SoCal Dealers and Selling over MSRP

[erikdg]

Unbelievable that some of the dealers are trying to sell the vehicle for $2500-$2799 above MSRP.

I got to drive the Soul EV tonight and I enjoyed it. I'm going back tomorrow and learn more and drive more and then we'll see.

Manny Sandoval said that they would honor national lease prices however. So that's good. Let's use the forum to list dealers willing to work with consumers and have a win-win situation.

Kia of Cerritos
18201 Studebaker Road
Cerritos, CA 90703
Direct Line: 562-468-4259
Cell: 310-901-5135
[email protected]

 

[loristein]

What is the published lease price for the Soul EV with the leather trim seat package?

And if anyone knows other dealers honoring these prices, please post them.

I'm off to test drive one in Sherman Oaks this week.

 

[Theedon]

I got Kia of Irvine close to the lease. They did want $2,600 down and after all was done with taxes, license, their theft alarm and lease insurance I have a lease payment of $302. If you can wait I bet you can get closer to the $1,995 down on the base model.

 

[yamaneko]

without the tax and alarm, etc. then how much was it? 249 as advertised? or more?

 

[bakedpatato]

I got Kia of Irvine close to the lease. They did want $2,600 down and after all was done with taxes, license, their theft alarm and lease insurance I have a lease payment of $302. If you can wait I bet you can get closer to the $1,995 down on the base model.

I guess the question is if they asked for more than $1750 in capital cost reduction(1995-245 for first month) because the lease details say "does not include $800 destination fee, taxes,title, licence fee"

although if they did want more than $1750 I'm not surprised given how they run shady newspaper ads and I've had a poor experience with them a year ago...

 

[Tomlamb]

Did NOT charge over MSRP at the Kia of downtown Los Angeles. Ask for the Internet Manager Adam.

 

[ev2b]

Kia of Garden Grove wants 2000 over msrp and did not honor national lease deal of 249/mo. Strange that they would do that since Garden Grove has high population of Koreans and you would think that Kia has the easiest time to market Koreans.

 

[erikdg]

Anyone who is trying to sell over MSRP is not going to close any deals. I ended up purchasing mine at Irvine Kia from Mike Shriner - The Internet manager. He got us in and out of there fairly quickly and I was very happy with the service he provided. Educate yourself and know your numbers before you go in. My understanding is that KIA Dealers are independently owned and operated but that they must honor "National Leases".

 

[Avitt]

That's funny....

Because on Oct 6th, the day the first Soul EV arrived at Irvine, they sent me this text:

" This is [redacted] at Kia of Irvine -- we finally have our very first EV soul on the lot -- It has already been leased. But for the next hour -- if you live close you can come by and drive it!! Two hours ago it was announced that we had 4 blue and 1 white EV Souls coming in within 7 days. Three have already sold. At Kia of Irvine they will be leasing -- with $3000 down on approved credit --for $375 a month not including tax. They are loaded -- except they don't have leather. Most dealers in the area will be charging between $5000 and $6000 extra for the vehicles above window sticker. We are proud to say that we are only going to be charging $2000 over the window sticker."

...That was enough to turn me off to Kia of Irvine (although I did stop in later for a test drive, simply because they're close to my house).

Anyway, I now have a deposit on a Plus at Cerritos, where the first 4 Titanium Gray models are expected in about a week.

 

[TomT]

I've never paid over MSRP for ANY vehicle and I certainly wouldn't start with the Soul EV! Dealers who try this should be tared and feathered! And publicized nationally so that everyone will avoid them like the plague! Heck, I was one of the very first in L.A. to get the Leaf and I paid $1,000 UNDER MSRP... It is amazing how greedy and short-sighted some dealers can be!

Unbelievable that some of the dealers are trying to sell the vehicle for $2500-$2799 above MSRP.

 

[GRA]

Unbelievable that some of the dealers are trying to sell the vehicle for $2500-$2799 above MSRP.

I've never paid over MSRP for ANY vehicle and I certainly wouldn't start with the Soul EV! Dealers who try this should be tared and feathered! And publicized nationally so that everyone will avoid them like the plague! Heck, I was one of the very first in L.A. to get the Leaf and I paid $1,000 UNDER MSRP... It is amazing how greedy and short-sighted some dealers can be!

Seems to me it's a simple matter of customers being willing to pay over MSRP. Rather than wasting time publicizing the dealers, just don't buy/lease the car until you can do so for an acceptable price. It's only the people who walk into a dealer in 'gotta have it, now!' mode who pay over MSRP. All it takes is the patience to wait a month or three for the initial frenzy to subside.

 

[TomT]

Still, it gives you an idea of the dealers mentality and how they treat and respect their customers... If they are going to try and screw you on that, what else might they try to screw you on now and in the future? Trying to make a couple extra bucks rather than building a lasting relationship with a customer is extremely shortsighted as that customer will have no reason to come back to you.

Seems to me it's a simple matter of customers being willing to pay over MSRP. Rather than wasting time publicizing the dealers, just don't buy/lease the car until you can do so for an acceptable price. It's only the people who walk into a dealer in 'gotta have it, now!' mode who pay over MSRP. All it takes is the patience to wait a month or three for the initial frenzy to subside.

 

[GRA]

Seems to me it's a simple matter of customers being willing to pay over MSRP. Rather than wasting time publicizing the dealers, just don't buy/lease the car until you can do so for an acceptable price. It's only the people who walk into a dealer in 'gotta have it, now!' mode who pay over MSRP. All it takes is the patience to wait a month or three for the initial frenzy to subside.

Still, it gives you an idea of the dealers mentality and how they treat and respect their customers... If they are going to try and screw you on that, what else might they try to screw you on now and in the future? Trying to make a couple extra bucks rather than building a lasting relationship with a customer is extremely shortsighted as that customer will have no reason to come back to you.

Considering the length of time that the average salesperson or sales manager is at any one dealer, the odds of any of them still being there by the time you are in the market for another car are minimal. It's a high-turnover system, and unfortunately establishing lasting relationships with customers is pretty low on the priority list at most dealers. It's a lousy system, and all we can do is publicize those few dealers and salespeople who try to go beyond that broken model. I'm sure there's a Dianne Whitmire or Paul Scott out there at at least one Kia dealer in SoCal, and hopefully they can find a Kia dealership that will support them.

 

[TomT]

It has nothing to do with the individual salesman as that policy is set by the dealership themselves and that was what I was referring to as building a relationship - with the dealership, not the individual salesman. I would never set foot in a dealership again that practiced such tactics.

Seems to me it's a simple matter of customers being willing to pay over MSRP. Rather than wasting time publicizing the dealers, just don't buy/lease the car until you can do so for an acceptable price. It's only the people who walk into a dealer in 'gotta have it, now!' mode who pay over MSRP. All it takes is the patience to wait a month or three for the initial frenzy to subside.

Still, it gives you an idea of the dealers mentality and how they treat and respect their customers... If they are going to try and screw you on that, what else might they try to screw you on now and in the future? Trying to make a couple extra bucks rather than building a lasting relationship with a customer is extremely shortsighted as that customer will have no reason to come back to you.

Considering the length of time that the average salesperson or sales manager is at any one dealer, the odds of any of them still being there by the time you are in the market for another car are minimal. It's a high-turnover system, and unfortunately establishing lasting relationships with customers is pretty low on the priority list at most dealers. It's a lousy system, and all we can do is publicize those few dealers and salespeople who try to go beyond that broken model.

 

[GRA]

It has nothing to do with the individual salesman as that policy is set by the dealership themselves and that was what I was referring to as building a relationship - with the dealership, not the individual salesman. I would never set foot in a dealership again that practiced such tactics.

We're in total agreement that the dealerships can set the policies, but they have to have salespeople that adhere to them (in fact, that prefer those policies), and they have to police their people. As I only buy a car when the previous one has reached the end of its useful life, my visits to dealers are very rare, typically a decade or more apart. If I tried to rule them out based on past actions, odds are I'd be penalizing them for the behavior of personnel several generations removed. Of course, if it's the same ownership that may still apply, but considering the number of dealers who are reported to have bad actors versus the ones who aren't, restricting myself to dealers who've never gotten bad reviews would mean that I'd never buy a car from anyone

I suspect it's easier in smaller markets to establish the kind of relationship you talk about, as the dealership's owners tend to be local and more active in the community, and thus need to maintain long-term relationships with customers; indeed, they can't avoid it, as they see them regularly around town.

 

[richdean]

I just leased my Soul from Kia of Sherman Oaks and had a great experience ($500 under MSRP, probably could have gotten it down a bit more). Super nice people.

Better than Downtown LA Kia, which tried to add $4,000 to the MSRP. Walked out of DTLA Kia -- not a great experience.

Rich
2013 Leaf
2015 Soul EV

 

[Avitt]

Gas prices are certainly working in favor of EV buyers these days.

 

[bfranci]

Rich,

Can I ask what you got for your monthly payment and if you got a base or a plus model? Sherman Oaks quoted me $319/month and $2995 (all in) down for a plus, an offer I'm trying to bring down.

Brad

 

[richdean]

Rich,

Can I ask what you got for your monthly payment and if you got a base or a plus model? Sherman Oaks quoted me $319/month and $2995 (all in) down for a plus, an offer I'm trying to bring down.

Brad

I went for the Plus model. I really, really wanted the leather seats (i have a three year old kid) and the heated/cooled front seats.

Monthly payment with taxes, etc is $326.67 ($2995 down)

Rich

 

[bfranci]

I picked up my black/red EV + from Sherman Oaks Kia today. In and out in 2 hours, which was nice. My lease deal was similar to what is quoted here. I put a little more down but my monthly payments were $279+tax. I essentially got the "national lease deal" that was quoted when the car first came out.

I've never been such an early adopter on a car like this so I am glad this forum exists so we can all discover this car together. Hopefully we'll see even more people join up over the next weeks and months.