Kia of Cerritos — Local services in Cerritos

BEWARE of extremely unethical and scandalous business practices. What began as a very professional experience, turned unnecessarily ugly, real fast.

As a returning customer, my business partner's lease was up on her 2021 Kia Soul and she wanted to learn what options may be available to her. Based on her being 8 months pregnant, I offered to visit the dealership and get options for her to consider, so she could make her decision without all the back and forth sales tactics that would obviously be very inconvenient and uncomfortable for a person 8 months pregnant.

My initial visit to the dealership was this past Sunday and I was professionally greeted by a salesman named Rey. I explained the help I was providing my business partner and he agreed to help and would work up some numbers and send them to me the following day. Rey was off on Monday, so the Internet Sales Manager Billy took over the communications and immediately provided some options for a new lease. Billy was AWESOME and extremely responsive to all of our communications. After three (3) days of texting back and forth, the decision was made by my business partner to buyout her existing lease, which Billy confirmed was the best option. To minimize the time required in the dealership to get the car financed, Billy had my business partner apply for credit through the dealership's website. Once approved, he sent over the payment and interest information, which was happily accepted by my business partner. He confirmed the deal "Done" and told us to see Rey the next day, as he already given him instructions of what we are doing.

After a 45 minute drive in the heavy rain, my business partner and I arrived at the dealership, but as highlighted above, things turned unnecessarily ugly real fast as the floor manager Omar presented a whole different set of finance numbers that were 25% higher than presented and agreed to. The numbers presented in writing by Billy and accepted by my business partner were "no money down, 72 months, payment is $288.27," while Omar presented a payment of over $360.00 per month.

The ugly truth is they added GAP insurance and a vehicle warranty without any prior disclosure or discussion. It immediately became uglier when they refused to remove the added insurance and warranty and said it was "company policy" to add these to the financing. I handed over my phone so Omar could read all of the text communications between Billy and I, so he was well aware of the agreed payment terms. He took the information over to the bullpen of sales managers, only to return with yet a stronger position there is nothing they can do, and if we don't want to get the the gap insurance and warranty, we will have to seek outside financing and deal directly with Kia Financial.

Needless to say, after a week of very clear written communications about the NEED to help my pregnant business partner secure terms AHEAD of her coming to the dealership to sign documents, this "bait & switch" sales tactic is OUTRAGEOUS!! The payoff was just under $12K, so not a hard decision to "do the RIGHT thing" and honor the written terms presented and agreed to... especially in consideration of a returning customer that drove nearly 40 miles from her home while 8 months pregnant.

Based on my belief that this type of tactic is illegal, I will be writing a full statement of facts, supported by the written text messages, and sending them to the CA Attorney General's Office, the CA Department of Consumer Affairs, and also to a well known law firm that organizes class-action lawsuits against corporate bullies that look to unfairly profit from consumers. I am sure after a few rounds of discovery, the firm will learn of more customers that were "bamboozled" by the unlawful company policy requiring gap insurance and an extended vehicle warranty to secure financing - with the ultimate goal to get them to STOP this practice and allow all previous customers to receive full refunds of the money they were overcharged for financial products they were "required" to...

This is why I hate shopping for cars. My sales rep was Drake, but it wasn't his fault. He's the reason why I decided to come back to Cerritos Kia after my initial trip and make my purchase. He was sincere and honest for the most part. He's the reason this review even gets two stars.

However, I gave specific instructions on what model/trim/color I wanted. I insisted MULTIPLE times that I didn't want ANY options on top of the EX V6 Sorento I picked. I was very exact on my choice because I did not want to spend much time at the dealership. I even forwarded Drake a copy of my proof of insurance, loan approval (dealer direct) letter, ID info... EVERYTHING. I gave him regular updates on my whereabouts and ETA on the day of. All that was left was to go inside the dealer, sign the papers and leave with the car. Drake had already sent me a picture of the vehicle, saying it was ready to go. The vehicle was waiting for me when I arrived. This was a gift to my mother and a very special occasion. The day was ruined, however, and my mother ended up leaving the dealer before I could get the vehicle because it took so long.

I ended up spending almost 3 hours just waiting on "docs to be printed." Even after I signed the dotted lines, I waited another 20-30 minutes to get the car that was supposedly already for me (I saw with my own eyes when I got there!).

The most infuriating thing was the "Security Etch" option. Even though I asked SPECIFICALLY not to add any further options, a $600 options made its way to the price. HOW??!! I was told that it was already a part of the car. How was this already included in the car I had specifically instructed NOT to include any options?? I repeated myself over and over and OVER AGAIN not to include anything beyond what I had ordered. To add to the insult, I discovered I could have gotten the same "security etch" procedure done at a local shop for $20. $20!!! And Cerritos Kia slipped it into my car for $600!!!

I could not have made it any easier on the dealership. I had every detail already picked out (trim, colors, etc.), got my loan already approved and ready to fund. Cerritos Kia was one of the preferred network dealers for Bank of America, so the loan docs were easy to generate. The price was already agreed to before I got there. This was a gift to my mother. She came with me but had to leave early because the entire process was taking way too long. She did not have the pleasure of driving the new car off the lot.

I keep wanting to give car dealers the benefit of the doubt and try to make things easier. But to make what should've been no more than 30 minutes into almost 3 HOURS and to slip in a $600 option I did not even ask for was beyond reprehensible.

This was by far one of the most disappointing car-buying...

FYI: This first section is from years ago, maybe 2021. We’ve leased 4 KIA’s from KIA of Cerritos, and until very recently, have been extremely happy with them. Yes, their inventory and sales team is great, the service department has always been top notch for us, but now they are so busy, they will not see you in the service department without an appointment. My wife has an issue with the hybrid engine on her Optima which the lady on the phone said we needed to drop off the car and they could get a diagnostic done in 5-7 days. They don’t provide loaners, and told us the cost of a rental could be reimbursed IF the problem is covered by warranty. Great, but we wouldn’t know until the diagnostic was performed, in probably 5-7 days. No telling how long the work itself would take. I get it. There’s a ton of people needing service. It’s disappointing, however, that there’s no prioritization for potentially catastrophic engine issues over regular service maintenance, especially for repeat customers. This is just not the KIA of Cerritos I’ve loved for the last 10 years. Guess we’ll be shopping around more for our next car rather than just automatically going here first. UPDATE: I had an electrical system issue with my Telluride the week after this issue with my wife’s car, and Eddie really took care of me when I showed up without an appointment, had me in and out same day. Much appreciated so I bumped my original rating up a star. New update 05/08/25: Wife had an issue with the hatch latch on her KIA Niro EV, brought it in. They wanted to keep it for a few days, she said no, she’d bring it back when the part was in. She asked me to bring it back today, scheduled (I didn’t just “pop in”), and 3 and half hours I have to wait for a latch to be fixed. As always, everyone is nice, courteous, but it’s just not enough anymore. I’m missing an entire half day at the office on this. Will most likely switch to Garden Grove KIA. For service and for new cars. UDPATE TO THIS UPDATE: They never got around to fixing the latch. Around 1230 I went over to service to see what was going on as I hadn’t heard anything, and after being ignored ( I stood there for about 5 minutes) someone finally asked me if I needed assistance. When asked for the eta, he inquired, and got back a response that it would probably be 2pm. That was the last straw. I told them to bring the car out. Not losing an entire day over a repair that was scheduled, especially when the guy sensed how livid I was and told me he could have it done in 45 minutes. WHY WASN’t IT DONE IN 45 MINUTES AT 8am WHEN I FIRST ARRIVED? Adios. Hope it was worth it. 6 cars total from this dealer. All that history...