Smart car problems

[bill_schubert]

The car is fine but I'm running into issues with finding maintenance.  Mercedes used to own the company and sell them but that's all gone.  They still have a tech there but it is too far to go for an oil change.  So I tried locally at a Kwik Car I'd gone to before.  They did not have anyone there who knew anything about Smart Cars.  The manager knew but he was out that day.  So I made an appointment with a local Lamb's Auto where we'd been before.  But when I got there they were very busy and had signs on two of the front desks saying something about being short staffed and we should be nice to the ones who came into work (which made me not want to be nice to them).  The reservation was for 9.  I was there early.  A 'reservation' to them turned out to be the next available tech which was 45 minutes at least.  And the whole vibe there was just whiney.  I left.  Strike 2.  Then I swung by a Jiffy Lube we used to use all the time.  Very good people.  But they did not have a filter for a Smart Car.  Strike 3.

So I'm back at the beginning.  I may call the local Kwik Car and see if the manager is there.  Not like I have to do it today but I'd like to knock it out sometime soon.

Listening to: Anthem by Noah Hawley - it is either a jumbled mess or an excellent book... not sure which.
Watched: Finished season 3 of The Bay.  In search of the next series to watch

Comments

[beautiful_dreamer_02]

Holy words-I-can't-say-on-camera!

You're in Texas. You have just about everything and anything the rest of the country has.

There has to be someone within a very reasonable distance.
What about some tech college or vo-tech school ditto?

[bill_schubert]

Yeah, there is. I'll look today. Or maybe Monday. And call ahead this time.

[johncomic]

Brace yourself for an Old Man Rant® about modern technology:

The water heater in my newly built house in 2008 was of course brand new itself. Before the tank sprung a leak a couple months ago, and I got another brand new one installed, I had service guys in to look at it six times over the years. In every case, the problem was a malfunction with the computerized service panel at the bottom of the tank, which had six indicator lights to display various combos for various problems. If the panel wasn't happy, the tank didn't heat.

The house I lived in prior to 2008 was over a hundred years old, and we lived there for twenty years. The water heater there was already ancient, god knows how ancient — it certainly didn't have a computerized anything in it. And that heater never leaked or stopped or got serviced once during those twenty years — it just worked.

[bill_schubert]

I think that is absolutely a fair point. The biggest issue with the Smart Car is that it is no longer in production and so the support fades. Fortunately it is a bit like the VW bug. It lasts a really long time and people love doing things with it, dressing it up in one way or another. They are projected to last up to 200,000 and mine has been paid off for five years so I'll put up with oil change problems.

[mollywheezy]

I didn't know they weren't making Smart Cars anymore . . .

I was really upset when GM stopped making Saturns. I would have driven Saturn cars for the rest of my life.

[bill_schubert]

Yeah, we had a Saturn station wagon that we drove into the ground. One of the big selling points of the time was that it was set up for trailering behind an RV, which we did. You could easily disengage the transmission so that the car would roll without hurting anything. It was great. I was very sorry to see it go.

[mollywheezy]

How frustrating!!!