Emmanuel Goldstein, editor of 2600 Magazine (A Quarterly Hacker Magazine) has one of these smart cars. He lives in the NYC area and commutes to do his radio shows (also broadcast as podcasts) called Off The Hook and Off The Wall broadcast by WBAI . There are a few running around NYC apparently, but from what I understand his is frequently seen around town.
I don't recall how he purchased it, but one of the episodes of his radio show / podcasts (either off the wall or off the hook, can't recall which), he speaks of the car and its purchase in great detail. Here's a link to the show notes from the month of June, where it seemed they talked about their smart cars with quite frequency.
http://www.2600.com/offthewall/2005/0605.html
With any luck, you'll be able to find the episodes mentioned in the show notes linked above, and can find the information you seek. If you need more information, you can email the guys at 2600 and probably get ahold of those who own them easily, as it appears they love chatting about them.