It was a unique way to got to market, but KIA started offering long warranties on their vehicles right from the start to give the UK public some confidence of an unknown car manufacture brand. Even now, Kia will off a 7 year warranty on new vehicles in their range, which is quite astounding bearing in mind these cars are still one of the cheapest on the market. But this raises some issues when buying Kia car parts, because when other makes and models are starting to age and there is a temptation to use aftermarket or cheaper parts, with Kia you need to be well aware of the warranty conditions.
The rules of the warranty are not that specific, so it is in the hands of the vehicle owner to chance genuine parts or buy something that resembles the original. An alternative solution is to buy used Kia car parts from specialist breaker yards, so you save money but still have the same parts that wee attached from new. There are very few Korean specialists on the breaker yard market, but many Japanese specialists bolt on makes like Kia and Hyundai. The availability of these parts may not be as good as you think as Kia have invested heavily in newer models, in fact Kia have really turned a corner in recent years with great reviews, but that does mean that Kia parts may not be as abundant as many would think.