John G

Kia Sorento - Extremely Corroded

I bought a Kia Sorento (53 plate) with only 62000 miles with full dealer service history by Hammertons so I could tow a small caravan 3 times a year. I thought that buying through a Kia dealer would be peace of mind, the fact that it had 1 years mechanical warranty with the sale. When inspecting the vehicle before purchase I noticed a small weld patch on the inner sills, so I asked the salesman "Is this vehicle going to need further welding come its next MOT?". He reassured me that it would 100% not need any welding as the vehicle was "solid" and "they would not be selling it otherwise". After driving the vehicle home from Leeds to Edinburgh I noticed diesel fuel dripping from the the tank onto my driveway the following day. I contacted Hammertons regarding the warranty and they told me the warranty company had gone bust due to covid and they would send me a replacement tank, which they did. It was fitted at my local garage. I had to pay £60 out my own pocket for the additional hours labour due to the corrosion of the bolts that held the tank in. Then when the MOT came around the outer sills on both sides of the vehicle were absolutely rotten with big holes all the way along. I could not see this at the point of sale as the vehicle was fitted with plastic sill guards. The garage said this level of corrosion must have built up over multiple years and would have been present at time of purchase. The vehicle had only been driven for 1500 miles by me and was only on the road for less than 5 months. The vehicle was then SORNed and stored in my ventilated garage. I contacted the manager Paul Johnstone and asked what he was prepared to do about this. He ignored multiple emails from me asking him to rectify the situation. It was only when I phoned him directly that he acknowledged he had seen my emails but had been ignoring them. He wasn't prepared to do anything. As far as he was concerned the vehicle had a fresh MOT at the time of sale and so the corrosion was not his problem. I later found out that all their MOTs are outsourced to another garage and are not done by Hammertons. The repair cost was in excess of £1200 without using genuine Kia parts. The Kia sills themselves cost £450 + VAT. The matter is now in the hands of the motor ombudsman as the garage have refused to cooperate. I strongly advise not to use this garage as the service fell well short of what I would expect of a Kia dealers. I thought I would have peace of mind opposed to buying from a backstreet garage or an auction,, but that was not the case.