Gents (and ladies), I'll be buying a used Smart Electric within the next few months to scoot around town in I have owned over 20 used cars, but never an electric car I have the knowledge and the mechanics needed to do pre-purchase inspections for gas and diesel cars, but I don't know what to look for when buying a used electric My budget is about $6K I have seen low mileage (and I mean SUper low, as low as 700 miles, but average 2-8k mile) electrics from model year 2013 selling for around $4-6K My problem is I have no idea what to check for when I go to look at the car, and I wouldn't know what any of the codes from the OBD port mean I'm willing to bet there is a buyer's guide out there somewhere, and if not maybe someone can give me some pre-purchase inspection tips so I don't go into the buying experience blind Thanks! EDIT: pardon the lack of formatting, apparently the forum software compressed the formatting and squished my text
Smart Electric Buyer's Pre-Purchase Inspection Tips Wanted <--newb post!
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Welcome to SCoA! 
Check this out for starters: http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/forums/f170/wanting-buy-new-smart-ed-134770/
Check this out for starters: http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/forums/f170/wanting-buy-new-smart-ed-134770/
Make sure there are no codes stored or seem by dealer even recently, mine was 2013 still under warranty and was able to get new battery installed for free.
Price and ability to buy one is unknown
other that that mine is awesome, no issues since
FYI it took 3 dealer visits and more than 5 weeks for them to correctly diagnose and replace battery, some dealer have never seen these cars before
Price and ability to buy one is unknown
other that that mine is awesome, no issues since
FYI it took 3 dealer visits and more than 5 weeks for them to correctly diagnose and replace battery, some dealer have never seen these cars before
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2,159 Posts
If the car is at a Mercedes/Smart dealership or you have a friend at a dealership, ask them to print out the VMI, Vehicle Maintenance Inquiry, for the car. You need the VIN number to do that. That will tell you lots of useful info about recalls, service work done, etc. getting one with a little bit of factory warranty left would be a bonus too in case anything comes up.
Len
2014 EV Coupe 13,750 miles
2014 EV Cabriolet 2,800 miles
Len
2014 EV Coupe 13,750 miles
2014 EV Cabriolet 2,800 miles
Thanks, but this thread seems to discuss buying a brand new smart ed. I'm looking at buying a used one, and would like to know what to look out for, such as red flags, when going to view a used car with potentially several thousand miles on itWelcome to SCoA!
What are the codes to look out for? I have a pretty decent OBD2 reader I use on my Mercedes cars which shows me pending, stored and logged, and historic fault codes. Is there a particular fault code that is the 'kiss of death' for ed models, such that if you see it as cleared or logged, avoid at all costs?
I plan to buy from either a private party or a used car dealership There are several dozens at used car dealerships throughout my region with low miles But once I purchase the car, I will definitely do the VMI Is it possible to take a VIN to a MBZ dealer and ask them to do this without being the owner of the car?
you are getting information regarding purchasing a used smart ED
I just bought a used one.
Its going to be a crap shoot.
I based my purchase of the test drive.
i drove several, the last one had the best ride and options.
I had not had it checked by the dealer till I drove off with the car.
I had it in for service as it had never been brought in.
had to do two service intervals to get up to date. Combo of one and two.
Battery checked out OK.
I knew that on the drive home. Had a 72 mile drive. All freeway
made it home with 20 percent left.
Please put down where you are located. In So Cal there are lots of great deals
I will depend on what you are looking for regards to options.
I wanted heated seats, arm rest, DRL and regen paddles.
I settled for a awesome color combo, armrest cruise control and DRL.
But the drive was the key. They dont all drive the same.
There is a hidden power switch under the accelerator
Its a little button under the pedal. Push a little harder when you accelerate to see the real power of the car.
After driving this car with out regen paddles, I have found out how to drive and regen like I had paddles.
So after having paddles in my previous car, I am happy i dont have them as I am OK with my new found way of stopping.
Just a lite press on the break pedal engages more regen as you can see this on the power meter, you learn as you drive.
Lots of other options out there as well, Convertible, Fog lights Navigation, Surround sound, ambient interior lighting, leather seats?
Hope this helps
Driving different cars will help you see what you want and need.
and if doesen't hurt to get one with a little warranty left on the clock.
I just bought a used one.
Its going to be a crap shoot.
I based my purchase of the test drive.
i drove several, the last one had the best ride and options.
I had not had it checked by the dealer till I drove off with the car.
I had it in for service as it had never been brought in.
had to do two service intervals to get up to date. Combo of one and two.
Battery checked out OK.
I knew that on the drive home. Had a 72 mile drive. All freeway
made it home with 20 percent left.
Please put down where you are located. In So Cal there are lots of great deals
I will depend on what you are looking for regards to options.
I wanted heated seats, arm rest, DRL and regen paddles.
I settled for a awesome color combo, armrest cruise control and DRL.
But the drive was the key. They dont all drive the same.
There is a hidden power switch under the accelerator
Its a little button under the pedal. Push a little harder when you accelerate to see the real power of the car.
After driving this car with out regen paddles, I have found out how to drive and regen like I had paddles.
So after having paddles in my previous car, I am happy i dont have them as I am OK with my new found way of stopping.
Just a lite press on the break pedal engages more regen as you can see this on the power meter, you learn as you drive.
Lots of other options out there as well, Convertible, Fog lights Navigation, Surround sound, ambient interior lighting, leather seats?
Hope this helps
Driving different cars will help you see what you want and need.
and if doesen't hurt to get one with a little warranty left on the clock.
Having just read this thread but not wanting to threadjack: http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/forums/f170/what-s-13-ev-worth-142841/index2.html ------------- What is BAP, and how long is the factory warranty? The posts in that thread are relatively new, so I'm assuming the poster on there who suggested to buy a 2014 because there will be one extra year of warranty means the factory smart ed warranty is 4 years, and is transferable to the next owner without special paperwork needing to be filed?
Yes you can
Just tell them you just bought the car and can they check the service history, before you bring it in for service.
And this service is available for free from any MBZ dealership service department, without providing proof of ownership? Our family bought three Mercedes' from our dealership over the last 30 years and we are friends with the service manager. This could mean that I could look at cars online, grab the VINs of the ones I'm most interested in and take them to my dealer for VMI, thereby bypassing unnecessary in person inspections
I understand. Great info!
I would think heated seats will kill the range, and here in So Cal they are not needed for me, even in the winter. I don't know what paddles are. I am aware of Mercedes installing 'kickdown switches' under the accelerator pedal, but I understand these ED models are 'direct drive', meaning no gears on the transmission
Have I seen and would I like the Brabus model (as a former owner of a Brabus-kitted Mercedes 190e)? Yes. But for now I will settle for a model with a nice color and basic options until I can see if this is the type of car I really want to drive for scooting-around purposes. And then I will sell it and make a second purchase of exactly what I'm looking for. The goal in the next couple months is just to get this car.
How can I find out how much warranty is left, and does the warranty transfer to the new owner automatically?
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2,159 Posts
Three points:
1. Heated seats are an option that don't suck down the battery like using the car's own heater does. That's why lots of people want the heated seats. It has a minimal effect on the battery.
2. VMI - not as easy to get as some above imply. Mercedes has come out with an edict to their dealers saying that the VMI is proprietary information only available to the dealer. That doesn't mean it's impossible to get. If you have a friend at the dealership or show up with a dozen donuts or a bottle of wine, you might get lucky.
3. Warranty - four years/50,000 miles. Battery if you have BAP is ten years, assuming you meet all the service requirements. Otherwise it falls into the four year warranty.
Len
2014 EV Coupe 14,000 miles
2014 EV Cabriolet 3,000 miles
1. Heated seats are an option that don't suck down the battery like using the car's own heater does. That's why lots of people want the heated seats. It has a minimal effect on the battery.
2. VMI - not as easy to get as some above imply. Mercedes has come out with an edict to their dealers saying that the VMI is proprietary information only available to the dealer. That doesn't mean it's impossible to get. If you have a friend at the dealership or show up with a dozen donuts or a bottle of wine, you might get lucky.
3. Warranty - four years/50,000 miles. Battery if you have BAP is ten years, assuming you meet all the service requirements. Otherwise it falls into the four year warranty.
Len
2014 EV Coupe 14,000 miles
2014 EV Cabriolet 3,000 miles
BAP is an additional Battery warranty
but warranty for battery is covered under factory warranty for car
If the BAP is not continued with 60 days of the car being sold the warranty is retired and you cant renew it
I purchased used 2016 451 ED that has no BAP , battery assurance program, so I have factory warranty till September 2019
Warranty is transferable and goes for 4 years from purchase date, so car could have been bought in the previous year
You have to check on warranty, because its a 2014 does not guarantee its still under warranty
2013 is in the 4000 dollar range from all my research and dropping even more in 1 month when it becomes 2018
There is a great 2014 on cars.com,for 4995 with navigation and heated seats, fog lights and armrest in Red, but it may be out of warranty and BAP coverage
good luck
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731 Posts
I just bought my 2014 a month ago today. Driving to work at 6am in central California (@31-38*F) I really wish I had the heated seats option, as using the main heater can zap anywhere from 2-8 miles range in my 30-40 minute drive.
I have almost no options other than armrest, cargo cover, DRLs, and the kinetic green appearance package. I miss a lot of the features I have in my gas smart like the heated seats, surround sound with sub, navigation and ambient lighting.
Mine was around $4,800 no BAP, and 11 months warranty left.
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I have almost no options other than armrest, cargo cover, DRLs, and the kinetic green appearance package. I miss a lot of the features I have in my gas smart like the heated seats, surround sound with sub, navigation and ambient lighting.
Mine was around $4,800 no BAP, and 11 months warranty left.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
As an ED owner for 3 years my pre-owned 451 ED wish list
would include ....
1. Two functional key fobs
2. Running lights - safety/insurance credit
3. HEATED leather seats
4. Armrest
5. Complete set of owners manuals
6. If private party, service records
7. For peace of mind at least a few months left on basic warranty
Nice extras but hardly a deal killer - recoup paddles or CC, surround sound, ambient lighting. AND if you can score a cabrio just because they are kewl and the only soft top EV available!
would include ....
1. Two functional key fobs
2. Running lights - safety/insurance credit
3. HEATED leather seats
4. Armrest
5. Complete set of owners manuals
6. If private party, service records
7. For peace of mind at least a few months left on basic warranty
Nice extras but hardly a deal killer - recoup paddles or CC, surround sound, ambient lighting. AND if you can score a cabrio just because they are kewl and the only soft top EV available!
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731 Posts
Guess that’s another thing I forgot that’s missing. Only have 1 key. Was quoted in the $350 range for a second.
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mine had a great history, but later found out the dealer in NJ did not do what they were supposed to and payed to do.
I am very happy now, when battery was bad, it ran great had almost exactly same range, but many times would not start. Start fail would show up every time if ac was turned on.
same codes previously 2 dealers cleared showed it needed a battery.
The best dealer I found was Rally motors Roslyn NY
Awesome experience, and they gave me a new Benz loaner for 5 weeks while battery was ordered.
I am very happy now, when battery was bad, it ran great had almost exactly same range, but many times would not start. Start fail would show up every time if ac was turned on.
same codes previously 2 dealers cleared showed it needed a battery.
The best dealer I found was Rally motors Roslyn NY
Awesome experience, and they gave me a new Benz loaner for 5 weeks while battery was ordered.
BAP is, or probably more accurately was, this setup whereby you rented the very expensive traction battery pack of the car for $84 a month for 10 years, and in return (like any landlord is supposed to do) MB would replace the battery pack if anything went wrong with it. You only owned the "sled" (i.e. car without the battery pack). One consequence was that for a while, if you bought a used Smart ED, MB finance could hunt you down and legally _make_ you pay $84 a month for the remainder of the 10-year term - although we never heard any reports of this actually happening.
But that is reportedly all water under the bridge now. MB had so many difficulties with it that they quietly wrote the whole BAP program off.
Which gets us to what you should be looking for. Probably 90 percent of the whole value of an EV is the traction battery pack, so the main thing you should be checking is the health of the battery pack. The first thing you should check is the state if charge it has been kept at at the used car lot, and the temperatures the car may have experienced there. If the car sat with the state-of-charge meter reading 20 percent or less for a long time that is a bad indication, and if it sat like that through a mid-upper latitude US (not to mention Canada) winter - forget about it - the battery pack is probably shot! Also bad, but somewhat less so if is it sat at fully charged for months on end, except of it sat like that thorough a summer in a hot climate area, then you should reject the car too. In fact, if the car is subjected to temperatures below -20C or above 40C (-4 and 104F) at any state of charge, it is supped to be kept connected to a charging station (or the 102V charging adapter) in order to keep the battery pack heated or cooled). in inquiring about this, you will be relying on the honesty of the seller - which of course is something you should never do. And, of course, even the selling dealer does not know how the original owner/leaser (probably the latter) cared for the battery pack...
So, a good way around this would be to do your own check of the battery pack health for any prospective car using this open-source OBD-type diagnostic tool... Just $75 bucks!
http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/forums/f170/smart-ev-battery-test-units-ready-go-144465/
Note that to gt an accurate battery pack capacity indication, the car must have fairly recently been discharged to below 30 percent than fully charged.
But that is reportedly all water under the bridge now. MB had so many difficulties with it that they quietly wrote the whole BAP program off.
Which gets us to what you should be looking for. Probably 90 percent of the whole value of an EV is the traction battery pack, so the main thing you should be checking is the health of the battery pack. The first thing you should check is the state if charge it has been kept at at the used car lot, and the temperatures the car may have experienced there. If the car sat with the state-of-charge meter reading 20 percent or less for a long time that is a bad indication, and if it sat like that through a mid-upper latitude US (not to mention Canada) winter - forget about it - the battery pack is probably shot! Also bad, but somewhat less so if is it sat at fully charged for months on end, except of it sat like that thorough a summer in a hot climate area, then you should reject the car too. In fact, if the car is subjected to temperatures below -20C or above 40C (-4 and 104F) at any state of charge, it is supped to be kept connected to a charging station (or the 102V charging adapter) in order to keep the battery pack heated or cooled). in inquiring about this, you will be relying on the honesty of the seller - which of course is something you should never do. And, of course, even the selling dealer does not know how the original owner/leaser (probably the latter) cared for the battery pack...
So, a good way around this would be to do your own check of the battery pack health for any prospective car using this open-source OBD-type diagnostic tool... Just $75 bucks!
http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/forums/f170/smart-ev-battery-test-units-ready-go-144465/
Note that to gt an accurate battery pack capacity indication, the car must have fairly recently been discharged to below 30 percent than fully charged.
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