With all due respect. You got lucky to only pay $300 more for an orphan in December. Air pressure will cost you anywhere from free to 75 cents to fix. A LOT of Smart dealers aren't offering factory option parts such as the tach. The stories about people from the Tampa, FL people driving all the way to Orlando, FL is interesting, apparently there are stand alone dealers such as Orlando where you aren't viewed as the redheaded step child in a Mercedes dealership. I'd like to find those dealers in the northeast/middle atlantic.
I had my Smart going to Manhattan and when I found out it was Penske owned I got scared and had my Smart go to Hartford which took about two months to learn the Smart USA
game of switching dealerships.
I bought an Orphan on March 31st without any add-ons which took me about six weeks calling nearly a couple dozen dealerships. I wasn't necessarily looking for an orphan without add-ons, I was just looking for an orphan. What I found though was when places did have an orphan they had on average $3500 worth of add-ons, typically lojack, paint/fabric/tire/wheel protection, VIN etching and extended warranty. The dealer where I bought the orphan without any dealer addons now does the addons, but to their credit they don't put about half the dollar amount as other dealers. So $300 is nothing. Poor tint job, well they better fix that...but still there are people who paid ten times that amount and ended up with far worse than air in their tires...ridiculously high finance rates would be one example.
Manhattan is a Penske dealer. At first I thought it was just Penske dealerships putting add-ons, but after buying a Brabus from an independent dealer I have come to the conclusion there is no way of knowing.
I got an email from Manhattan yesterday evening from Elaine which said they have 12 Smarts to sell to the public. Production time from configuration to floor seems to be at 2 to 3 months now, and I suspect this will curtail add-ons with the exception of the Brabus as they are more rare thus the dealer is going to do their best to mark up the price with add-ons. At least that was my experience with my Brabus purchase. I paid about $2k worth in add-ons and this was at an independent dealership which didn't use to put add-ons onto their Smarts. But I'm happy to pay it to have the opportunity to own what I really wanted. To Penske's credit he made sure dealers didn't just mark up the price as market value, but unfortunately he left a loop hole for them to put things on the car that people don't want. They'll have a harder time getting away with this as the availability of these cars are becoming increasingly easy to get.
Unfortunately, I've yet to find those stand alone dealers in New England but if I do run across one you better believe I will have my 2010 Smart delivered there and I'll drive all the way there for servicing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by simonlok
Impulse bought an orphan black / black pure from smart center Manhattan.
The Good:
No outright markup over MSRP as with some dealers
No mandatory $2000+ "protection package" charged by the vast majority of the dealers in the NYC tristate area.
Was able to impulse buy and pickup same day.
The Bad:
Mandatory tinted windows, $300+ overpriced silliness, "done by the same professional that does the Mercedes"
Car was delivered with all wheels set at an incorrect tire pressure. One wheel was dangerously low (more than 7 lbs less than spec). Three other wheels were four pounds low.
The Ugly:
Tinted windows are bubbling (they have cured already), a clear sign of a rushed job or an amateur.
Parts / service manager will not sell parts for the car (e.g., tach and clock) despite the fact that the sales person said that they would when I bought the car. Typical sales person will tell you whatever they need to tell you to get the sale done and the reality of the situation is quite different.
Summary:
I was only gouged by the tints, but am surprised (though not shocked) by the attitude of the dealer. I would recommend if you want a quick purchase of a cheap orphan without markup. I would not recommend dealing with them for service or parts.
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Smart4Me
Or a car that doesn't have etched windows. 
Today
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