Here's why my wife and I don't get a warm and fuzzy with Smart Car of San Jose:
Prior to picking up our car we called numberous times trying to get a vin number of any car to give to our insurance company so we could see if they would insure our car when it arrived. Never got one!
The week our car arrived we called to inquire the approximate time frame the car would arrive and they said it had not been shipped yet and it could still be two months. It arrived two days later!
Was told that a trade would not be a problem and when we arrived to pick up the car they had no idea that we were trading in a car! This was after telling at least two of the sells people on our visits to the shop that we would be trading a car in. Also, they never mentioned that they don't really take trades, they have a wholesaler buy your car, AT A FRACTION OF WHAT IT'S WORTH! Needless to say we did not trade in.
Anne and very nice young lady that showed us everything about the car were very nice. But, I can truthfully say, at no time did any sells person make me feel that my business was appreciated or wanted. It was a "we have what you want, take it or leave it" attitude.
After we got home, the next day we recieved a phone call saying that they needed us to sign another form giving them permission to run a credit check, even though they ran the check while we were there.
And finally, 7 days after we have had the car, Eric called and said that they had used the wrong sales tax for my car and wanted me to use a credit card or a check to pay for a $200 mistake that the sales person made. When I told him that I would not pay it and the Smart Car would have to eat that mistake since it was on them, he said he would write that in my record and hung up on me! Very unprofessional!
But, even with all this, I have to say the car is doing great! I really just wish that we felt more appreciated by Smart Car of San Jose.
We picked up our BumbleBee yesterday from smart center San Jose.
We reserved 10/07/07, configured about 04/08 and had a DDE of 08/26/08 - 11/24/08 when we got the call from smart center San Jose that a car very much like the one we reserved had been orphaned. (We had also been on the orphan list for a month or two). We wanted to go cheap, Yellow/Black Pure, just A/C, nothing else. The orphan was a Yellow/Black Pure, with A/C and power steering only. Also, we were told that they also had a Cabrio Yellow/Silver orphan.
Anne was a great help over the phone. She was patient and answered questions accurately. We were coming in from Fresno and made an appointment. She requested a deposit on the orphan and didn't seem picky at all.
We dealt with Eric mostly when we picked up the car. Again, Eric was helpful, patient and competent. He gave us time to thoroughly go over both the Pure and the Cabrio, discuss financing on both and make a determination to keep with our plans and go with the Pure.
I've bought several new cars over the years. My personal record for getting out with the car I wanted at the price I wanted was 45 minutes. My worst was at a VW dealership in Oakland -- 4 hours of fighting every inch of the way (but again, getting what I wanted). The smart center San Jose experience took about 2.5 hours. But, that whole time was because of us, not them, doing our thing. While we looked over the two orphans, they did the finance thing. We had brought a smart radio that some one else in this forum gave us for the price of shipping (thanks, Steve!). They installed it with no waiting (yes, we paid to have it installed).
We discussed trade-ins with Anne. She was forthright. The smart center does not deal with the trade-ins, instead the related dealership does. I had my trade-in "appraised" at Carmax and was given a commitment from them that they would purchase it for $13,000. Anne said she wasn't sure that she could get me anything better. I appreciated her honesty.
Our bottom line is this -- the smart center San Jose was busy with phone calls, appointments and walk-in's while we were there. No one was treated badly. Maybe they could use a couple of more staff members to help provide people with that warm fuzzy feeling. But of the small staff they have, every person there was helpful, smiling, and knowledgeable. We'd be happy to purchase from them again.
What was the markup that they wanted on the orphan? I heard from a gentleman this morning who told tale of a smart orphan that was offered to them at SJ for 27,000$. I was trying to figure out WHAT it could POSSIBLY be?
What was the markup that they wanted on the orphan? I heard from a gentleman this morning who told tale of a smart orphan that was offered to them at SJ for 27,000$. I was trying to figure out WHAT it could POSSIBLY be?
He declined, needless to say
No markup, just the added cost of power steering (which is a factory, not dealer installed option). We took the Pure. If you're refering to the Cabrio, we looked it over, including the sticker. As I recall, they had added LoJack. But the car came from the factory with several other options (including Comfort Package, etc). Sticker was ~$20,000. They were ready to sell it to us at that price (plus all the normal tax, license, doc fees, which were all the standard amounts).
Congrats on the car. We were called yesterday regarding the yellow cabrio too, but turned it down due to the cost. It just had more options then we wanted. We are hanging in there for the passion coupe.
2008 Passion Coupe $13,590.00
Blue Metallic 225.00
Comfort Package 850.00
Smart Sound System 350.00
Tridion Silver Metallic 175.00
destination charge 645.00
Total suggested retail Price......$15,835.00
I added a one year Wheel and Tire package and an extra year on the warranty. With tax, license, fees, out the door for about $17,900.00.
This orphan was very close to what I ordered. Paper work/car orientation and on the way home in less than two hours. The cost of the car was within my budget for this great car.
Not to fear about the $27,000 orphan. That was our showroom demo where we had installed a whole host of accessories to demonstrate what was available to personalize your smart.
It had:
Chrome wheels
Touch Screen Navigation
Ipod interface
Bluetooth
Sirius Satellite Receiver
Custom heated Leather seats
Instrument pods
etc.
Adds up quick. We do not have dealer mark up on orphan cars. We do keep one or two vehicles with accessories for our customers to see first hand.
Just wanted to clarify. Thanks for the positive comments!
Not to fear about the $27,000 orphan. That was our showroom demo where we had installed a whole host of accessories to demonstrate what was available to personalize your smart.
It had:
Chrome wheels
Touch Screen Navigation
Ipod interface
Bluetooth
Sirius Satellite Receiver
Custom heated Leather seats
Instrument pods
etc.
Adds up quick. We do not have dealer mark up on orphan cars. We do keep one or two vehicles with accessories for our customers to see first hand.
Just wanted to clarify. Thanks for the positive comments!
-Derek
Derek,
Any orphans available for this week? My friend just put his name on the orphan list couple of weeks ago and no phone call yet...
Derek,
Just a note to say it was nice to see Nahid at the Lomard Event in San Francisco. She did a great job of representing smart center San Jose. I was thrilled that she recognized me (as one of her customers) and totally blown away that she remembered my name.
You have a great group of employees there, hang on to them.
Well, If I take the passion price from the smart site, and add every option on the smart site, and then EVERY option listed here (below) from my original email from Steve, I get 19250$.
If I add say another 600$ for lojac, and say 1500$ for a 48 month warranty extension, I'm at 22,000$ tops.
So, I guess the leather seats, and chrome wheels must be really expensive. :-)
Package 1
Navigation/multimedia unit. Includes 7” LCD touchscreen, AM/FM received, CD/DVD/MP3/WMA drive, Denso based Navigation. $1895.00
Package 2
As above plus iPod interface which gives you complete control and text information on the touchscreen. $2080
Package 3
Sirius Satellite Radio interface completely controlled on LCD touchscreen. $375 plus Package 1.
Package 4
Bluetooth interface which operates with either the above system or the factory radio. Includes display and voice activation. $600
Package 5
Audio system upgrade including 2 Alpine tweeters, midrange and crossovers, 200 watt 4 channel amplifier and 10 inch subwoofer. $945
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2008 smart Passion
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