Kia UK Reviews 

3 different Kia Garages refused to look at the car to suggest what might have gone wrong after a break down. My son and family were underway on Xmas Eve when the engine abruptly failed without warning. Understandably, we did not expect it fixed during the holiday. It was transported in the New Year to the nearest Kia Garage (Gloucester) who said it would be 3 weeks before they could even look at it - obviously a major repair couldn’t be expected straight away. A car was hired and they drove back home. Gloucester gave sob stories of how difficult it had become taking on the Kia franchise; they said he must pay first even though Warranty was remaining on the car. After threats to charge him for having his car parked on the Gloucester forecourt, he paid for it to removed to to Wolverhampton, from where he had bought the car 18 months earlier. To be fair, they did eventually fix it and it was ready to collect at Easter. Last Friday, he set out again to visit us - only for a warning light to come on after 20 miles. The local Grantham garage said they would look at the car, but not for 3 weeks. The problem here seems to be a reluctance to diagnose or advise - which means one has no way of knowing the extent of a problem without booking the Kia in for a scheduled assessment. I’ve had issues with my own cars (Audi & VW), but have found my local garages all wiling to assess the problem so one knows whether of not the car can be driven until the scheduled repair. It seems that Kia Cars are on the whole very good, however, the local support seems really tardy. It’s a pity that Kia UK doesn’t take a more active role in checking and training garages who take on their franchises.

I have a Kia ceed. I took it to gravells swansea for a service. They didn't change the oil. As a result the oil filter completely blocked up. Before the next service was due the low oil pressure light came on. I phoned Kia they said they hadn't changed the oil. So then the oil pump failed as a result of the sludge in the engine. Total cost of repairs was over £1,200 due to the incompetence of gravells Swansea. They probably done god knows how much damage to the engine. They should not be in business.

Possibly the worst customer service I've ever come across. Avoid answering questions, obfuscate and just cannot explain or help in any way. Shut the whole thing down. What's the point in having customer service if it can't actually serve the customer.

I have had the misfortune of having to speak them regularly for over 4 months, my car repair has been going on for 6 months. I am trying to expedite the repair now we are in the final stretch but there are constant delays, so many it feels deliberate now. And when I try to find out what's going on they cannot explain, they cannot help push the process along and have no authority to intervene and actually help out. Pointless.

I purchased a Kia Niro from Kia Solihull in November 2024. Right away, I noticed fog in the rear camera and moisture inside the headlight. I raised these issues on the day of collection with the sales executive, who assured me they would be covered under warranty and suggested I get them sorted at my local Kia branch due to the distance from Solihull.

I trusted this advice and followed it in good faith. I contacted them again in February 2025 via email after multiple calls went unanswered, but received no real support. When I finally got the car inspected at Kia Brentwood in May, I was told the camera wouldn’t be covered, and I’d need to pay £768 out of pocket. I was also told Solihull’s manager claimed I “didn’t raise the issue early enough” — despite my photo evidence from December and written email from February proving otherwise.

This situation is not about a “goodwill gesture” — it’s about honouring a warranty and standing by commitments made by Kia staff.

I have now submitted a formal complaint to Kia UK. Until this is resolved properly, I cannot recommend Kia Solihull or the Kia warranty process. If you’re considering buying from Kia — get everything in writing and don’t rely on verbal assurances, no matter how confident they seem at the time.

Last week, my mum found herself stranded in a car park far from home when she discovered her key fob had no key blade!! The key had sprung out so fiercely, it had popped itself loose and was no where to be found.

I looked into the problem, and discovered that my mother is not alone with this experience as it appears to be a Kia design fault. To get this key replaced is very expensive, averaging £250, which on pension credit, she can ill afford.

I have written to Kia UK who continue to refuse to take any accountability for this fault.

I think it's a poor show and so I thought I would share it.

Any excuse not to uphold warranty.

My Kia Picanto has blownva turbo at 48000miles and 6 years old. Not something you expect if a reliable car.

Contacted my local Kia Dealer. Terrible service. Couldn't get he in for 14days for diagnostics as they "are dealing with so many recalls" reassuring....

Diagnose same problem that I told them it had. Cost £2100. Really, a whole turbo assembly is only £650. They woukd put a warranty request in.

Takes 10 days for Kia to reject it. Despite my last serviced due at 60,000 or 72 months being undertaken at 38,000 and 67 months. Hmmm....apparently I had done 14000 in the 7 months between services...so invalid. It says this nowhere in their service book on ts and cs.

Reported to Motor Ombudsman.

I bought brand new Kia e-niro in 2022 from the company, just in 3 months a problem starts with the vehicle electric system and again this happens on 1st April 2025. I dropped the car to Norton Way GWR Kia Brentford TW8 9FX service department but almost 6 weeks they didn't back to me with any updates.
Almost i phoned them 9 times and always they said we call you back but they never do.
I explained them this morning as i am using the car for PHV i stopped from work already for 6 weeks but they don't care.

Awful
Bought car - within 2 weeks reported 2 major faults (that many customers have reported). Here we are over a year later, folllwing bodged repairs, missed appointments and a failed attempt at rejection being told that in order to establish whether the warranty applies to the faults their garage has identified, they need to strip the car to the subframe, and if they decide it does not apply, this is all my cost, which will be thousands.
The car is 4 years old with low milage, expensive EV, bought from Kia dealership.
Do not assume that the 7 year warranty will protect you!

never ever contact kia accident aftercare in the event of an accident, we did and are still to this day regretting doing so, the put us in touch with a shit company called MINSTER LAW , one of the very worst bunch of ambulance chasers operating today in my opinion, you cannot say you have not been warned, avoid kia accident aftercare and minster law as you would the bubonic plague.

I really wanted to give the car 0 stars. I have an electrical fault with the central locking. After running my car through diagnostics at my garage, my car didn't even realise there was a fault even though it was clear the central locking wouldn't work. So KIA agreed to take a look. They had my car for nearly 5weeks and they had charged me £600 and still couldn't find the fault. Telling me it would cost a further £800 to do diagnostics. Went to collect my car and the battery was dead. Bearing in mind during this time I had been admitted to hospital for a and was very weak. I can't understand what electrical faults they were testing on a car with a flat battery. The company is a joke! Paid so much money for nothing to happen. Day light robbery at its finest on the disabled & vulnerable.

My husband visited Westdrive Kia Braintree (Essex, UK) with the intention of purchasing a Kia Sportage GT Line. He met with a sales person by the name of ‘Colin’.
From the first encounter with Colin he felt enormous unacceptable pressure to purchase the car. After the test drive and being offered an exceptionally low value on his trade in, Colin the salesman demanded once again ‘are you going to buy this car’?

When my husband presented him with details from Autotrader of a near on identical vehicle for 1K less, Colin became abusive and refused to hand back my husbands car keys, preventing him from being able to drive away and view the other car.

The salesman then walked off with my husbands keys stating that my husband had agreed to buy the car. This was simply not true!
He took the keys into a private room where a sales meeting was taking place with many colleagues present. My husband was in pursuit of getting his keys back, as by this time Colin’s unacceptable behaviour had voided and desire to purchase from this garage.
The salesman manager managed to eventually retrieve my husbands car keys and my husband was finally able to drive away his own car!

As you can imagine this treatment from Colin at Westdrive Kia Braintree was extremely distressing. My husband has NEVER been treated like this in his whole life - in business or in pleasure!

AVOID USING WESTSIDE KIA BRAINTREE AT ALL COSTS. AVOID CONTACT WITH THEIR EXTEMELY AGGRESIVE SALESMAN ‘COLIN’!

My husband contacted KIA UK where he was referred back to the dealership as they are evidently a franchisee and not under the control of KIA UK!

My 22 plate Kia EV6 one day came up with a “battery management system malfunction” warning so I took it to my local garage. They couldn’t fix it so I was told it would need to be sent to their Walton facility as that is the only specialist centre where Kia can fix electric batteries and there is a 3-6 month wait for it to be even looked at. 11 MONTHS LATER it’s still waiting to be fixed, I have not had one update/explanation/apology from Kia or my local Kia garage (TMS Leicester), it’s always me who has to chase for updates. On the 1st April it was apparently 3rd in the queue to be fixed, called 2 days ago for another update but surprise surprise no one has got back to me. I have been provided with courtesy cars, all of which have been a lower class of car than my EV6 and the first one was a petrol Nero so more expensive to run. I wouldn’t advise anyone to buy an electric Kia if this is the service you can expect.

One star is too good for Kia. Our Picanto is less than 2 years old and has had 2 replacement starter motors and a replacement motor cylinder. At one point we were without a car for 11 days as it was dangerous to drive and back in the dealership being looked at. Rang and emailed Kia several times about a courtesy car as we had a 7 year warranty and was just fobbed off throughout. Clearly Kia's customer care disappears once they have your cash. I would rather buy a skateboard than another Kia car.

Kia, two things. Whatever you are paying Brenda Henderson in the Bath dealership, it is not enough. She is amazing at customer service and this should be recognised by you. On the other hand, TWO courtesy cars for the whole of your Bath customer base is totally inappropriate. I have booked 3 times for a service to be carried out, only to be let down by you the day before because the courtesy car that I need to get home, is not available at the last minute. It is not appropriate that you let customers down in this way, or that you expect your customer service staff to have to deal with disappointed customers on a daily basis. Come on Kia - you really need to improve your performance here.

1 star is pushing it, we have had 5 kia's over the years never will we get one again, customer service was shocking and to charge for something that is now not covered by the warranty is disgusting, no curtesy car while issues where being repaired and car getting more issue's while in to be repaired, no faith in the manufacturer any more 😔

Asked customer enquiries a simple question about whether the model of car has a timing belt or chain. Told they can't respond as I am not the registered keeper of the car. Told to visit local dealers- the same ones who said it is ok to drive the car with leaking brake calliper. Very disappointed in their poor response to a simple technical enquiry and being fobbed off, it's ridiculous.

Been waiting 5+ months for a Drive Shaft to arrive from South Korea.. Still no ETA! RIDICULOUS CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Also be aware if u have a EMAC service plan.. it can't be transferred to any Kia dealership. My car is 2 months late for its service. So when I do eventually get my car back I will have the hassle of booking it in for a service from the place of purchase. WOW!

NO CUSTOMER SERVICE

My wife and myself have purchased a Kia stonic and decided that Kia insurance offered the best deal on insurance with a reasonable price of £600….this was an online quote. When actually trying to purchase said insurance the site informed us that it wasn’t able to take online purchases and to call instead. So quick call was made. The gentleman man who dealt with us sounded so uninterested and bored(I know it was a Saturday and you would rather be doing something else) it was unbelievable. I said we had completed the online form which he got up and proceeded to ask the same questions again. He asked for an exact date of passing drivers test my wife(main driver) had hers so easy. I didn’t have mine so was asked to guess. Then told if date not correct then could affect price when corrected. In the end we said just insure wife. He quoted £1100 plus for the year. Stating that ncb wasn’t going to be counted due to being on a company car.
This is a company that is best avoided for car insurance tempt you in and double the price with any excuse. Undoubtedly be like getting blood from a stone if you have the cheek and audacity to make a claim. Save yourself the time and money of a call and go else where for a superior service.

SHOCKING EXPERIENCE WITH CAR SERVICE – Check the Price Before Handing Over Your Keys!

I booked my annual car service online for £233, but upon arriving at the Maidstone Dealership, I asked for price confirmation and was shocked to hear that it would be £370!

When I showed them my confirmation email, they dismissed it, claiming the online price "probably didn’t include VAT." However, VAT wasn’t mentioned in the email or during booking—and even with VAT, the total wouldn't reach £370. Then, they suggested I had booked the wrong service, which we quickly clarified was not the case (2nd-year service, under 20,000 miles).

As if that wasn’t enough, they suddenly started offering me a "free car wash"—which I declined since my car had been washed the day before. Eventually, they said the best price they could offer was £270.

At this point, I was completely speechless and had lost all trust in them. I took my keys and walked away—who knows what they would have done to my car after all this hassling? This is totally unacceptable customer service, with misleading pricing and sudden price changes without any reasonable justification. It felt like they were pressuring me to accept whatever they say.

It's also worth mentioning that they breached Section 20 of the Consumer Protection Act 1987, which makes it a criminal offense for businesses to mislead customers about pricing.

I will be avoiding the Maidstone Kia dealership in the future!

Awful company, false promises, don’t reply to emails. Absolutely shocking customer service. Talk to you like ****