Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Other subjects
Original poster

Furious with Smart (car) :(

61 replies

hulababy · 02/11/2006 18:17

Sadly, after being in such praise of my AA man on Tuesday night, I am now furious and writing a letter of complaint to Smart! AA man looked at it and said lookign at the problem, and the newness of the car it'd be on the warranty. This morning the Smart garage said it would be on the warranty, and be ready by tomorrow morning. This afternoon they phone and say it is not covered by the warranty and it is caused by wear and tear - so I have to fork out of £800 to have it repaired, get no courtesy car and it will no take until end of next week.

So, it is normal for a clutch (and whatever it was underneath - can't remember name) to go completly after just 6 months and 10,000 is it?!

Seems like they are fitting substandard clutches to their cars if that is the case. I am furious. I will be writing and complaining.

I now have to find over £800 this weekned - great, eh?!!!

OP posts:
DelGirl · 02/11/2006 18:20

A clutch must surely be under warranty fgs. I'd query it again, thats outrageous.

PretendFriend · 02/11/2006 18:26

DH has just done 30K miles in a year in a 7-year-old car and it's had no attention at all (we - er- forgot )

Get on to Which legal service if they stonewall you, hula - Which love cases like this and Smart won't want to be featured in the mag. They are trying it on.

superblastofflips · 02/11/2006 18:28

i thought the clutch would have a 2 yr warranty..!! you better check it out

wakeupandsmellthecoffee · 02/11/2006 18:33

ring up the garage pretending to be a new customer and ask them about warranty and such like and see what they say .

Original poster
hulababy · 02/11/2006 18:36

Smart says it is wear and tear. The clutch has gone and it has burnt through to whatever the thing is underneath (will ask Dh when he gets in). This is all coming from Smart themselves, not the dealership

I agree that it is madness and I am so cross.

OP posts:
PretendFriend · 02/11/2006 18:37

Mind you they said it was covered, until they looked at it, so there might be some kind of extenuating circs I spose...hula, have you been doing wheelies again?

LadyTophamHatt · 02/11/2006 18:44

Hula!!!....I thought you had a differnet car to a smart now. A toyota or something??

have you changed your car and not told us??

You know we like to tease you and your car buying obsession....

Original poster
hulababy · 02/11/2006 19:34

LOL, no. We still have the Toyota Aygo - that was the replacement for the Beetle last Christmas. In Mar/Apr we traded in DH's Golf and got the Smart ForFour (I did post!). I then had the Smart and Dh the Aygo - made sense travelling wise.

You know, I think maybe someone has been taking my car out secretly doing something!

Will they expect me to shell out £800 odd every 6 months then, if it is normal?!

OP posts:
Californifirework · 02/11/2006 19:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LadyTophamHatt · 02/11/2006 19:43

I had a mild panic that life as we know was about to cease when I read you had a differnet car.

I missed the latest new car/smart car thread so am pleased to hear armageddon is not around the corner

we're getting a new car soon.....a big, sparkly and brand new one. I'll be terrified to drive it though, I might buy all the bubble wrap in sussex and wrap it in that when I go out in it

Original poster
hulababy · 02/11/2006 20:04

LOL. I always find with new cars that you are just waiting for that first scratch or something to appear on the car before you can relax into it.

Now I need the wording for a nice letter of complaint...

OP posts:
hub2dee · 02/11/2006 20:31

Is the ForFor a manual car then hula, or one of Smart's 'auto' boxes ?

Does one of you ride the clutch ? If not then I'd tell them to get stuffed and if you don't get joy from Smart HQ then issue a small claim online.

Katymac · 02/11/2006 20:35

Does the fourfor have a clutch (I certainly don't use it)

Original poster
hulababy · 02/11/2006 20:39

Ours does Katymac. We have a manual.

I drive the car pretty much all the time, although Dh drives at weekends if we go out together. I do mainly motorway driving and only do rush hour once a week - so don't really even have that stop start problem associated with heavy traffic. I don't ride the clutch and I don't hold the car on the bite at junctions with hills. I drive pretty much normally TBH. As does DH.

Had other cars for longer, in same type of driving conditions, in same city/region - no such problems.

OP posts:
DelGirl · 02/11/2006 20:39

I could be wrong katymac but I think you'd find it hard to drive any car without one!

DelGirl · 02/11/2006 20:40

I meant any manual obviously

Original poster
hulababy · 02/11/2006 20:40

The ForFour is also available with one of the Smart automatic modes too. Our old Smart (now the ForTwo) was triptronic and automatic.

OP posts:
Katymac · 02/11/2006 20:41

Seems very odd

Sorry you are having trouble

Delgirl I def only have 2 pedals

gingernut · 02/11/2006 20:42

Would have thought if it was your driving style you'd have had a similar problem with previous cars (which I assume you haven't!).

hub2dee · 02/11/2006 21:05

You might want to spend a few hours googling fofor clutch problems etc. to see if there's a pile of owners in simlar circs.

There'll be a couple of big owner's forums somewhere....

PretendFriend · 02/11/2006 21:09

Smart cars have their own forum of course!

Original poster
hulababy · 02/11/2006 21:09

No, I haven't gingernut. And I have had a fair few cars over the past few years

OP posts:
Original poster
hulababy · 02/11/2006 21:09

Thanks for link!

OP posts:
LIZS · 02/11/2006 21:12

Good point Hub . That was the way I found out something which went wrong on our Scenic was a common fault but the dealership did it under extended warranty anyway (since presumably they knew this to be the case !).

Presumably you've already asked the garage to honour their promise it was covered by warranty ?

NomDePlume · 02/11/2006 21:12

HonestJohn website normally has a pretty good rundown of reported problems etc.