My Review Of Cavenaugh Kia :
My wife and I recently retired (a bit early due to a little luck and a lot of planning) to remodel an older family home in North Central Arkansas.
A year or so previous to retiring, we had decided on a Kia Soul as the vehicle we wanted to begin this episode of our life. That’s a lot of time to research a vehicle.
So, by the time we retired, the only decision we had to make regarding the acquisition of our Kia Soul was ... from whom?
We chose Cavenaugh Kia in Jonesboro, Arkansas for a few reasons. With over a year to go, we researched Kia dealerships as well as Kia vehicles. That leaned us toward Cavenaugh but you want to avail yourself of your opportunities.
We live, and have lived, modestly (another reason for us choosing a Kia Soul) and when you are a frugal sort, discussing the commitment to transfer a significant chunk of your current and future retirement dollars with someone (or some business) you’ve just met; it’s not wrong to advance slowly and with caution.
We approached several dealerships and narrowed our interest to two then finally decided (for reasons that motivate most people - the gut – always keeping an eye on your dollars) to make our first encroach on the purchase of a Kia Soul with Cavenaugh.
This purchase utilized both the Internet and cell phones. We had gone to Cavenaugh a couple of months earlier because we were going to Jonesboro anyway and wanted to do a test drive of a 2013 Kia Soul ... it really didn’t matter what dealership.
But it was that first face to face with Cavenaugh Kia that tipped us in their direction more steeply.
No push, no hard sell. We said we wanted to test drive a Base Automatic Kia Soul and the salesperson set us up, handed us the keys and we took it for a spin.
Like them or hate them, the Soul fit us like a glove physically and with some kind of car-zen.
Returned it, told the salesperson we were a couple months away from a purchase (settling some retirement financial juggling – that’s a blast). He gave us his card with the dealer’s phone number, a cell number for himself and an email address.
The time came, we contacted the salesperson, he told us the Base Automatic units they had on the lot. They had our color.
Got online, pre-qualified for the loan, had the rates and payments back in a matter of minutes and made a deposit to hold our vehicle.
Just a few brief phone calls and we were done. Smooth as silk.
We had a minor glitch in our purchase because my wife had a stroke in her 20s and while she can drive locally, a round trip to Jonesboro and back is a four hour drive; beyond her capacity.
I explained this to our Kia Salesperson and said I would have to tap family, in the middle of a workweek, to drive us to Jonesboro so it might take a few days to arrange.
That wasn’t a problem.
We ended the phone call and within five minutes he called back and said he had explained our situation to his boss and that if we had difficulty arranging things, they would deliver the car to our home if we could come to Jonesboro and sign the papers.
That’s a four hour round trip and two people from the dealership.
After that phone call, I told my wife; “We picked the right dealer to buy our car from”.
A sister found a way to drive us down and from the moment we pulled onto the lot; the experience with this purchase just continued to improve.
Professional but personable. Everywhere a smile, a salesperson holding a door for you, someone whisking by on another mission takes the moment to give you a smile and speak.
Sometimes when you commit to “signing the papers”, the mood shifts into a stern and aloof “all business”. Not here. The same affable personality you meet when you want take a test drive doesn’t switch into some “gotcha” mode once you have agreed to deliver them hard earned dollars.
My wife and sister were out in the lot when I sat down to do the paperwork with one of the friendliest and professional guru’s of contracts, disclosures (and other multitude of papers to be signed) I’ve ever signed papers with.
He had found a way to knock nearly a point off our interest rate which he didn’t have to do because we had already committed to the early rates.
Once we were finished, I went outside and found not only our salesperson, but another staff member, all huddled around (and inside) our Kia Soul, showing my wife the ropes. I just stood quietly behind them and listened for a while.
They didn’t have to be doing that.
They were answering questions and pointing out things, laughing, huddled, as excited as we were about our new Kia.
Eventually they “found” me but my presence didn’t break up the party.
I remembered telling my wife; “We picked the right dealership”.
And that’s the truth, folks.
Several times we heard; “Your part of the Kia family now”. That pretty much sums up the experience we had collecting our Kia Soul into our retirement through Cavenaugh Kia in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
Everyone wonders ... “But what about service after the sale?”.
Can’t expound on that right now.
But when the “service” kicks in ... I’ll be back to this site to update.
But I have zero reason to think it will be any different than the same professional but personable experience we’ve encountered so far.
As for the purchasing experience ... whatever “all the stars” are.
I will recommend Cavenaugh to everyone thinking about a Kia.
Stellar dealership.
Stellar.
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