[Ravi_chd]

Hi Guys,

This is my first post on Teambhp. Please excuse any mistakes.

I was in Melbourne for the last few years and used to frequently come back to India. So in April 2010, I bought a New Swift ZXI for I needed something during those trips to India. Never a fan of taxis (no privacy) Diesel was out of the equation cause the car was expected to do less than 500kms/month on average.

Just a year after purchase I had to suddenly come back to India owing to some family issues. In the year since I came back to India my Swift did more than 30,000 Kms, obviously costing me a lot of money. To make it worse I got a job in marketing which meant now I'll be driving a lot more than that. Decided to go for a diesel.

The first thing was to sell the Swift. This decision was taken just after the recent price hike of Rs 7.50 so not many people wanted to buy a petrol car and the price had suffered considerably. Thought I should have a chat to the Maruti guys to see how much will they take it for. Turns out that they are offering a decent price and on top of that they were also offering an exchange bonus of 10,000 if I was to buy a Maruti again. Also, this will be the qickest wy of doing it since they will give me the cheque the next day.

My experience with Maruti had not been the best in terms of rattles and stuff but decided to give them a try anyways due to the exchange bonus and the fact that it will be a seamless process.

Budget was around 7-10Lakhs. Went to Autopace Showroom Chandigarh and asked for a TD of the New Dzire and the SX4. The salesperson said he cannot offer a TD of the Dzire since they don't have a demo car at the moment. Told him that I can make a decision right now but can't do it without a TD. To my surprise he said I will give you a TD but don't tell anyone about it since it will be in a new car. Ends up I test drove a Dzire and an SX4, both new cars, both without the ODO meter being connected.

During the TD itself I had decided I'm not buying a car from this dealership. Anyways, neither of the cars excited me one bit.

But still asked him about the booking period and he said about 5-6 months. I told him that I'm not prepared to wait that long. Then after a few minutes was told that I can pick one up in 2 days if I'm ready to pay a premium of 50,000.

Dodgy, very very dodgy. I'm going to write a letter to Maruti about it. Let's see what they have to say.

I sold my car to the very same dealership since they were the ones offering a good price. But obviously that was the last time I'll go near that dealership.

Took some test drives and found something to my liking. Its booked in and I should be picking it up this coming Sunday. But that's a story for anther thread. Just wanted to share my experience through this forum so no one else will get caught. Also, my swift had went through a major accident (Airbags came in handy) so I feel sorry for the person who'll end up buying it. I obviously told Autopace about it but based on my experience, I can't believe that they will pass on that information.

Hope Maruti is listening.