ARTICLE: How to buy a NEW car in India

shipnil · 23rd November 2010, 16:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO

Even so, you should avoid buying a car in December; by waiting less than a month your car will be a year newer on paper.

I had read this thread before but now is the time I would be needing it the most. I have few questions here.

1. Why should I avoid buying in December? I know I'll get a car made in 2010 whereas in 30 days it will be 2011 but even if I decide to wait till Jan I'd still get 2010 model. The 2011 would start appearing only towards end of Feb or start of March which is 3 months wait.
2. How much is the road tax in Maharashtra? I think it is around 7%. I have read some posts that if one does registration by himself by visiting RTO in person, you can save a good amount of money. I have a quote from a dealer and the tax comes to 7.1%. The .1% which is about 700 rupees is I think his commission. I think it okay to pay that much for saving my one day.
3. I live in a rented apartment but the agreement is not registered. Since a registered agreement is not there, is there a way to register the car using any other resident proofs?
4. What are the insurance companies I should consider? I intend to buy insurance from outside.

Thanks!

altius · 23rd November 2010, 18:52

If one is planning to keep the car for a long time (say 5+ years), I would think buying in december would be a good option as you can get good deals like free insurance and freebies. Just my 2 cents!

sam_sant2005 · 27th December 2010, 14:25

My few cents for anyone buying a new car:-

1) How has the Manufacturer fared in the last 5-10 years? [Toyota, Honda, Maruti Suzuki have a name for themselves. VW has a name internationally, if not in India.]

2) Wait for a minimum of one year before buying a newly launched car.
Basics of Automobile industry,no matter how good the manufacturer is. A good car can be accurately judged only after getting reviews from people in 1-2 years or 30 to 40k kms. Moreover even for a manufacturer the first year is an ‘actual’ trial period in ‘real conditions’ in the general market. So 1 year down the lane they will be releasing a newer version of the car with ‘fixes’. Has happened with almost all cars in India. No one can design a perfect car for Indian conditions to say the least. It could be an issue with wiper or an issue with the brake pads. Could be anything!!!

3) Is there a 'classic' (or hit model) stuff from the Manufacturer as yet?
[Honda (City, Civic), Toyota (Qualis, Innova) have always clicked. Maruti has 800, Zen, Esteem, Wagon R, Swift etc. Tata has NONE.]

4) How is the service network?
[Maruti wins hands down. Tata is catching up. Toyota and Honda are always good enough. VW yet to jugde.]

5) If you have a friend who has taken 'that' car, he could be a good judge. Ask him!
[For eg. The Ford Fiesta has done well in the last few years. Yet the fact is that it is 'Ford'. so its not that one shouldn't go for the Fiesta. Fiesta is too good.]

6) Availability of spares.
[Maruti wins again. Toyota and Honda spare parts costs higher but their parts don't fail much]. Also suppose you are on a long trip and at some remote village you have a breakdown. Maruti will surely get you a spare and a mechanic. For a a brand like Ford you 'might' have to take a bus to the next town to get the spare!!

7) Cost of service.
[Even a 'diesel’ Maruti car goes for service for around 3-4k Rs. Compare this with the car in your contention. Toyota's and Honda's cost more but their service intervals are bigger and have lower failure rate.]

8) Build quality.
[Toyota, VW, Honda win. Maruti is falling in build quality, Tata is improving.]

9) Engine
[Honda, Toyota, Suzuki engines have always been too good. VW should be relieable and durable.]. Same engine used by two car manufacturers doesn't mean they are equally good. It is only the technology that us shared. Rest is all with the manufacturer. Levels of refinement, components used, overall performance, durability - all rests with the Manufacturer on how he develops the engine. Sole example is how Swift diesel performs much much better than the same engined Punto/Vista. If you look into the recent past, also note the Tata Indica had used the 1.2 Ltr MPFi petrol engine from the Fiat, but still it remains one of the cars with the highest failures from Tata! Fiat call it 'Fire', Tata call it Saffire! ECU, exhaust systems, filters, transmission, suspension .. all play a part.

10) Price and waiting period
[Yes a major factor, but keep in mind that buying a car is a huge investment, DO NOT try to save a mere thousands and loose a better car.]

11) Do not go by Features offered.
[Manufactures give more features when their car's don't sell. Keep that in mind. Conversely, when a car sells, offers are less. This is market strategy.But then if you look at the market you can see that ‘class’ manufacturers never give offers or good prices (atleast not at a low price) . For eg: not many features are offered in the Polo or the Etios but we can see ‘only’ offers in a Tata car! So rest you can imagine why! ]

12) Longevity of the Car
[Honda and Toyota have the highest resale value. Reason is obvious, the durability of their engines and their cars. Same is the case with Maruti. Even a 10+ year old Maruti car runs without much fuss when compared to others like the Korean Hyundai, Ford, Chevrolet or the Tata]. So if you are looking to keep a car for long, keep that in mind.

Lastly, buying a car requires a lot of research and time. Do NOT jump into it

mithun · 22nd January 2011, 18:31

Quote:

11) Do not go by Features offered.
[Manufactures give more features when their car's don't sell. Keep that in mind.

False. Some top sellers(not variants) were launched with the full list of features.

Dieseldunk · 24th January 2011, 15:57

5) If you have a friend who has taken 'that' car, he could be a good judge. Ask him!

Agreed but not always since the friend may not necessarily be an expert but can always give you a very honest to earth view on the performance of the car.

The day 2 functionality is very critical as you have rightly said Sam since this is where Maruti has come on Tops always unfailingly (Uno-Fiat or Palio when launched lacked this feature and so did Opel- Astra a good engg peice)

Rgds
Durga

A350XWB · 25th January 2011, 10:59

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