[mkuruvil]

Oho! So that is why the most recent ad for the Chevy Spark did not list Garuda in Bangalore as one of the dealers.

I find it hard to believe that Sagar got their dealership cancelled. AFAIK they were one of the better dealers here in Bangalore, compared to say Bimal and possibly Mandovi also. Down here at BG road, I have see only that Mandovi has only a workshop and tiny showroom. On the other hand, Sagar has (had?) everything here - workshop, showroom, body repair shop etc.

[kamy450]

Confirmed new dealer for GM !!

[deepug]

Just got an update from our admin folks. Dont know how far it's true. GM Sales & Service will now be done by Sundaram , Trident and a new dealer. Sundaram is also opening their sales and service near Advaith Hyundai(Not sure which one).

Deepu

[Wind]

Originally Posted by abhilashvk

Garuda and Advaith are the same owners. So they will sell Maruti and Hyundai? Maruti already have 6 dealers in bangalore, more to come?

Add Kaveri Ford to this list. It was under the same group couple of years back. Do not know the situation now.

[gkrishn]

Originally Posted by deepug

Sundaram is also opening their sales and service near Advaith Hyundai(Not sure which one).

But that will be pretty close to their current kasturibha road center...

Any GM dealer/sales/service coming near ORR?

[hollywoodhogan]

Originally Posted by Wind

Add Kaveri Ford to this list. It was under the same group couple of years back. Do not know the situation now.

List of automobile dealerships owned by the same group
1. Cauvery Ford
2. Advaith Hyundai
3. Garuda Autocraft - GM (Going soon!)
4. Maruti - Coming soon!
5. Advaith Suzuki - Suzuki motorcycles & scooters
6. Volvo Cars - Coming soon!
7. Volkswagen - Coming soon!

Now, howz that for a collection?

[nirmalts]

Originally Posted by gkrishn

Any GM dealer/sales/service coming near ORR?

Trident has opened up a service centre near HSR Layout (near First Choice [old AutoMart India]). If Trident takes up GM Sales/Service they would probaby do GM service there.

Nirmal

[Wind]

I received a letter from Garuda today stating that they have resigned as an authorized dealer of GM with effect from 1st Nov. 2007. They would not be receiving any new cars for service after 1st November and for all service concerns beyond 1st November one needs to contact Sundaram Motors.

It would help a lot of beleaguered GM owners like me if some one can put in any info regarding when the new GM dealers in Bangalore would be operational. I hate to go to Sundaram motors and GM help line folks were also non committal when I had asked them about new dealer ship information.

--
Wind.

[Wind]

Originally Posted by nirmalts

Trident has opened up a service centre near HSR Layout (near First Choice [old AutoMart India]). If Trident takes up GM Sales/Service they would probaby do GM service there.

Nirmal

It is a Trident Hyundai Service Center. It is unlikely to metamorphize itself into GM service center, although I would like to see it happen since I live nearby.

--
Wind

[Nitin]

Posting on behalf of psudhindra

Garuda Autocraft - the biggest GM car dealer is shutting down the GM dealership Effective Nov 1st in bangalore. They claim to have sent out letters,though I haven't received any of these communications,nor have any of my friends. The only available dealer is Sundaram and there is no news as of now on a second GM dealer in the city.
My personal decision was to hold off a buying decison on a GM Car .....because of the poor after sales and service support of Sundaram.

[gkrishn]

Originally Posted by Nitin

.....because of the poor after sales and service support of Sundaram.

I have been dealing with them for past 36k kms and slightly more than 3 years. Except once when i felt they over charged me, I dont have much to complaint about sundaram. Yeah, their paint shop is so and so. But i guess you will face these issues with any other service centers. Fiat Sundaram was a different story.
Only issue i see here is, if GM is not going start a second dealership, i see a lot of overcrowding.

[S@~+#0$#]

Originally Posted by hollywoodhogan

freebies? discounts? exploit? is that all you want from a dealer? so by not giving free mudflaps and footmats, is the dealer exploiting the situation? don't buy a gm product then. if gm are cars are so good and you only want them, then why ask for a discount or footmats? why should the dealer offer a discount anyway?

its business and not charity. thats the bottom line. in any business people invest money to make money and not to give discounts or freebies if they can help it.

Apologies for the long reply.

I beg to disagree. Business is not charity, but competition is necessary to keep the overall customer experience healthy. Sumeet Motors, if you remember used to be a monopoly and charge Opel customers a bomb for service. Things changed for the better when Garuda opened shop but now again, it leaves Sundaram in a monopolistic position.

I have a real case here wherein Sundaram has tried to exploit my friend and probably many others. My friend wanted to buy an Opel Sail a few years ago. Since our office was close to Sundaram, we had a look at the car and also got the quote from there. I suggested to him that we also check with Garuda as my experience with buying and servicing my Opel Astra Club was very good. We found to our surprise that the quote from Garuda was 40k lesser for the same model when compared to Sundaram. GM had slashed prices on that model a week ago but Sundaram had decided not to pass it on the customer. When we called Sundaram again to see if there was a mistake, stuck to their original quote. It was an easy decision, my friend bought the car from Garuda.

Another case of a monopoly where customer had no choice was TAFE Access for Skoda. Customers were being conned left, right and centre but they had no choice but to go back to TAFE. Not sure how good Vinayak Motors, the new Skoda dealership's A.S.S is.

I am against the funda of charging seperately for mudflaps, footmats. Not sure what the rational is behind this. Your tone suggests that it is wrong to expect\accept discounts or freebies. While buying I feel the lesser(the price for the same product) the merrier. Remember that Customer is King, a dealer offers freebies so that the customer buys from them and not from their competitor. Note that no dealer would offer extras at the cost of not making profit. If the competition is removed, the dealer offers little or no discount as the customer is forced to buy things.

[hollywoodhogan]

S@~+#0$#, from what you say looks like sundaram does not offer discounts whether competetion exists or not. so why start to complain about sundaram now? likely because YOU have no choice and its nothing to do with sundaram?

and you are against the "funda" of charging for footmats and mudflaps? you know its against the manufacturer's funda to give them free too because if they wanted to they would have made it part of standard equipment and not an accessory. thats because they always make several provisions to ensure that the dealer makes some money. this applies to all brands and 10/6/4/3/2 wheeler manufacturers.

a basic example: why does not hmsi provide the rto mandatory number plates as standard equipment on their activa or dio? because to allow the dealer to make a few bucks on them.

look around you, anyone in a position of monopoly and sole control WILL exploit the situation. perhaps you have never been in a realy such situ so hence you really don't know how you will act. look at the usa, look at microsoft, look at bajaj before 1990, look at pal before maruti.

[Nikhilb2008]

They are closing down for sure and Trident is being appointed the new dealer.

The fact is, even though Garuda was doing very very well as a GM dealership, they were not getting enough support from the company.

these 2 dealerships were struggling to sell large number of GM cars. And GM wanted to appoint one MORE dealer. The owners were pretty upset.

And at the same time, Maruti approved them as one more dealer.

I can assure you, this is true. My dad knows the owner pretty well. And they are one of the most professional people in the business.

Have any of you seen the new Advaith Hyundai showroom on Outer Ring Road near Innovative Multiplex ?

That is what I call dedication to customer service.

[finneyp]

Originally Posted by hollywoodhogan

look around you, anyone in a position of monopoly and sole control WILL exploit the situation. perhaps you have never been in a realy such situ so hence you really don't know how you will act. look at the usa, look at microsoft, look at bajaj before 1990, look at pal before maruti.

That is what we are saying!

We don't want Sundaram to be the sole dealer of GM!