Big Red Kia Big Red Imports Steals from the Poor in Norman, Oklahoma

On May 13, 2012 my wife and I heard an ad on the radio that Big Red Kia was selling 2012 Kia Souls for $99.00 a month. Seeing as our car got 16 MPG, and the Soul was rated at 36 MPG, we figured the fuel savings would pay for the car.

At this point we looked online at the Big Red Kia website and checked to see what our trade-in was worth, their calculator said $1700 to $2100 in trade value. Next we filled out the online credit application to see if we qualified. I am self employed so qualification is difficult.

About a week and a half later I received a phone call saying that Big Red Kia approved us on the credit application. I then scheduled an appointment to see Big Red Kia on May 25th. We live about 100 miles from Big Red Kia, so it was quite a distance.

After a 6 hour process of being told time and time again that Big Red Kia couldn't approve our purchase of the 2012 Kia Soul, and trying to run different numbers to make the financing work, Big Red Kia finally said they could approve us for a 2010 Forte (used of course).

I think it was a combination of fatigue and emotional highs and lows from all the number running, but we finally just bought the 2010 Forte. This was a huge mistake! I should have known that if it was that hard to get the loan approval, we simply could not afford the car. This proved true a week later when I found out I was taking a 30% cut in net revenue.

That whole week, from June 4th to June 7th, I tried to find out why I was taking a cut in pay, and if there was anything I could do to fix it. I am still fighting that battle, but by the 8th I realized that even if I fought and won, at the new year I was still going to take the pay cut during contract renewal.

At this point I called Big Red Kia to explain I could no longer afford the vehicle. I never got the opportunity to explain because the Big Red Kia stand was "You bought the car, its yours!" To this date that is all I have ever heard from Big Red Kia. I was hoping for some option that didn't include me keeping the car, and more importantly the loan that went with the car.

The same day the finance company called me trying to verify my income. They actually listened to the whole situation, and some time later the next week decided not to finance the car at all. However, I did get a call from Big Red Kia on June 13th explaining it was my fault the finance company wouldn't finance the car and that I had been moved from bank financing to in-house Big Red Kia financing at the same rate and payment. Again Big Red Kia didn't want to hear how I could not afford the financing or the car, and had no solution except "You bought the car, its yours!"

On June 16th I returned the car to Big Red Kia and gave them a letter requesting return of my trade-in and the $2500 down payment. Big Red Kia said we would not do that and that they would treat this as a voluntary repossession and report it to the credit reporting agencies.

So as it  stands now:

1) I have no car
2) I have no cash
3) And I have even worse credit than when I started

Thomas G
(((REDACTED)))@yahoo.com
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