[hserus]

Having bought a used i10 (64k km, 2009 era model for around 2 lakhs as it had nearly new bridgestone tyres and amaron battery) for my wife to learn driving on, one other thing you need to take a look at is the rubber parts in the vehicle.

Crankshaft seal (discovered this the hard way after it cracked and leaked out nearly all its oil a few weeks after I bought it), a couple of rubber bushes in the gearshift so that slotting into reverse became tough, windshield wipers needing to be replaced with bosch / hella, etc - such things dry / harden with age and crack. So regardless of whether they're in condition or not, get them swapped out.

Also - 90K odd kilometers on the odo itself (assuming it isn't tampered) means you might need a new timing belt now or pretty soon, if that hasn't been swapped out yet.

So when you buy, if you have a trusted mechanic ask him how much you're looking at in repairs and maintenance upto a year or two down the line. Factor that into your costing (and I think GTO gave that same advice in the first few posts of this humongous and extremely useful thread).

Carwale / Cartrade etc are mostly populated by dealers / brokers so not a useful indicator of pricing. Take a look at their prices sure but also the tbhp used car price check. That assumes a usage of 12k km per year so factor that in if the car you're looking at is lighter or heavier used. http://classifieds.team-bhp.com/used-car-price-check/

As for brokers - some of whom will buy a car from an individual, sign transfer papers from him and then sell the car in a week or two without transfering it to your name). Be very careful when buying in such cases - submit the transfer of ownership papers at the same RTO it was issued at, and have the RTO do a check of the ownership / agree to process the TO (transfer of ownership.

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

^^
I don't know the exact price (Though this is a little high.) Refer sites like carwale, car trade etc.

It's okay to buy the car if you can check the service history. Get the following things checked by a FNG or ASS (and budget for part replacements or bargain):
1. Clutch
2. All 4 suspensions
3. AC
4. Rust in the underbody

[sourabhzen]

I was looking at a used car on website. The registration number as shown in pictures do not match with the vehicle description on parivahan website. The car make and year are different from the car shown. Can it be a mistake or is there something fishy going on? The owner's name in resale site and parivahan site matched though.

[slipstream]

Guys, need your help and advice please

I've shortlisted a used car through a dealer here in Mumbai. Here are the details :

Car : Toyota Corolla Automatic
Date of Mfg : 05/2003
Kms on Odo : 66,000
Ownership : Second
Insurance : Comprehensive, Valid till Oct 2016
Features : Leather Seats, Electric Folding RVM's, Power Windows
(All Fully Functional)
Condition : Good - No Suspension Noise, No Engine Noise
Smooth shifting Auto Tranny, Smooth and Clear Body Line
Asking Price : Rs.1.60 Lacs, Willing to settle for Rs.1.45 Lacs

I'm having the car inspected tomorrow through a Truebil Service Engineer for a detailed report

THE ISSUE : The Registration Card shows the below details :

MFG CD : TOYKIR (which I'm assuming is Toyota Kirloskar)
Class : LMV
Model : QUALIS
No.of Cyl : 4
Wheel Base : -BLANK-
Unladen Weight : 1185
Seating C : 5
Standing C : -BLANK-
CU.CAP : 1794

The dealer says the model specified as 'Qualis' is an error at registration and that he will help get this corrected during name transfer. However, any kind of correction will only be possible "after" the sale, which will leave me under the mercy of the dealer, which I'm not comfortable.

Need your advice on the below points :

A) Could there really be an error on the Registration Card ? My SMS to VAHAN also threw up Vehicle Model as Qualis so this is clearly not a printing mistake

B) If yes, could this be corrected during ownership transfer ? I am surprised this wasn't corrected during name transfer of First Owner to Second

C) With correction of Vehicle Model being possible and the Vehicle Inspection by Certified Engineer being positive, does this sound like a decent deal or do you see any other aspects which are fishy ?

Request your inputs guys as I need to freeze on this tomorrow

[hserus]

Originally Posted by sourabhzen

I was looking at a used car on website. The registration number as shown in pictures do not match with the vehicle description on parivahan website. The car make and year are different from the car shown. Can it be a mistake or is there something fishy going on? The owner's name in resale site and parivahan site matched though.

Originally Posted by slipstream

THE ISSUE : The Registration Card shows the below details :

MFG CD : TOYKIR (which I'm assuming is Toyota Kirloskar)
Class : LMV
Model : QUALIS

Both of you folks - Check the vehicle registration number on vahan.nic.in - the "vehicle status" option. Cross check the value of the chassis number there with the chassis number printed on the RC book, and engine / chassis number on the RC book with the engine / chassis number of the actual vehicle. If that checks out - fine.

There is a very high likelihood of bad / dummy data having been entered into the RTO database during the initial registration as well as computerization of previously manual data.

So while you can get this fixed, is it going to be worth it for a car whose resdiual value will go down to about zero in the next year or two?

If you buy a corolla automatic for that price, get whatever reasonable amount of use you can from it, before it goes to the scrapyard / gets sold for whatever you can get for it.

And also check the car's chassis number on vindecoderz.com / vindecoders.net to get a clearer picture.

[fine69]

While I'm in the market for a new car (Duster AWD most likely) I also need a used car for my wife to learn driving and then make it her daily drive. Till the time I get the new car I'd be using it on a daily basis too.

Given the odd-even nuisance I was thinking of getting a CNG car and could only come across Santro and Alto K10 in a budget of 2 lakhs.

I can stretch the budget by another 50k provided I'd get a much much better car but not sure if for a new driver it makes sense for anything else but a K10 or Santro.

Anything I need to look for assuming I'm looking at a CNG car. By the way I'd only be running the car on petrol, just buying CNG for the sticker sake.

[Mr.mitsuvolk]

Adding 50k on ur existing budget might get you Ritz which is a brilliant car with good interiors, performance and fuel efficiency.
Another good option is Spark which is also an ideal car for a beginner and you can easily get a good one well within your budget.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by Mr.mitsuvolk

Adding 50k on ur existing budget might get you Ritz which is a brilliant car with good interiors, performance and fuel efficiency.
Another good option is Spark which is also an ideal car for a beginner and you can easily get a good one well within your budget.

You could also consider the i10 and wagon R. Spark has horrible resale value and a not terribly good ASS network at least in Chennai.

In fact for a learner Santro and Wagon R are about the easiest cars to learn in - stable, stand up quite well to clutch abuse, driving in low gear and all the other horrors that newbie drivers inflict on it. And that is from my wife's driving instructor (with 20+ years experience) when I had asked him what sort of vehicle to buy for my wife to learn on. Ritz, i10 / i20 are after that.

Buying older CNG vehicles - there are plenty of maintenance issues for older cars that are run on CNG. So buy a car with a factory fitted CNG rather than an after market conversion, and make sure a trusted mechanic checks things out first. You can certainly just buy a petrol car if all you intend to do is run it on petrol.

Your 2 to 2.5 lakh will get you a 6 to 7 year old santro / i10 type vehicle in good condition (recent battery and tyres etc).

Or look at a brand new datsun redigo or alto 800 for that price. Your wife may not appreciate being handed an old beater when you have your shiny new car to drive around in

[fine69]

Originally Posted by hserus

You could also consider the i10 and wagon R. Spark has horrible resale value and a not terribly good ASS network at least in Chennai

My wife doesn't want the Wagon R so I'm now looking at i10s in the 2 to 2.5 range. I'm getting 2010-11 models in this range, cars having run 30-50k kms. Will be visiting a couple of folks this weekend.

I really doubt how many of the rubber parts I can check during inspection, certainly not the crankshaft seal, heck I have no clue where to even begin looking.

Anything in particular to be checked when it comes to the i10s of the world, any notorious part? I'd be keeping a close watch on clutch play and that's pretty much all that I can inspect on my own.

Oh and what does a typical buying process look like for a used car. I'd pay a visit and if I like the car do we get the car registered under my wife's name before we take it or do we pay the money, bring it home and then do the paperwork?

EDIT: And the idea of getting a CNG car is gone. I'd rather just buy a petrol and get a CNG kit retrofitted because all I need is the CNG sticker for those odd-even days, wouldn't be using the car on CNG anyways.

[MavericK46]

Originally Posted by fine69

....
Anything in particular to be checked when it comes to the i10s of the world, any notorious part? I'd be keeping a close watch on clutch play and that's pretty much all that I can inspect on my own.

....

The i10s and the i20s of that vintage (Apparently the newer ones have redesigned parts) suffer from an issue that causes the steering to make an unusual amount of noise when going over bumpy surfaces.
In some cases, there are issues with the steering movement itself which would show up if you turn the steering lock-to-lock slowly after a half hour ride.

Please do look out for any anomalies with the steering.

Cheers !

Sundar

[hserus]

One other thing is a sudden racing of the engine when you use the clutch at high gear to slow down and don't bother to downshift (a common newbie mistake which bit my wife ..). Pressing the accelerator a bit and releasing it, downshifting helps - but the fix for that is either flashing or replacing the power steering control unit.

Don't bother trying to eval the vehicle yourself, find a trusted mechanic / FNG from the tbhp delhi forums and pay him to eval the vehicle + tune it up to suit your need. I would say for a learner car / 2nd car for odd / even use, don't bother about the paint job + a few dents and scratches here and there, make sure the engine, clutch etc are top class.

As for retrofitting a CNG kit to an old i10 I wouldn't recommend it. Buy a factory fitted CNG kit vehicle, or find a petrol vehicle with an even / odd number depending on your needs.

Note - read the whole how to buy a used car thread especially the first few posts. Make sure you deal directly with the owner, have a mechanic check the vehicle thoroughly first and give you an estimate on how much to get the car into condition now (which could include tyres, battery etc) and how much in a year or two. Be prepared to spend 15..20k in repairs / upgrades for the used car on the road itself (typically tyres, battery, oil, gear, brake etc fluids, general service and overhaul, new insurance as they typically sell with maybe a month or two of insurance left, etc).

Originally Posted by MavericK46

The i10s and the i20s of that vintage (Apparently the newer ones have redesigned parts) suffer from an issue that causes the steering to make an unusual amount of noise when going over bumpy surfaces.
In some cases, there are issues with the steering movement itself which would show up if you turn the steering lock-to-lock slowly after a half hour ride.

Please do look out for any anomalies with the steering.

Cheers !

Sundar

[fine69]

Originally Posted by hserus

Don't bother trying to eval the vehicle yourself, find a trusted mechanic / FNG from the tbhp delhi forums and pay him to eval the vehicle + tune it up to suit your need....

As for retrofitting a CNG kit to an old i10 I wouldn't recommend it.

I'll be taking along Imtiaz (he's listed on tbhp directory) and honestly not worried about the aesthetics of the car much.

As for the CNG kit, if at all I go that way it'd only be for the sticker and not really using it, so no question on the reliability of the setup. I might as well disconnect it later and just have the cylinder & sticker.

Still one question on the paperwork as I'll also be meeting an owner this weekend, if I finalize a car after checking the service records to my satisfaction, what bare minimum documents I'd need to take away before I drive away with the car?

I'm not worried about the insurance much as I'll be getting a fresh one from my father's insurance company anyways.

So far I reckon its the regn. certificate and transfer of ownership forms (what is it really?). Anything else? How realistic is it to expect the road tax receipt, original invoice etc. from used car owners/dealers?

[hserus]

You arent likely to get much except the car, RC, insurance and the transfer paperwork from the dealer

Pay a token advance first after Imtiaz passes it then the rest when the RTO accepts the transfer papers; ideally the same RTO as the car was registered in.

[Jimmy_u]

Hello Guys,

I am on a lookout for resale car and below is the option my Mechanic Friend has recommended, please share your thoughts on the same.

Car-Skoda Octavia 1.9 TDI
Transmission - Automatic
2nd Owner
Car has been serviced only by my Mechanic for the past 5 years
Know Friend of my mechanic
Approx 70k run

Work done of approx 1 lac on the car
New Tyres
New Master Cylinder
New Suspension
Full Service done recently
New Filters
New Oil
Brake Overhaul

Owner quoting 3lacs

Please advice if this seems to be a good deal, car coming from a know source is added advantage and my primary running is weekend trips between mumbai-pune and weekday running of 30 kms to office and back

[hserus]

Just how old is this car? Octavias have a pretty high depreciation rate and if it has needed a lakh of work already done to it, within just 70k km of use, it is just not going to get cheaper to maintain.

Seven or eight years old I'd guess? Ask your mechanic friend how much he estimates it will cost to maintain that car for the next two years, what major stuff is coming up that's due for repair or replacement.

[tud]

Originally Posted by slipstream

Model : QUALIS

This could be a genuine error by the RTO data entry person. What does it say in the RC? If this can be corrected and endorsed, it shouldn't be a problem.

My cousin's petrol Swift says Diesel on the RTO website.
A neighbour's 8 years old Land Cruiser Prado says Qualis on the same website.