[mayankk]

Booked a TD for the Xenon via sms and the website.
I promptly forgot about it.
Then i got a call a week later from some dealer, not near my place,said it'll be there next saturday,didnt turn up.
I forgot about it again, then the same promise from another dealer for the next weekend, no show.
then finally A-one guys called on a thursday evening, and the car(beast!!) was there promptly at 12 PM on the weekend.

Not a TD thread per se, so wont relate the drive(which felt like what Monarchs and conquerors must have felt like in their chariots!!), but these guys let me TD from pandara road(india gate), to DND expressway and back(about 30 odd km in toto) !!!

And this is after i told them that i wont buy it the second they had arrived, cos it didnt fit through my home's gate, and danged if i was gonna leave a 10 L vehicle outside.....

Good TD experience....

[BulZire]

"Sir, we don't have the TD car at this point of time"
I got this reply for the below cars we opted for TD to book one for my cousin in last 2 months.

1. Fiat PUNTO/Linea
2. Chevy Aveo
3. SAFARI Lx

They got the mobile numbers telling that they will bring the TD car to home/office later and no one turned back.
Actually we were seriously looking for booking one and it is not a time pass job we were doing. Not sure why they wanted to lose business just by ignoring some customers.

The one we happily did TD at the moment we entered the showroom was VW POLO. But for some reason my cousin was not interested in it.

Finally he booked a FIAT PUNTO Emotion pack .

[Archon]

The last two weekends, I tried to get a TD of Swift, WagonR & Ritz from Varun Motors here. Each time,

1. I was given a time at which the TD vehicle would arrive at my place
2. Delay of arrival due to xyz reason. "Sir, sorry but it got stuck in traffic/its gone for test drive (duh)/it broke down"
3. Got assurance that TD vehicle will be there within the next 2 hours
4. Sales guy stopped taking my calls. Heck, after sometime he stopped any calls it seemed.

I think I will skip Maruti for now.

[rajiv.kulkarni]

Finally after more than 2 weeks of waiting got TD of the beast (Safari VX) today. Concorde motor's people called me on Tuesday and apologized for the delay, the guy begged me to take a TD else he would lose his job, I took TD drive today, it was an AMAZING experience. Wify too liked it now waiting for FM (wify) to approve to go realize my dreams.

TD was good, drove about 8-10 kms, sales rep was co-operative and answered all my questions, I had told him before that I was considering a XYLO already.

Thanks,
Rajiv

[RW9763]

well there have been a lot of times when i wanted a test drives and THEY HAVE a car but still will not sent them. They will keep pending it until i get fedup and shout and threten to complain to Skoda. The guy came and he was so useless and so not interested in selling the car i finally chucked the option. If your ads are not supported by adequate energy on the dealer front you can never succeed.

[nikhil.kumbhar]

Well, I bought i20 just because of good TD experience.

Punto TD - When I was at Tata Fiat's showroom for Punto's TD, they said they can't give it because it is 6 pm. They asked us to come in day light or between 11 am - 4 pm. It was surprising for me because my Polo TD happened at 6:45 pm without any hesitation from showroom owners.

When we went there at 11 am, they were not having Punto 1.2 Petrol. Instead they had 1.3 Diesel with lots of dents on the car. Also the person who accompanied us during the TD was from Tata Vista. He was not having any knowledge about Punto. He couldn't switch on the AC properly and am not exasperating this. Punto was rejected there itself.

Polo TD - The showroom exp was quite good, but they were offering TD only for 1 km. Also petrol version was not available. Showroom guy said, all the interiors are same and we can get a good feel of the car. Went there again after 2 days for Petrol TD. But again it was not available. Dad was not ready to take a decision based on Diesel Variant.

i20 TD - Showroom exp was very good. They offered us TD even before asking for it. The showroom guy said, "Drive the car first. If you don't like the car in TD, then there is no point in wasting time in understanding features which are mentioned in the brochure" Then he took us on a empty road, he explained each and every thing about the car in detail. He asked us to drive it like we own it. Asked for one more TD in traffic roads. He agreed immediately. And we closed the deal in the car itself.

It was just the matter of 20 good minutes in a car to close the deal.

[mbhangui]

I must have booked at least 6 times to have a test drive of ford endeavor. Only two of the times someone called me and promised to get a vehicle and nothing happened after that. In spite of repeated follow up nothing happened. I can imagine what *** would be and I finally gave up and booked a test drive for Mahindra Scorpio. India Garage was prompt and I booked by vehicle (VLX AT 4wd) on Nov 29th 2009

[StarrySky]

Yesterday, a colleague of mine asked for a TD of SX4 from Popular Vehicles, Cochin (Vyttila). The car was brought to our office. We saw that it was an unmarked car, run only about 40km. The plastic covers on the seat were still on. The tires were covered in mud - and we immediately understood where the car was coming from. It was a customer car which was brought to the nearby RTO office for regn. We asked the sales executive about it and he admitted that it was not a designated TD car - but it was OK to take a TD because he had taken "special sanction". I'm sure he wouldn't have taken "special sanction" from the customer. My friend lost half his interest in the car befor he stepped into it.

There is a newly built 4-lane road leading from our office to the main road. It's about 2.5km and it's free of potholes and traffic. We took that road for the TD and we could see that the sales executives were salivating at the prospect of ripping the car on that road. Sure enough, after our TD we saw them taking the new road. We pitied the poor guy who was going to receive his new car later in the day.

My friend is still in two minds about the SX4, but he has decided he will not buy it from the dealer in question. In hindsight, I think we should've sent the car back without even taking a TD.

[saurabhkanchan]

Location: Om Hyundai, Junadadh
It was around August mid when we went to the showroom for a test drive of the i-20, petrol. This is the reply form the intelligent sales rep : Sir, we only have i-20 diesel, the car is the same, only this runs on diesel. Later on i learnt that it was not only the sales rep, but even the works manager doesnt know the difference. according this works manager, there is absolutely no difference between the diesl and petrol version except the fuel.

[Sridhar K]

Sharing a few experience of mine

1) In 2006- Was contemplating buying a SWIFT. Called up Cars India and they came home within an hour with the demo vehicle. The vehicle had dents all over the place, done some 4k, worn out clutch plate and rattling away to glory. The sales rep couldnt explain me what is so special about the Swift against Getz. He kept harping on 16 valves and nothing useful . Those days, I had not discovered TBHP.

Called up HMP for the Getz. They came up with demo car that had done 20k. The car was in great condition with good clutch, build quality, refinement. On posing the same question about Swift vs Getz, the sales rep told me that Swift is a great car and went on to explain areas where Getz scored over Swift. The areas were important for me and hence chose the Getz.

Then, one of my friends got a Swift and was really impressed. If they had a better demo car, perhaps would have chosen Swift.

2) 2010-11 - Replacement for Getz. Wanted to check out Manza based on reviews and the space opt


a) Concorde Guindy: Around Aug 2010, walked into Concorde Guindy (Chennai) one afternoon and asked for a test drive. One sales person turned up after 0.5 hr and repeated follow ups. In the mean time was checking out the Punto and Linea as well. There were so many employees there but no one seemed to care or ask whether I was interested in a FIAT. The sales person for the Manza gave me a price list and started explaining the features (did a half job) and started looking at the colors. Gothic Olive impressed my wife but the sales rep couldn’t show me a real car. Asked for a TD but the demo car had gone out. They took my contact details and they promised to send home one the coming days. I am still waiting for the test drive (It is been a month I bought a Manza from another dealer)

In the meantime, saw the Nano TD vehicle. Wanted to test drive it as I was looking at it as a second car. The sales rep was amazing. He explained the good things about the car, the pricing option, financing and he quickly arranged a TD and I really loved the car. At that time, Nano was still not off the shelf but they had lot of cancelled bookings that were offered for delivery within two weeks. The Sales rep kept on following me up politely until the end of last year in spite of me telling him that I have dropped the idea. Wish, I got such an experience with the Manza rep.

The next week, the Concorde guys put a stall in DLF and I told the rep about the pending test drive. He arranged for one the next day. I was expecting a diesel but he got me a Petrol version. Test drove it and liked it but I was not buying a petrol version anyway. He promised to get me a diesel and I am still waiting J . Ruled out Concorde for my buying


b) TAFE Reach Pallikaranai: Gave a call to them and they arranged a Manza test drive the same day. It was not a demo vehicle but the team leader himself had come down. He couldn’t explain anything great about the car that I did not know from my reading of TBHP, and he was insisting that I take aura model whilst I was interested in Aura+ only. My dad and myself loved the car and the ride quality. Only issue was that the steering wheel was vibrating & rattling a great deal when driven over really bad roads. The team lead said that the car was a new piece pending PDI. I checked with my friends and they did not have this problem. . Was not impressed that they were giving a customer vehicle for TD but they mentioned that it is meant for TD and was about to be registered in their name

Afterward, during the course of dealing with them realized that they never have a vehicle with *Demo vehicle* marked but always drive around a new vehicle with temp registration on it. Was giving them the benefit of doubt but after reading about them, feel that I shouldnt have trusted them

[vijaythacker]

After GTO's thread with Etios test drive, was impressed to see in it flesh and check out what toyota really delivered that all were talking so much to believe.Went over to only dealer in town Infinium Toyota on SG Highway.Went to check the displayed Vx trim at showroom while in a few mins SE joined in and started to explain all details of Etios, space, features and requested me to register for test drive.Within 10 mins was called for my test drive on top end vehicle till then was checking out innova and altis diesel, also SE was showing me the available colours they had with them of Etios.Right after my TD, again SE gave me the impression form to fill up and also was given a tshirt,black with etios printed as goodwill gesture and was given to all who test drove Etios.Awesome experience.

[smrtdvl]

Had been to vellore on a business visit but as my work was over quickly thought of killing my waiting time at the railway station by having a TD of Vista Aura + @ Vijai Sales (the only TATA showroom for passenger cars in vellore).

Reached the showroom by 15.20 hrs and asked for a TD of AURA+ and waited for 5 mins before i was joined by Mr.varun sudhakar who immediately told me that the TD vehicle they have is a AURA ABS and that too met with an accident and its in the workshop and they have a Terra model only for TD which i promptly refused.

As i was accompanied by my friend who works for M.A.S.S @ Vellore i wanted to show him the passenger side airbag ON/OFF switch i asked the TL varun for a AURA + variant for which he coolly replied they don't have any AURA + / ABS models for demo and the worst part is he said there is no such ON/OFF switch in aura+ (but i was sure enough there is one as i remember the pic posted by flyingspur of the safire90 TD)

It's high time TATA wakes up in such a competitive market


PS: SX4 Diesel is available for TD @ Ganesh Motors, Vellore.

[iMathan]

I went to test drive a Volkswagen POLO TDI last week. The dealer offered a test drive all right, albeit a very short one (a run from the showroom to the nearest traffic signal, U-turn and then back). Anyways the car didn't impress me at all (noisy/turbo lag etc).
Then I drove the Vento TDI (for the same short run), but it left a smile on my face, which redraws itself every time I remember the test drive.
Summarizing: Apart from the very short test drive offered and the guy who came along for the ride, who had an attitude problem. EVM Motors, Cochin could be getting a Vento customer pretty soon.

[kdp]

My experience with Balaji Motors (the Tata Dealer in Thane), was a bit mixed.

Looking for a replacement for my wife's ikon 1.6, i wanted a test drive of the Manza and the Tjet. the fiat and tata showrooms are separate.

Fiat - the person gave the standard response that is the theme of this thread and took my number, promising a TD the next day. i am still awaiting a call more than a month later.

Tata- the staff was polite, responsive, took my wife & me through the different variants and features offered on each. for test drive, they did not have a manza petrol, but offered me a manza diesel drive to get a sense of the ride quality and handling, which I took. he also offered to set up a petrol drive the next day, which I myself refused, telling him that I'll take it closer to the purchase decision date. There have been regular, very polite follow ups. overall I am very impressed by both the follow up and the car (for the price). for the record, my daily drive is an optra diesel LT.

cheers

[sad:)]

I had a similar experience with Concorde Motors bangalore for a Punto TD.

Even though i knew a person by friend working in concorde sales, " I got to hear that the car was here, just now some one took it" "the car has gone out and it will be back in 5mins" I had to wait for more than an hour for TD car.

And what i actually came to know is that the sales person is given a target. once he has achieved it for this month he never even thinks to call you back, or in some cases they dont respond for your calls at all" and those who have not acheived that target is eagerly waiting at the entrance, and as soon the TD car arrives back form TD, he switches it immediately and takes it for next TD before the car comes back to showroom.

the reason is that if he is constantly done more than expected sales, his target next month is increased..so to be safe..they try this approach..

I also got to know that now Fiat has some sore of bonus for sales person with every car he sells..this should improve this further