[girish.purswani]

Hi Folks,

So here’s the entire piece on what happened pertaining to my XUV300 booking.

I booked an XUV3OO W8(O) much before launch of the vehicle. On the day of the launch, NBS (Mumbai) allocated a vehicle that was ready with them in stock. I went for the PDI and observed a couple of things with this ready stock car.

1. KMS on the ODO was around 113
2. The car was not kept at the stockyard but was at the workshop
3. Found a testing paper in the car that highlighted that the car had some suspension noise issue, etc.

I raised the issue with NBS and rejected this car. In fact, I even sent an email to their customer care and Mr. Anand Mahindra's official ID that they were trying to sell me a defective car. NBS told me that allocating a new car it’ll roughly take 3-4 weeks. I told them I don’t mind waiting but I want to see the car as soon as it lands in the stockyard and in whatever condition it lands. After the long wait, on 20th March a car got allocated to me (manufacturing was of March only) and reached the stockyard in Mumbra. Since I was out of the country, my parents went to do the PDI at the stockyard on 22nd March.

During the PDI, it was observed that the car had done 81kms on the odo. Dad raised a concern about why is is that a car that has just landed has done 81kms. We received an email from the plant incharge that there was internal testing performed and as per standard anything less than 100 is acceptable. I was following the XUV 300 thread and thought maybe they could be testing the suspension issue etc so I accepted this car and told them to prepare for delivery and accessories fitment.

For accessories fitment and some minor sunroof alignment, the car was sent to the Sewri workshop. In my head, I had prepared myself to receive the car somewhere around 80+30+25 = 145 odd kms.

Delivery day (27th March)- was a pleasant day and we visited the showroom. We did all the pooja etc and everyone was all smiles. I signed the paper etc and when I was just about to remove the car from the showroom I observed something absolutely astonishing- the ODO reading showed 20kms!! I clicked a picture of this.

We raised a big issue on this as to how, why, and by whose authority had the odometer been tampered with. The reason We went all the way to Mumbra was to ensure that we have a view on how many kms the car actually does before reaching me. That evidence has been wiped clean. They had absolutely no answer to this and were caught zapped. First they told me it could’ve happened accidentally while setting the radio and stuff. I absolutely lost my cool at such a response and told them is it that simple to reset a car's odometer?

What follows is even more shocking to me- they told me that the car has a feature that one can reset the odometer twice in its lifetime by simply pressing some buttons and doing a minor activity alongside. In fact since I couldn’t believe this, I asked them to show me a demo on some other XUV 300. And to my horror, it indeed was that simple- they reset a car in the showroom that had done 120kms to 0. I’m not sure if I should post the exact method here as in my opinion, this is a dangerous feature. I mean I don’t even know how can this be termed as a feature.

Now that I had seen the process of how it’s done, I debated with them that this could not be a case of accidental resetting but instead an intentional one. They told me that they had given no such instruction to the workshop and would need a day to figure out why exactly had the technician performed this activity. I told them that this is a clear case of odometer tampering and is not acceptable. However I took the car home as it was registered etc. The funniest bit is - my service book shows 81kms on PDI and 20kms on delivery ��

I received an email from them on 28th stating that the technician intentionally resettled the odometer. Here is the exact excerpt from the email:
“One of our technicians of the PDI team, who was present during your visit to NBS, Sewri for inspection of XUV300 allotted to you previously, reset the odo reading without any prior discussion or approval from any senior staff. He explained to us now that the only intention he had was to create delight to you as you were very specific about taking delivery of vehicle with least possible odo reading.”

I mean wow, this is really an incredible response!

Some of the major questions I have are:
1. How can a dealer reset the odometer of the car and try and fool the customer
2. Why would a car have a “feature” of this sort? (Is this a common feature cause I honestly had no clue that it’s so simple to reset the odometer)
3. What is the guarantee that dealers of M&M will not sell their old stock or demo vehicles to unsuspecting customers who don’t really check VIN numbers etc.
4. A big big question on the trust factor for the brand
5. How do I know that my car had actually done 81kms/20kms or xyz kms.

Happy to get some expert views, opinions and suggestions so that I can decide my next course of action.

[voldemort]

I have a similar experience. Last November, we booked a Honda City VX diesel from Peninsular Honda, Kochi. Note that we're a repeat customer of the Honda City.

The waiting period was nearly 1 month.

In the third week of December, we were informed that the car has arrived at the showroom. Though delivery was scheduled for a couple of days later, dad and I went to the showroom to inspect the car. We did not inform them beforehand that we were coming.

To our dismay, we were told that the car is currently in Alleppey! They said their cars are normally unloaded from trucks at Alleppey, and subsequently driven over to the Cochin dealership. Alleppey is a district about 50 km south of Kochi, and I couldn't fathom why their truck unloaded the car over there instead of at Kochi.

The car was delivered two days later. The odo showed just 5 km! If the car was driven over from Alleppey, it should have had at least 50 km on the odo.

We let it slide, as we knew they would just say they reset it.

For what it's worth, the car has been running flawless for the past 3 months. Touchwood.

[BLACKBLADE]

Originally Posted by girish.purswani

Hi Folks,

What follows is even more shocking to me- they told me that the car has a feature that one can reset the odometer twice in its lifetime by simply pressing some buttons and doing a minor activity alongside. Infact since I couldn’t believe this, I asked them to show me a demo on some other xuv 300. And to my horror it indeed was that simple- they reset a car in the showroom that had done 120kms to 0. I’m not sure if I should post the exact method here as in my opinion this is a dangerous feature. I mean I don’t even know how can this be termed as a feature??

Oh my God! This is shocking to me. I knew that digital odometers could be soft-reset, by connecting a laptop to the OBDII port, provided you have the right software and know what you are doing. But doing a hard-reset by pressing a couple of buttons, is something new to me. Just wondering which other cars have such a feature ?

In your case, since you already know the approximate number of kilometers covered, and you got a reply from the dealer, albeit a ridiculous one, stating why your ODO was reset, you could rest the case IMHO. You did the right thing by carrying forward the message to all of us and making us aware !

Here is a related thread (How to detect *Odometer Fraud*)

[avdhesh15]

You have got to tweet this to Mr Anand Mahindra for sure. An official response would be great in this case!

[aravind.anand]

Very honestly, having worked in an automotive firm all along, yes most modern cars have that feature of letting the ODO be reset - but just once or maximum of 2 times in its life time. Same reset procedure simply would not be possible after that.

When a car rolls off the assembly line, it goes through a small 1-2 km long drive through a test track - to verify that the vehicle has been built properly with no issues and has no addition loose parts placed in it unintentionally during assembly!

Then it is driven very safely within the speed limits inside the factory to a vehicle storage yard, and that is a good 2-3 km of drive in a modern factory. And then it would also be driven again to the docking place to be loaded onto the trucks for delivery. This 8-10 km is very normal for every single car that is manufactured.

But what if the car needs some re-check? Lets assume it has a rattling noise from the engine compartment, then it gets driven around to the repair area, gets checked or repaired, and then is driven back to the teat track to make sure the issue has been resolved. So such a car though however sedately and safely driven, still has some larger number on the Odometer.

IMHO, on a car capable of driving lakhs of km, this 100 would not do any harm. But I also do agree that it sadly, spoils the feel for enthusiastic people like us.

[BLACKBLADE]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

Very honestly, having worked in an automotive firm all along, yes most modern cars have that feature of letting the ODO be reset - but just once or maximum of 2 times in its life time. Same reset procedure simply would not be possible after that.

Thank you for the clarification. It is quite understandable that a new car needs to be test-run for a few kilometers inside the factory test premises. It is also quite understandable that a dealer may need to drive the car for some distance, may be from stock yard to show room, from show room to RTO etc. A hundred kilometres is quite OK in my opinion. I think it is important for a prospective customer to discuss this(i.e. the number of kilometers that would be driven by the dealership) with the sales executive beforehand.

But still, I feel that the authorization for hard-reset of ODO should lie with the manufacturer, rather than the dealerships so as to avoid any malpractice from their end.

[Vid6639]

This is really not a big deal. VW has this on their cars for years. IT's called transport mode and it allows you to reset the odometer if you haven't crossed 150kms. After 150 it is locked.

It's for pre delivery transportation and is indeed now common to many manufacturers.

[SDP]

The XUV5OO has this "feature" where the odo can be reset ONCE before 150kms or so. Won't be surprised if the XUV3OO has something similar.

[amit_arya]

Originally Posted by SDP

The XUV5OO has this "feature" where the odo can be reset ONCE before 150kms or so. Won't be surprised if the XUV3OO has something similar.

+1 not once but I did it 2-3 times.. seems like you can do it a couple of times till ODO is below some limit. Do not know if i hit the max count or the ODO limit, but I was not able to reset post my XUV going above 500 km on the odo.

Also for Maruti & Hyundai (a few dealers, not sure of Mahindra), the unloading happens at Border of Delhi and from there, it is driven to the stockyard, then to the PDI center before they reach the showroom for delivery. This can be over 100 kms (e.g: I know of a dealer having a stockyard at Kapashera, PDI in Okhla and Delivery in Noida). In the olden days, it would be a concern on how the car was handled in the Run-In time (first 1-2K Kms). However this is not a major concern now a days thanks to modern engine manufacturing processes.

[libranof1987]

Interesting stuff to know. Personally, I'd be okay with the manufacturer resetting the odo after the initial testing that the car goes through once off the assembly line. But I wouldn't want the dealers to be able to do so. Even if it is just 150kms, who is to say whether those have been clocked during transit or TDs.

From what I recall, the recent cars my family has purchased have had odo anywhere from 29 to 80kms. The SAs made it clear that these were kms clocked from stockyard to showroom + some during PDI.

[vagabond128]

When I took delivery of my Marazzo, I saw that Trip metre A reading was higher than the Odometer reading (by just 200 metres). However, is it possible?

[aniyo]

This is a scary feature. Say I have a car booked and arrived in the yard. The dealer let's one of the prospects TD in the car for whatever reason. I will not be comfortable with this.

At the manufacturer level, understandable, not at dealer level

[mpksuhas]

I don't think it's a case of fraud as such.
I admit that if in your place, I too would have felt as if dealer robbed me of excitement on getting a new car. However, this is a feature and step done by dealers during car delivery.

For engines which run flawlessly for lakhs of KMs a hundred odd KMs is not a bother as such. So technically, you won't be facing any issue.

I too had checked this function few years back while taking delivery of my car, I remember someone mentioning that for XUV 500 the reset works only upto initial 250kms. Maybe the same limit is present for 300 also.

[asingh1977]

Originally Posted by aniyo

This is a scary feature. Say I have a car booked and arrived in the yard. The dealer let's one of the prospects TD in the car for whatever reason. I will not be comfortable with this.

At the manufacturer level, understandable, not at dealer level

That happens. I myself have been offered to TD a delivery vehicle for a manual variant, since only Auto was available for TD. Or they use the delivery vehicle as a display vehicle—for some hours. That is why it is favourable to pick the car as soon as it hits the dealer yard. Irrespective what the pandit says!!

[SuhasManjunath]

Damn ! I never knew that something like this could be done with a brand new car.

This feature/option should be mentioned on records somewhere at least, if it's a ethical and legal practice.
Like the manufacturer mentions wanted and unwanted stuff in the manuals, why was something like this missed ? or has it been mentioned anywhere ?

Going forward with what has happened, even I would not be happy with my new purchase if something like this had happened to me.
I feel such a feature should not even exist once the car is rolled out of the assembly line, at least it should be made more complex to reset the ODO, like by probably connecting it to a computer or some machine, It should never be so easy by just using some combination of buttons or so.

Okay, now with what has happened in this case, when the customer himself was prepared and ready to accept the new car at around 145 km, why did the improperly trained employee go ahead and reset the ODO without taking approvals from either the manufacturer or the customer ?
Once the ODO was reset, is there a document to prove at what range/reading was it reset and is that updated on the M&M database and a copy of it is handed-over to the owner of the car ?

Ok, even assuming that all of this was done with a good intention, then why is M&M sending cars to dealerships after it has clocked 81 km or say XY kms ? Why can't they reset the ODO at the manufacturing facility itself ? that will actually delight the customer (when he/she sees the car in a single digit reading) and not this !

With the way M&M have reacted to the customer's mail, it seems like a new issue to them as well, and also looks like even they are ready to support their dealership for this issue. Definitely it isn't a major issue but it's heartbreaking when you witness such instances on the Day 1 with your new car.

Also since M&M have this feature which is so easy to reset the ODO before a certain kilometers, why aren't they open about it and also why not educate it to customers as well ?

The dealership could have also been transparent by informing the customer that the ODO was reset rather than the customer finding it by himself.

Moreover, since the car had done 20 KM during delivery even after the ODO was reset it's very hard for customer to believe that it wasn't used for a TD or event display purposes !
Since the ODO can be reset just using some combination of buttons, it could have been done just prior to the delivery and in-front of the customer as well !!

M&M needs to ensure that the customer is happy and satisfied, hope they extend their support.