Probably shouldn't do this but I'm peeved, to put it mildly, at the lack of info from Penske to the Louisville smart center. So, my car was offloaded at Baltimore on Dec 13, 2007. Still sitting there rusting as far as I know. First official day for smarts in the USA was Jan 14, 2008. It's now Jan 21 - 7 days later and no delivery info whatsoever. The Louisville brand manager pinged smartusa today and was told they are "moving cars as fast as they can" - not helpful. So, to keep some visibility on the situation I'll update this each day until the car is delivered.
John...it buggs me that you are more stoked about getting this Lil bugger then you were over the Z06..... hummm is the Brit mini in heat?
No, I was just as nuts when the Z was on order; the good news is you can track a Corvette through each stage of the production process until it's complete. We also took the museum delivery option and picked it up in Bowling Green, KY. If only smartusa was as focused on providing info to their dealers.
I take it then yours was not one of the 4 cars that was delivered this morning. Hopefully they will get the kinks worked out of the system, and work on a better tracking system. I wonder if the dealers can eventually tap into Precision's system...that would be nice!
BTW, rumor has it that one of the four cars delivered today in L'ville had "CDI" badging on it, despite NOT being a diesel. Those French love to poke fun at us!
No, our car was not one of those or I wouldn't have started this. It's not the wait, it's the lack of information that really gets me. Obviously somebody somewhere knows what's happening but they don't see the need to pass the info to the dealers.
I talk to the great folks at the dealership alot. They are doing all they can do, the best they can. I get frustrated as well, but believe me, it's not their fault.
I talk to the great folks at the dealership alot. They are doing all they can do, the best they can. I get frustrated as well, but believe me, it's not their fault.
I'm not blaming the dealership (well maybe a little, as I think they should be making more noise to get the info their customers need). This is an information flow disconnect from PAG to the dealers and only PAG can fix it.
The start of Day 8 and the only news is smart center Louisville is apparently charging $499 in dealer "fees." Have e-mailed the brand manager for confirmation and details on what these fees are.
"Dealer fees are $499.25 and they include all dealer prep and
notary fees. The fees are the same at every Sam Swope dealership and we are required to charge the same amount in fees on every retail transaction. They do not include license and title fees."
Have asked if the requirement is state or local law; BTW, the Swope Auto Group listed sales of over $434M for 2007.
Have a call in to smart usa to have our car diverted to smart center Indianapolis.
Last edited by jwight; 01-22-2008 at 10:23 AM.
Reason: corrected the $434M figure - sales, not profits
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1976 Rover Mini
2003 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
2007 Mercedes-Benz E320 Bluetec (SOLD)
2009 smart Passion (Gone)
2011 smart Passion
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