smart center San Francisco - CA

[kathy333]

Didn't see this, so thought I'd start a San Francisco link. They are on the second floor of the SOMA Mercedes-Benz of SF showroom:
About us - Retailer information - smart center San Francisco - smart fortwo - Official smart center website – new smart car – pre-owned smart car – smart car finance – smart car service

My experience was positive overall - a bit of hassle because I was not financing and didn't want a credit check run.

Visited their showroom twice, first on the weekend before my delivery with a relative to check the cars out and then to take delivery. They were helpful and attentive. Noticed/overheard several "browsers" being offered orphans, albeit with pressure: "This car won't last..." so would think SF might be a good bet for those interested in orphans.

My purchasing experience took about 2-1/2 hours. About a 1/2 hour of preliminaries, an hour test drive to my garage and credit union and another hour to finish up the paper work and get the keys.

They offered the following for extendend warranty options on a poorly copied flyer, with little information and low to medium sales pressure. I declined in favor of doing some more investigation. I've previously purchased extended warranties but only drive a few thousand miles a year and these seemed kind of fishy:

Directly from their "smart fortwo PACKAGE" flyer:

Extended Service Plan/Wheel & Tire Plan

$1540 60mo/75k + wheel&tires
$2835 60mo/75k + wheel&tires+lojack
$1340 60mo/60k + wheel&tires
$2635 60mo/60k + wheel&tires+lojack

KEY POINTS:

1. The repair cost on the smar car are estimated to be much higher then the average car per Forbes auto.com and with the cost of labor going up, it's goint to be even more year from know(sic). Beat inflation.
2. New technology, protect your self
2. Special order tire & wheels. Covered for 5 years.
4. Many insurance companies give a very good discount for recovery systems.
5. Lojack has a 99% recovery rate in 2 hours of theft, that way you will not have to wait 1 year for your next smart car.

Hope this helps someone.

[jkirsch]

Great info, thanks!

I agree, that sales sheet on extended warranties seems pretty fishy. Poor grammar/typos on those things always send me into high alert. That they were pointing out the high expected repair costs on the very car they are trying to sell is pretty strange too. Go figure.

I wonder why they wanted to run a credit check if they weren't financing?

Congrats on the car, and thanks again for the report.

Jeff

[redimpss5]

I picked my car up at the SF dealer and it was the worst deal I ever have done in my life!! I paid cash for the car and it still took 3 hours! I have sat with a salesman and the manager at many other dealers and HAGGLED the price before and took less time!! Biggest pack of dorks I have ever seen!! I pity the poor fool that picks up a car from San Francisco Smart place!! Should I mention about the crappy detail they did to the little car, and the damage to it?

[widdle car]

oh no!!! I am going to pick up mine tomorrow.

Anything else I should know...
I'll be paying cash, so hopefully it'll be faster.
I wasn't going to get one cent of add-ons or accessories. can't I find things online?
Thanks!

[rwjrn]

I'd say my experience wasn't too bad with these guys but there were some issues. The detail on my car consisted of the sales guy running a vacuum through it before I left. Gas tank wasn't full (either that or I really did get 28mpg hwy on my first tank) and there were fingerprints all over the car and windows. They also sold me some items that they didn't even have in stock. I'm still waiting for my oddment trays a month later.

[widdle car]

I picked up my red passion today (13 mo. wait) and all the people who were working today (Bill,David,Mehdi, Loretta and Ed) were great. They showed me everything I needed to know about the car and insisted that I take a test drive in my new car. I'm glad I did, because Mehdi coached me on driving with the paddles on some steep hills!
The only thing that isn't smooth there was the length of time for the single finance guy to finish the transaction. He actually didn't even do mine. If that were smooth, we would've been in and out within an hour or so. Bill (the manager) even put on my no holes license plate holder.
My only other suggestion: something to drink/eat for customers while they wait.
Spent the afternoon "claybarring" and polishing the car....pics tomorrow!
Thanks SFSMART!

widdle

[Pamela&Jon]

Our experience with SmartSF was okay --- we were so excited to get our car it would have been difficult for it to be negative.

But since pick up....

One week for floor mats, 'installed' but did not vacuum before

Four months for cargo bay!

Car was towed yesterday (sunday) as it would not shift out of park. Waited about an hour for tow truck (glad he knew what he was doing). He said SmartSF would call me first thing - nope. Called SmartSF at 10:30 this morning and they did not even know they had my car.

Booo.

Also have had to resign various loan documents twice as somehow they were missed in the three hours we spent in the dealership when purchasing the vehicle.

I wish they would understand the need to gain and maintain brand value and excellence rather than just getting the cars out the door as fast as possible.

[saronian]

Not making any excuses for smart center SF, but they are in the process of adding an off-site service department for smart cars. Communication between the Mercedes-Benz service and smart service is not as good as it should be once the cars can be taken directly to the smart service center.