[StallionAmit]

Good to see positive reviews, I just have one query, I have an Odisha registered Tata Aria which I want to sell, the car is in Indirapuram, can the Cars24 buy an Odisha registered car with NOC?

[Sail]

Originally Posted by StallionAmit

can the Cars24 buy an Odisha registered car with NOC?

Do check with them or in their website, they have a list of States. If your car is registered in that state they will trade.

I can't see Odisha mentioned in their website.



Brdgs
Sail

[NiInJa]

I had a taste of cars24 last week and I will try to put a neutral review here.

I have a Honda Brio which is a 2013 September model and under-driven with just about 33000 kms on the odo. The reason why it runs so less is that we have two other cars in our family and the Brio is mostly kept for outstation drives as its the most reliable of the lot. Why I decided to sell the Brio is a long story, but the short of it is that I am in no hurry to sell it, nor do I have any problems if I dont sell it all, but having heard the hassles that you can avoid from two of my close friends, I decided to give it a try.

Before booking an appointment online, I got a quote of the car. Now, when the website gives a quote, it asks for the exact model variant and kilometers run. Keep this in mind as I will be touching upon it later ! I got a quote that the car can fetch me anywhere between 3.09 to 3.44 lakhs depending on the condition, which I felt is fair, and proceeded to book an appointment.

I am greeted by a gentleman who takes me to a cabin where all the details are explained. The car will be evaluated and then will be put on auction where potential buyers will bid for 24 minutes. I am told that this is some high grade IIT stuff where 24 minutes is the optimal time to get the right bid. Last six minutes are like extra time in case the buyer wants to put a higher bid. Then the other costs like service charge etc is explained. All this is done professionally and the price list for service and hold-back charges (in case you furnish documents like NOC later) are fair. I will not put the details of service and other charges here as I dont think it is right to do so. He keeps on highlighting the point that the entire bidding process is 'fair' and 'transparent'. Well, read on...

The car's mechanicals are evaluated by another gentleman, who has a god gifted ability to judge the car in 5 minutes of drive with a little bit of hard throttle and high speed maneuvers in crowded city by-lanes where a kid can jump into the road on his tiny bicycle or a jaywalker is too casual to notice a born F1 driver who could not make the cut. This is a risky thing to do in my opinion. Contrary to this, my beloved mechanic records the clutch wear by slowly releasing it and pressing it again multiple times at crawling speeds, sometimes with the hand-brake on. Just saying. Then he knocks on the plastic bits like the headlight lens covers and mirrors, removes the rubber beading possibly to check if the car was re-painted or something ? Then he checks other things like music system, power windows, engine bay and the works, all this while tapping his fingers on his phone which is having some app opened. It probably is ranking the condition of my car as it is evaluated. Other details like RC and Insurance are studied and basic questions like who owns the car and my relationship with him/her is validated (I had a marriage certificate with me). Then the car is photographed and uploaded on their portal where it immediately goes to auction. The good part is that the gentleman will not disclose anything to you, even if you ask him indirectly about his opinion on your car. It leaves everything to imagination and there are no reasons for prejudice or hatred for him before the car goes for auction. Highlight the word 'before'.

Then you have to wait for 30 minutes, add 10 minutes more as the staff is busy with other sellers. Its almost like going for a walk-in interview where the HR guys call interviewees names and take you inside the interrogation room. Sorry, the interview room. You will see nervous candidates walking to and fro down the office, watching the TV, flipping through their phone's apps or smoking outside. Each one is called, and at last, they call your name to let you know how you performed in the interview and discuss salary. This is where they disclose the highest bid offered to your beloved vehicle. Yes, I was anxious and excited.
This is where things start getting real.

I am told the highest bid for the car is 2.66 Lakhs. I am not at loss of words, rather my brain is full of desi expletives held back by my faithful mouth. I pause for a moment or two. My first reaction is "this is way below my expectation". Then the interviewer tells me why I am getting this quote. I will try to put his points (A) with my counter arguments (CA) below

A- This is the price that the market is offering for your car.
CA- Wrong, I checked online on other portals, the quote is anywhere between 3.4 to 3.7 lakhs for Bengaluru cars, of course, they will be negotiated.

A- No, Sir, once the negotiation starts, the price comes down to what we quote
CA - Dont think anyone will start negotiating with a lakh rupee above its real value. This is a small car not a 20 lakh rupee car.

A- We take care of paperwork, transport etc, in private market, you will have to go through the hassles
CA - If its chosing between 80-90 thousand rupees and hassles, I can transport the car to BLR from PNQ and sell it there, total cost would still be less than 15-16 thousand rupees. I can sell the car and get the money plus a scooter for myself.

A- We have to refurbish, re-paint if needed, remove any dents etc from the car before selling it, so that cost is also considered.
CA- You have evaluated the car, may I know its score ? (to which he says its excellent). Then you know that there is no such work needed to do except for a good wash and polish.

A- I know Sir, see this car is a bit old now and the new models are having better features, Brio diesel is also launched, it will give more ...
CA- (I interrupt) No, Brio is not having a diesel engine, you might be confusing it with Amaze ...

A- Ya ya correct, but the variant is now discontinued, this is the S variant and does not come with airbag. The VX model is the hot seller and it gives more price as it has airbags.
CA - newer variants will always come with better features, we should compare the cost of this car against similar car of the same age.

A- That is right, we sold a few Brios at same price if you see (to which he shows Brios that are sold around the same price)
CA- Fair enough, but I know the true value of the car and its definitely more than 3 lakh. I can definitely find a buyer who can give me the same.

A- Also your car is under-driven, so if that is the case, the car can have problems which reduces the cost
CA- Hmm ...

(I dont want to disappoint him by giving him an explanation, So from here onwards I start arguing and he comes with counter arguements )
Note: A is me now , CA is the Cars24 guy
A- You said the highest bidder is offering 2.66, but when I checked on the cars24 website, it quoted anything between 3.09 to 3.44. This amount is not fitting in it.
CA- When did you check it sir ? (I say two weeks back) This happens because there are multiple variants of the same car on auction.

A- But it specifically asks for variant and location, I chose S MT and Karnataka . I cant go wrong with THAT, I've been driving the car for 5 years now !
CA- No it cant happen, you must have checked it for VX. Lets check it now.

Things get murkier from here. He enters the details on cars24.com again and the quote comes to 2.9 to 3.13 lakhs this time ! I give him a smile. "So The least I can expect is 2.9 ?"
To which he asks me to wait for a few minutes and he will be back. I ask him what is he going to do, to which he replies "I am going to tell the second highest bidder that the first one backed out and there is another bidder quoting even higher amount and see if he increases his bid"

Again, with expletives in mind, I just say OK and he goes out and returns after 10 minutes, he says I spoke to my senior, and the maximum we can give you is 2.75 in your hand after all charges. I tell him that I need to think over and will get back in 24 hours if I make up my mind, else I will wait as I am in no hurry or even in the mood to sell her off. I leave the office back to my beloved Brio.

As I drive back home in the car which I felt I would never drive again two hours back, I have a grin on my face. See, the thing with auction is that, for sellers it can be highly profitable in two cases: 1. Auction something of a very high value (like a Yamaha RX100 or a celebrity's discarded chewing gum) or 2. something which has past its useful life and now needs to be discarded (A Maruti Alto which is 8-9 years old). But if you try to auction something which has value as well as not past its useful life, you are definitely in for a disappointment. And I dont blame Cars24 for that as it is just a portal. If I were a buyer, I would start with something ridiculous just by looking at the pictures of a car as I dont know how to trust it. Where I would definitely point a finger is when they say the entire process is 'transparent and fair' when the dude walks out of the cabin casually telling me how he is rigging the game and comes back with 'revised numbers' which are more than the those he displayed on the laptop few minutes back. Then the lure when the quoted figures on the site are more than what actually is bid for the same car, is this also some high quality IIT algorithm ? god knows. I spent a two litres of petrol and 3 hours falling for that trap.

To summarise: Cars24 is no replacement for selling the car to individual buyer, it is good when
1. You are in a hurry to sell the car as you are moving out of the country and will be making money in a stronger currency (Two of my friends who recommended cars24 belong to this category)
2. You have driven the car for too long (in terms of distance or time) and now don't mind selling it at a minor loss as you have squeezed out all the value it offered.
3. Your car is high in demand in used market (like used Fortuner)
4. You don't mind the loss incurred in saving time and hassles.
5. You want to get rid of that car as soon as possible, probably because its a lemon and while its working fine right now, you don't know when it will fail and embarrass you.

Cars24 not recommended when:
- You are in a similar situation like me.
1. You are price sensitive and respect the true value of your car.
2. You have all the time and resources to sell it to an individual.

Having said that, they are very professional, well spoken individuals and the office is also well maintained. Thumbs up to the gentleman who evaluated the car properly. The process, should you decide to sell the car, is too seamless and the money is recieved in two-three days (Again, based on reviews by my close friends who sold their cars on cars24). The new owner's PAN number is mailed to you after re-registration.

As I type this post, the website still shows 2.9 to 3.13L for a 2013 Brio in 'Very Good' condition. I have taken a snapshot of it and can post it here on request.
Note: I have utmost respect for IIT, I've used the term because the sales guy used it twice in his sales pitch and request everyone to take it on a lighter note

[Pankaj_Ahlawat]

I tried to sell my swift VDI to them 2013 october model, which had run only 25k kms, maintained in top shape with great ICE
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/car-en...q-setup-2.html

Though i had swapped the audio to half value than in the above thread, still great sounding set up.
However, they quoted 3.25 lakhs, wheras as i was getting 3.75 + .20 Lakhs exchange bonus from auto terrace. I finally sold it to my cousin for 3.95 lakhs.
In conclusion, they are loud and self proclaimed, visting their office almost makes you feel you are in KidZania, where you are a seller and they are some Fugazi buyers, pretending to do an artificial process: their evaluation, those invisible dealers bidding online, without an ounce of authenticity and objectivity in pricing etc . Its a complete waste of time IMHO.

[darkbull]

My experience was also on similar lines and I did some digging on their algorithm and portal. Based on discussion with some dealers, I remember it was cartradeexchange.com which is the portal managed by most of these dealers.

Adroit inspection is the app that is used in the tablet which they use for evaluation.

Cheers

[rikhav]

Had a bad experiecne with cars 24 when I took my friend's TATA Nano for inspection.
Wasted 2 hours at their branch getting car inspected and never got a price from them
On top of it the call center keeps calling everyday to inquire if I got the price

A friend had similar experience when he took his AUDI Q5. He was given such a silly reason by the guys there to not give a price
They told him market is very bad so there is no one wanting to buy your vehicle inspite of it being In very good condition

Both the cars had visited Versova, Mumbai branch of cars 24

[DriverR]

I think the experience varies from center to center. As i have mentioned in my post some pages back, I had a fairly positive experience when selling my 10 year old i10. The price I got was within the initial website quoted range as well as other 3rd party website price estimate range. My experience with the person who did the detailed car check was fairly good as well. He showed me the various issues he found as well as answered questions to doubts i had.

I mentioned it before and i am saying again, Cars24 is not for the price sensitive people. You will NOT get the best price. At the end of the day, they are a business. They definitely needs to have some profit margins built into the pricing, as they too need to make money to sustain the business. Car24 is for those who need to sell their cars quickly and without the hassles of running about. These are the kind of people for whom make sense. Others will definitely get disappointed by them.

[mayankk]

I am having an absolute crappy time with cars24. The sale price I got for my fiesta was way lower than what I wanted, but I went ahead just for the ease of the process. I sold her in july of 2017, and earlier this month, when I sent a message to vahan, i received my own name!
Thats their USP, sort of, that they take care of the transfer process. They say that its lying with one of their "channel partners". That would be a JK motors like dealer. After I connected with cars24's CEO and customer care, they have assured me on mail that there may be some issue with the process, but "trust us", all liability is taken care of by cars24 "upto 5 lacs". How does that help if the dealer's prospect kills someone on a test drive??
Now i am stuck. The mails are not being responded to, there is no movement, and I have no further way of getting after them. The outlet where I sold it to has closed down, and the other one in Noida is non-responsive. They have issued me a printout of a sale transaction for my car, and signed and stamped it. That is no good in case of the worst happening.
What should I do?

[Rshrey22]

If the car is still in your name, technically, you still own it and can take it into your possession. Do this, else if the car is involved in a mishap, you'll be in trouble!!

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by mayankk

I am having an absolute crappy time with cars24.
What should I do?

First of all, check if the buyer or dealer has got Insurance renewal done. If they are not able to give you a copy then get a Third Party Insurance at once. It should save you from any liabilities.

[rikhav]

Have sent your post to cars24 Twitter handle. Sorry did that without your permission but they would take some action or at least few more would know about whats happening with you and will be more cautious

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by Rshrey22

If the car is still in your name, technically, you still own it and can take it into your possession. Do this, else if the car is involved in a mishap, you'll be in trouble!!

How do I go about that?

Originally Posted by Turbanator

First of all, check if the buyer or dealer has got Insurance renewal done. If they are not able to give you a copy then get a Third Party Insurance at once. It should save you from any liabilities.

Thanks. So should I just put up a renewal online, that should be sufficient?

Originally Posted by rikhav

Have sent your post to cars24 Twitter handle. Sorry did that without your permission but they would take some action or at least few more would know about whats happening with you and will be more cautious

Thank you!



The CEO or head honcho of Cars24, Vikram Chopra, responded to my mails.
"Sending you an affidavit and sale-purchase agreement asap. Give me a couple of days or so.
Also I am working on your RC transfer.

Be rest assured that god forbid if a situation ever arises (rarest of the rare), we incur all legal expenses and we front with cops and law, without your involvement. First thing we would do is step up and share signed docs (that already exist) that the car was sold to us and hence our liability. The 5 lakh cover is over and above all of that."

I hope there is some more traction on the issue. If there is none even with the CEO's intervention, what would be the way forward?

[mayankk]

Well, the CEO has marked out a mail to me with the delivery receipt of the car, the full appointment details, and another note dated and signed from this month stating that the car was bought on such and such date and that cars24 will be liable for any events. I am hoping that this keeps me out of trouble, if any.

[ghodlur]

There is an alternate to cars24 now. Olx have started cashmycar on similar lines of cars24. They buy cars, auction them and close the deal if agreed with the seller. My office colleague who is going abroad sold his car i.e Swift petrol 7 yr old for 2.2 L which was 20% more than his expectation. Although the documentation wasn't upto the mark i.e there was no No Liability certificate/letter issued to my friend neither did they issue any letter of the keys, original RC, Insurance policy etc submission. Seems they are new and faster to payment formalities too as they would take atleast 5 days to credit the amount to the seller although the website says instant payment.

https://www.cashmycar.olx.in/

Interested people please enquire thoroughly before dealing with them. In case somebody has sold their car through the new entrant, kindly post a detailed review for everybody's knowledge.

[motomaverick]

I had a positive experience at Cars24 Koramangala. All was done in 1.30 hrs. I guess as someone said the experience varies from centre to centre and I think the time of day and week. Why I say this is because my car had only 10 bidders today, I am just assuming that maybe if it was a weekend there may be more bidders.

The folks at this centre were pretty transparent and showed me the inspection report, the bidding as well as including the bids made. I was happy with the price and finalized the deal. They will take care of closing the existing loan and give the balance money within 48 hrs. As a policy, they keep 10% of the money until I hand over the NOC that I will receive from the bank.

The only charge was 3k service charge as the final price was more than 2L.