Malik Cars Tolichowki

[himanshugoswami]

Took the Safari for its second service yesterday to Malik with much trepidation.

I had visited Autofin on a couple of previous occssisons, and while they were quite courteous and prompt, their knowledge left a lot to be desired. Reviews on the net on Malik did not inspire much confidence either. so i was in a quandry.

anyhow, decided to give Malik a shot, since it was relatively close to my house.

Workshop:
The workshop is pretty huge, and has about 30 service bays in addition to a moving service line that does the initial check ups, lube changes and interior cleaning. So in all, they can accomodate upto 50 cars in one go. Additionally, they have an auxiliarry service area for accident cars and (it seems) fiat cars, since all the fiats were in that area.

what was surprising was the number of Safaris for service there- 20 at last count, and this on a working day- so that inspired some confidence

Service:

the service adviser was quite prompt and listened pateintly to my problems. nothing major, some squaks and rattles. the only concern was that on a couple of occassions, i felt clutch slippage. The advisor suggested that I may be riding the clutch- felt like him there and then.

anyhow, they did the initial service, which was quite prompt and efficient. the lubes were changed, all underbody nuts and bolts were checked (quite thouroughly) and tightened, tryes rotated and balanced etc. they also checked all the doors and removed all the sueaks and rattles.

then the WM too me for a test drive and sure enouhg, you could not detect any clutch slippage. we drove for a bit, but nada! he did admit that the truck was not pulling as well as the 3.0 shoudl in third gear.

anyhow, back to the worshop and we hoisted the truck up and inspected the clutch (at this point I must mention that they allowed be to be present all througout, and i made sure that i never got in their way !)
on opening the clutch, it was diagnosed that there was alead in an oil seal in the gearbox, that was dripping oil (very minute quantities) on the clutch. so he changed the oil seal, topped up the gear oil, cleaned the clutch plates and we took another test drive. the WM was still not satisfied with the performance of the car, and came back and told the mechanic :"put in a new cluthc and pressure plates". I was like ***.

He insisted that that is the best option, and plus, it would cost ne zilch under warranty. so I was like, what the hell, go ahead.

so began a 2 hour exercise, with the clutch and pressure plates removed, all adjustments made and a new clutch and pressure plate set installed.

thereafter the car was cleaned thoroughly and handed over to me on the dot at 7- as promised at 9AM when I brought it in.
All in all a day well spent, though my wife tends to disagree!

Total Cost: Rs. 2861- engine Oil (6.5 L of Castrom 15/w40); oil filter; wheel balancing; coolant top up.

F.O.C.- clutch plates, pressure plates, gearbox oil seal, top up of gear oil.

overall rating : 8.5/10
would I go there again for next service : Sure!

[suman]

Nice review. Getting a good & reliable workshop is akin to hitting the jackpot these days!

Well, you'll have less sleepless nights going forward. And some good wheelspin with the new clutch

[vnabhi]

Good to know about your discovery, Himanshu! How is the Safari after the clutch plates were changed?

[snaronikar]

You have got a good service guy. Nowadays, finding these type of service guys are pretty difficult. Thanks for sharing here. It maybe helpful to others.

[hrag]

2nd service (10K km) for a Safari bought in October 2007 - you are not using your truck!

[Zappo]

You are correct, he is not. I suspect that is majorly because he lives where he works and vice versa. For the lesser mortals its a ride across the city to reach office and then back home every day. In turn that clocks some fairly high routine mileage for others.

[kkr2k2]

Originally Posted by Zappo

You are correct, he is not. I suspect that is majorly because he lives where he works and vice versa. ......

for the uninitiated its his wife who is using the car as he spending lot of time in the air-ports. Thats how at least the car is 10K else it would have just finished run-in I guess

[rajismine]

I have been taking my bull to Concorde but always feel like something is missing. Though you cant point anything out but still something makes me wanting for more,

I guess should visit mallik next time. Can you please share with me, the cell number of the workshop manager...

Rajeev

[himanshugoswami]

hi Guys,

as Zappo and Raj mentioned, for the last three months, the truck is driven more by my wife rather than me. I stay 0.75 kms from my office so that explains it.

after the clutch change, the truck feels like new, it is pulling like crazy in third and fourth...got the air filter cleaned as well, so i guess that is contributing.

@ Rajeev- I am currently travelling to Delhi and Chennai, so will PM you the number next week when i am in Hyd. the SA's name is Pawan and the mech who worked on my truck is Mahesh. A friend takes his 2.2 to Concorde and he is also not happy- his main grouse is their arrogant attitude that they know best.

[rajismine]

yes they do that that attitude. The Manager has attitude and does not even comes near your car. thinks he is the boss and he has his staff to do that all. And the SA need to be still educated about a lot of things. Whatever u tell them, there is only one answer: "Ye Aisa hi hota hai Safari mein".
I have been driving for 2 years and get surprised to hear that everything wrong that happens is "A standard thing in Safari".

My car came from 4th Service 15days abck and they had filled 38PSI in front tyres. The steering became so hard that my shoulders started paining in 5 Kms traffic. When I called the SA he says: Sir why would we do anything wrong with your car. I said I am not saying "U" did anything. All I am saying is that something is wrong. He says sir Tyre mein pressure kum ho gaya hoga and when I checked it was 38 PSi instead of 32 PSi standard....

Will take it to Mallik to show them once anyways. Please give me the number of the manager and not the SA

regards

Rajeev

[huntrz]

Himanshu,

Experience at Malik varies with service adviser. Stick to this adviser for your future visits.

[Alton]

Originally Posted by himanshugoswami

overall rating : 8.5/10
would I go there again for next service : Sure!

Himanshu Sir,
Had a chance reading of your post.Even I was contemplating whether Malik or Autofin for First Service of my Palio MJD.Though I bought it from Malik ,the experience left me with a feeling to go to Autofin for future relations for my car.
Anyhow your rating made my thoughts clear and I took my car for service.
And met by chance the guy you mentioned ! Mr.Mahesh.
The service experience went well and even I would rate it 09/10.
Thank You.
Regards

[tomjoe]

I beg to significantly differ from himanshugoswami on the service at Malik Cars, Towlichowki Hyderabad. Maybe his case was ok as he was there. What of those who can't be there? My experience (3 services, 2 body repairs) was never satisfactory.

The service advisors are pleasant but the knowledge and ability to diagnose a problem is below par. Yesterday, I went to complain for the nth time in 2 years regarding water leakage from 3 doors into the car during rain. I showed the advisor the areas and left for my work. A couple of hours later, he called to say he could not find any leak. I asked him to re-check. He then called to say 3 door beadings need replacement. Gave the go-ahead and his estimate was around 2600/-.

Later he called to say it will be approx 3000. Again said OK. Then he called to say it will be around 3300/-. Again I said OK. A couple of minutes after the last call, he called to say that the 4th door, which had no leak was now leaking - and so the 4 beadings needed to be replaced for approx 4400/-. I asked him how it was possible in a matter of 2 minutes. He said he "forgot to tell". So I told him that I am withdrawing the car. Went and picked it up.

The CR Manager too supported the Service Advisor saying its a small mistake. When I refused to continue there, the Manager told the Advisor that they will say that the customer is withdrawing because of he could not afford the cost!!!!

I have done my last 2 services at a local mechanic satifactorily. I made a mistake of going back to Malik. Never again!!! In addition, never buy a Tata product!!! I work for a Tata Company!!!

[Lalvaz]

Originally Posted by tomjoe

I have done my last 2 services at a local mechanic satifactorily. I made a mistake of going back to Malik. Never again!!! In addition, never buy a Tata product!!! I work for a Tata Company!!!

Whoa, thats a bad experience. They really ought to improve the quality of their products and customer service, but I was under the impression that they have improved their quality significantly with the VISTA. Infact I'm planning to do a test drive this weekend. Now after reading your post, I'm a lil unsure.

Anyways, curious to know why you would advise folks to never buy a Tata product, especially since you're working for a Tata company. If everyone follows your advise, you'll be out of a job soon.

[tomjoe]

Originally Posted by Lalvaz

Whoa, thats a bad experience. They really ought to improve the quality of their products and customer service, but I was under the impression that they have improved their quality significantly with the VISTA. Infact I'm planning to do a test drive this weekend. Now after reading your post, I'm a lil unsure.

Anyways, curious to know why you would advise folks to never buy a Tata product, especially since you're working for a Tata company. If everyone follows your advise, you'll be out of a job soon.

The reason - from my experience - quality is just not up to the mark. I had these bad experiences with Malik Cars in Hyderabad and earlier with Manipal Motors in Bengaluru. The training they get seems to be uniformly bad.
Reg job, if quality is not there, when a chance comes, we will switch, right? That applies to all whether Tata Group or not!! But maybe you are right, such a blanket statement cannot be justified. Thanks!