Smart Car Breakdown, Part 2

Not a month after the clutch plate failure, I had virtually the same problem with the transmission: The car began again to shift choppily between gears, and I had difficulty getting it into Reverse. My hunch was that the earlier problem had only partly been fixed. I'll never know for sure. But once again, the car had to be towed into Manhattan. Each time, this happened right before a Scrabble tournament.

This time I didn't waste time; I called Triple-A and arranged for the car to be towed on the following Monday. A snafu or two later, the car wound up at the dealership, and I waited to hear the prognosis. Happily, the problem was found to be with the 'clutch attenuator' (responsible for getting the gears to shift), and this part is covered by my extended warranty. I paid the $100 deductible and saved $950 on parts and labor. Phew.

Meanwhile I'd had to drive to Manhattan in my Aztek. That behemoth wasn't too bad for parking until Wednesday, when I had to be in a spot before noon. I left with over an hour to spare and ended up using most of my extra time finding an alternate route into Manhattan when all four lanes of the George Washington Bridge's upper level were shut down. Once in Manhattan, I made good time and would have been on time for my student except for the parking issue. Grr!!!

I retrieved the car a few days ago, and it's been driving fine since then. But on Feb 7, I have another Scrabble tournament. EIMT ILLW ELLT.

Update on Cheewawa. A Smart Car is Reborn

Amazingly, the dealership and Smart USA (the national version of the international company) agreed to foot the entire bill even tho the clutch plate was no longer under warranty and wasn't covered by the extended warranty. This saved me at least $900. The car has been fine since I got it back just before Xmas.

Hip hip hooray for Smart Center Manhattan!