Kia Sorento Parts & Support issue
Submitted: Saturday, Oct 03, 2009 at 09:55
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Maan(NSW)
Hi All
Our Sorento is 18 months old, still under warranty and has only done 28K kilometres. Last year drove from
Sydney on a trip to Coongie Lakes then this year in July did a fabulous trip all around
Carnarvon Gorge NP. Loved the car and it performed really
well on both trips. Only issue being a flat tyre (no probs we carry 2 spare
wheels) and the useless bottle jack!
About a week ago I noticed what seemed to be a rear whine - dealer said I had done a wheel bearing. Part ordered; car taken for repair for a day. But bigger problems were found - bearing had bleep tered, housing was broken, stuff welded onto axle (took a 35 tonne press to break the weld!) and many parts were required.
Even bigger problem - no parts in Australia. Kia are air freighting from Korea next week. The rebuild is going to be considerable. Thus no car.
Even though the car is under warranty Kia have a policy of no loan vehicles, even when they cannot supply the parts. Strikes me that when manufacturers keep their spare parts supply "skinny" (I know keeping large stocks are expensive) they have some responsibility to at least assist the customer whilst parts are being located.
I am lucky that the problem occurred when I was near the dealer who sold it to me - Col Crawford's - and they are going to loan me a car from their second hand lot. But if I was "on the road" on a
camping trip the scenario is not good.
Other manufacturers have the policy that if they cannot supply the parts when a car is under warranty they organise for a loan car eg Mitsubishi and Toyota did it for a friend of
mine stuck in the outback when a drive train failure occurred. But not Kia. I called the Kia Customer Assist line - they told me it was not Kia's policy to assist customers when they could not supply parts, even under warranty. They also said they were happy for me to tell my tale on line.
The moral for me - next time buy a car from a manufacturer/importer which keeps a good supply of parts and to check what happens if parts cannot be supplied under warranty. Apart from that I have a niggly concern about a wheel bearing going at 28,000 and no hard 4WD driving has been done!
Reply By: Gronk - Saturday, Oct 03, 2009 at 10:19
Saturday, Oct 03, 2009 at 10:19
The trouble is.....who keeps a big supply of parts......and is it in writing where other manufacturers will supply a loan car ??
The Koreans have a pretty good name for reliability these days, so maybe yours was a one off ..
The Sorento is a popular choice of tow vehicle for the vanners out there that haven't got the bucks for something dearer, and I would be surprised if many of them have had any problems with them ??
AnswerID:
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Reply By: burnsy - Sunday, Oct 04, 2009 at 08:50
Sunday, Oct 04, 2009 at 08:50
Maan
This is something about the Car industry that annoys me. They tell you that a part needs to be brought in from overseas so it will take weeks to get here.
The old story (it has to come from Japan)
My industry involves a lot of heavy machinery & I find that
Places like Singapore have a huge arsenal of parts available. The manufacturer ( Irrespective of their country of origin) distributes their product in SE Asia will most likely have a master store somewhere in SE Asia. (usually Korea Indonesia or Singapore.
Recently I ordered an oil cooler for a Hitachi machine. It arrived in
Brisbane within 2 day ex Singapore, it weighed about 80kg. No airfreight cost to me.
Example 2 I need a cat part, 2 day from Singapore or at most 5 from the states plus about $15/kg air freight.
Parts from Korea are virtually overnight airfreight plus the logistics of handling.
Car/appliance ect dealers simply are not prepared to go to this effort to keep their customer & I think that largely It is our ignorance or acceptance of this that lets them get away with it.
Mike
AnswerID:
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Reply By: SimonW - Sunday, Oct 04, 2009 at 09:56
Sunday, Oct 04, 2009 at 09:56
Hello Maan,
I had a 05 Sorento & clocked up 100,000km in almost 3.5 years towing a camper trailer & taking it everywhere in on/off road touring & found the Sorento very reliable. I did experience an issue around the 70,00km mark where the speedo drive in the gearbox failed which ended up being a fault in the transfer case casting & the retainer clip failed, result many new parts required from Korea for the rear of the transfer case, this took approx 5 or 6 weeks to resolve however in the meantime Kia loaned me FOC a near new demo Carnival for the family to get around, kids loved it, so maybe some dealers go that extra step in customer service.
Overall the Sorento is a good bit of kit.
cheers Simon.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: dbish - Sunday, Oct 04, 2009 at 14:44
Sunday, Oct 04, 2009 at 14:44
Your quite right Simon the Ford dealer I worked for would lend customers that had purchased a vehicle from him untill any repair issues were resolved with there vehicle. He is a country dealer & likes happy customers, this usualy means more sales. So it realy is upto dealers.
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