oh, btw....."rwjrn", "sundiego" and "mikie", your OWNERSHIP BIAS is showing.
oddly enough those of you who HAVE don't seem to care as much about those who HAVE NOT. guess it's easy to take that view when you already HAVE your smart........
but i guess that's the way of the world now.............
now what the smart centers DO with that orphan prior to that call, as far as accessories, add ons, etc....that would be entirely up to each center. sorry, it's THEIR car...they can do with it as they please. i don't like it, but the fact is they're in business to make $$ and need to turn a few extra bucks whenever possible.
This statement as well as some you've made in the past is where I got the dealer bias from. I added the smiley in hopes you would take it as the good natured jape it was intended to be. Wasn't trying to flame you.
Glad you could make the commitment to your principles by removing yourself from the orphan list. I tend to be more practical in my views and go along with the corrupted system and do what works best for me since 99% of people will be doing the same. That being said, when my car comes in I will be donating my current dealer showroom model cabrio to my sister who needs something other than her Suburban or my brother-in-laws truck with 300k on it.
oh, btw....."rwjrn", "sundiego" and "mikie", your OWNERSHIP BIAS is showing.
oddly enough those of you who HAVE don't seem to care as much about those who HAVE NOT. guess it's easy to take that view when you already HAVE your smart........
but i guess that's the way of the world now.............
I don't want the market to be flooded with smarts. Do you?
If you already reserved your smart you expected a 22 month wait. So when someone decides they don't want their smart, the dealership isn't allowed to sell the car to someone else? If you want a smart in a short period of time and you have reserved one then get on the orphan list, it's there for a reason. If there isn't an orphan you like, then stick out the wait until yours comes in.
oh, btw....."rwjrn", "sundiego" and "mikie", your OWNERSHIP BIAS is showing.
oddly enough those of you who HAVE don't seem to care as much about those who HAVE NOT. guess it's easy to take that view when you already HAVE your smart........
but i guess that's the way of the world now.............
I would be perfectly happy with a fair system such as I outlined in my earlier post. I was lucky enough to go to the dealer on the day they decided to sell the showroom model. Had I not bought it there were 4 other people looking at it that would have. If they had told me at the time that they had a system in place that only allowed the cars to go to reservation holders based on longest time on the list I would have accepted that as fair. But I'm not going to turn down a car for a principle when someone else right behind me is going to buy it. I'm also not going to give up my reservation just so the dealer can add on unwanted items and gouge somone. If I were told at the time I would have to give up the car I wanted in order to get the car offered that day I wouldn't have done it. You can hardly make a rule after the fact and expect me to like it. I suppose you can complain that I don't care enough for my fellow man to allow them to take my reservation,(and you'd be right) but this is a CAR we're talking about. I'm not taking extra rations of food away from starving children. I'm simply saying I want the car I RESERVED and am still waiting for.
Last edited by rwjrn; 07-15-2008 at 09:30 PM.
Reason: grammar
I made my reservation last year, I put down my money (and $99 is not an unreasonable amount I might add), I configured my order, I waited my turn, I picked up my car exactly as I configured it, and I love it. If the dealers are able to make some extra money on the "orphans", more power to them. They (for the most part) do not appear to be gouging the public, like adding $50.000 to a Corvette Z06, or $4500 to a Hybrid just because they can.
If an orphan happens to match that of another customers reservation (in the same region - there is no need for the dealers or manufacturers to bear the cost of shipping vehicles clear across the country) then perhaps they should meet that demand first, but if not, then let them make some reasonable profit so their dealership is there to meet my needs in the future with service and support. Many of the current "big 3" dealerships will not be.
It's supply and demand, basic economics 101, welcome to the real world.
Although I waited almost a year and had only a desktop background of the Passion I ordered to keep me happy, the fact that I could sell my car today for a couple of thousand dollars more than I just paid for it, has never happened to me before. Instead, I'm used to a vehicle who's value is reduced 20% the minute I drive it off the lot. It's the only bright spot I can see in the current U.S. economy.
Oh, my... Are we no longer a democracy? A free market society? Are we now living in socialists UK? Are you going start calling for the banning of anything you don't agree with?
I bought an orphan, got in line, paid top dollar and obeyed all the rules. I also kept my reservation. I'm entitled to be a reservation holder and purchase my car as much as anybody.
You've got some odd ideas, Jeepster55.
Let’s ask this question:
Who has signed up on a dealers orphan list and was NOT offered a car within 6 weeks? The answer might tell you if the present system is working or not.
I guess this post was bought upon by my buying an orphan Cabrio. When smarts were first announced I read the reviews and well they said they car was a joke. Flash forward to April 2008. I went to the dealer because now they had cars I could actully drive and I had the the time.
I took two trains walked about 2 1/2 miles to the dealership and drove the car. Yep I liked it very endearing fits exactly my needs.I didn't need to be first or look cool,it just felt comfortable. Put my reservation in and told the dealer exactly how I wanted it optioned. I was happy the dde on the website said about a year wait. Mean while the dealer offered me an orphan passion.It wasn't what I wanted but thought about. While I was thinking a customer came in and I opened a conversation with him and actually sold him an orphan. He thought he could get the car for months. He was extremely happy.
My dde was taken off the website and now the wait was 2 years according to smartusa.So I asked to be put on the orphan list at the first dealer,nothing(after months). I visited another just to see and bang aweek later the dealer calls and says you can have a cabrio loaded if you say yes right now. My thoughts were this is not the car I want but if I take it when my car is built I can trade. You know I could be dead before my car comes to be.Life is not fair good people die,little kids get cancer and good things happen to bad people. I thought life is for the living start to live, oh and well I think there should be a policy there is not, just the way it is. If I did not say yes the dealer had about 50 people who would have bought the car,right then.
now what the smart centers DO with that orphan prior to that call, as far as accessories, add ons, etc....that would be entirely up to each center. sorry, it's THEIR car...they can do with it as they please. i don't like it, but the fact is they're in business to make $$ and need to turn a few extra bucks whenever possible.
This statement as well as some you've made in the past is where I got the dealer bias from. I added the smiley in hopes you would take it as the good natured jape it was intended to be. Wasn't trying to flame you.
i understand and appreciate you NOT 'flaming me'! i work in the psrts dept of a dealership, FAR REMOVED from the new/used sales end ot it. as a parts employee where i work, we are at the bottom of the food chain AND treated as such, so for me to be accused of taking 'sales' side of this i find rather ironic.... just attempting to be unbiased from BOTH sides.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SunDiego
I don't want the market to be flooded with smarts. Do you?
no, i don't.......and it will never happen either. as long as smart centers don't have a stockpile of inventory or ANY inventory at all, the market will never be saturated.
Quote:
Originally Posted by notsobadyathink
Oh, my... Are we no longer a democracy? A free market society? Are we now living in socialists UK? Are you going start calling for the banning of anything you don't agree with? you've got some odd ideas, Jeepster55.
Let’s ask this question:
Who has signed up on a dealers orphan list and was NOT offered a car within 6 weeks? The answer might tell you if the present system is working or not.
first, you comment about a 'democratic society' really has nothing to do with the setting of 'corporate policy'. we live by rules day in and day out. what does that have to do with anything in my post? if there were NO 'corporate policy' from smartusa, then there wouldn't even be this discussion about orphan lists...there simply wouldn't even BE an orphan list. canceled order equals car open to the highest bidder....plain and simple. i think smartusa and the smart centers have taken great strides to attempt to keep things on a level playing field. it's just now, over a year later, some of their policies need to be re-evaluated and 'tweeked' a bit.
oh, and btw....i was on the 'orphan list' at SCI from the first week in April to last week and did not receive ONE call offering me an orphan. when i went on their list, there were about a 100 on it. now it's OVER 200. they don't get THAT many smarts in 6 months, so how could they possibly fill their orphan requests in 60 days?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Periclaws
I guess this post was bought upon by my buying an orphan Cabrio.
sorry "Periclaws", bad example on my part. while i did post asking about your intentions with your 'orphan', i didn't mean to single YOU out. this is something that i've said in the past and just thought that it needed to be said again. many on this forum feel that the $99 deposit deal has run its course and needs to be revised.
my intentions with what i suggested are only to put NEW smart cars in MORE peoples hand and sooner, without flooding the market and without the dealers loading them up AND without people hording them for profit only.
the whole point is that if those of us who reserve a smart are REQUIRED to give up our reservation for an orphan, i believe less people will be willing to do so and keep the cars they ordered. this could only speed up the entire process for all of us.
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i work in the psrts dept of a dealership, FAR REMOVED from the new/used sales end ot it. as a parts employee where i work, we are at the bottom of the food chain AND treated as such, so for me to be accused of taking 'sales' side of this i find rather ironic....
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