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Hey guys.. I am getting my new Punto (1.2 Emotion) delivered on Wednesday. I have time till tomorrow afternoon to decide on whether to accept the vehicle or not as it will be sent for registration tomorrow afternoon. My car had arrived at the stockyard today and to my horror I found out that the car was of January '11 make (thanks to the VIN decoding article from wildon bhai) Also the odo reading showed 63 kms :Shockked:. On asking the sales person he said that all Fiat cars are driven for 40 kms by Fiat after manufacturing and then 20-25 kms is driven by the dealership. He also added that all the Tata-Fiat cars are driven for 60 to 65 kms:Frustrati. I would like to know whether this is true. The dealership is Concorde Motors, Velachery, Chennai.

Cheers,
Kaushik

MODS please move this thread to the concerned section if it is in the wrong section.

Did I read January 2011? There is nothing to panic. A 3~4 month delay is considered quite normal. Anyways do a thorough PDI before they could process your papers for registration. Give a green signal only if your satisfied with the inspection.

If possible get in touch with people in this forum or elsewhere who have taken delivery of their punto recently. Check if their DOP is also in the similar region.

And about the reading on the odometer, again there is nothing to worry about unless it is a three digit figure.

BTW, is the sales person trying to oversell the car to you?

63 seems OK, provided is is the genuine reading. Dealers normally drive with ODO disconnected! My K10 had 45 on delivery. Check tyres for wear if you think that they have driven a lot.

Now a days the cars at least are transported by trucks. Time was when they were driven long distances. Trucks are still driven long distances (>1K km), I used to see them regularly on NH8 and NH1.

I think there is nothing to worry about in this case. Mine was delivered with 35 kms on odo.
Just make sure that you do a through PDI.

63 kms should be fine; it isn't that high for the car to have been used for TD. A lot of times, cars are unloaded outside city limits so they might be run for some kms to get them to the dealer.

I don't know if there are any checks if the odometer has been disconnected; have a look at the tyres as others have suggested.

Punto is a decently selling car, isn't it. Even then a ~4 month delay?

Thanks for the instant reply mate. Your post has inspired my confidence in the dealer again.

OT: No, the sales person wasn't trying to oversell the car to me. Once I asked him regarding the odometer reading he promptly replied that he would show me all the vehicles that had been tested to verify the fact that they are all driven for 60-65 kms.

Yes, I was also worried about dealers disconnecting the odo and driving. But I checked the the tyres for wear and they were no signs of wear and tear. I inspected the car in broad daylight so I am sure that my eyes have not played any tricks on me.

Thanks for the prompt reply mate. I took the T-BHP checklist with me and verified it all. I will also do a thorough inspection before I take the delivery of the vehicle.

AFAIK the tyres have no signs of wear and tear. Hence, I am assuming that the odo reading is genuine.

OT: Regarding the query of 3-4 month delay, the salesperson gave me the following explanation. He said that the car spends around 5 days after being manufactured and that is when it is driven for about 40 kilometers. Then it takes 45 days to be dispatched to the dealer. Considering the fact that this is a January manufactured vehicle it would have reached the dealer's stockyard by March I guess. So, I guess this is not a LEMON after all :thumbs up

Thanks for all the replies guys.

Cheers,
Kaushik

That's a valid point. A quick check on some other VIN decoding thread revealed that a member who booked a Punto in March '11 from TVM was able to get hold of a March '11 manufactured vehicle.

Unless the variant and color selected by the kaush666 is very exclusive, i think he must reject the offer.

Better be safe than sorry!

:OT Punto sales chart of the last half year looks funny. Punto did abysmal numbers in November and December. Just 63 odd units in December IIRC. Whereas the numbers surged to the four digit level in January. Any specific reasons? Any new variant launched in January?

Link http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/buying...ure-vin-6.html

40 kms?! I have seen brand new cars with a sub-40km reading at the showroom and rady for delivery.

Unless this is specific to Fiat, I doubt that is the case.

Precisely! We got our ANHC in June '10 and the engine is May '10.

I dont think a 4month old car should be rejected just because of that. It may be that the dealer got it sometime late February or early March, and could not sell the colour-variant combo till date. At just about 800-1000 units a month this is very much possible that you will get 3-4 month old cars.

Kaush666, I suggest you have a look at the cars from other dealers - say VST and TAFE. Concorde does not have reputation of the best TATA Fiat dealer in Chennai, and TAFE is the worst. VST is the better one from what I have heard.

I dont think you got to worry too much about this kaush. Well regarding the comment regarding Tata vehicles I guess the sales person is correct, because when my car came down to the dealership, I was present when my Safari was being unloaded from the truck and I saw somewhere around 56 kms. on the odometer so I guess your sales person was speaking the truth about your vehicle too.

Nonsense about being driven for 5 days.

My Linea T-Jet came with 19ks on the Odo, the run from their godown to the showroom is 10km and a little more for registration.

63 kms in Chennai is too much, IMO. I would be very wary of accepting the car.