Kia Dealer Sneaks $8,000 Into Lease Contract, Takes Advantage of Customer

“I’m so lost on what to do now.”

Those should never be the first words out of a customer’s mouth after leasing a brand-new $36,000 vehicle. But for Adrianne, confusion and anxiety replaced what should have been joy and excitement after leasing her 2025 Kia K5 from Mark Kia in Scottsdale, Arizona.

On Sunday, June 1st, I received an email from Adrianne. She found CarEdge through our YouTube channel and reached out for help.

Followed by my reply…

“Dad, I think this customer may have been taken advantage of,” I said, as I forwarded her paperwork to my dad, Ray.

My dad spent 43 years in the car business. In 2019, we launched CarEdge together with one mission: to protect consumers and bring transparency to the car buying process. We’ve evolved since then, but our mission remains the same: make buying a car more fair, transparent, and efficient.

“Oh my goodness, they laid this poor lady out.”

That was my dad’s reaction. Not exactly what I hoped to hear, but it confirmed what I feared. “Laid out” is old-school car dealer slang for taking a customer to the cleaners. This dealership saw an opportunity and took full advantage of Adrianne. “I feel terrible for her,” he said. “But I don’t think there’s anything that can be done.”

That hit hard.

I felt deflated. “How do I reply to her? What should I say?”

About three years ago I got into running and endurance sports. Since then I’ve run five 70.3 IronMan races and myriad marathons. I’ve become a bit addicted to feeling “deflated.” There’s something human and inspiring about feeling beat up, feeling down, and then persevering and pushing through. I think this is why I find myself signing up for more races. I like hitting the low point and proving to myself that I can push through.

My feeling of being “deflated” quickly began to diminish. I started to feel inspired and excited.

“Time to go to battle for Adrianne I thought.” I thought back to my mom’s meaning in life, to repair the world. She raised me through the lens of “whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world,” a quote from the Talmud.

“Time to do a Mitzvah project and repair the world today!”

The Lease Deal From Hell

Kia Leasing and Mark Kia of Scottsdale, AZ, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Is this what you want your brand to be known for?

Let’s break down Adrianne’s “deal.”

The dealership did 3 things that allowed them to make a lot of money and set Adrianne up for failure.

Here is the window sticker of the vehicle she leased. Note the dealer is adding XPEL and LoJack for $1,598. However, there’s much more to the story, as you’ll see below.

First, for transparency’s sake, here is the window sticker:

And below is Section 13, showing optional insurance products:

And here’s how we get to Adrianne’s final monthly payment:

Where do we start? It’s easy to feel defeated after seeing all that was piled on to Adrianne’s deal. Here’s what truly makes this the Kia lease deal from hell, that NO customer should ever have to put up with:

1. They did not discount the selling price of the vehicle. On a Kia K5 we would expect to see a slight discount of say $900-$1,500 off of MSRP. 
2. The dealership sold Adrianne 6 optional and ancillary products, totalling an additional $7,986:
   1. XPEL – $799
   2. LoJack – $799
   3. Kahu – $999
   4. ForeverStart – $899
   5. VSC – $2,995
   6. Tire and Wheel Protection – $1,495
3. On page 3 of the lease contract, section 13, the dealership did not list any added insurance products. Instead they simply added this $7,986 amount to the selling price of the vehicle. That is why the gross capitalized cost is $44,750.14.
   1. This is terribly misleading, because the MSRP of the vehicle is $36,050, however the leasing company approved a gross capitalized cost of $44,750.14. That is ridiculous, and whoever at the leasing company reviewed this contract knows exactly what happened here even though nothing was documented in section 13. Kia Leasing should have never approved the lease contract, in my opinion.

Here is the exact email I sent Adrianne:

Adrianne trusted this Kia dealership, and they outright took advantage of her trust by adding $8,000 in optional products to her contract.

At CarEdge, we’re fired up. We’re prepared to do all that we can to help make this right for Adrianne if at all possible, and at the very least, to ensure that these deceptive practices stop. Far too many drivers have left the dealership lot feeling confused and taken advantage of. It’s long past due for that to change.

The extra $8,000 of protection products added approximately $240 to her monthly payment. We have encouraged Adrianne to file a consumer affairs complaint with the Arizona Attorney General’s office. In the meantime …

Let’s help Adrianne

Please share this article on social media. Please tag Kia, Mark Auto Group, and CarEdge. Let’s get some money back in Adrianne’s pockets and force this industry to wake up and operate more fairly and transparently.

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How to protect yourself when you buy or lease a new or used car

I’ll keep this section short and sweet:

1. Do some research (start here if you like to watch videos, or here if you prefer reading)
2. Remember that if a fee is taxable, it is negotiable
3. Slow the process down, say “no,” and get help from CarEdge.