Saturday, December 24, 2011

Why doesn't a smart car maker step forward and garantee parts available for 1000 years?

I mean, what better strategy to grab market share and ensure longevity for the company.|||this person stated parts availability, and if you ever had fords wonder box srod(tremec 4 spd overdrive) you know what they mean, obsolete what do you mean obsolete its only like 7 - 10 yrs old, hmm no parts store can get em either, hmm the original manufactuer of the gearbox cant sell parts because you have the patten, what now?


its not guaranteeing the part, however this would work with a non-transferable warranty.|||thats not smart/its the other way|||same reason no car maker will,parts wont last that long.|||Obviously, you have no background at all in business.





The reason they don't do this, is two fold.





First, is cost. If you warranty things out to 1000 years, try to figure out how much EACH car will eventually cost the company.





Let's say you do $1000 in repairs, in a year. Over 1,000 years, you're already up to 1 million dollars. For a car that you paid 15-20,000 for.





That's like my giving you a dollar, and you give me your house and all the money in your bank account.





Then multiply that by all the cars they will make between now and that 1,000 year mark.





You're easily into the hundreds of billions of dollars spent. If not exponentially more.





Complete, utter loss.





The second reason, is why would you? Rocks don't even last to 1,000 years sometimes, why would you guarantee a highly complicated machine would?





Totally ridiculous, from a logical point of view.|||Why would I even WANT my car to last 1000 years? I'll probably be too old to drive by then, anyway.|||Kind of hard to know if they will be in business in a 1000 years. And would not be cost effective. Would you guarantee you work for that long? Or even for the rest of your life?|||Because any "smart" car manufacturer wouldn't be that STUPID!!!!|||1000 is very excessive. im almost inclined to believe you are having a laugh here. just think of the advancements cars have made in the past, what, 20 years....how can you manufacture a vehicle and have thousands of parts sitting around for it just for your convenience? we won't even have internal combustion cars around in 1000 years!!!|||For one, the car would be overly outdated in 1000 years, and companies need the next best thing out there. Just think, if Henry Ford guaranteed Model T parts for 1000 years what might we be driving today?





Second, why 1000 years? 9/10 you won't live that long anyway.





Third, It will cost so much to the automaker that they'll have to close down probably within a year of announcing the parts guarantee.





Fourth, unless that car is a Formula 1 racer, I don't see the point in making it last a thousand years when better cars will come out and you'll be long gone before your guarantee hits 100 years old.

Where can I rent a Smart Car in the NYC area?

They're really cool and I'd like to rent one to try it out for a day before I commit to buying one.|||just found this, check out geniusride.com


my brother just rented one last week and he was real happy

This is aimed at anybody on Canada or Europe who either owns a Smart car or knows somebody who owns one.?

As I understand it Smart Cars have been in Canada since 2004, a little longer in Europe. How do that behave in the snow? I have my own ideas but I would like any input from anyone who has direct experance or knows somebody with direct experance.|||I've had one for a couple years and have never had any major issues with its handling in the snow.

If my registration is out of date, can I still turn in my lease/smart buy car?

I moved out of state recently, but my smart buy on my cadillac is coming up here in a month or so. My state registration is expired, and obviously I dont want to go thru all of the hassle of getting it switched over to the new state just to turn in the vehicle this next month. Will a dealership accept a lease/smart buy car with an out of date registration? Thanks!!|||You would have to get the car to a local dealer to turn it in, but once you do that, it does not have to have a current registration.





You could tow the car in, or take the chance of driving it to the dealership with dead tags. You could also contact the dealership where you are going to be turning the car in, and see if they could help you (possibly for a fee) by riding with you to pick up the car, and them driving it back to the dealership on a dealer tag.|||it shouldnt be a problem, they need to have the vehicles inspected and then notify the state that it has been turned in anyway|||Your actual lease documents would supply this information. If lost, go online and look up a copy of the Lease agreement, again, it should supply the terms that are required for returning a vehicle.|||drive out tags or temp tags so one can drive most dmv can get one thats good for 14 days|||Talk to the dealship so you know for sure.

Do you know of a good wesite where i can buy SMART car accessories?

such as the rings that go on the clock etc, things to make the car look pretty, or accessories like keyrings and mugs and t-shirts and all that stuff.|||A quick search on the net for "Smart Car owners clubs" will help you find what you're after. I joined www.thesmartclub.co.uk, where you'll find a buzzing community of Smart Nuts, friendly advice and discussion, links to parts and accessories suppliers and year round events some of which are definitely worth going to.


Hope this helps.|||When I was looking for car accessories I searched a lot for my new bmw then i found a cheap site which is http://www.directcaraccessories.co.uk


i liked the product momo corse very much


See this product


http://www.directcaraccessories.co.uk/catalog/gear-knobs-momo-corse-c-142_4626_5633.html

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|||Has the Smart Car got it's own website - you could try there? Otherwise, and I belive it's the answer to everything, try ebay...|||a smart car is an accesory i keep one in the boot of my zafira|||EBay|||Ebay!!! Just check the seller's history:)

Isn't a car from the 1940s safer than say a Motorcycle or a smart car?

If so, why do you all ***** about classic car safety?|||In my opinion yes, because I have seen many motorcycle accidents and several smart car accidents that were in the body shop next to us and the the occupants of the smart cars had severe injuries from what I was told and the cars were totaled out, at least the older ones had real metal, okay no airbags but still..|||It may be safer than a motorbike but i am not sure about the smart car.


The highway safety institute ran some tests a few years ago comparing 1950 cars to modern cars and the modern cars came away with less damage every time!.


The survivability for passengers was also dramatically better in the newer cars.|||ANY car is safer than any motorcycle .


Having said that the cars from the 1940's were death traps that didn't have


Padded steering wheels


Padded dashboards


Collapsible steering columns


Seat / shoulder belts ....and many other safety features that are standard in today's cars .


My first car was a 1962 Ford Galaxie 500 so I know what I'm talking about.|||No its not safer than a Smart car. The 40's car might survive the accident better but everybody in the car wont. Modern cars are designed to crumple which helps absorb the impact so you take less of a hit. Old cars were extremely rigid which will pass all the crash impact to you making you do the crumpling.|||Smart cars are surprisingly safe, look up safety ratings. And it's true, a 1940s car could easily survive a crash with only a couple scratches, but all that potential energy that isn't absorbed through the bumper like on modern cars is transferred to the passengers.|||Cars from the 1940's were death traps;





- they rolled over easily


- their handling sucked big time


- they had drum brakes which faded after a couple of uses


- they didn't have collapsible steering columns


- no seat belts


- no energy absorbing components whatsoever


- no padded dashes


- dashboard festooned with hard knobs and levers


- only a few cars had safety glass


- even fewer cars had power steering OR brakes


- tires of the day were no good when they were new





Hell; I have a 1959 Jaguar that I just spent a fortune on putting in proper seat belts.|||It is definitely not safer than a smart car.





It is probably safer than a motorcycle, but only in the sense that cars are inherently safer than motorcycles, not for reasons related to classics versus modern.|||Safety begins with the operator.


Operate within the limits of the vehicle, the road and the driver and all is fine.


Until some other clod does not.

What kind of suspension does a smart car have?

coil spring or leaf spring? and does it have all wheel drive or front wheel drive? please and thank you!|||It's got a MacPherson Strut front suspension and a DeDion rear suspension. And it's neither front-wheel-drive nor all-wheel-drive. It's rear-engined, rear-wheel-drive.|||Front axle suspension lower wishbone, McPherson strut, anti-roll bar


Rear axle suspension DeDion axle, coil springs, telescopic shock absorbers|||don't buy smart.|||Can you say death trap?