A man who purchased a used 2022 Kia K5 claims one of the automaker’s dealerships tried ripping him off.

He vented his frustrations in a video posted to the official TikTok account for Newfoundland, New Jersey-based auto sales business Ziggy Brothers (@ziggybrothers). The used Kia owner begins his video by showing off a warning light in the car’s dash. Which he says displays a problem with the vehicle’s all-wheel-drive actuator.

The Ziggy Brothers employee explains why he brought it to a Kia dealer

Although he’s well-versed in servicing his own vehicles, he saw the K5 had a number of recalls. Consequently, he opted to take it to a Kia dealer in order to get those recalls taken care of. While in their shop, he thought he’d let the Kia techs take a gander at the actuator warning light. This way, if it was still under the brand’s 10 year/100,000 mile powertrain warranty.

Kia Warning Light Trouble

What the service team sent him back prompted a visceral reaction: “What the [bleep]?!” he shouts into the camera, before cutting to a screenshot of the Kia dealer’s repair quote. The next screen shows a “Related requested service” page with a warning message that warns “immediate attention” is needed.

The ominous vehicular issue at hand? A “rear diff[erential] pressure sensor harness wire repair” was needed, according to the Kia dealer. Furthermore, it came with a $673.75 price tag, which the Ziggy Brothers worker was not happy with.

After showing the screen captured image, he claims that the dealership is pulling a “scam” on folks who aren’t “mechanically inclined.” That’s because he says a wire harness repair shouldn’t cost anywhere near the amount cited by the Kia service team.

An online search of the Korean manufacturer’s OEM online parts store indicates that a 4WD harness coupling for 2021-2025 K5s retails for $46.93. The Ziggy Brothers poster went on to call the Kia dealer’s charge “complete bulls—.” Moreover, he says that he “looked up the part number” for the component, and shows it off on camera. It bears a striking resemblance to the above-linked OEM part on Kia’s online store.

A DIY Advocate

The man goes on to say he purchased the item for just $33 and that replacing it is a breeze. “Three plugs. That’s all it takes. You can do this in your driveway, so that’s what we’re gonna do,” he tells viewers. He continued, “I get it. Most people think they have to take their car to the dealer, and you don’t. Go into…a private individual-owned business/mechanic shop. Most of the time [it’ll be] your best bet. Because they have a heart and a soul and they care about what they charge, they care about their customers,” he urged consumers.

As he continued with his clip, his diatribe against the dealership raged on. The mechanic was astonished that the dealership wasn’t even going to replace the harness, but repair it. Afterwards, he speculated as to what he believes happened with the car before comparing and contrasting the new and damaged units.

According to the TikToker, he believes his wife must’ve hit a pothole or some road debris while commuting on the road. This errant shrapnel, he presumes, must’ve struck the harness, prompting the error light on the K5’s dash.

Next, he shows the older harness, which had one of its wires severed from one of its plug connectors. “As you can see there the black wire is broken,” he tells his viewers whilst holding it up to the lens. Then, he outlines just how easy it would be for a tech to swap out the part. The amount of labor, by his estimation, doesn’t justify a $673 charge. “I am so angry and so frustrated from this because, $673 repair for laying underneath a car while it’s up on the lift. Or standing under the car while it’s under the lift. Popping three plugs off and replacing the harness.”

Done With Kia

He says the experience prompted him to purchase his wife a $2,500 Ford Explorer. It’s a vehicle that he says has “nothing wrong with it,” while adding that he’s unsure of what he’ll do with the 62,000 mile Kia K5. He went on to call the sedan a “piece of s—.” Further compounding his disdain for the Kia dealership was a conversation he heard another customer have at the service desk. The Ziggy Brothers worker says the woman was being charged approximately $2,000 to have her brakes and rotors replaced.

To cap out his video, he strongly advised folks to stay away from dealerships to have their vehicles serviced. And there are others who would echo this recommendation. A Reddit user who posted to the r/LifeProTips sub made their case for independent mechanics over branded auto dealer shops. According to them, dealerships often charge “more than 3 times the amount you would pay” at privately owned garages. Several folks in the comments section of the same post disagreed with this stance. Many stated that in order to keep their vehicle’s original manufacturers warranty intact, they opt to go the dealership route.

This mode of thinking reverberated in a Community Car Talk forum discussion, as well. Car owners stated that they preferred to bring their vehicles into dealer-branded shops while it was still under warranty. However, once that expired, they would then seek out privately owned businesses for their vehicle’s maintenance needs. JD Power presented pros and cons of going to dealerships versus individually-owned garages, too. The research company argued that dealerships have more up-to-date, brand specific tools at their disposal. Additionally, manufacturer’s warranties are virtually guaranteed under dealership work. Although, like others have stated above, this can come at a higher cost.

Which Services Should You Avoid at a Dealership?

In an op-ed piece on Yahoo!, several mechanics revealed the jobs they would never have performed at a car dealership. For them, tire rotations and replacements are straightforward enough procedures for most independent businesses to be trusted with. They added that windshield and battery replacements, oil changes, brake pads, and air filter switches, can be done outside of a dealership. Also, any type of “basic fluid top-off,” is best left to a non-dealership business, along with body work and spark plug swaps.

For many commenters who replied to The Ziggy Brothers post, the biggest issue was the fact that he bought a Kia. Numerous folks maligned the brand. “That’s your fault you bought a Kia. Them cars suck and they charge you luxury car prices,” one person penned.

“The real homework would have been on knowing that this was a bad buy,” another TikTok user wrote. However, there was at least one person who defended the brand. By their estimation, a simple wire harness replacement on a car with 62,000 miles doesn’t mean the vehicle’s bad. “So the wire harness was the only issue you mentioned and you say it’s trash? Also it’s called labor my guy every mechanic charges labor,” they remarked.

Someone else also had choice words for dealership mechanics. They replied: “All dealerships are the same way. Went to Nissan dealership in lakecity fl for car not coming out of park. Contacted us saying it was going to be $4000 to fix. Went and got a second opinion from a private shop. Ended up being a blown fuse. End up paying for diagnostics only,” they said.

MotorBiscuit has reached out to Kia and Ziggy Brothers via email for further comment.