"How can I get a copy? Thanks.
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smart Car
Smart not standing behing their product.
I have a 2009 Passion Cabriolet, (red on black) and all the body panels, except the doors, have spots or areas where the color is fading and now the clear is peeling in a few spots.
I contacted the Mercedes Benz corporate office about the issue. The initial contact was on March 13, I heard nothing about it for a month so I emailed them again on April 18, and they finally responded.
They asked for pictures, so I sent them some, they called me back and asked me to bring it to the Smart dealer, 40 miles away, to have it "inspected" by them, I brought it up there today (9:30am 04/20/2012) the gentleman at the dealership (Jim) took numerous photos and looked at all the spots, he told me he'd send the photos to smart and let me know what they said. But they'd have to replace almost all the panels.
At 4:30pm this afternoon I got a phone call from Andrew (from Mercedes Benz) who said the dealer determined that it was an outside source that caused the damage, and that they were closing my case and there was nothing I could do. He was very rude something I wouldn't expect from Mercedes Benz office. I was always under the impression that they cared about their customers.
I called the dealer asking that they clarify what the "outside source" was that caused the damage, and Jim said he never actually got a hold of Andrew, but left him a message Jim said that in his opinion "it was an out side source", I asked him what. He commented about the fact that I had waxed the car, I told him that I waxed it by hand, not using any kind of equipment, to which he responded "I'm not even sure if you can wax a smart car". I said to him that I had talked to the service dept at the dealership and asked them about waxing it and they told me as long as it was a good quality wax it would be fine.
I'm extremely disappointed with this, I dont know why they won't stand behind this considering in my owners manual it says to clean using "car shampoo concentrate, hard wax, insect remover for insect remains, polish"
Has anyone else experienced this.
Tags: car, fading, paint, peeling, smar
Views: 195
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Forrest E. Diehl on
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What color is you smart? My understanding that only the light yellow, red, black, and white smarts are solid plastic panels. All of the other colors are painted over the plastic panels.
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Permalink Reply by Christopher Herrmann on -
They're red. And actually the car was garage kept till May 2011 I bought it June 2011
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Permalink Reply by TJ Sullivan on
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I too have a red smart car. I have waxed it several times and there has been no paint fading on mine. I have even buffed swirls out of the red body panels. It looks great. So I do not think that you waxing your car damaged the panels one bit.
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Permalink Reply by Ron Valkenburg on -
I have never heard about an issue like this before and I am out with hundreds of Smart owners and know 10x that many online in the US and abroad and never heard about a paint issue. As for the dealers attitude, all I can tell you is Mercedes has a very strict warranty and maintenance policy and they will not cross that line for any car. Also, not all people in the Mercedes dealers know a lot about Smarts, typically people like myself will remind and educate the dealer about the usage and abilities of the vehicle.
To first respond to Forrest, no all the colors are molded into the plastic, that really only started with the 2010 refreshed color schemes and have continued with the new 2011-2012 colors of light blue and the new green, but you are correct that mine which is the metallic gray is painted and not molded into the panel itself.
How many miles do you have on your Smart?
Where do you live? Hot or cold climate?
Have you contacted your insurance to possibly file a body damage claim? A new panel kit, less the doors would be less then $2000.
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Permalink Reply by Christopher Herrmann on
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I've got a little over 29,000 miles and when I initially emailed them it was closer to 25,000. I live in North Carolina, so the climate is moderate, a bit on the warm side. No I haven't contacted my insurance company yet.
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