why does my nearest dealer have 11 Smart Cars available?

[KathyMoore]

I visited my nearest Smart Car dealer today. I test drove a pretty
red on red Smart! It was the second time in my life that I drove
a Smart.(the first time was back in 2005 when I rented one in Basel,
Switzerland, for 3 days)

The new model feels more well refined. The noise still bothers me
a bit, especially on rough roads or on my gravel driveway. I always
test drive by driving from the dealership all the way to my own
house. That, IMHO, is the only way to really test drive a vehicle.

Anyway, I sat down with a salesman after we returned to the
dealership. I was expecting to thank him and be on my way...
since I figured the wait is at least serveral months before I can
get my hands on one. Much to my surprise, he asked me if I
want to buy one today. (!) The dealership had 11 available.
Yes, eleven! The only option not available on any of them was
leather...

Why are so many people not taking delivery of the Smart Cars
that they had reserved?

Like a smart car buyer, I told the salesman that I'd think about
it and get back to him...

[angel]

Where do you live that a dealer has 11 available?

[2009Aveo5]

Originally Posted by angel

Where do you live that a dealer has 11 available?

Well, I counted there are 68 dealers in the U.S. according to the map at Smart USA. (I really don't have too much free time...ha) So apparently these dealers tend to have 6 to maybe up to 11 smart cars as demos. Why do they need so many demos...give it up already. Sell me a Smart!

[Smartdavis]

My suggestion. Grab one of the orphans if you liked the car. There might not be as many as you think.

[t-bone]

Originally Posted by 2009Aveo5

Well, I counted there are 68 dealers in the U.S. according to the map at Smart USA. (I really don't have too much free time...ha) So apparently these dealers tend to have 6 to maybe up to 11 smart cars as demos. Why do they need so many demos...give it up already. Sell me a Smart!

Where did you hear they have 6 up to 11 demos?

I think most dealerships have 2 demos (one fully loaded passion and a loaded cabrio) for people to drive and then only 3 showroom cars (one of each model). And none of these cars are allowed to be sold.

[2009Aveo5]

Originally Posted by Smartdavis

My suggestion. Grab one of the orphans if you liked the car. There might not be as many as you think.

Ah, I've called about a third of the Smart dealers...there will be plenty of Orphans in my opinion. February was a rare month for delivery, very few were delivered. However, March and April there are an estimated 15 to 30 per month, depending on the dealership...the only thing that will limit the availability would be Spring and people seeing them on the road and saying, oh mate, I have to have that little car. Seriously, February was a time when only a handful of cars were delivered at these dealerships. I could be wrong, but it seems things will get better. The car has all kinds of issues with it from the transmission to the warranty to the time it has taken them to get their act together for delivery, I suspect a lot of people will have changed their mind, but I could be wrong.

[2009Aveo5]

Originally Posted by t-bone

Where did you hear they have 6 up to 11 demos?

I think most dealerships have 2 demos (one fully loaded passion and a loaded cabrio) for people to drive and then only 3 showroom cars (one of each model). And none of these cars are allowed to be sold.

ohhhh, well I am just saying based on the two Connecticut dealers that I have visited. Fairfield, CT has at least 6 demos (maybe 7 or so) and the same for East Hartford (which is basically Hartford as it's as close to downtown Hartford as you can get). I haven't been to other dealers. It's been a while since I have been to the Manhattan branch. I'll be in the Boston area soon and well there's about 4 dealers in that vicinity, then I have to travel to a few other places for work. There should be a lot more of these cars available come Spring so long as people don't start really wanting these cars when the warm whether starts to hit.

Hmmm, but 2 demos + 3 showroom cars = 5 cars...well, CT there are two showroom cars in the building and about 4 or more cars outside. I'm 99 percent sure the Fairfield branch had 2 cars inside and no less than four cars outside. I doubt any branch has 11 demo cars although I wouldn't put it past the Beverly Hills, North Hollywood branches to break the 6/7 demo/showroom car mold. None of them have the comfort package to my knowledge and they all look like modular mobile home buildings (hence the 2 year/24k warranty decision)

[Smartdavis]

Originally Posted by 2009Aveo5

Ah, I've called about a third of the Smart dealers...there will be plenty of Orphans in my opinion. February was a rare month for delivery, very few were delivered. However, March and April there are an estimated 15 to 30 per month, depending on the dealership...the only thing that will limit the availability would be Spring and people seeing them on the road and saying, oh mate, I have to have that little car. Seriously, February was a time when only a handful of cars were delivered at these dealerships. I could be wrong, but it seems things will get better. The car has all kinds of issues with it from the transmission to the warranty to the time it has taken them to get their act together for delivery, I suspect a lot of people will have changed their mind, but I could be wrong.

It appears February was slow in Sacramento as well. The dealer is expecting more cars in March. However, my hunch would be that in California it might be a bit harder to get a car because we have the nations highest gas prices (usually), people out here love new stuff, and our weather is more Smart friendly. I think the Smart is going to do well out here.

[Smart_ABQ]

I resisted the urge and visited our dealership again about a week ago and was told that there was a holdup at the port. She didn't say what it was for but I think there has been discussion on this board elsewhere about smart needing to check a few things over before releasing the vehicles.

Hopefully they'll step up deliveries here in the spring.