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-   -   ARTICLE: How to buy a *NEW* car in India (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/buying-car/29513-article-how-buy-new-car-india-20.html)

Hi everyone,

After owning a 2007 Alto for nearly 13 years, I want to buy a new car (Hatch back only)

Budget is 08 lac and cannot be stretched. I will be retaining the Alto for my office commute and new car will be used by my father who will be retiring to native place after his superannuation.

My requirements in a new car are:

1.Safety. My Old man is a rash driver and has been involved in an accident where the car overturned.

2.Ground Clearance. I live in a hilly area where, at times, roads can be bad.

3.Power. Not too much but with a decent pulling power and carrying capacity

4.Sturdiness.The car should be rough-tough and should withstand little abuse which country life will subject it to.

So based on the aforementioned criteria, I have selected the Ford Freestyle (Titanium plus) petrol model, which has an ex showroom price of Rs.7,29,000/-, and has 06 airbags and other safety features. I will be taking a test drive tomorrow and then, will make up my mind whether to go ahead or not. Average running per month will be around 300 kms. Also, I need to buy the car urgenty and cannot postpone any further.

It's in this regard that I would like to request you gurus whether I have made a good choice or not.If there's any other car please let me know.
Also, please tell me the tricks of extracting maximum discount from the dealer.

Thanks

Jai Hind.

You have made the perfect choice my friend :)

Just one question, are you sure you want a senior citizen to use manual transmission? If yes, think no further. Freestyle is probably the best out there for this budget, specially the excellent safety (6 airbags) and ground clearance (190mm). Having driven it, the petrol engine is decently peppy as well as frugal. Ford service as well is pretty cheap now. It's a no-nonsense car which will serve you well. All the best :thumbs up

The Freestyle is a great option, value for money and a good combination of mechanicals and safety features. Good choice :thumbs up

As for extracting maximum discounts, I personally adopted a strategy where I ensured that I started the negotiations and closed the purchase in the month of March, when dealers are desperate to close books and record maximum sales for the incumbent financial year end. This ensured I got a fantastic deal and sweet freebies thrown in. Of course, this strategy may not be possible right now given that this is June. However, even the June 30 quarter end is a good time to squeeze the dealer for that sweet discount.

Negotiate hard, and make it clear that you are in no hurry to close the sale. Never show desperation to purchase, that is a sure fire way to deny yourself any negotiating foothold.

Most importantly, this is the Covid era and most dealers (especially ones like Ford) will be looking out to make as may sales as possible
and meet numbers. Great time for a buyer to be in the market, for sure.

Thanks Saumen D and Arindambasu 13.

So, finally, went to the dealership yesterday and checked out the Freestyle. Overall, I liked the car except for the rearseat which should have been provided with some more under thigh support. Boot area,also, could have been a bit bigger.

Unfortunately, petrol version was not available for a test drive so drove a Figo instead. Regardless of Figo bashing I was happy with the overall handling and power delivery of Figo. That's perhaps because I have not driven anything other than a 800 cc. But if Figo could impress me, I don't think so Freestyle would have done otherwise given the fact that it's essentially an improved version of Figo.

The SA quoted an on-road price of INR 7,75,842/- for Titanium plus petrol, the breakup of which is as under:

Base price- 7,29,000
Essential pack (footmats)- 3318
Temp no and plates-200
Insurance- 28627 (bumper to bumper)
Fast tag-500
extended warranty for 4th and 5th year- 9999
Registration fee- 23198
Discount- 19000 (including INR 4000 corporate discount)
_______________________________________________
Net total- 7,75,842/-

I may also mention that a PSU Insurance Co. has quoted Rs.26,800/- which includes Engine protection as well as PA for owner-driver for three years.

So based on the above facts, is there any further possibility of bringing down the on- road price of car.How and in which areas can I bargain for with the dealership??
Kindly help.

Regards.

Hello
I got VIN # for my Kia Seltos today. I tried searching all the threads and internet but looks the VIN for Kia seltos has just year of manufacturing and not month. Can someone confirm on it please.

I found below information from Kia portal -

You can get your own insurance but quite a few dealership service centres will decline to process cashless claims for these. That isn't as bad as it sounds, just pay upfront and claim from your insurer. Or show that quote and negotiate for any missing addons.

The other part is the mats etc - you may want to take the car off to a good accessories store and get 3d mats etc fitted rather than the cheap accessories the dealer will sell you. If so get the mat cost removed from your bill.

Thank you we are planning to buy a new car by the end of this year. Your step by step analysis and the methods of choosing the right car out of the zillion choices that one has in market is really very helpful

Hello BHPians,

After agreeing on a price, I have booked a Tata Nexon XZ+ last wednesday by paying Rs.10k/- over GPay at the dealer in Kochi. There is a waiting period of 5 to 7 weeks. .

This morning, I called the sales guy to ask for a Pro Forma invoice. He says that he can give the pro forma invoice only after the car has been allotted. When I asked why, he said because the ex-showroom price 'may' change by the time we get the car, so we have to wait to confirm the ex-showroom price at that time.

Is this normal? Shouldn't the car be available at the price agreed upon at the time of booking? At the time of booking (that was last wednesday, 2nd Sept), the ex-showroom price at Kochi at Rs.9,50,000/- that matches with the price given in Tata Motors' official website and the OTR price offered was Rs.10,39,000/- after discounts. So, even if the ex-showroom price goes up even after, say, 3 weeks, shouldn't I be getting the car at Rs.10.39,000/- and not Rs.10,42,xxx/- ?

Hi All!

My Aunt is looking for a small automatic transmission car and her budget is between ₹5 lakh and ₹7 lakh, and she is upgrading from an alto which has driven for the past 10 years but had done only about 48K kilometre. I had suggested the i10 Nios to her. She asked me about the Renault Triber and the Tata Nexon.

Please let me know what you think might be a good fit.

Thanks!

Nexon for sure. With her low usage maybe the Nexon EV. https://nexonev.tatamotors.com/

Just realized that neither the Nexon EV nor the ICE version fits into her budget. Will inform her of the same. Thanks!

I'm in the hunt for a new car for my daughter. Earlier there used to be selector guides at some portals where I could put in filters (body type, fuel type, transmission type, budget, etc). Now I'm not able to find it. Whats a good auto portal in India where I can find such a selector guide with user-selectable filters?

I tried a few but their usability sucks. Eg.: Carwale doesn't let me put in multiple filters. As soon as I put in one filter (eg. body type), it acts on it immediately and shows me all cars of that body type, with no way subsequently to put in the other filters I have in mind!

Clearly what I have is a common requirement, I'd imagine.

Any help?

Try this link https://www.cardekho.com/filter/new-cars

What is the process of payment in buying a new car on loan? I've booked a Hector, and have paid the booking fee. Now the dealer is insisting on receiving some payment as a cheque, which he will not be presenting. I'm taking a loan for ex showroom, and the remainder I'm paying from my account. However, he was quite insistent, and said that we have to lock the car to you, while I'm asking for a Pdi, and payment on same day.
For this, the response was that we'll have to release the car if someone comes who's paying immediately. So I told him that if he can't hold it for 1 day, then please go ahead.
So am I wrong?

He is trying to close his books for the month with your sale booked in it. Probably make a difference in his incentives.