Miss Fire or Crank Position Center.
A misfire means it's like a heart skipping beats ... but it still beats. The term is crank position 'sensor' and on our car, bad crank sensors threw a check engine light but didn't stop the car from running, not to mention actually not starting ... which is not to be confused with the motor not turning over by way of a battery powered starter: what I think you referred to as 'chugging'?
If the starter is turning the motor over (and over and over and over) but the motor won't 'start' ... as in continue running, your starter is fine. So fuel and spark need to be looked at. I don't know anything about Kias.
It's likely the AAA tech could hear the fuel pump turn on when he turned the key to the run position. The next thing to look at is the coil pack if you have a coil pack. No way you still have a distributor ... but either would be at the opposite end of your spark plugs ... unless it's a diesel. Ha ha, j/k kind of.
If you don't have spark plug wires, then it's coil on plug. Towing it to Auto Zone will get you a free diagnostic of stored trouble codes ... but the AAA guy? No code reader? I wouldn't tow a car to a parts store for a free code check. No way is that worth the hassle.
Fo Sho you need to recharge your battery by now. Any service station should be able to do that for a few bucks.
It could just be bad gas, especially if the vehicle sat, unused before finally making its way to you.
It might have a fuel filter ... cars are fun.
Learn how a broken timing belt can damage the crankshaft position sensor on your Kia Optima. Explore maintenance tips, costs, and owner reports on RepairPal.
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