Jocelyn Allan

Review of Birchwood Automotive Group

I made an appointment to test drive a preowned Kia...

I made an appointment to test drive a preowned Kia Sportage; a vehicle on which I had done extensive research and had test driven at other dealerships but I needed an AWD which Birchwood had. Or so I thought. When I got there, the salesman let me know it had been sold, but that they had many similar makes and models they were sure I'd like just as much. I was astonished! I could not believe it was legal to be tricked in this way! Reading back over our emails, I saw that he had never come right out and lied but his wording was such, that he gave me every impression he had the car I was specifically inquiring about.
This was at the end of some very long days of driving all over Winnipeg and test driving many vehicles. I was running out of time as I needed to drive West to start work at a job I had accepted in the BC mountains. Why I needed AWD and not FWD. I was exhausted, discouraged and vulnerable. I just had no more energy or enthusiasm for what I thought would be a thrilling and gratifying purchase!
Franz made several suggestions as to what he could show me, none of which were anything close to what I had hoped to buy...the Kia Sportage.
But then he showed me the Kia Sorento. It wasn't nearly as huge as I had come to believe in the course of my research. And it just so happened that it was magically sitting outside the door, ready for a test drive!
I got over my disappointment immediately upon driving it. I LOVED THIS VEHICLE!!!
Contrary to what I believed about the Sorento being gigantic and cumbersome. It was the opposite. It felt compact and sporty, yet so powerful. It was responsive and handled like a dream in traffic. It drove more like a car than an SUV, which is why I thought I wanted the Sportage. But unlike the Sportage, it had serious balls on the highway and was so quiet and solid that I couldn't even tell when it was running! It was EVERYTHING I needed for driving and living in the icy mountains.
So, sick as I was of shopping and happy as I was with the vehicle, I bought it on the spot...., cash. I dont know anything about vehicles and as I had never looked at Sorentos, I just paid what Franz told me. But he threw in new winter tires. Everything I had in the world and saved for. ..for years. To the astonishment and visible joy of Franz!

So why am I bitterly unhappy???

The price and the mileage. It is a 2013. I paid $15 000. BUT THE MILEAGE WAS 150000 KMS!!!! Basically, the same mileage as a ten year old Kia. Not a 6 year old kia I just spent $15,000 on. Why does this only bother me NOW? Well, despite promising myself I wouldn't, I couldn't help but notice, looking back on previous searches that this same make and model is consistently asking somewhere between $8000 and $10000 for mileage that is consistently around the 100,000 km range. Often lower. There is a A HUGE number of preowned Sorentos for sale everywhere. I suppose it is a very popular vehicle and I can understand why. But now I have a vehicle that if I wanted to sell today, I probably can't unless I give it away. There's so many out there at reasonable prices. God forbid what MPIC would give me if it was written off. They would laugh at me when they saw what I paid for an affordable vehicle with huge mileage in such a short time!
I'm devastated. I have such buyer's remorse that I feel sick. This cost me my life's savings, as pathetic as that sounds. And I've never experienced this feeling before in my life. I'm always content with my decisions as they are always carefully thought out and informed. This purchase was made on the end of a bad day under personal duress? When I made a snap decision at a vulnerable moment which a salesman recognized after hoodwinking me to his store. I feel like a fly, caught in a web of deceit and eaten alive.
I just wish this feeling would go. I can't enjoy my vehicle because I feel sick just looking at it.
How can I feel better? If Birchwood offered me $5000 back. I would feel like I have what I wanted and paid a fair price. Now I feel cheated and robbed and and stupid. I hope this helps someone.