Smart Car Repair
Understand the Costs
Like most vehicles, there are always two completely separate considerations to repairs and other work you may need done on your Smart. There are two components involved in your price – and they will probably be familiar to you because these exist with all cars.
Parts
This is the easiest to understand. The costs of parts should be the same or very similar from one region to the next. Occasionally, there are additional or expedited shipping variable to consider. The cost should be fairly close, regardless of where you have you Smart serviced.
Labor
Labor costs are far more variable and have wide swings; they may often fluctuate greatly from one locale to another. Another consideration is the make and model of the Smart for which you are seeking service.
As with many kinds of vehicles, skills and level of expertise can even be attributed to different model years of your fortwo. Independent smart repair centers.
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Takes A Genius To Get A Smart Car Serviced
I recently had a discussion about the apparent lack of service and/or repair options for the Smart Car, you know, that matchbox looking box with wheels. During our discussion, my friend, a proud owner of a Smart, kept ranting that he couldn’t get any service for his micro car as the dealer he purchased the vehicle from in town had gone out of business, an apparent victim of the global economic depression.
The closure of a dealership for us non Smart car owners doesn’t seem like that Earth shattering of an event but after hearing my friends complaints I saw his concern.
Imagine you own a Chevrolet Silverado, as I do and have for years and every general motors dealerships for over a hundred miles closes. That still doesn’t give me reason to panic just yet as there are a multitude of independent service and repair shops available for my vehicle as they have been for decades. What I began to realize, is that this is NOT the case for Smart Car owners. Many shops refuse to touch these truly foreign vehicles or when they will attempt it, by no means are the results guaranteed to be positive.
My friend and I continued to discuss options including selling the Smart Car. All of the options we discussed were not really feasible other than to just endure the problem for the life you own the car. Selling the car is not practical as the resale value has been adversely affected as a result of several issues not the least of which is the service issue we are discussing now. With no apparent solution available and an angry wife wondering why I wasn’t home yet, I empathized with my friend and went on my way.
Days later I came across an article discussing the takeover of Smart by Mercedes Benz. Mercedes? They are like the Nordstrom’s of automobiles service right? Apparently not. Why would customers of one of the most respected auto manufacturers in the world not be able to service a vehicle now under their umbrella?
Smart Car owners are still required to travel to the nearest Smart dealer for work to be completed, often hundreds of miles from where they originally purchased the vehicle. It would seem an obvious solution which satisfies both customer service reputation and the customer loyalty, although I have yet to see any discussion of it so I will propose it now.
I suggest that Mercedes Benz offer service to any Smart Car owners at any of their Mercedes dealerships that show no signs of going out of business. I would expect that a brand of the stature of Mercedes would step up to the rescue of Smart brand owners which are now their customers.
Simple service which yes comes at a cost but they should have factored that into their math when choosing to purchase this ailing brand.
Great Comment
I just bought a used smart car S EDITION and I have to drive 83.5 miles one way to get my muffler fixed that’s some b/s because the Benz dealership doesn’t do smart in my town of South Bend Indiana!
Penske did a real bad job on the smart in the USA!