Car Woes

Honestly I’d probably skip this entry. It’s just one long sad car story.

I was driving home from the cape following fourth of July festivities when I noticed that the usual dashboard rattle in my VW did not dissipate when I drove above 62 MPH, as it usually does. This car isn’t safe.

I just knew it wasn’t. That and the fact that occasionally lately, when I take a slow turn, it feels like the power steering goes out. I dropped it off at my mechanic the next day and they called, stating “It’s time to decide whether or not you want to keep it” he told me it would cost thousands.

I knew immediately that I did not. It had been a while since I felt confident that my VW Golf was not going to die on the highway, which is did last October. Not fun.

Thankfully, Mom had a car I can borrow, so I was able to continue on without much disruption. I began researching used cars and reviewing my finances. What is a realistic investment? The fact that new cars lose 11% of their value when you drive them off the lot was reason enough for me to go with used. That and the fact that I drive a lot, and I don’t need to be constantly fussing over potential for dings and scratches.

I started looking up cars; checking their fuel economy, their size (it has to fit in my carport, afterall), etc.

In my research I stumbled on the affordable Kia Niro. A hybrid. I was very excited at the prospect of this cute compact SUV which averages 48-50MPG. It would be an investment because they’re more expensive than gas only cars, but the environmental impact is important to me. I’d never heard of them before and was pleasantly surprised to find really good reviews. They last as long as Toyotas and Hondas, they get great mileage, they’re affordable!

On my way to hang out with friend in Rhode Island a few weekends ago, I detoured all the way out to Milford to test drive one. “I’ve never seen or driven one” I told ther dealer who I’ll call Arthur, “I was just curious.”

He photocopied by license, gave me the keys and I was on my way. I liked the car. I didn’t looks closely at the nooks and crannies, as I just wanted to see if I remotely liked it. Arthur was super chill about it, didn’t nag with questions or try to get me to talk numbers. I appreciate it and went on my way.

Shannon has a Kia and loves it. One of the friends in the Rhode Island group said she loved hers roo, and my friends helped me think about all the things I needed to look for the next time I test drove one; visibility, seat height, seat belt location, the armrest! etc.

I kept researching, reading articles about the car and learning about hybrids. One random comment on a thread taught me that the Kia warranty continues for the second owner of the vehicle, though it’s reduced. Coverage continues for up to 60,000 miles, or up to five years. Another random comment was from a woman who’s battery died and who couldn’t get the car started. She had it towed to a Kia and they showed her an alternate button that activates the gas part of the car to get it started.

Cool! Now I know that’s a thing!

I made another long drive to a dealer in Tyngsboro to take a close look at a Kia Niro. When I pulled up, he stood right next to my car, waiting. I immediately didn’t like him and after five minutes I knew I wouldn’t buy that car from him if it was for $5, he was so annoying, Let’s talk numbers! What can I do to get you to buy today?

I noticed when I was checking out the trunk hood that the handle used to pull down the door was installed upside down, so when you put your hand in, it was at an awkward angle that provided no leverage with which to shut the trunk. Something obviously happened to the backend.

As I left he asked “When can you let me know if you’re not interested?”

Five minutes after I arrived? “24 hours” I told him.

He texted and emailed later that night and texted again the next day.

I let him know I would be looking elsewhere.

Meanwhile, I was trying to figure out what to do with my no-longer-safe-to-drive VW. It sat in front of my house while I tried to find a buyer. I found a few companies who would come buy it and tow it away. They were as pushy as the dealership. One even telling me “We’ll take the title off your hands, cover the tow cost, and pay you $244 for the car”

How generous.

I had to work hard to get off the phone with him, putting my foot down that the number is ridiculous and I’ll be looking for better offers.

A half hour later he called back “I spoke with my manager and we’re able to bulk that offer up to $277!”

Wow. I can hardly contain the excitement I feel over my good fortune. “No thanks”

I continued to research a more fair solution and in doing so stumbled on a service via Kelly Blue Book. I filled out an online form which asked through questions and spit out that my Blue Book value is $2400, and then they provided me the names of three local auto dealerships who would buy it off me.

I knew getting that number would be unlikely considering my mechanic told me repairing it would cost “thousands”. I called a local place and set a time to bring my car to them.

I had lunch with a friend who told me “Kias have a very high theft rate lately!” So now I knew I had one more thing to research. (Turns out someone on TikTok did a video on how to steal them and now teenagers are challenging each other, not to mention something about the value of the metal in the catalytic converters).

That evening I hopped into my car to very slowly drive it to the dealership. A half a block made it clear that this wasn’t going to happen. The clunking coming from the front of the car was downright violent.

Great.

I called AAA and waited for a tow to Johns Auto Sales. The tow driver was a nice guy and we chatted about the hell of car buying. I told him about how the other potential VW buyers offered nothing, and expressed concern that this place would give me nothing too.

We arrived and I was greeted by a few very friendly, grease-covered dudes. They sent me to the office to meet John. John is in his seventies I would guess, has a big belly and sported black crocs on his feet. I liked him. His mechanic drove my shitbox death trap around and reported back “I don’t know if it’s the steering or what”

John told me he can’t give me the Kelly Blue Book value because he just doesn’t know what’s wrong with the car. “Will you take $1500?” he asked?

“Can I get $1700?” I countered.

He smiled and said “Sure but only cause I like you”

And yes, dear reader, I know he likely would have paid more if I asked. I don’t think I will ever learn to play that game right.

While I wait for the check to be written, he asks me about my car situation. I tell him about the car I want, and give him the stats. He looks it up and says “Actually that’s a good price for that car”

Also while this is going on, I’ve contacted my financial planner to move some money around so I can move forward with getting a car and not have payments for the rest of my life, and emailed Arthur and lowballed him on the price of his car because it had been on the lot for so long I thought for sure he might at least counter offer.

He didn’t. What the hell, man?

So a check is written to me in this tiny office with people coming and going, and John turns to his friend, also of his generation, and says “Will you drive Cydney home on your way home?”

He agrees and spend the drive asking him about his life as an undercover officer with Sommerville police (I learned Whitey BUlger wasn’t really the Winter Hill Gang, but rather, more South Boston), and he told me all about his kids and how much he hates Massachusetts.

I was grateful for the lift and the touch of humanity I got from the entire transaction. It was refreshing after Arthur denied me any leeway on the price of the car I wanted, and the after all the shitty offers to buy the VW prior to this one.

Next I coordinate with Dad who has kindly agreed to drive me all the way out to Milford to buy the not-remotely-discounted car I wanted to buy on Tuesday morning.

Also while all that other stuff was going on, I went back and forth looking for some clarity regarding the financing with the dealership. Arthur claimed that I had to take out a certain amount on the loan and that the downpayment I wanted to make was too large. He threw some numbers at me and added “and $137 a month”

For all the months until I die, dude? How long are the terms!?

I feel compelled to apologize for all my questions and emailing to him, and them I am reminded by myself that I have every right to ask all these questions and push back as much as I want.

He also pulled the “Someone else is interested” move. {eyeroll}

Finally, I look on the financing calculator on HIS site and mock up the terms I want. It allows me to put down more than he claims I was permitted to.

“Here are the terms I’d like to use for this purchase” I email him, with a screengrab of my calculations done on his site. I tell him I’ll be at his office at 3PM with a certified check of X amount.

He basically says “sounds good!”

Interesting. I suspect he gets a kickback from the bank so it was lame of him to try and get me to get an additional $2k added to me loan amount.

With things finally ironed out, I head to the gas station to tank up Mom’s car and vacuum in out. I go to the bank for a certified check, and head to Dad who then drove me an hour out to Milford to get this stuff finalized.

The paperwork and all went fine and I was pleased to drive my new shiny, fuel efficient car home. Later that evening, it occured to me – does this car have a spare tire? I looked. not only is there no spare tire or even room for one, but there is clearly a holder for tools in the boot which are missing. I took a photo.

I then was looking around on the “infotainment” dashboard, learning it and checking out all the readings it offers. I got to the screen which shared the MPG the car was averaging and my gut dropped. 29 miles per gallon!?

I messaged Arthur asking why this car, which was supposed to average 45-50MPG, was getting such bad mileage. Did no one test it? His response was “That mileage is Kia’s claim, not ours.” and pointed out that I still had warranty left over to have it checked out by Kia.

I also mentioned to him that there is clearly supposed to be a collection of tools in the boot and they were missing. I was thankful to him for ordering a full tool kit to be sent to my home. 

This next part isn’t on the dealership but there’s a point to sharing it all; I called local Kias to make an appointment; One couldn’t take me until mid-August, the other has yet to return my call. I called multiple mechanics for input, searched online for forums. Days of trying to figure out what I’m missing regarding the poor fuel economy on the car I was so proud to invest in. A car that had a clean title, that I’d done my research on, and that had a good Carfax record.

About four days of panicking and researching over whether or not I’d just been hosed by the dealership, I learned that I could reset the mileage.

Sure enough, the fuel economy rose. Excellent!

I messaged Arthur to thank him after they’d emailed me the car’s registration, and mentioned to him – in case it was relevant to any other customers – what I’d learned about resetting the mileage. His response was “yes, that’s what I thought.”

If that’s what you thought, you couldn’t do the kindness of suggesting that I do a reset? Was he kidding me? Yes, It was a user error, but how shitty is it to suspected what was wrong, and rather than sharing the possible solution, instead suggest I take it to Kia because the great fuel economy is “Kia’s claim, not ours”

Since purchasing the car, it was making some strange sounds so despite figuring out the MPG issue, I kept the appointment I managed to make for Kia in the Cape. I figured even though it wasn’t conveniently located, I could get it done while on vacation.

I arrived at Kia and a mechanic asked to go on a ride with me hoping I could replicate the sound I had described as “the sound of a whale blowing out it’s blowhole” coming from the back of the car and causing the car to buck slightly. I thought for sure it wouldn’t happen again because that’s just kind of how the week was going. But it did happen! And when it did, the mechanic corrected me saying “That’s your transmission and the sound is coming from the front of the car, not the back.”

In my head I responded like a petulant child mimicking their annoying sibling, “Oh, that’s coming from the front, is it?!”

So, SIX DAYS after buying my car, I discovered my brand “new” car needed a new transmission completely! It’s covered under the warranty, thankfully, but it sure would have been nice if Fafama caught it and used the warranty to have it fixed before dumping it on me!

I asked the Kia shuttle service if they could take me to the mall which was fifteen minutes in the direction of Scott’s End. Then Mom and Dad made their way to me and brought me back to Scott’s End from there.

Such a damn nuisance.

My plan was to return home in my new car on Wednesday afternoon, stopping for a photo shoot in Cohasset on my way back. With no car, I had to return to Boston early Tuesday morning with Mom and Dad, go get Mom’s car again, and drive 90 minutes back to Cohasset the next afternoon.

I’m told it may be weeks before I get my car back because they have to wait for the parts.

Fingers crossed it takes less time than expected.

Sure hope I get her back someday!

Next Kia Chapter