Spared from certain death by the Tridium Safety Cell, Associate Editor Josh Sadlier was able to explain pre-posthumously his experience of sitting inside of a smart fortwo passion being struck by a careless SUV . Part II of our smart story had us paying $25 to get numerical data that backed up what our eyes had been telling us; the damage to the smart was more than cosmetic. At the very least there was an alignment issue caused by a bent control arm.
In this installment we begin on the phones...
No smart dealer in the western part of the United States was able to take on such a project at this time. They didn't have tools, they didn't have training, they didn't have parts. Running low on ideas and high on frustration, we gave Beverly Coachcraft a ring. They do the bulk of the body work for Beverly Hills Mercedes-Benz and said bring it over, they'd be glad to give us an estimate.
Still very new to the States, the smart got the immediate attention of everyone in the complex. They walked past Maybachs (2), AMGs (at least 6), and an SLR to get a peek at the babiest of Benz products. One in particular stopped to chat with us, too. He wanted to know if it was fast. We shook our heads no. At least fun? A shoulder shrug in lieu of an answer got our point across. His final question, "Is it at least easy to live with?" required a verbal answer, "Not if you're trying to fix it" I said.
We spent the next half-hour or so there peeking at some banged up exotics (including a Flying Spur who's owner, "Ozzy", wanted it back asap) while the staff there exhausted all of their resources to get parts. No such luck. Unpainted body panels could possibly be shipped over from Germany but nobody could tell if they were the same as their US counterparts or if they had the correct paint codes. Or if the $700 made any sense in relation to what the parts should cost us.
They finally conceded that there was nothing they could do shy of taking a few photos for the insurance companies and said our best bet was the leave the car with Mercedes of Beverly Hills, an authorized smart dealer. They could handle all of the parts and repairs best.
And so we drove to Beverly Hills and left the car with only one instruction: Call us when you hear anything.
Mike Magrath, Vehicle Testing Assistant @ 2,465 miles
Still very new to the States, the smart got the immediate attention of everyone in the complex. They walked past Maybachs (2), AMGs (at least 6), and an SLR to get a peek at the babiest of Benz products. One in particular stopped to chat with us, too. He wanted to know if it was fast. We shook our heads no. At least fun? A shoulder shrug in lieu of an answer got our point across. His final question, "Is it at least easy to live with?" required a verbal answer, "Not if you're trying to fix it" I said.
We spent the next half-hour or so there peeking at some banged up exotics (including a Flying Spur who's owner, "Ozzy", wanted it back asap) while the staff there exhausted all of their resources to get parts. No such luck. Unpainted body panels could possibly be shipped over from Germany but nobody could tell if they were the same as their US counterparts or if they had the correct paint codes. Or if the $700 made any sense in relation to what the parts should cost us.
They finally conceded that there was nothing they could do shy of taking a few photos for the insurance companies and said our best bet was the leave the car with Mercedes of Beverly Hills, an authorized smart dealer. They could handle all of the parts and repairs best.
And so we drove to Beverly Hills and left the car with only one instruction: Call us when you hear anything.
Mike Magrath, Vehicle Testing Assistant @ 2,465 miles
robert4380 says:
01:31 PM, 05/29/08
My uncle preordered a smart and we recently visted the dealership in Bloomfield Hills, MI to finalize some of the paperwork before he takes delivery. We took a quick peek at the service department and it was like a ghost town. There wasn't a drop of oil anywhere, and it looked like they were still unpacking tools and setting everything up. This dealership has been open since January, so I guess they haven't had any cars come in yet for service.
karjunkie says:
01:43 PM, 05/29/08
Sounds like the launch of this puppy was a complete cock-up! All dealers should have been prepared for a fender bender as these are inevitable, particularly in a "city car" like the Smart. Call Roger Penske and give him what's what.
133712 says:
02:08 PM, 05/29/08
that place pictured above does not look like a place i would bring my maybach to get fixed...lol
estreka says:
07:09 PM, 05/29/08
I understand this is a new vehicle and all, but sheesh, did dealers even know this car was coming?
opfreak says:
05:06 AM, 05/30/08
its getting dumber and dumber
trooper694 says:
05:37 AM, 05/30/08
I wonder if any of the Canadian dealers (Vancouver?) would be able to give better info? They've already had Smarts for a few years.
dougtheeng says:
06:09 AM, 05/30/08
I agree with Trooper. We have had the Smart up here for years now, and I'm certain at least one has been in a similar situation, lol. I suppose its probubly out of your way to bring it here though.
snuffy4 says:
10:22 AM, 05/30/08
I'm still waiting on any word that mine will ever get here . . perhaps that is a good thing.
greenpony says:
02:21 PM, 05/31/08
Maybe rather than special-ordering from Germany, you could pick up parts from Canada instead. That is, assuming they're the same as the US version of the Fortwo. They could send a tech with too, since nobody in the States seems to know how to fix these buggers.
stephen987 says:
06:06 AM, 06/ 2/08
The Smart doesn't seem like such a deal anymore, at least here in the USA.