Question?

[pokeyrider]

Suppose the closest dealership that I can buy a Smart is in Houston.
I am in New Orleans, 360 miles away.

Will I have to drive my Smart back to Houston to get service, or will any Mercedes or Chrysler dealership here in New Orleans be able to provide service?

Any thoughts on this?
Bill

[slowpoke]

I think that question is on the consumer minds and the factory developmental teams mind to. With out a network, with out inventory. only regional sales (authorized dealers) will be popular. I traded my VW cause the dealership was 45 minutes away.

[SmartCard]

My guess would be probably not. I own a MINI Cooper, purchased from Cincy about 100 miles away. While the MINI is now a BMW, BMW dealerships are not authorized to service MINIs under warranty. But surely New Orleans would get a Smart dealership, you would think?

[eqwalker]

That is a question on my mind as well. The closest cities where the tour will be to me is Tulsa, OK and Dallas, TX. Both about 5 to 6 hours away. Granted if they put the dealerships where the tour stops are. I'm beginning to think I may be the only one to have reserved one in Arkansas. Or, at least, one of the first to get one. I can only hope that I don't have to drive all the way to Tulsa or Dallas to get it serviced. Although, I do have relatives that live in Tulsa....

[rgaus]

This is an important question that really needs to be addressed by either The Penske Group, UAG or Mercedes. Since UAG is the distribution network, it would appear that the Mercedes network may not be in the loop to service the cars. If I were a UAG dealer, I'd want the customer coming to me for warranty work, not a Mercedes dealer in another part of town.

Curiously, the converted smart car (Mercedes engine) warranties from non-ZAP dealers do allow for warranty to be honored by any mechanic anywhere in the US, regardless of geography or affiliation. Though these higher priced limited edition cars are not wanted by most smart customers, those customers that do buy them, value this more liberal servicing policy. Perhaps The Penske Group will have something similar as well. They certainly will have potential buyers in every corner of America, big towns and small towns.

Ron Gaus, aSmartCar.com, St. Louis

[TomCat]

warranties from non-ZAP dealers do allow for warranty to be honored by any mechanic anywhere in the US, regardless of geography or affiliation.

Question is,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,how adept are these mechanics to work on this car? My guess is they will scratch their head and go "What the hell is this thing?" Your vehicle could be tied up for weeks on a simple repair.
My one BIG reservation about buying this car is needing service, warranty or otherwise.

If I have to drive 25 miles to the closest dealer to buy the car, what do I do if it dies in my driveway? Have it towed 25 miles? Will Smart cover the expense? Will someone drive it back to me when the repair is done or do I have to find a ride to pick it up?

Hopefully there will be some happy announcements coming the end of this year from SmartUSA regarding these issues. Right now we are reserving a pig in a poke, at $99 each. Nobody knows nuthin' (exact pricing/exact options etc) about a car that's not even available yet.

So are we dreamers, fools or ahead of our time?

[Felinae]

I think at least one of us is going to make a lot of money by becoming good at working on these cars and knowing where to find the parts. =)

Hmmmmm. The traveling mechanic. Now there's an idea.....