[vinu_h]

Most rental cars in developed countries have these trackers installed. After the car has been returned, the agency would retrieve the data and use it to deal with speeding tickets and such. I've also noticed insurance companies giving a 10-15% discount on the premium if you have one of these installed. It tells them how rash a driver you are and will allow them to set the premium accordingly.

BMTC is planning to install such trackers on all of their buses. Every bus stop can then have a display that'll give the wait time.

[longford]

Well, I am pretty certain he will take them to the cleaners.

Keenly watching this space.

I think the dealership will hold the errant employee to terms for not having removed the GPS device before going for a Grand Theft Auto! Completely reprehensible behaviour by a German manufacturer and a serious erosion of trust.

[Fiest@DuraTec]

Amongst all this, there is one question !!

How do the dealers intend to answer any question on the number of kilometers while the customer takes the car back after service ? A quick test ride for checkup after service would not suffice as a reason, as it would be just for a few kilometers not 100+ which in this case seems easy.

Would they play with the odo ? I am not well versed with the features of a high quality car like this - not sure if that is possible too, so please ignore/clarify if I sound stupid !!

[quickdraw]

Quick Update:

Vishal has been contacted by Audi and a whole bunch of other journos as well. He is waiting for his car to be returned (I don't blame him). I think Audi is denying the fact that the car was taken for a joyride. Ill keep this thread updated with latest news.

EDIT: I think someone asked about the ODO, AFAIK its very easy to change the odometer reading for general people, I am quite sure the dealership is quite capable of it. Link :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnUTbVzLDYM

[lurker]

this makes one give more respect to seasoned campaigners Guderian & dkaile who stand besides their cars on the shop floor while the car gets serviced. And do not budge an inch from besides their steeds. Looks like the time has now gone where one could trust any service centre blindly to leave the car with them overnight.

[engrohit]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

This should be sent to the Board Members of the Audi team.
The Dealer/ Service Centre should be severely penalised (say something like Rs 10 Lakhs as a fine for such behaviour.)
Then the Dealer should be publicly sacked by Audi ensuring that no other manufacturer comes near them in future.
Lastly, the owner of the dealership and the perpetrator of this outrage should be publicly flogged, and faces blackened they should be paraded around Bombay by being made to walk everywhere for 7 days, with only dry bread and water being given to them at intervals of half an hour.
I would quite like to be an "enforcer" sitting and devising new ways of making these creeps pay for their crimes!

Wow Shankar, that's devious. BTW & OT as well, I just happened to come across your views on some other thread (Duster Review), which were in direct contradiction to what you have mentioned here.

There are some really angered posts here about screaming and thrashing the SA. Sad and in rather poor taste in my opinion considering that the SA is less privileged than the rest of us. My grand dad used to tell me many years ago that if the person serving us had had the opportunities we have had, who knows where he or she may have reached!

Personally I find politeness solves problems far better than the typical Indian 'danda' approach adopted by many towards those whom they perceive as 'lesser mortals'.

This behaviour goes all along the chain right from the top echelons of 'above the law' politicos down to generally well off folks and the way that 'service people' are treated at hotels, restaurants, car service stations etc. frankly would we raise our voices at someone who is perceived as equal to or higher than us? Methinks not!

Signs of an impatient, intolerant, bullying,immature society where might is right and little else matters?"

Any comments?

[shomshree]

Note from Mod: There are several spelling & grammatical errors in your posts. This negatively affects the board experience for other readers.

Kindly ensure that you proof-read your posts prior to submission. Also, it would be a good idea to use spell-checkers.

[quickdraw]

Some more details of the Joyride, it lasted almost 8 hours. From 12am to 8am.

Kalina - Juhu : 00:00 am to 02:45 am


Bandra – Marine Drive - Mahim : 04:58 am to 05:15 am
Exceeded speed of 120km/h on multiple occasions.


Kurla – Pant Nagar (Ghatkopar) - Kurla : 06:03 am to 06:22 am


Kurla – Chembur – Kalina : 06:30 am to 07:45 am


The car is safely back at home now, I've asked him to check for damage and bubbles on the side-wall of the tires or if anything is amiss.

Audi India insists that the car never left their workshop apart from the 10km test drive they take (which is also there on a separate day on GPS). And they also insist that the Odometer as proof. Apart from that they claim they have CCTV footage of the car, but the numberplate of the car is not visible in the video.

[sachinj12]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

The Dealer/ Service Centre should be severely penalised (say something like Rs 10 Lakhs as a fine for such behaviour.)

Heck, he should insist on a new Q7 delivered to him free of cost!

All the owner he has to do is pass on this incident to the press and they will have a field day with this story.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

Some more details of the Joyride, it lasted almost 8 hours. From 12am to 8am.

Audi India insists that the car never left their workshop apart from the 10km test drive they take (which is also there on a separate day on GPS). And they also insist that the Odometer as proof. Apart from that they claim they have CCTV footage of the car, but the numberplate of the car is not visible in the video.

Wow - Typical VAG attitude. Don't admit the problem or address it. Deny deny resist resist! Shameful. Let the customer also try and figure out if there is any other similar Q7 at service during the same period. That will explain the presence of the car in Audi's video where the number plate is not visible.

If Audi / dealer wants to repose customer confidence, it should undertake a serious and transparent investigation into what happened and require consequences from the guilty party (assuming there's nothing in Audi's defence that we are missing here). It seems very far fetched to be a GPS glitch. Go on Audi, do the right thing. It'll only stand you on better stead in the long run.

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by engrohit

Wow Shankar, that's devious. BTW & OT as well, I just happened to come across your views on some other thread (Duster Review), which were in direct contradiction to what you have mentioned here. Any comments?

yeah, looks like we (or the SAs persistently bad behaviour) convinced Shankar otherwise

Originally Posted by quickdraw

Audi India insists that the car never left their workshop apart from the 10km test drive they take (which is also there on a separate day on GPS). And they also insist that the Odometer as proof. Apart from that they claim they have CCTV footage of the car, but the numberplate of the car is not visible in the video.

Ha ha ha, thats awesome. So how did the device return the data? Did someone disconnect it and fit it to another car while it was having joyrides around Mumbai?
The odometer, can it not be disconnected?
Any evidence that doesnt show the number plate is not evidence. It is just evidence that there was one Q7 parked there. Thats really laughable. Not even expected from a local garage, forget an Audi dealership. They should be asked to show CCTV footage of the gate.

[shomshree]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

Audi India insists that the car never left their workshop apart from the 10km test drive they take (which is also there on a separate day on GPS). And they also insist that the Odometer as proof. Apart from that they claim they have CCTV footage of the car, but the numberplate of the car is not visible in the video.

One small doubt, whether the company is liable to answer of a result which is a third party product.

[balenopower]

This is simply unpardonable on VAG's part. I still dont understand why the worst case scenarios always seem to come from Skoda's, VW's and now Audi's. While im sure the Japs and the Korean's aren't perfect but why specifically VAG. i hope the owner can prove this throttle happy incident and take the dealer to the cleaners.

[46TheDoctor]

This looks like one more incident to the nasty string the VAG are becoming famous for. I don't think i will buy or recommend a car from VAG to anyone who asks for my advice in the near future. They really need to improve their act on A. S. S. along with the prices of their spare parts.

[srishiva]

I think some company should now come with a device that also takes videos of the ride for companies like Audi to admit.
Is the owner pursuing going to pursue this further?