Smart Dealers & Orphan Add-On Information

[Osiris]

When I was in Edision smart in April they added lojack to all their orphan cars. I hear now from friends I told to go there they add quite a bit more to orphans.Maybe the rep who reads this forum can update us?

[vegpeddler]

our new orphan, from the West Covina, CA dealer had about $5000 worth of add ons to our Passion - upgraded leather and navigation system. did we need it, no, but we were happy to get the Orphan. No additional fees to be on the orphan list originally.

[sreeb]

I bought my orphan from the San Diego dealer with no add ons. At the time, they had 3 passions with add ons but they didn't seem to be attracting much interest. This was in late April.

[Smart09]

smart of gables florida adds on about 9K more on their cars. i have been called and none of the orphans are less than 22K

[deltadart]

There was a new Suzuki dealer here in town and he tried the add on gimmick price scheme. He would add door edge gaurds($100),pin stripes($125),etc. On top of that he added $1999 to the sticker price and called it "Market Adjusted Price". Well 5 months ago he went out of business. I remember in the early 80's car dealers were adding $500(Subaru,Toyota)to there cars and calling it "ADM". It stood for Additional Dealer Mark-up. They got in trouble cause they wouldn't disclose what ADM stood for.

[Osiris]

Can the listing for smart of Edision be changed.Ray Catena have gone to profit being more important than customers and we have three different confirmations.It seems to be getting worse.

[bewareenglewood]

Actual price paid at Englewood Smart Center located in New Jersey.

Lojack Cost = $1395.00 + tax
Window Etch = $399.00 + tax
**
LoJack+Etch+tax = $1901.64

After a few calls to other smart dealers and some googling I found that LoJack should not cost more than $695. (which is still a somewhat high price). Charging double is simply not fair. Smart center Englewood also looked me in the eye and told me that the price they were charging me for LoJack was a lower than normal price. When I called them back on it the day after purchase, he laughed at me. He said that they can charge what ever they want for items like LoJack.

Learn from my mistake and don't support dealers like smart center Englewood who take advantage of their customers.

not smart.

[Flashman]

Originally Posted by bewareenglewood

Learn from my mistake and don't support dealers like smart center Englewood who take advantage of their customers.

I venture to suggest that the real lesson is to learn from your mistake is do your research BEFORE purchase rather than after.

[JPaul]

Originally Posted by bewareenglewood

[...] I found that LoJack should not cost more than $695. (which is still a somewhat high price). Charging double is simply not fair. [...]

To ease your mind somewhat, if I remember correctly, there are two lo-jack services: one "cheaper" (in the $600 range) for the basic system that is limited to Law Enforcement equipped entities; and a "more expensive" one (in the $1,000 range) that also calls pre-programmable specific phone numbers, like the owner's?

[bewareenglewood]

Originally Posted by Flashman

I venture to suggest that the real lesson is to learn from your mistake is do your research BEFORE purchase rather than after.

I agree with you. The other lesson is to not believe the lies that the brand managers at smart center Englewood tell you.