Tom Kadlec Kia — Local services in Rochester

Back in 2023, I purchased a 2018 Kia Optima S from Ash Auto Group in Scottsdale, Arizona. I had just gotten out of a hard financial situation and just signed on the lines not realizing I had just gotten myself and my husband into a 24% interest rate.

1 month after I got the car on October 24th of 2023, my car broke down on the side of the road in Decorah, Iowa as I was heading to a doctor appointment. It started to sputter, jolt, and shake. I had read that Kia had a class action lawsuit against them with engines like this and I had to get it towed back to my town, Harmony, Minnesota - where my local mechanic said it probably needed a new engine. I called my warranty company and they wanted it taken to Kia in Rochester, Minnesota, so they had it towed there. When it got to Kia, they said it was a system update that needed done and that’s why it shut down even though it was documented I stated a new engine was needed.

Less than one year later on October 16th of 2024, I was driving to work and my car sputtered, jolted violently and shut down on me again. I had to get it towed by Whitewater Wrecker Service to Kia in Rochester. They told me this time it was spark plugs, a valve cover leak, and an oil pan gasket leak. They replaced the spark plugs, the oil pan gasket, and the valve cover which was $968 out of my pocket and $1000 from my insurance company.

LESS THAN 4 MONTHS AFTER THAT my car broke down AGAIN in the MIDDLE OF WINTER on February 6th, 2024. The same thing came up (engine control system problem). I had to get it towed by Don’s towing to Kia AGAIN where they said it was reading excessive knocks in the engine, so they replaced the sensor. My warranty covered this.

During these next few months, my car was using up 5 quarts of oil every 2 months and Kia told me I needed to come in for an oil consumption test, but if they didn’t find anything wrong I’d have to pay for them tearing up the engine to find the issue. So on July 2nd, 2025 I went in to get this done where they told my husband the car had a valve cover leak and a timing cover leak AGAIN when I had JUST replaced all of those back in September. I felt really off about this and was going to take it to a second opinion but decided against it until we saved more money.

Then just last week on 8/15, the Kia shut down on me AGAIN with my two year old daughter in the car! It started violently jolting, shaking, and rattling. I had to get it towed by SAC towing back to Kia where they told me “your spark plugs are bad again, you have leaks in the valve gasket, the oil pan gasket, the timing cover, and the cylinder 4 in the engine is misfiring. We can take a gamble and fix everything for $900, but there’s no guarantee that’s going to fix it. And if it doesn’t and your warranty doesn’t pay for it (which my warranty was expired) then you better be prepared to pay for the rest of it.” I was shocked at the way they were talking to me, and how many times I’ve taken this car in for them not to fix the problem.

Now my warranty is expired, and they just called me tonight telling me I need a new engine WHICH IS WHAT I HAVE TOLD THEM FOR THE LAST. TWO. YEARS. and they WOULD NOT LISTEN.

Moral of the story is, I’m now stuck with a car that doesn’t drive and still paying on it because I am NOT putting a $7,000 engine in a car that’s not even worth it, and Kia of Rochester won’t listen to any of your concerns or opinions on what you think is wrong. They will just ignore you and put you in a terrible situation you have to get out of somehow.

Don’t go to Kia in Rochester. Just don’t.

Update: please don’t believe what they said in the comment below as I have proof I took my car in July 2nd when they recommended the oil consumption test and it broke down just last week, August 15th. Not five months later. A complete fallacy by what they just said and I have the records to prove that. Also, you can’t say the warranty wouldn’t have covered something because you...

Buyer beware – they don’t stand behind the customers or cars over the long term. Bought a new Kia from this dealership in 2017, vehicle has been meticulously maintained and then had a catastrophic timing belt issue that caused all sorts of issues ultimately leading to an expensive repair. We bought the added extended warranty with the vehicle as their salesman and finance manager were quick to promote the peace of mind we were buying, but fast forward to today and they seem even more quick to blame everything on this 3rd party warranty company and not willing to stand behind their vehicle or customer.

Vehicle with only 112k miles, just had a check engine light on (no other warning lights or engine noises/symptoms). We now live in the Twin Cities so tried to get it into a Kia dealer here but appointments were 2 weeks out. Took it to a certified Goodyear Paramount dealer who discovered the issue with the timing belt which caused all types of issues. The engine was reported to be low on oil, which is unknown the cause, however we have all the service records on this vehicle which has never showed history of burning oil and was within the regular service intervals. Regardless, once the 3rd party warranty called the mechanic it was a short phone conversation and once it was reported to be low on oil AFTER the issue we had they immediately denied the claim (no follow up or investigation in to the cause at all). We made multiple follow up attempts and then engaged the dealership who basically told us there was nothing they would do; they stated they had to stand behind the warranty companies decision (even though they had a customer giving a different set of facts and information).

First, dealer management told us that this mechanic at the Goodyear Paramount is who screwed this up because they shouldn’t have reported the low oil. Essentially, they were stating they would have lied to the warranty company to get them to cover the repair. Not sure how that makes it any better?? They reported what they found, but they also explained to the warranty company the low oil is not necessarily what caused this catastrophic engine issue (especially once we produced all the service records to show the vehicle has no history of leaking/burning oil).

Second, they told us that because we took it to a 3rd party repair shop, they couldn’t help us. Basically, if we brought it to a Kia dealership they could have taken care of this at no cost. Well, we tried that, and no option here in the Twin Cities (unless you wanted us to drive a vehicle with a check engine light an hour and a half to you). And finally, so basically you are acknowledging this is not the customers fault and you would normally eat the cost to do the right thing, but because it means you paying a 3rd party you just don’t want to pay more than you should (still a cost for the dealership to repair, so seriously?)

Anyways, will never be using a Tom Kadlec dealership again and would recommend steering clear of them. At minimum DO NOT buy their 3rd party extended warranties because they will find any excuse to...

Took me forever to get around to writing this review from my Purchase back in March 2020... The dealership's service department incorrectly serviced this vehicle before sale including but not limited to not: replacing windshield wipers even though it was claimed they did on their CarFax report, Replacing the engine air filter with the wrong part causing irreparable damage to the filter housing, replacing the cabin Air filter with the wrong part. Photos are attached showing a new wiper blade compared to the one on the car, (Note: There is NO rubber on the wiper blade they allegedly replaced, streaking was noticed on the test drive as it was raining that day, I note it to the salesman but they refused to change it noting that they already swapped it themselves.) The engine air filter is also shown next to the correct filter on the left. Any technician would have noticed this difference in filter and flagged this as the wrong part, but instead, they forced it into the filter housing clearly distorting the case and also not creating a full seal, meaning that this was allowing un-filtered air into the engine. The same goes for the cabin air filter which needed to be distorted to fit into the cabin air filter housing (as shown in photos of the cabin air filter)

I attempted to reach out to the dealership multiple times most recently April 15th attempting to reach their service manger after talking with a service advisor two other time. The first service advisor informed me that he was going to take my information direct to the service manager and have them call me back. after no reply, I called back again and the second advisor told me to call the manager line directly, I left a voicemail for the service manager at that time with no reply.

The issue was simple, and a solution was even easier. The parts they received were for a 2017 Crosstrek, and my vehicle was a 2018. This error was likely on the part of Napa Auto Parts, Though the service technician should have been able to identify that these parts were NOT the correct parts and stopped right there to verify fitment, to that, I will fully place blame on their technician. I called and simply asked them to replace the parts with the correct ones, or better for me as I did not wish to make the 3 hour round trip, reimburse me for the cost of the correct parts from Napa and Subaru. (An offer which still stands)

Given their lack of reply, and similar feedback from other vehicle owners, they do not appear to prioritize accurate representation of their vehicles (By reporting that they replaced items on their CarFax report without actually doing so) or careful service of their used vehicle fleet. With a clear disregard for the used vehicles, I can imagine that the new vehicles are also not well cared for, seeing as they all go into the same garage for repair.

I would welcome a reply from Tom Kadlec Kia explaining this lack of reply and technician common sense and I am still open to reimbursement for the parts I...