Some surprising (and upsetting) news today...

[Padawan]

I mentioned in another thread how I had taken All Ball (my white cabrio) in last week to have the alignment checked and the fuel gauge reset. The gauge was fixed, and the RO said the tech drove the car and the alignment "seemed normal", so no changes were made.

This week, I noticed a noise coming from my transmission, so I made an appointment and also asked that they actually put the car on the alignment rack, because since taking delivery the car has seemed to wander a bit and the steering wheel is cocked slightly to the right while driving straight.

I got a call a few hours later from the store manager expecting to hear that everything was fixed and All Ball was ready to come home. Instead, he told me that the front end (specifically the control arm and spindle) was damaged and that this would have to be an out of pocket repair for me.

Needless to say, I was shocked, since I'm the only one who drives All Ball and have never been in any sort of collision or driven over rough terrain. It was clear to me, especially since the car had behaved exactly the same since day one, that the damage was present before I took delivery. Perhaps a careless lot boy, a problem when it was coming off the boat, or a pothole when they took it for a pre-delivery fuel-up come to mind. In any event, I simply can't in good conscience shell out a large chunk of money to fix something that I didn't break on my car.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to proceed? All Ball is my only transportation, and he's in the shop waiting for the parts until at least Monday or Tuesday. I've already contacted 1-800-SmartUSA and logged a complaint, but what else can I do in such a situation?

I love my car, but I feel as though my smart center and smart USA are really letting me down here.

[jwight]

Just my .02, but talk to the general manager at the smart center or his/her boss; if that isn't satisfactory ask to talk to the regional manager. Wouldn't hurt to put this in writing to smart HQ in Detroit. The "tech drove the car and the alignment 'seemed normal'" approach from your smart center is pretty weak - not much of an alignment check. Stick to your guns and take it up the chain as far as you have to. Good luck.

[Padawan]

Thanks jwight. I'm doing my best to get it taken care of. Do you happen to have any contact information for smart HQ or someone higher up?

And just to rub salt in the wound, I was out at Home Depot tonight with my girlfriend and we ended up parking right next to a black Passion with red interior. I miss my car.

[jetfuel]

...whatever you do...don't loose your cool...
...approach the situation in a very professional matter..
...wish you luck my friend...and hope you get All Ball back home soon

jetfuel

[rwcmick]

I think your theory is sound. Damage before delivery happens all the time. My friend bought an Acura TL w/ 7 miles on the ODO from the dealer. A few months later, she backed into a pole. While it was at the body shop, she got a call from the owner who told her that the car's bumper had been repainted before. Of course, she was never told about any damage when she took delivery. She didn't want to hassle with the dealer, but obviously it was very disappointing.

Stick to your guns with the dealer and continue to pursue with smart usa. I think you should be able to resolve this without it getting nasty.

Best of luck!

[forestacademy]

Padawan,

Add Part of your story to Pre-delivery checklist .

At least add check alignment before you get out of town.

[epbrown]

Originally Posted by rwcmick

Of course, she was never told about any damage when she took delivery. She didn't want to hassle with the dealer, but obviously it was very disappointing.

There was a big legal case about this years ago, I forget the name of the guy. Anyway, someone discovered his BMW had been previously damaged while doing an accident repair and sued for damages saying it hurt potential re-sale value. The result of the case was that a standard was set: and dealers don't have to report damage to a new car if it's less than 5% of the retail price or something like that. Cars are scuffed and scraped during shipment/delivery all the time - the prices would double if every car ever sold had to be shipped in an enclosed trailer, one at a time.

As for Padawan's case, I had something similar happen in November. My BMW M Coupe had a broken motor mount, and I was told I must have hit a pothole or something pretty hard, but the damage was $1200 and it wasn't covered by warranty. I later learned that several M Coupe owners had discovered that their motor mounts weren't properly torqued at the factory, and this was always discovered during the first warranty service. Mine had broken before the service (literally days before - they did the service while they fixed it), but it's likely the motor mount was already improperly torqued.

The dealer says there's no way of knowing it was loose after the fact - tough luck. I've escalated it to BMWNA, but I'm not too hopeful - too few places have seen the issue, and with only 1800 cars sold here there isn't much chance of a lot of owners coming forward.

Lucky for you, it works in your favor that you reported an issue before the failure.

[smark]

Originally Posted by Padawan

Thanks jwight. I'm doing my best to get it taken care of. Do you happen to have any contact information for smart HQ or someone higher up?

And just to rub salt in the wound, I was out at Home Depot tonight with my girlfriend and we ended up parking right next to a black Passion with red interior. I miss my car.

How many miles are on you car??? You say it been like that since new.
Sometime in transport, cars can get damage. I worked at a dealer years ago, in a new car get ready. We would get cars in with all kinds of damage to them. I had tolook over them when received, and fill out damage reports. Who know what happen from France to here!!!! Talk with the service manager. Good Luck

[Dunerunner]

Originally Posted by Padawan

Thanks jwight. I'm doing my best to get it taken care of. Do you happen to have any contact information for smart HQ or someone higher up?

Here are some higher ups!

smart USA Distributor LLC
2555 Telegraph Road
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302-0954
Phone 1.800.762.7887

Address for Roger Penske

Penske Automotive Group, Inc.
2555 Telegraph Road
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302-0954

Tel: (248) 648-2500
Fax: (248) 648-2525

[Smart Enuf]

Originally Posted by epbrown

There was a big legal case about this years ago, I forget the name of the guy. Anyway, someone discovered his BMW had been previously damaged while doing an accident repair and sued for damages saying it hurt potential re-sale value. The result of the case was that a standard was set: and dealers don't have to report damage to a new car if it's less than 5% of the retail price or something like that. Cars are scuffed and scraped during shipment/delivery all the time - the prices would double if every car ever sold had to be shipped in an enclosed trailer, one at a time.

I believe the US Supreme Court case you're thinking of is BMW of America, Inc. v. Gore, 517 U.S. 559 (1996). That case was about whether excessively high punitive damages against BMW violated the Constitution's Due Process clause. The Court laid out a three-part rule for determining if punitive damages are unconstitutionally excessive. The rule might help the OP in figuring out the appropriate compensatory and punitive damages to sue for, but that would require actually pursuing litigation.

If I recall, the 5% you mention (actually it was 3%) was not a rule that the Court came up with, but rather it was BMW's admitted policy for determining the car damage threshold below which it would continue to sell a car as new even if it was damaged after leaving the factory. In BMW's case, it admitted that its policy was to sell cars like Dr. Gore's as new if it had been damaged during shipping and the cost of repair (in Gore's case, damage to the paint) was 3% or less than the car's MSRP, or something like that.

With its namesake, I doubt smart USA would actually cop to a policy like BMW's, but you never know.