Trident Hyundai Bangalore - Using new customer car for Test drive

shankaranand · 12th February 2008, 15:58

This morning we requested for the Test drive of i10 from Trident Hyundai. Around 30 min later than the scheduled time, the car arrived in Bright red color - fully loaded.

After initial explaining by the marketing guy, I took the car for a drive and noticed that the speedometer is showing zero km when I am in 4th gear. When I asked him, he said blatantly that they have disconnected the ODO because it is a new car.

That means, they take the brand new cars for test drives!!?.. I have serious thoughts in booking my car from Trident now.. I dont have confidence whether the car is really new OR few 100/1000 km old abused during Test drives..

amtak · 12th February 2008, 15:59

Was there "test drive" or Catch the I return somewhere on the body? If not then the chances are it belongs to some unsuspecting customer.

EDIT: Mods, kindly move it to the test drive/Dealership reviews section.

Eddy · 12th February 2008, 16:02

Unfortunately, this is a common practice across most of the dealers. And it can get worse ---> http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...un-really.html

greenhorn · 12th February 2008, 16:11

ask for a colour/variant which isnt in stock, and pick it up from the truck when they unload it !

snaronikar · 12th February 2008, 16:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by shankaranand

That means, they take the brand new cars for test drives!!?.. I have serious thoughts in booking my car from Trident now.. I dont have confidence whether the car is really new OR few 100/1000 km old abused during Test drives..

Unfortuantely, this is the real scene in India right now. There are a couple of threads already raised by t-bhpians complaining about the dealers using the customers cars (their cars) for TD.

BTW, did you check the reading on odo?

praJEEP · 12th February 2008, 16:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by snaronikar

Unfortuantely, this is the real scene in India right now. There are a couple of threads already raised by t-bhpians complaining about the dealers using the customers cars (their cars) for TD.

BTW, did you check the reading on odo?

As shankar says the odo is disconnected from the word GO, by seeing the car shankar assumes that it is used for 100/1000kms. so where's the odo reading coming from huh ?

EDIT : thanks eddy for pointing out.

Eddy · 12th February 2008, 16:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by praJEEP

As shankar says the odo is disconnected from the word GO, by seeing the car shankar assumes that it is used for 100/100kms. so where's the odo reading coming from ?

OT : congrats on your 1000th run as bhpian to senior bhpian

Not yet. You need to be 1000 posts AND one year old on the forum for that

amit · 12th February 2008, 16:35

It's not just India, this is a common practice all over the world.

When I was in Canada, the GM (Pontiac, Buick, GMC) dealership always used brand new cars from their lot for test drives. During the sales training they used to tell us to ask the prospective customer what features he wants in his new car and then take that exact car out for a test drive to impress the prospect. In fact, even new recruits were encouraged to test drive their new cars to get a hang of the product they were going to sell and most of the recruits went wild on these test drives.

The VW dealership was a little better. They had demo cars but if demo's were not avaliable we were free to drive out a brand new car from the lot for test drive. Of course, VW had the advantage of having very few carlines as opposed to GM but nevertheless it's still commendable.

snaronikar · 12th February 2008, 16:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by praJEEP

As shankar says the odo is disconnected from the word GO, by seeing the car shankar assumes that it is used for 100/1000kms. so where's the odo reading coming from huh ?

EDIT : thanks eddy for pointing out.

I'am asking the km reading on odo. If it is 100 kms, then we can assume the car is new and not a customers car. But if it is 1000 kms, then, it maybe a customer's car which would hve come for service OR it might be a TD car which will be sold later. This is the experience of some BHPians who have shared in this forum.

blorebuddy · 12th February 2008, 18:44

I think not all the dealers are doing this.
When I test drove Swift from RNS motors they had a dedicated vehicle. How I am saying this because they their stickers all over the car (side doors, bonnet)

This I have seen in the other cars they had also (SX4, Wagon R etc)

Noticed the same thing with dealer in the ORR (PRATHAM?) many cars with dealer name and details.

naughtyfaction · 12th February 2008, 18:59

It is common now a days. I also took Test drive of Santro which was not marked as TD vehicle and its ODO was disconnected. The car was brand new though. I did not ask the dealer about the odo being disconnected. But when he did not give me enough discounts I told him I don't want to buy a car in which the ODO doesn't work in a brand new car !

Mpower · 12th February 2008, 20:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by amit

It's not just India, this is a common practice all over the world.

When I was in Canada, the GM (Pontiac, Buick, GMC) dealership always used brand new cars from their lot for test drives. During the sales training they used to tell us to ask the prospective customer what features he wants in his new car and then take that exact car out for a test drive to impress the prospect. In fact, even new recruits were encouraged to test drive their new cars to get a hang of the product they were going to sell and most of the recruits went wild on these test drives.

But did they ever disconnect the odo for that?? I ahave see a lot of youngsters driving around in expensive Caddys and Jags with dealer plates on the weekends.

aaggoswami · 13th February 2008, 11:32

This is the general trend. Here in my city also the odometer of test drive vehicles were disconnected. But the cars had stickers of "Demo Vehicles" and so I dont think that the demo vehicles did belong to any other customer.

DieselFan · 13th February 2008, 13:59

Stickers can be removed and the car cleaned up and can be sold to an unsuspecting/Naive customer. I like Maruti in this aspect. Every car I have test driven in 2-3 dealership were TD cars with ODO showing at least a 1000 + KM on them.

tsk1979 · 13th February 2008, 14:17

When I test drove the verna the car was apparently a customer car and not a demo car. I called up Hyundai and complained, they reverted back that the dealer has been taken to task as dealers are supposed to use Employee or Dealer cars.
HMP in Delhi test drive was in a sales manager's car.
He went along with us, and the car had done 30K kms.

12th February 2008, 15:58	#1
shankaranand BHPian Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Bangalore Posts: 164 Thanked: 22 Times	Trident Hyundai Bangalore - Using new customer car for Test drive This morning we requested for the Test drive of i10 from Trident Hyundai. Around 30 min later than the scheduled time, the car arrived in Bright red color - fully loaded. After initial explaining by the marketing guy, I took the car for a drive and noticed that the speedometer is showing zero km when I am in 4th gear. When I asked him, he said blatantly that they have disconnected the ODO because it is a new car. That means, they take the brand new cars for test drives!!?.. I have serious thoughts in booking my car from Trident now.. I dont have confidence whether the car is really new OR few 100/1000 km old abused during Test drives..
	() Thanks

12th February 2008, 15:59	#2
amtak Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai - The city of Sea Link!!! Posts: 2,932 Thanked: 952 Times View My Garage	Was there "test drive" or Catch the I return somewhere on the body? If not then the chances are it belongs to some unsuspecting customer. EDIT: Mods, kindly move it to the test drive/Dealership reviews section.
	() Thanks

12th February 2008, 16:02	#3
Eddy Team-BHP Support Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Singapore Posts: 9,455 Thanked: 13,792 Times	Unfortunately, this is a common practice across most of the dealers. And it can get worse ---> http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...un-really.html
	() Thanks

12th February 2008, 16:11	#4
greenhorn Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: KL-01 Posts: 7,845 Thanked: 4,756 Times View My Garage	ask for a colour/variant which isnt in stock, and pick it up from the truck when they unload it !
	() Thanks

12th February 2008, 16:35	#8
amit Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 3,717 Thanked: 450 Times	It's not just India, this is a common practice all over the world. When I was in Canada, the GM (Pontiac, Buick, GMC) dealership always used brand new cars from their lot for test drives. During the sales training they used to tell us to ask the prospective customer what features he wants in his new car and then take that exact car out for a test drive to impress the prospect. In fact, even new recruits were encouraged to test drive their new cars to get a hang of the product they were going to sell and most of the recruits went wild on these test drives. The VW dealership was a little better. They had demo cars but if demo's were not avaliable we were free to drive out a brand new car from the lot for test drive. Of course, VW had the advantage of having very few carlines as opposed to GM but nevertheless it's still commendable. Last edited by amit : 12th February 2008 at 16:42.
	() Thanks

12th February 2008, 18:44	#10
blorebuddy BHPian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 600 Thanked: 282 Times	I think not all the dealers are doing this. When I test drove Swift from RNS motors they had a dedicated vehicle. How I am saying this because they their stickers all over the car (side doors, bonnet) This I have seen in the other cars they had also (SX4, Wagon R etc) Noticed the same thing with dealer in the ORR (PRATHAM?) many cars with dealer name and details.
	() Thanks

12th February 2008, 18:59	#11
naughtyfaction BHPian Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 116 Thanked: 14 Times	It is common now a days. I also took Test drive of Santro which was not marked as TD vehicle and its ODO was disconnected. The car was brand new though. I did not ask the dealer about the odo being disconnected. But when he did not give me enough discounts I told him I don't want to buy a car in which the ODO doesn't work in a brand new car !
	() Thanks

13th February 2008, 11:32	#13
aaggoswami Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: Vadodara Posts: 4,987 Thanked: 2,965 Times	This is the general trend This is the general trend. Here in my city also the odometer of test drive vehicles were disconnected. But the cars had stickers of "Demo Vehicles" and so I dont think that the demo vehicles did belong to any other customer.
	() Thanks

13th February 2008, 13:59	#14
DieselFan Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,584 Thanked: 259 Times	Stickers can be removed and the car cleaned up and can be sold to an unsuspecting/Naive customer. I like Maruti in this aspect. Every car I have test driven in 2-3 dealership were TD cars with ODO showing at least a 1000 + KM on them. Last edited by DieselFan : 13th February 2008 at 14:03.
	() Thanks

13th February 2008, 14:17	#15
tsk1979 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 23,726 Thanked: 23,054 Times View My Garage	When I test drove the verna the car was apparently a customer car and not a demo car. I called up Hyundai and complained, they reverted back that the dealer has been taken to task as dealers are supposed to use Employee or Dealer cars. HMP in Delhi test drive was in a sales manager's car. He went along with us, and the car had done 30K kms.
	() Thanks