Your opinion of the two dealers?

[drmickeyer]

Originally Posted by SmartAnita

...Bill Lindahl was very helpful, the service experience was very efficient and the waiting room was great. I have friends that buy their Mercedes' there and they also have praised this dealership.

Agreed, Bill Lindahl has been great, but he's the guy that you deal with and he's very good at it. It's the actual techs that let me down not once but twice. I was there again today to finally get the right rear panel replaced and all went well. Bill even went to lunch early so that he could be back in time to get the car back to me.

[polarbear17]

We just got 2 orphans from Lincolnwood. We had nothing but great things to say about Mike and Billy. : )

[maverick1]

Take the time and buy and service in Milwaukee. All are good on the service but Eric answers email and the others hardly answer the phone. "voice mail"

[SmartJohnny08]

I bought my smart in June of 2008 at Lincolnwood, and my salesman was Colin, but billy and mike are all cool guys. Colin is a good guy, not pushy. And when I bent a rim they fixed me up with no problems, and I didnt have to pay a single cent.

[MacUserMDM]

Bought our orphan yesterday at Knauz in LB. Really wonderful people there, very friendly and efficient. We were waiting for our pure (due in May) but fell in love with a cabrio orphan and just had to have it. They were nice as could be and really efficient (sorry, I really love efficiency in car dealings). We need to get an interior door panel replaced, as there is a snag in the fabric, but Knauz in just down the road from work. I'll report back on the service experience after Madeline (the cabrio) goes in for that.

[Neonspinnazz]

smart Center LB
Nice people there with knowledge about the car. The facility was uber clean, by far the best car dealer I've been to.
We talked to Alan Janka, nice guy...

[Rocknroland]

Purchased my smartie at Loeber in Lincolnwood. Had big concern about them being far away in regards to the service and repairs. Mike told me they'd tow it in if needed.
At 1200 miles check engine light lidup. Sure enough they put my Silver Brabus on the flat bed and called me to let me know they've got the car.
Next day I received a call about the findings. Service advisor told me that found the problem and my HID lamps set-off engine check light!!! And he proseeded to tel me that I should only use factory options!!! So I asked him about the radio. Would that also set-off fault codes? I asked him to explain co-relation of lighting accessories and ECU. He called back few hours later stating that they've called Smart and were told to flash something and that they did it and the code is gone and the car is ready for pickup. Somehow I get the feeling that he ment to tell me: - we did what we were told and now you on your own. I hope is just o'l me
Goin' in to pick it up tomorrow. Will see how it goes..

[forestacademy]

FYI 97.9 mi – about 1 hour 43 mins

Thats Rockford to Milwaukee.

Figure out what you want, Let all three dealers know what you want. Order a smart for $99, and if one of the dealers gets your match as an orphan jump on it. They shouldn't charge you to be on a list for an orphan and you can simply call all three each week to find out what they have for orphans.

Only problem with driving up 43 to Milwaukee. Thar road sucks and Im glad no one has to use it to get the the dells rally. But the folks at the milwaukee smart cener ar dedicated to only smarts.

[meaux61]

I can speak to Indianapolis vs. Lincolnwood. Lincolnwood is far superior as far as customer service goes. Mike Mendoza took excellent care of us. I had configured a silver silver brabus and the config email said N/C for the silver trid and panels. The car arrived with 400.00 extra for those. Smartcenterlincolnwood swallowed the extra 400.00. They also threw in free floormats. I have dealt enough with Indy (my first smart was purchased there) to KNOW that they would have never done either. Oh hell, he gave us 4 keychains too in LW. Its small but its something. Mike is customer service all the way.

Now, on service, I had my 08 serviced for 10k at SCIndy and the service was OK. They did not fill the air in the tires and they charged 270.00 for it. I called the Owner, Linda to find out why so expensive for so little service and she never called back. Then, they did major bad customer service when a deer hit my car and it was towed in at the insurance company's (my) expense by not doing the repair when they had it. It was towed back with nothing done. I had to have Smartusa tow it back later for the repair and then had to get a ride to the dealership (100 miles) to pick it up. There is more to this story, but it was bad.
SCLincolnwood also charges 270.00 for the 10k service. However, when I called to ask about it, they explained why. Still not a good reason, but at least they explained what they do. I am going to try Lincolnwood for the 20k service and see what happens. I expect to get another smart in 10 and depending on how SCL treats me on the service I will probably have that one sent to Lincolnwood as well. I know someone else who wants a smart and I am sending her to Mike at SCLincolnwood.

Meaux

[Belleveu1]

Anyone know how many Smarts have been sold by the Lincolnwood dealer and are out on the road locally? We have an (uninformed) friend who claims that there are "no" Smarts in Chicago since she hasn't seen one.

Thanks.