The Offer
- Test drive a new Kia Optima (including Optima Hybrid) and receive a $25 Kia Visa Prepaid gift card
Here’s how to go about completing this offer:
- Print/email/text the certificate at the above link which will generate a unique code for you (I recommend clicking the box: “I do not wish to receive any information about Kia’s products and special offers”)
- Visit any participating Kia dealer between 7/29/16 and 10/31/16
- Present the printed or electronic certificate and your personal identification
- Test-drive a new Kia
- After your test-drive, have a Kia dealer salesperson complete the required dealer information
- Place the completed certificate in an envelope and mail it to this address: Kia Test-Drive Offer Dept: #16-83723, PO Box 540038, El Paso, TX 88554-0038
- Your envelope must be postmarked by 11/15/16 to receive your $25 Kia Visa Prepaid Card
- Approximately 6 to 8 weeks after submitting your completed certificate, you’ll receive a $25 Kia Visa Prepaid Card by return mail
The Fine Print
- Valid between 7/29/16 and 10/31/16
- Must be 18 years or older with a valid drivers license
- One $25 gift card per household
- Salesperson validation required
- Limited to the first 10,000 certificates received
- Offer valid only in the continental United States including Hawaii and Alaska
Our Verdict
Kia seems to run this offer often with the same details (last one was in February), although previous deals didn’t specify that the test drive needs to be done on the Optima.
In the past, if you were honest about not actually wanting to purchase a car, they would not make you do a test drive and just fill out the form for you. There is some risk, though, in admitting that you don’t want the car, so it may be safer to just do the test drive.
This is also limited to the first 10,000 certificates they receive and it doesn’t look like they will tell people when this number is reached. This makes it impossible to know for certain that you’ll end up with the $25, but let’s hope for the best. Send it in right away to increase your chances.
Note that sometimes the system will flag you as having done the offer if you did a previous offer. There is nothing in the terms that indicates that these deals are once-in-a-lifetime, so you can simply use a different email address and get the certificate that way, and that should let you complete this offer.
You can find previous test drive posts here.
HT: PLP on Slickdeals
So… my guess is that this whole Kia offer was kind of a scam. I’ve called the phone number for the processing center about once per month since August and each time they have no information or updates on when the gift cards will be sent out. They even said they don’t think any have been sent out at all. They tried to blame Kia and said they have no way of knowing anything. It’s now been over 3 months. It’s literally only $25, and Hyundai sends out $50 right away after doing theirs. I clearly wasted my time at Kia that day. Pretty frustrated.
My gift card finally came today!
The $25 gift card finally arrived today. One of the slowest processing gift card redemptions I have seen.
I mailed in this form the beginning of August and never received the gift card. Luckily I made a copy of the certificate before sending it in. Anyone else get theirs?
We’re in the same boat. Called the card processing company today and they said that the application had been processed and approved, and apologized for the delay but still waiting for approval from Kia before mailing any cards. Sounds like none of the cards have been mailed yet even though it’s past the 4-6 week period.
Ok, glad it’s not just us. I also called the number from the form (still had a copy), and they had the application but gave me a different number to call to find out where the card actually was (the rebate processor: 866-923-0052; same number as Staples rebates). Called that number but it was after hours and I couldn’t get an actual CSR on the line.
My gift card came today!
We got ours too. Better late than never.
DH did the test drive yesterday and we’re lucky to find a salesman that wasn’t running after a quota so there was no hard sell at the end of the test drive. He filled up the form and handed it back to us. Mailed the form same day. If all test drives were like this, I won’t have a hard time convincing DH to do more : )
In the form that I print, I do not see any unique code or any of my information (I see only the dealership information to be filled). So if I mail that form, to which address do I receive the $25 gift card? Am I doing something wrong?
Probably not. As long as you can resist the new car smell of an Optima, and the urge to ditch your current car afterwards. If you don’t fill out a request for credit/ loan application, they shouldn’t be able to pull your credit.
Some Dodge Ram dealerships recently had a $50 offer for a test drive, but their program was slightly different. I had to sign-up on the dealership website, print it, and had to take in the coupon when test driving. Took me a few days of e-mails from me badgering the dealership to finally get them to add it into their reward system so I could get my gift card. A couple weeks later I did get the gift card, so the story ended well. Was more of a hassle than it should of been though.
I can’t speak for Kia, but Ram did not pull credit, not even a soft pull. They do ask to see your driver’s license and probably will make a photocopy of it, in case you try to steal the car or something crazy happens, like an accident. I didn’t fill out anything extra paperwork-wise to get to do a test drive, for this gift card, or any other test drive I have done in my life.
As a rule of thumb, if a form asks for a full 9 digit SSN, then it could be a hard pull, and usually clearly states it’s a offer of credit. If it’s a 4 digit, it’s probably soft – like on the car website where you are just pre-qualifying for a loan.
With just a d/l number and no SSN, they shouldn’t be able to pull credit. That’s just my 2 cents of advice; maybe someone who actually works at a dealership can tell you for certain. They certainly would be getting a lot of angry people in the door the week or two later when the Credit Karma / Credit Sesame-wise, etc. people find out they just had a inquiry behind their backs. I imagine it costs them money to pull a credit report, so if there is no serious interest in the car, it wouldn’t be worth it for them to bother. On the other side of the coin, if you act like you have no interest in the car and only there to make 25 bucks, they may give you the run-around. YMMV
Will they hard pull your credit while you’re out doing the test drive?