[ColoradoKia]

For some existing electric cars, local dealers may not be certified or have the equipment to service them, while others do. I wonder how Kia will handle this in the US--will all dealers be able to service adequately or just some who choose to make the necessary investments for training and equipment?

 

[dc30307]

I wonder how Kia will handle this in the US--will all dealers be able to service adequately or just some who choose to make the necessary investments for training and equipment?

Kia's "find a dealer" search tool does allow you to filter the results to only show "Authorized EV Sales and Service Dealers".

 

[ColoradoKia]

Great--thanks for the alert on that search option. But, for some reason Access is Denied at the moment...

 

[s7davis]

Normally if your dealer is able to sell the car they will have at least 1 or 2 techs trained to service them. With this day and age of EV cars with the main stream companies they will need to get some technicians certified to be able to work on these cars because of all the electronics and HV (high voltage) systems on these vehicles. If they do not get a technician certified that dealer should not be able to sell you the car as they need to do the initial service before delivery anyways.

At least with Ford that is how it was if dealer did not have a certified train technician that dealer could not sell the car as they will not be able to service it.

 

[Cnsheets]

My local dealer said that when I purchase the EV6 from them that they’ll throw in lifetime oil changes for free. What a bargain!

 

[MurlinatoR]

For some existing electric cars, local dealers may not be certified or have the equipment to service them, while others do. I wonder how Kia will handle this in the US--will all dealers be able to service adequately or just some who choose to make the necessary investments for training and equipment?

@ColoradoKia

Okay, so currently, only select dealers are "EV Certified" but on January 1st, EVERY Kia dealership is required to be EV Certified which will allow every dealer to sell AND service them.

 

[ColoradoKia]

@ColoradoKia

Okay, so currently, only select dealers are "EV Certified" but on January 1st, EVERY Kia dealership is required to be EV Certified which will allow every dealer to sell AND service them.

Wow, that is great news!

 

[s7davis]

My local dealer said that when I purchase the EV6 from them that they’ll throw in lifetime oil changes for free. What a bargain!

LOL you should ask them does that include differential oils lol. And the Hydraulic Blinker Fluid.

 

[voxel]

@ColoradoKia

Okay, so currently, only select dealers are "EV Certified" but on January 1st, EVERY Kia dealership is required to be EV Certified which will allow every dealer to sell AND service them.

That was the same rule as VW and Ford.... and here we are 8+ months later with numerous stories about dealerships not having the correct tools and specialists.

Each dealership is a free and separate entity capable of making their own decisions and many of them have said it's too expensive to buy all these tools and ramp up. What Kia/Hyundai need to do is to provide incentives like monetary assistance or free advertising on their site (THIS DEALER IS EV Certified and has all tools to support your new EV). VW and Ford both (supposedly) offered free/low-cost training to their dealerships but not all dealerships accepted.

 

[MurlinatoR]

That was the same rule as VW and Ford.... and here we are 8+ months later with numerous stories about dealerships not having the correct tools and specialists.

Each dealership is a free and separate entity capable of making their own decisions and many of them have said it's too expensive to buy all these tools and ramp up. What Kia/Hyundai need to do is to provide incentives like monetary assistance or free advertising on their site (THIS DEALER IS EV Certified and has all tools to support your new EV). VW and Ford both (supposedly) offered free/low-cost training to their dealerships but not all dealerships accepted.

Hey @voxel ! For Kia, it's a requirement. There isn't an option to NOT be an EV dealer as of January 1, 2022.

 

[voxel]

Hey @voxel ! For Kia, it's a requirement. There isn't an option to NOT be an EV dealer as of January 1, 2022.

This all sounds great... just like Tesla opening up Superchargers... but I have serious doubts.

1) There very few EV6s to sell on 1/1/2022
2) It can easily cost $35K for new EV specific equipment (Ford estimates on the low-end).
3) EV training is quite involved. I spoke to the VW EV specialist... it's not something that you can train in 2 months. Many times they've worked with Teslas or other EVs for a while. Would you trust a new mechanic with 2 months of training working your car for the first time?
4) While I love my Kia dealer... and spoke to them about the EV6 (no info except owner sat in one in Vegas)... I dealt with others. As I said before, Kia dealers are on the budget side so they aren't flush with cash/resources like the Toyota/Lexus dealerships. I don't see them spending the resources catering to a $50-60K car market when their prime base is mostly Fortes, Sorrentos, Sedonas.

I love how Kia is pushing for it... I applaud them. The timeline is too aggressive. Jan 2023 might be more reasonable

 

[MurlinatoR]

This all sounds great... just like Tesla opening up Superchargers... but I have serious doubts.

1) There very few EV6s to sell on 1/1/2022
2) It can easily cost $35K for new EV specific equipment (Ford estimates on the low-end).
3) EV training is quite involved. I spoke to the VW EV specialist... it's not something that you can train in 2 months. Many times they've worked with Teslas or other EVs for a while. Would you trust a new mechanic with 2 months of training working your car for the first time?
4) While I love my Kia dealer... and spoke to them about the EV6 (no info except owner sat in one in Vegas)... I dealt with others. As I said before, Kia dealers are on the budget side so they aren't flush with cash/resources like the Toyota/Lexus dealerships. I don't see them spending the resources catering to a $50-60K car market when their prime base is mostly Fortes, Sorrentos, Sedonas.

I love how Kia is pushing for it... I applaud them. The timeline is too aggressive. Jan 2023 might be more reasonable

What you aren't aware of is that it's been a work in progress with Kia dealers for months now. 25% of the dealer network was already EV certified. I believe that most of the dealer network has already finished getting certified and trained. EV training for service and sales has been happening for months as well. I'm guessing that less than 10% of the network will NOT be certified and they will be penalized for missing the deadline.