DARCARS Kia of Frederick

Stay away from dealership! Whether you are planning to purchase, Need the service center, need parts, need help STAY AWAY! The absolute worst people ever!!

I've had my KIA serviced at this dealership several times and each time they provided top-notch service, not only repairing / maintaining my car but going above what is expected. A special shout-out to Jake and Valerie in the service department. We will most definitely continue to use their services and, when the time is right, purchase a new car from them.

My daughter bought a 2021 Seltos there and has had one problem after another ever since she purchased it but today was the last straw. The car has been burning oil and the dealership is aware and has been monitoring this and actually told her today that even though it’s half a quart low and she isn’t even halfway to the 5000 miles until the next oil change that Kia doesn’t deem that to be enough of a problem to address. This is absolutely beyond unacceptable and we are done with Kia and we have been a Kia family (5 vehicles since 2005). I really feel like she’s being completely taken advantage of and we will never recommend buying a vehicle here to anyone. Now after us talking her into buying a Kia instead of a Toyota she needs to look into trading this vehicle in. I’m beyond furious and will make sure that I share this experience as often as possible!

I'm 73 years old and purchased my first car on my own,I couldn't have been treated better!Brian Berkman was the best service person I have ever dealt. He explained absolutely everything, stayed with me for the whole process. The service was amazing,and so is the car I purchased! I highly recommend you go see Brian when you want your next car!

Was on the market for a new preowned car and saw that Darcars had one that had everything I was looking for, plus was reasonably priced. The sales consultant I initially met with (Kamisha) was friendly and genuinely helpful, and the only reason this dealership gets any stars at all. Because after the pleasant initial meeting, another lady (sales manager?) came out to meet with us to discuss pricing, as in, pysch! The actual price for the car was $2000+ more than the list price, and that's not even counting taxes, registration, tags, you know, the actual fees we're required to pay. No, this lady somehow thought it was justified to charge us extra for the pre-sales maintenance done on the car, as well as their sales commission, and some other bogus fees I've never seen from other dealerships. Told her straight up I wasn't paying for any of that crap, and that if these "fees" are required for their dealership, they should've been part of the list price, and not do this bait and switch crap. She had the audacity to respond that because she was charging everyone for these fees, she couldn't remove them for me. Good to know that they're ripping everyone off equally right? Anyways, I ended up going to a different dealership that didn't play stupid games and got a car I liked even more at a better price. Tldr; Darcars is the definition of a sleazy dealership. Don't fall for their bait and switch tactics, they'll try to jack up the final price of the car with all sorts of bogus fees that you should not be paying!

At the beginning of June 2023, my Kia Optima engine died and I had to get it towed to the dealership (DARCARS Kia of Frederick) and Jake in Service couldn't have been more helpful. I thought my engine was out of warranty, but Jake tracked down the issue and was able to get me a full engine replacement under warranty. Jake took the time, understood the issues and scheduled to have all parts replaced and serviced within a 2-week period. Jake continued to follow up during this time to assure me that all was on track. I had moved to a new state, so I wasn't coming back to get the car, so opted to sell the car from their location. They (Jake and Service Manager, Valerie) were able to find a buyer, which at that time I proceeded to work the deal with the potential new owner. Jake and Valerie were able to provide the new owner with additional information required for the car, and by doing so, the new owner proceeded with the sale and kept the car in service to have a few more repairs done before taking ownership. The sale went through without any issues, and I attribute that to Jake and Valerie who went above and beyond customer service. Thank you again, I really appreciate your dedication to the customer. Rachel C.

Buyer Beware: This Kia service department will do everything in their power to NOT cover damage due to a recall. I feel completely taken advantage of. After my car broke down my local mechanic reccomended I bring my 2015 Kia Soul to a Kia service center because it was showing a code that was linked to a recall that effected the catalytic converter and the engine. After my car sat at the dealership for a week, they called to inform me that the code was no longer showing and that even though all of the damage is most likely cause by the parts that were recalled, they would not cover anything. I was quoted $5800 to fix the clogged catalytic converters and exhaust issues and was told that I would need to pay them $160 diagnostic fee regardless. They did the software update, which they said "satisfied the recall", even though my car was already damaged. I spoke with customer care and they agreed that the code should not matter because the damage is obvious. They called to speak directly with the service manager, who then lied and said that myself or my mechanic must have cleared the code multiple times to allow the car to keep running which caused the damage. Because of their behavior Kia customer service recommended that I take it to another dealership.

Dirty, disorganized, visited the dealership three times (with advance notice)to look at cars and they could not find the cars

1.) Unethical price gouging of beginning sales negations at approximately $9K above advertised MSRP. 2.) Unethical sales practices: 2A.) Not communicating that the price negotiations would begin $9K above MSRP before I took a day off of work and drove 50mi. to dealership to pursue a specific vehicle. 2B.) Not honoring a Kelly Blue Book Instant Cash Offer for $17020 (Initial offer of $13,500 off approximately $41K total fees,, revised to $16,000 (but also along with jacking up fees and commissions first up to approx. $45.9), only to re-baseline at a final offer of. $40.9K plus $2.5K of "assurance program (for a grand total of $43.4K). 2C.) Claiming added fees such as a 2% sales commission were a "requirement from Kia Corporate" for which nothing could be done. 2D.) Claiming dealership would get in trouble if they were audited by the state police, and found to have NOT charged me a 2% sales commission (this was claim was entirely false, and wasn't even present on the initial negotiation quotes). 2E.) Tacking on, without my request or express approval, an extra "assurance program" as a bait-and-switch tactic of artificially presenting a very high price, and then agreeing to lower the price by $2500, in exchange for adding on a $2500 "assurance program". 2F.) Being told that I could decline the assurance program ($40.9K charges plus $2.5K), but that the price would just go back to $43.4K of total charges (i.e. not really much of a choice, as well as a tacit admission the assurance program is worth $0 in real terms). 2G.) Good cop/bad cop sales tactics. DISGUSTING. I regret not walking away from this deal. I held my nose and signed the paperwork because I wanted to get away from those people as quickly as possible and because I needed the vehicle. For all these reasons, I have no desire to set foot in that dealership again or have any further dealings with them.

Love the the one year old 2016 sorento I bought in 2017. Has had many factory recalls but had no problem having them done—-except for a recall to upgrade the emission system. A day after having it done my engine light came on, had never come on before. My neighbor is a mechanic and has a system that that plugs in under the dash that tells you why the engine light is on. It read out problem with the emission system. I called and Kia said to make an appointment and they would look at it. Shortly after that had a different recall so I took it in for that and told them about the engine light being on after the other emission recall and to look at that also. When done they said they just reset the engine light to off. Within a day the light was back on and when I plugged in the system tool there was the readout about the emission problem again. Did not have time to get the car back to them for some time but then got another recall for a different roll away problem. They did that recall and said they could not look at the emission problem because the gas tank was almost full and they would have to charge me $150 dollars to plug in their system reader. Almost a year later and the engine light is still on. Thanks a lot Jack. That’s the guy who was “helping me”. Nice guy But ???????