Started off with my wife dropping her new Prius off for regular service. Then drove her to work. Going down the interstate I see the tire pressure light come on as I exit the interstate. Lucky for me I turned into a Tire Discounters store so I drove on the flat about a quarter mile. Right rear was flat. Now the fun begins. They looked at the tire while on the car and said it could not be patched. Huge piece of metal in it. So they call every distributor they had and no tire that size anywhere. So I call Smart Roadside and ask them to get me a tow truck so we can tow it two hours away to Smart dealer. Two hours later the tow shows up. The dealer has no tire either but said they could get one by end of day. Tire came in and they checked the wheel and car out for any damage and I was back on my way.
Couple of points I learned:
Tire store had no idea where to jack the car up even if they had a tire and nothing in the manual to tell them where.
Tow driver had no idea how to winch the car on the flatbed except with the tow hook but the car has to be strapped down front and rear once on the truck. You need two tow hooks!
Dealer advised me there was only one place in the country to get tires right now and that is someone in Cleveland Ohio
Poor service front 800 Smart. They keep arguing with me about wanting to be sure I knew they were not paying for the tow or tire. Actually delayed getting me help and it took two calls and on hold for up to 15 minutes one time. They were horrible.
Tow was $255 and the tire mounted and balanced was $1 it took from 8:15am to 6pm by the time it was all said and done. Needless to say I am not happy with the Smart right now. Tires, oil filters, bulbs are too hard to find for those of us away from dealers. And with a limited amount of cars coming into country there is no rush for third parties to stock parts. The manager at the Tire Discounter told his owner had decided not to stock tires or upgraded wheels for Smart as he thinks its a quick fad and will disappear.
Today
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