[anandm78]

I live in the JP Nagar area in Bangalore and bought my Honda City last year from Dakshin Honda. While I had a positive experience purchasing the car from them, getting my car serviced at Dakshin couldn't have been a more painful experience. Adding to my woes is the fact that the dealership is about 15Kms away and that's quite a distance in Bangalore's notorious traffic.

Naturally I was overjoyed to find a new Honda Dealership in Kanakapura Road - one that's just a couple of kilometers away. It's erstwhile Cauvery Ford that has taken a new avatar as Magnum Honda. Last week my car was rear-ended by a Bajaj Pulsar that broke my tail lamp, introduced a rather nasty dent in the quarter panel, peeled a good part of the door molding, and broke the right side rear view mirror as well. I thought this was a good time to give Magnum Honda some business. I also wanted to try claiming some money from Bajaj Allianz. Here I document my experience with Magnum Honda and also my perceived difference in service levels vis-a-vis Dakshin Honda.

I called up Magnum Honda and I was put in touch with one Mr. Satish Shetty. Unlike the service advisers at Dakshin, Satish talked to me nicely and provided me with the list of documents Bajaj required. So on Wednesday morning (17/9) I visited their dealership and met with Satish. Satish got the documents photocopied and also reviewed the damages. One of the positive experiences I had here was that I didn't have to wait for the attention of the service adviser. In Dakshin, especially when you don't have an appointment, it usually takes a good 30 to 45 minutes before the service advisers even sense the presence of a human figure waiting for their attention. Satish explained to me what it would take to fix all damages and did not commit anything as to what the insurance policy would cover - that, he said, was the job of the insurance surveyor. Since my office was about 20kms away, I told Satish that it was impossible for me to carry on with my daily activities without my car and that I wanted the car back before Saturday (20/9). Considering my earlier experience at Dakshin, I was quite skeptical about this date though.

At any rate I left the car at the dealership and went back home. In about 15 minutes I received an SMS from Bajaj Allianz informing me that my claim was filed along with the claim number. In another 20 minutes, I received a call from a rep at Bajaj Allianz who made sure I had submitted all the required documents. In another 30 minutes I received a call from one Mr. Manjunath from Bajaj Allianz who said he was at the dealership and was surveying the damage to my car. He asked me details about the accident and provided me with a list of damages that he would pay for. He was quite courteous throughout and also provided me with details on what my out-of-pocket expenses would me. I later learned that I had to pay 5k out of a total estimate of 12k. This rather large out of pocket payout was thanks to that "50% for plastic parts" rider in the policy that required me to shell out half the price of the rear view mirror and the tail lamp.

I spoke to Satish again and he said he'd do a "reasonable" paint job on other damages (that were part of a different accident) which also included some pretty nasty and deep scratches on the front bumper.

On Friday morning (19/9), to my pleasant surprise, Satish called me to say I could pick up my car any time after 1pm. He asked me to call him as soon as I left for the dealership so he could keep the car ready for me in the parking lot. Well, this call from Satish was really in stark contrast to my experience with Dakshin. When I ever received a call from Dakshin that was only to remind me of the service due (so they could make money). But once you leave the car with Dakshin it is expected of the customer to follow up and make sure the job is done. Also, when one arrives at Dakshin to pick up the car there is at least a 30 minute wait before he is attended to.

When I arrived at Magnum in the evening, my car was waiting for me in the parking lot. The job was very well done. Satish got half of the front bumper painted at no extra cost to me. The quarter panel was tinkered and repainted. The painting job was pretty good - the colors matched properly and the finish was smooth and glossy. All other scratches were smoothened and touched up. The broken tail lamp (which was replaced) was neatly placed in the trunk. The interiors were cleaned and the tires dressed. To my surprise even the engine and all other assembly under the hood were sparkling clean - something Dakshin doesn't do even on a regular service.

I think their labor charges were pretty reasonable - tinkering on the quarter panel and repainting it, smoothening and repainting the molding on the door, repainting half of the front bumper, replacing the side rear-view mirror and painting it (apparently the mirror unit is available only in black), replacing the tail lamp, some odd paint touch up jobs - all for Rs. 3500.


Overall, my experience with Magnum was quite pleasant and I recommend this dealership to Honda owners in South Bangalore.

I hope they maintain this service level in future as well.

Just an honest note - I am in no way associated with Magnum Honda other than as a new customer of theirs.