Dealer demo info from smartusa email

[marcrhodes]

I emailed smartusa the other day, complaining about not getting enough info, and not having received a confirmation for my reservation placed the first week of June '07. This was the follow-up email I received. Doesn't say much, but interesting tidbit about the demo's and dealers.

"Dear smart Enthusiast, The smart fortwo is scheduled to launch in the first quarter of 2008. Each of our official dealerships will be equipped with two demo vehicles and one accessory vehicle. We are currently in the final stages of establishing our dealership network, which is expected to be announced after January 1, 2008. At this time, we are staffing stores and training personnel. We currently have over 70 dealer candidates in 50 cities across the country. Once the dealership network has been established, reservation holders will be contacted by the dealer in their area, and dealership information will be available on smartusa website. Over the next few weeks and months, groups of reservation holders (in order of when reservations were placed) will be contacted by email or by phone to participate in the next step of the reservation process known as the Reservation Confirmation Program. Please be advised, this is not an order, but rather another phase in the reservation program. The purpose of the Reservation Confirmation Program is to help expedite the ordering process and minimize the overall wait time for your smart fortwo. If you have any other questions or concerns, please contact us via email or by phone at 1.800.smartusa. Thank you for your interest in smart USA. You will be hearing from us soon! Alex Pina Customer Service 1.800.smartusa."

[Lewis]

If this is true it's yet ANOTHER step added to the endless process! My understanding was after the email confirmation came the contract with the dealer. If this is true I will be VERY dissappointed.

[Carnut]

This confirms our suspicions that the confirmation was just a step in the process and does not constitute a purchase order. We expected this to be the case.

Interestingly, your reply from smart does answer another question brought up in this forum that addressed dealer accessory offerings. It appears that one of the demos will be "gussied" up with all the doodads they will be marketing as dealer installed.

[PassionforPassionCT]

It seems that maybe they have stopped taking orders straight to the factory. Maybe those in an area where a dealer is scheduled to open, they will wait for that dealer to take the order. Of course I havent really been paying attention to confirmation as I reserved in late Aug!

[dbwill]

Originally Posted by Carnut

This confirms our suspicions that the confirmation was just a step in the process and does not constitute a purchase order. We expected this to be the case.

Interestingly, your reply from smart does answer another question brought up in this forum that addressed dealer accessory offerings. It appears that one of the demos will be "gussied" up with all the doodads they will be marketing as dealer installed.

The paragraph below is from the e-mail I received after I had made my Configuration choices. As I read it there is no change to the process as stated by smart, Also the invitation to confirm is clear that this is only a reservation. am I frustrated Yes, do I think they have changed the process or lied, No!

Now, there is a timing problem as my first e-mail acknowledging the $99 said:

My emphasis.

"An authorized smart USA dealer will contact you in the second half of 2007 to place a formal order for a smart fortwo. Details of your reservation can be found below."


Thank you for finalizing your smart fortwo reservation by selecting your model choice, color and options. Click below to get a printable version of your vehicle preferences.<clip>
As vehicles become available, an authorized smart USA dealer will receive your vehicle preference information and will contact you to work out the details of your purchase agreement and arrange for delivery.
Please be sure to keep a copy of your reservation acknowledgment details for reference. Should you have any questions, please call 1-800-smart-USA.

[eqwalker]

What happened to the statement that there would be an announcement "next week" that was stated last week?

[spdickey]

Its been moved to January to allow dealers to be trained and staffed to handle all the questions you will undoubtedly want to throw at them.

The confirmation is part of the production process, when I tried to make some last minute changes, I was told it would delay delivery by months.

This all seems consistent in that we have not yet signed purchased orders and put in big prepayments with our dealers. I knew since the biginning that I would have to do something at the dealer before the car would be delivered. I also have know since the beginning that the dealer would not be in place before 2008.

As a 1173 I am watching this timeline carefully. They are still on track IMHO.

[kmeinhold]

They are configuring vehicles for which they have nothing more than a refundable $99 deposit. What ratio of "confirmed" vehicles translates to sold vehicles will be, is anyones guess. My financial commitment so far has been a fully refundable $99, it seems the risk is all PAGs so far. It certainly is a new way of selling cars.

[saronian]

PAG is restricted from ordering or selling, so they will always quote from a prepared statement. I suppose it's possible for a limited number of cars to arrive without a specific dealer available to process the sale. But this crossover period should only last 1-3 weeks and the car's could easily be held a week at the port and a week at the main dealership of the associated smart center.

I can understand that regulations require a dealer to be the point of contact which makes it hard to pinpoint exactly when each configured reservation holder will be contacted. Most likely some will be contacted 1-2 weeks out of order based on dealership preparedness.

I'm only guessing with the rest of you.

[tx56o1]

New to this forum... nice to finally find some info! I'm a May reservation and I am confused by all of the references to "1173" and "1174." is this a confirmation number that people who have been offered the configurator have? As of Jan 10, I still have not received a next step email from SmartUSA and my inquiry to Smart customer service went un-answered. Has anyone developed a sense of how far into the 2007 reservations Smart will get? Have the people who have been given access to the configurator provided any feedback on when they placed their reservations? Thanks!