What makes a good dealer? From what I've seen so far the Smart/Mercedes garage I take mine to in Perth has exceeded my expectations, which makes the ownership experience much more positive.

Having 7,000 mile service intervals on the Brabus gives you plenty of opportunity to sample the customer service and so far I don't think I'd be feeling short changed even if it was an S-class and not a Smart I was taking in; all seem to be treated to the same high standard. You pay a decent chunk of money for servicing a Smart car. Features like not having a sump plug mean they have to get inventive with suction to change the oil; and it's almost an engine out job to get to the spark plugs, which you'll need 6 of as there are 2 per cylinder. When you understand how long some of the jobs take the costs don't seem too bad, especially when you get treated to a decent valet inside and out and they always have a courtesy car available without having to book months in advance. It's worth noting that you can get them serviced by specialists for around half the price of a main dealer.

The only black mark against my dealer so far was when they took a chunk out of one of my alloys when the car was in their care. Credit to them they did own up though and tried to get it fixed. When the alloy restorer said it wouldn't be a perfect match if they just repaired one wheel they went ahead and fitted a brand new alloy which I was more than happy with. Customer service isn't so much about avoiding problems, more about how they are dealt with then they happen.

Hopefully standards will be maintained when my car goes back to the dealer soon for some recall work. Looking at some of the problems found on Smart car forums, the top two are usually leaks and doors partially opening on the move. Mine doesn't suffer badly from either issue but it has started to let the odd drip in if the Scottish trademark horizontal rain is assaulting it for too long. The passenger door has also started to bump open onto its latch over bumpy roads. The simple fix for that is to open the door more often as it only seems to happen when I've not used it after a series of locks and unlock cycles.

Part of the reason Smart is having financial problems seems to be the number of recalls done to sort these problems; mine is booked in for a whole week, which can't be cheap at Mercedes dealer rates.

Hopefully everything will get sorted; to be honest I could easily live with the odd drip (it is a convertible and probably nothing some silicon grease couldn't fix) but I might as well get them done. As long as I don't miss the elusive Scottish summer in the week without it…