tech line’ on possible fixes.
The next step on the service side is apparently to involve/call for a field service rep/engineer who is presumably a high level technician. They have not yet done this, or given me word that they will. They did say it can take weeks to get one out to a particular dealer, depending on where they are in the country. They haven’t even started this process.
They also stated that they could not authorize a loaner until the repair was verified to be under warranty.
This left me very confused and frustrated.
The original repair (EV Battery replacement) clearly is/was under warranty.
However, since they can’t start the car, (and don’t know why it won’t start), they claim to be back to the diagnostic phase, and will not authorize a loaner until they have a new repair authorized, and it’s confirmed to be covered by warranty. I can’t see how it couldn’t be, since the dealer caused the problem. The car obviously ran when I took it there, since I drove it there. They broke it.
The dealer has offered nothing but excuses and a shrug.
Kia corporate hasn’t offered me a buyback offer, (even an insultingly low one), a loaner, money for a rental, or any other compensation. The possible exception is that they mentioned on the phone (but not in writing) that they would offer the amount of a monthly payment, per month, in payments for the number of months that the vehicle has been in the shop. (I own the vehicle outright, but was told that if I provided a sales receipt, they would offer me the monthly payment amount, for each month even though it’s paid off.)
But they won’t offer the payments to me yet since they don’t know the total amount of time the car will remain in the shop. They claim that they don’t want to offer me two months of payments, but the car is there for, as an example, 5 months. This seems to me like an attempt to pacify me with an explanation, and to avoid compensation. I’m also unclear if accepting this offer (should it ever actually materialize) would affect my ability to be compensated in any other manner, or to be offered/to accept a buyback.
For those who have had success:
How do I correctly and efficiently escalate this further, and/or start the buyback process?
Further, has there been any traction on any legal recourse for folks who have had similar ordeals with these batteries and systems, and long delays without vehicles?
Thanks, and good luck to us all!
How do you start that?
My 2016 Soul EV has been at the dealer for 3 months now, was originally in for a covered under warranty EV battery replacement (SOH was under 60%) and now the new battery has been ordered and installed under warranty, and the car will not start.
They have had it since December, and they cannot fix it.
I opened a case with corporate, and they haven’t given me any substantive updates or estimates on the timeline to fix. They keep saying that the service department at the dealer is still working through the ‘tech line’ on possible fixes.
The next step on the service side is apparently to involve/call for a field service rep/engineer who is presumably a high level technician. They have not yet done this, or given me word that they will. They did say it can take weeks to get one out to a particular dealer, depending on where they are in the country. They haven’t even started this process.
They also stated that they could not authorize a loaner until the repair was verified to be under warranty.
This left me very confused and frustrated.
The original repair (EV Battery replacement) clearly is/was under warranty.
However, since they can’t start the car, (and don’t know why it won’t start), they claim to be back to the diagnostic phase, and will not authorize a loaner until they have a new repair authorized, and it’s confirmed to be covered by warranty. I can’t see how it couldn’t be, since the dealer caused the problem. The car obviously ran when I took it there, since I drove it there. They broke it.
The dealer has offered nothing but excuses and a shrug.
Kia corporate hasn’t offered me a buyback offer, (even an insultingly low one), a loaner, money for a rental, or any other compensation. The possible exception is that they mentioned on the phone (but not in writing) that they would offer the amount of a monthly payment, per month, in payments for the number of months that the vehicle has been in the shop. (I own the vehicle outright, but was told that if I provided a sales receipt, they would offer me the monthly payment amount, for each month even though it’s paid off.)
But they won’t offer the payments to me yet since they don’t know the total amount of time the car will remain in the shop. They claim that they don’t want to offer me two months of payments, but the car is there for, as an example, 5 months. This seems to me like an attempt to pacify me with an explanation, and to avoid compensation. I’m also unclear if accepting this offer (should it ever actually materialize) would affect my ability to be compensated in any other manner, or to be offered/to accept a buyback.
For those who have had success:
How do I correctly and efficiently escalate this further, and/or start the buyback process?
Further, has there been any traction on any legal recourse for folks who have had similar ordeals with these batteries and systems, and long delays without vehicles?
Thanks, and good luck to us all!
