The big picture..... - Smart Car of America Forums : Smart Car Forum

abseventeen · 02-07-2008, 06:53 AM

This is what a contact of mine said, who you could say is pretty high up on the smart chain....... This was a respone to the "orphan" topic that I asked about:

Hereâ€™s whatâ€™s really going on.

We are releasing reservation information to dealers as soon as they are certified to be open and we have actual production confirmation. In the first month, we had a number of dealers that were certified later than others due to their actual completion dates. The last thing we wanted was to have long waiting clients make contact with dealers that were not completed. We did release the first allocation of reservations and cars about ten days into the month. We knew that this would create compression between announcement and arrivals, but our really did not want dealers contacted before they were staffed, trained, and facilities ready.

Last week we released our second allocation to the dealers. Our plans call for giving the dealers a much deeper file of reservations to contact and schedule during the March timeframe when we are at our full production run rate. This will tie cars to customers with little variation in cycle times.

We are seeing a bit of variation in the manner in which dealers are handling cancelled orders. Best practice has been defined by a number of dealers so we are going adapt that for the nation as soon as possible.

Carnut · 02-07-2008, 07:13 AM

Hopefully this contact is VERY high up in the chain. Sounds like a plan.

:

abseventeen · 02-07-2008, 10:09 AM

yes, you can say that.

abseventeen · 02-07-2008, 10:11 AM

this was told told to me on Tuesday evening.

meaux61 · 02-07-2008, 02:31 PM

Can you ask him/her about the dealer fees that are being added on?

They vary from 45.00 in ALbany New York to 799.00 in ORlando Fla.

Are they going to spank the dealers for adding fees?

Meaux

SmartBob · 02-07-2008, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Best practice has been defined by a number of dealers so we are going adapt that for the nation as soon as possible.

This is the shiznit! I hope it happens soon!!

abseventeen · 02-08-2008, 05:49 AM

I asked about the dealer fees and didn't get a response.....I don't know about that one. Did you ask your dealer?

meaux61 · 02-08-2008, 08:21 AM

Yes. He said that it covers the cost of paperwork, gas and clean up of the car.

I thought that that was part of the overhead and it does not explain the huge descrepencies between dealers. My dealers fee is 150 dollars
Meaux

Smartdavis · 02-08-2008, 08:34 AM

Don't forget that no matter what somebody tells you these are car dealers selling cars. The top guy is still a car salesman. He is just the head car salesman. Have you ever noticed when you buy a car that the salesman is such a nice guy. I am seriously, they really are very friendly and nice, and they will spend hours just chatting with you about anything your heart desires. However, have you ever noticed when it's time to buy the car you end up in front of the "closer" or "finance manager" and that all kinds of things get added to the total (paint protection, wheel protection, tire protection, gap protection) and that you can never really quite get a straight answer about how they are calculating the interest rate, and how that all gets wrapped inside the monthly payment? And if you want to just pay cash read the threads about all those paperwork hoops that some dealers put you through. It's all a very well planned exercise in trying to get you to pay top dollar for your car. It's how they make more money. It's call profit. Let me repeat these are CAR SALEMEN!

Anyway, the orphans are going to be sold anyway the dealers see fit. And you'll still love the car once you get your hands on it. Happy buyers and sellers are the goal.

abseventeen · 02-08-2008, 12:33 PM

South Charlotte dealer fee is going to be $399.00 I guess the way I look at it. If some one told me two years ago that if I gave them 15 grand plus 400 dealer fee I would not think twice. In the grand scheme of things its a lot cheaper than buying one for 15 grand, having it shipped over here and then send it to California to have it converted by G&K for another couple thousand. 400.00....ok. and it is local and they will work on it with a factory warranty. Now i have to say the guys in Orlando are *******S for doing what they are doing, but there is are few other Florida dealers down there that can take your order.