it doesn't matter. plain and simple. i said this elsewhere and i'll say it again here. I live in CA, the state with the highest cost of living. if my dealer can "survive" on a $55 state mandated doc fee, then why can't a dealer in KS where the cost of living is half of that of CA but they seem to be charging $250 or more!
cost of doing business is figured into the MSRP of all cars. if they didn't want to sell the cars, they should not have signed up for a dealership.
eventually, the rest of the country will catch on and your lazy politicians will mandate the fees just like our lazy politicians did. until then, pay away.
also, FYI, Mercedes is NOT the importer of these cars. Penske (PAG) is. So the Smart is not a loss leader for MB, they have nothing to do with it. PAG and the dealerships assumed the risk, not MB.
I agree, it simply not the point, they can substantiate a myriad of reasons for a mark-up, but it is gouging. If there is a problem with the MSRP and the dealer expenses that is not the consumer's problem. I can think of plenty of types of retailers, and even dealers of vehicles like motorcycles, that do not make much per item yet still have to maintain the high cost of lots of stock, staff and overhead - that's the business they are in, it is based on working with the parameters of manufacturers prices or even less, really it is not our burden to bear overcharging for whatever rationale and it not something we agreed to in this case.
BMX43, I do know that Mercedes is not the importer but what difference does it make? It is Mercedes which decided they had better bring the Smart to the USA. Certainly not Penske. Mercedes decided to keep some distance from the Smart because it is not really a Mercedes car. So they found Penske, who agreed to front for them and to be the official importer of Smart. Is Roger Penske making money off of this deal? You bet he is, handsomely, and so he should. As for Mercedes, by selling the Smart through an "independent" non Mercedes affiliated dealer network ( ha ha ha, seems like most Smart dealers are also Mercedes dealers), not exactly related to MB, they can test the market to determine whether it is worth their while, to certify other, M-B cars for the American market. I did already mention the Mercedes "A" class. Google it. It is not that far off rom Smart! Have you seen an A-class Mercedes at a any of their dealerships? No, you have not. It is not really part of the image Mercedes wants to maintain in this country. The Smart car is a test bed. For us, it is a great car. For them, it is a niche market. They will sell every Smart they can bolt together, that is for sure because there are are many "Smart" people in this country, who can see the writing on the wall. The success of Smart will ultimately depend on how many of them they can sell here.
BMX43, I do know that Mercedes is not the importer but what difference does it make? It is Mercedes which decided they had better bring the Smart to the USA. Certainly not Penske. Mercedes decided to keep some distance from the Smart because it is not really a Mercedes car. So they found Penske, who agreed to front for them and to be the official importer of Smart. Is Roger Penske making money off of this deal? You bet he is, handsomely, and so he should. As for Mercedes, by selling the Smart through an "independent" non Mercedes affiliated dealer network ( ha ha ha, seems like most Smart dealers are also Mercedes dealers), not exactly related to MB, they can test the market to determine whether it is worth their while, to certify other, M-B cars for the American market. I did already mention the Mercedes "A" class. Google it. It is not that far off rom Smart! Have you seen an A-class Mercedes at a any of their dealerships? No, you have not. It is not really part of the image Mercedes wants to maintain in this country. The Smart car is a test bed. For us, it is a great car. For them, it is a niche market. They will sell every Smart they can bolt together, that is for sure because there are are many "Smart" people in this country, who can see the writing on the wall. The success of Smart will ultimately depend on how many of them they can sell here.
alright man. i'm not gonna argue on this. the fact is that MB wanted nothing to do with this car in the US. i'm very familiar with the MB A Class. as i've posted here several times, i travel to Europe quite frequently and see all kinds of cars branded with names that are hard to believe sometimes. i'm not a fan of the A class and i don't believe MB will ever bring that the US under the MB nameplate. They are much too concerned about tarnishing their image with a low-end car. i do believe they will bring a version of the A Class, just branded Smart. I stand by my comments that MB is not the importer nor the risk taker here, they only allowed it because somebody (Penske) stepped up and made them an offer they could not refuse.
bmx43... I seriously doubt that Mercedes went out to look for somebody they could convince Smart is the key to make a Zillion Dollars. They have met somewhere in the middle. Obviously, Penske's PAG and its subsidiaries, is a serious business and big enought to tackle big jobs. Hey, they even tried to buy my company... :-) ... I do agree thaty MB did not want to have anything to do with Smart in the USA. Simple reason for it is, the Smart is just not big enough (... is that a pun?...) to make it worth their while. MB was forced into this. Plain and simple. They could have had Zap and leave them with all the glory, or, they could, and they did decide to pursue it, grab the market share and control the distribution by forcing Zap oout. Anyway, at this hour, 22:10 hours to be precise, I am not going to argue this any further. The bottom line of all this is, that all of us, myself included, cannot wait to take delivery of our Smart car. Let us wait and regroup until after and then we can exchange more thoughts and barbs, as they may apply. Cheers! Ronald
It wasn't Diamler who didn't want to bring the smart in a few years ago, it was the Mercedes dealers as a whole who vetoed the project. So to make an end run around the dealer group, Diamler went to Penske, a large dealer group himself to set up a distribution network. MB dealers got first crack, but look there are quite a few what are stand alones, not inside MB stores.
The dealers will be making about $1500 per smart on the markup over invoice. That includes 7% dealer margin and 2% bonus for cars delivered within the dealers market area. Some dealers will still try to add fees "dealer prep" which smart thinks should take about 45 minutes, and "doc prep" paperwork charges which in some states goes as high as $900. This is all negotiable and IMHO should be kept to a bare minimum. CA dealers are held to $55 doc fees.
Here's the first report of a delivery on this board from West Covina. Fees were very minimum there and since its a Penske shop, the way it should be. BTW destination charge is $645 everywhere.
It wasn't Diamler who didn't want to bring the smart in a few years ago, it was the Mercedes dealers as a whole who vetoed the project. So to make an end run around the dealer group, Diamler went to Penske, a large dealer group himself to set up a distribution network. MB dealers got first crack, but look there are quite a few what are stand alones, not inside MB stores.
The dealers will be making about $1500 per smart on the markup over invoice. That includes 7% dealer margin and 2% bonus for cars delivered within the dealers market area. Some dealers will still try to add fees "dealer prep" which smart thinks should take about 45 minutes, and "doc prep" paperwork charges which in some states goes as high as $900. This is all negotiable and IMHO should be kept to a bare minimum. CA dealers are held to $55 doc fees.
Here's the first report of a delivery on this board from West Covina. Fees were very minimum there and since its a Penske shop, the way it should be. BTW destination charge is $645 everywhere.
Good luck with your OLGA let us know how it goes
karl
I don't understand the uproar over the dealer charges. Most thinking adults would KNOW that this was going to happen. One good reason is this forum. For months everyone has been breathlessly awaiting ANY information on their new little arrival. Has the ship docked yet? Oh look, I just saw a picture of my yellow and black in line with all of the others.
The dealers can get on here as easily as anyone else and they have seen frenzy that has been generated by US!
Now it doesn't take too much imagination to figure out that SOME dealers are sitting back and saying to themselves that they are going to cash in on this.
There is at least one poster on this forum willing to buy anything he can get his hands on, from anywhere in the country. That right there says a lot about how much some people are willing to do to get a smart.
If you just HAVE to be the first on your block to own a smart so that you can be guaranteed a feature story on the six o'clock news then jump in with both feet. Keep phoning the dealer to find out if the car carrier has finished his lunch break and is back on I-95. Let them know that $400, $500, $600 is not too much to pay for that car wash and those cute paper floor mats.
Nuff said.
Except that I will pay $55 because of California law limiting these outrageous fees at Beverly Hills Mercedes of all places. And in Sarasota, FL the folks there are being ripped off by the dealers who have the legislature in their pockets. Glad I live in California, even with the 7.75% sales tax.
Remind the dealer that he is making 7% margin on the sale and 2% bonus for selling the car to someone in his market area. He has run NO advertising, and it cost him $50 for him to get your order from smart USA's rez system. You have not dickered on the price at all with him and are paying STICKER for the car.
He knows he has you over the barrel since you've been waiting since March '07 when you reserved. And he probably won't budge. Ask him to throw in some floor mats, perhaps take some money off the warranty if they won't budge on their precious "paperwork fee."
Now think about this. If you didn't live in Calif. and your dealer was tacking on some outrageous prep fee would you stand your ground and walk away or would you pay, however reluctantly? Please be honest.
Now think about this. If you didn't live in Calif. and your dealer was tacking on some outrageous prep fee would you stand your ground and walk away or would you pay, however reluctantly? Please be honest.
AZ dealer wants $400, I am going to request my car be delivered to me in CA if I can.
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