How easy is the SmartCar to service?

[Peter_Butzin]

I'm thinking about buying one, but the nearest dealer is a 3 hour drive.

Has anyone had experience having an independent car repair facility with little or no experience with the Smartcar servicing this vehicle?

Or should I avoid purchase when and if a local dealership comes to Tallahassee?

[forestacademy]

I would think you would want to talk to your local service guy before you buy to see if they are interested. Basic stuff, like standard interval service anyone can do. You would have to order the filters and bring them in. Basic service is every 10K

But if its a warantee item, your going to have to go back to your smart center.
Due to the scarcity of dealers in the country, there are plenty of folks living great distances from their dealers, its up to you to decide your comfort level

[Old smart]

You (and your independant service tech) can examine the scheduled maintenance actions here: smart USA Owners Portal - Maintenance Schedule .

You will note that the actions are quite simple with the proper parts and service fluids, a lot of it, only checks. Possibly the most difficult thing is to re-set the instrument cluster service reminder.

Specifics on some of the maintenance actions can be found here:
http://owners.smartusa.com/Do_It_Yourself.aspx

Other English (British)-speaking maintenance and repair info can be found here: http://www.evilution.co.uk/ and http://www.fq101.co.uk/

[NCC1701]

Your dealer in Jacksonville is "only" about 160 miles away. Yeah, I guess that would be about three hours, unless you drive like I do.

If you're not comfortable doing the routine maintanence yourself, you could just plan on a day trip once every 10K. At my rate that's almost a year between. I drove to Atlanta for my 10K a couple months ago, and enjoyed the overnighter. For me, a nice diversion from my routine.

For the most part, the cars are very reliable. Going on 13 months now and I haven't had a single issue which warranted a return to the dealer (other than the 10K service which some do themselves).

[kitttie]

I recently had my own mechanic do an oil/filter change (brought the parts with me) because my car is now one year old. However, I am planning to take it to a smart center when I hit 10,000 miles. Will have to wait and see for future service intervals...

[Turbo42]

i will sell you one in tampa and delivery it to you no drive neccesary