Dealer Operations

[Old smart]

Appearing in another thread this morning was a note that there were a lot of orphans on the lot. scVAB had about two dozen cars yesterday, and the manager told me that the paradigm has now changed and that all but two were provided as 'lot stock" like any other dealership and not necessarily "local orphans." Maybe part of the national re-distribution program.

Of course they took advantage of their status and added some dealer options like Lojack and leather to a few. The leather isn't the plain black smart option but some color-matched stuff. There was a white/black coupe with black/white hides - pretty sharp. $2500 for the leather. I don't begrudge them that; I'd like to see my sc remain in the black and not go away like White Plains.

[chieftmc]

Originally Posted by Old smart

Appearing in another thread this morning was a note that there were a lot of orphans on the lot. scVAB had about two dozen cars yesterday, and the manager told me that the paradigm has now changed and that all but two were provided as 'lot stock" like any other dealership and not necessarily "orphans." Maybe part of the national re-distribution program.

Of course they took advantage of their status and added some dealer options like Lojack and leather to a few. The leather isn't the plain black smart option but some color-matched stuff. There was a white/black coupe with black/white hides - pretty sharp. $2500. I don't begrudge them that; I'd like to see my sc remain in the black and not go away like White Plains.

AGREED

We will ALL be in a dilemma if the sc's start drying up and blowing away

[Okie Boy]

I was at smart center Tulsa Saturday, 3/14/09 to attend the First Birthday party at the dealership and to have my upgrades done while I was there my, my bild date was 12/08. I was told that they had about 20 orphans on the lott.

[ayaussy]

Anyone else have their dealer tell them a dealership in the NE had its inventory taken away because they were cheating on the waiting list? I haven't seen anything about it in news or here but I picked up an orphan supposedly because of this.

[fpage77]

Originally Posted by ayaussy

Anyone else have their dealer tell them a dealership in the NE had its inventory taken away because they were cheating on the waiting list? I haven't seen anything about it in news or here but I picked up an orphan supposedly because of this.

Exactly how were they supposedly cheating? Were they selling the places in line to purchase?

[eqwalker]

Went to Tulsa, OK yesterday (Friday) and picked up my Brabus and they had about 10 on the lot at that time.

[Pops900]

Originally Posted by fpage77

Exactly how were they supposedly cheating? Were they selling the places in line to purchase?

This is just a guess but is it possible for the dealerships to create fictitiuos reservations where the smarts all end up in their showroom?

[jwight]

Originally Posted by Pops900

This is just a guess but is it possible for the dealerships to create fictitiuos reservations where the smarts all end up in their showroom?

I suppose it's possible but each reservation is accompanied by a drivers license number and a name which I am pretty sure smart USA validates.

[Big Panda]

When I was at SCI last, they still had a gaggle of smarts and I was told that only a very few were actually 'orphans'. If I was told correctly, smart centers are 'allocated' "X" number of cars per month. If a smart center has only 15 cars (due to the economy, you KNOW they're not getting the reservations they are accustomed to) "reserved" in a month and their "allocation" for the month is 30, then they're going to have 15 cars for the general public.

We're getting a few more cars here in the US than last year and the demand has decreased.....hence MORE ON THE LOTS!

[SubSlr88]

I wouldn't have expected the paradigm of "orders only" stock at dealers to last very long. Even if they had to delay some reservation holders, some stock had to become available for on-lot display, test driving and to satisfy those who wander in off the street and 'just-gotta-have-it-NOW!' SCClearwater had about 8 on the lot last month when I was down - no conformation as to how many were orphans, however.