paroyboy:
It was not one particular thing but a combination, first we would have had to settle for something other than what we really wanted.
The 3+ hour drive was probably the biggest drawback, especially when they told us we need to give them our credit card number so they could charge us $1000.00 to hold it for a couple days. We had our own financing already and did not like having to deal with getting our $1000.00 back from the dealer, yes they might have refunded it without any problems , then again they might have used it to try to leverage us into buying additional products and or services. I have been in that type of situation before, and although they eventually give back the money, the risk of extra time lost saying no to the sales pitches was just more than I wanted to do. Maybe we are just old farts, but I didn't want to use my credit card. If we wait until we order, we can use a check as there is no rush.
I realize everyone is different and some don't mind doing all the things it takes, but I grew up in dutch country and this just rubbed me the wrong way. I kept thinking the local car dealers are bending over backwards for our business and I know Smart car dealers need to "sell" more than we need to buy at this time. Come January/February when there is 6 inches of snow on the streets and the salesman hasn't had any prospects for two weeks, he might think differently as well.
Thinking back, if they had not insisted we put $1000.00 on our credit card we would have picked up a new Smart car on Good Friday, paying full price. Right now we are thinking it is better to wait and order exactly what we want and have it delivered to a PA dealer that is closer.