i thought the part about spark plugs was interesting - in california all emission control components (which includes spark plugs) have to be warrantied for 7 years/100k miles. sounds like smart will be replacing a lot of free spark plugs.
Heh... I interned for 2 summers with Reynolds and Reynolds working on some of their DMS software... looks like part of my work may be going into running the service department
am I reading this right.... 10k mile oil changes and 30k mile spark plug changes with 60k mile valve adjustments.... they forget about the hydralic lifter?
wow this 7/10 of an hour for PDI is really gonna be good fodder for that $600 "dealer prep" fee.
You'd be very surprised at the new cars that require valve adjustment.
The 3.5 liter Honda V6 that is used in the Odyssey, Ridgeline, Pilot, and the 2004-2007 Saturn VUE requires manual adjustment... and has a timing belt that's something like $1,000 to replace at the dealer. Oh! and some of them have a habit of shredding them early. (But Honda doesn't cut corners )
I just figure by that time, I won't be afraid to be intimately familiar with the engine in mine. I plan on owning/driving this thing until it dies, and I like to do my own work.
No CSI ..... hummm I sort of like dealers to kiss my butt for a good grade
7/10 Pre Delivery Inspection (PDI) is the best ammo yet to argue about any $499+ dealer prp fees.... the 7/10ths does not include the car wash...it is simply the flat rate book call out for all the placing "in service" required inspections and adjustments.
PAG clearly says they are following E-bay and other sites to refund any attempt to sell a reservation... THat alone suggests that all you "reservation cops" out there can cease pestering PAG or E-bay about the sales you find
Any way cool! This is good stuff...by now most of you who follow my rants and posts should know it is US against the dealer .... at least that is my perspective.... Thus any info like this is knowledge we now have...knowledge is power... When dealing with car salespersons or the finance guy/gal, this power is good to have in your back pocket
smart USA headquarters seems to have some big hooks in the dealers within the Dealer Agreements, including a CSI program, so there may be some smooching regardless of no bonuses paid.
“…
(c) CSI System. IB will create and administer a customer satisfaction survey program on behalf of smart USA to solicit satisfaction data regarding the sales functions for the smart Car Dealers (the "CSI System"). The parameters of this system shall be mutually agreed between the parties and shall include telephone or email contact with each of the smart Car Dealers customers who bought smart Cars. The results of the survey shall be accumulated and published on a weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis.
…â€
What is smart USA's expected sales volume in 2008?
- Exact sales figures have not been announced
- The first 5000 orders will be ordered for production by December and should be delivered by the end of the first quarter
A negative observation: those numbers point to around only 20,000 per year, ie, 5000 orders in about 3 months (unless they step up production.) Addtionally, that kind of suggests some lag between confirmation and production orders (over 10,000 have confirmed by this point?). On the otherhand, this faq sheet does not appear to be dated, however it must have been released around/before Oct 2007, so perhaps they have done/will do better with production.
That was what I was alluding to in my post... and from private mails to me... It seems that yes, they (PAG) are following, researching, and refunding.
One case I know of, PAG actually canceled the reservation and refunded the $99 based on a decision that the seller was now considered a "broker". The letter the person got also said that he/she could not reserve another 2008 with his e-mail and drivers license number.
A "Reservation holder" contacted me to see if there was any way to fight the refund being sent and no re-reservation decision....
Because I am not a true "insider" my only answer was "I doubt it, get a lawyer or let it go".
WOW! Now that was an exhilarating read. I even had a short fantasy of quitting my job and becoming a smart technician! I wonder if I could feed a family on a mechanics salary. Probably not...
Can somebody loan me eight grand? I wanna buy the tools just in case.
Thanks to everybody who sent it. Especially Fred because it actually made it in unharmed. Unfortunately I have to report you to the FBI now.
over 300 URL's (domain names) ... confirms an earlier observation of web addresses not in current use (i.e., smart center xxx . com ) but already registered by smartUSA for potential future use. I wonder how large they think the dealership network will ultimately be ?
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