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Old 8th September 2013, 12:00   #46
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re: Tata cars - Reliability and service?

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Originally Posted by sinharishi View Post
I appreciate you putting in effort tough
Thank you!

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Originally Posted by sinharishi View Post
All I want to say is , I will never deny that TATA wont rise again and will never accept that all the cars from their stable are problematic. After all They were once a regular no 3
They will rise, definitely. But that rising star has a limit right?! If it rises after another 10 years by then the market would advanced so ahead public would have lost the faith in these guys and sales would still be low.

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Originally Posted by sinharishi View Post
We need to give them some more time. Lets just be patient. And hope for the best.
I am ready to wait. Let the countdown begin!


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Originally Posted by Sheel View Post
For the past 2 months, Toyota has marched ahead. Please do note that, Toyota doesn't have as strong presence in the market as Tata has (the no. of dealerships & service outlets that is)
+1

@sinharishi: I jut take an example of Hyderabad, a city of one state of the whole of India so please scale the matter when considering India!

Tata Dealer in Hyderabad: 07,
Toyota Dealers in Hyderabad: 03.

With less number of dealership in a state capital by the Jap giant he still manages to service all the cars (Taxi + passenger cars) under one roof without much complaints and Toyota is considered as a reliable manufacturer. It should be the opposite way as the load on these showrooms are high so they should also not look much into the A.S.S of their cars. But Hey, this is not what it is with Toyota. They don't leave a stone unturned right?!

I want the same response when it comes to Tata. Not all are happy with Tata ASC. May be 2 in 10 would say I love Tata and would go for it again but for a Toyota 9 in 10 would say yes.

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Originally Posted by Sheel View Post
There are replies which say they didn't face a problem & right under that post, a reply states, one is fed up. You don't get so varied response for others.
+1
@sinharishi: The thread starter himself is not happy and later on read the posts by members who have owned Tata cars for years are so happy that they will never go near the dealers again!

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Originally Posted by Sheel View Post
Been hearing, service is good in parts in Maharashtra, but Tata just doesn't sell Cars in Maharashtra alone, right?
@sinharishi: Tata can't feed the staff by selling cars only in MH right? It needs a larger base for even coming down to the break even point. As pointed by GTO that it is 20,000 units/month break-even point for Nano but how much is it selling? It has been launched an year back at least and 1 year ain't small time for things to be learnt and the market to know a cars potential. The initial batch would have had problems but I want to from owners whether the problems have been sorted out and are they not repeated in the next batches of the Nano?!

Anurag.
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Old 8th September 2013, 12:47   #47
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re: Tata cars - Reliability and service?

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Originally Posted by sajanjohn View Post
Most of the owners are happy including yours truly.
Lucky you!

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Originally Posted by sajanjohn View Post
Every brand has its own issues,Yes, TATA needs to step up, Yes we all deserve well functioning stable cars from TATA and No, we won't pay more money for a TATA car and Yes, We all love TATA cars. Do we really need a new thread every month to bash them?
This bashing is done under purpose just a small thought as to why no strict action is being taken to improve such a great brand that sports such good cars.

The cars are good but their ways in dealing with matters ain't correct. Casual attitude is what I feel.

Anurag.
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Old 8th September 2013, 15:01   #48
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re: Tata cars - Reliability and service?

I have a Tata Indica Xeta 1.4 Petrol, 2006 manufactured. I purchased it pre-owned in 2008. Now in 2013 after 7 years and 60000 kms, it is going beautifully.
The petrol engine is smooth, lots of torque even now. No NVH in the cabin, chilling AC. Suspension is top class, I drive it like an SUV on bad roads. Comfort, space, features is really good.
It is built tough to take abuse. I service it regularly every 6 months and change the oils.

I guess it will last me another 5 years, 50000 kms easily.

Tata Service is not consistent across all dealers. B U Bhandari in Pune was amazing, Millenium is crap. Didnt dare to try Pandit. Now get it serviced and the local garage. All genuine spares available across the counter, at reasonable rates.

Entire combo of front disks + brake shoes + labour for replacement was done for 1800 rs, OEM spares. Steering rack replaced for 12500.

Give it some TLC, and it will keep going on.
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Old 8th September 2013, 20:28   #49
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re: Tata cars - Reliability and service?

I was just thinking if I would have named the thread "problematic maruti cars or maruti service" or " problematic toyota cars or Toyota service". I am sure I would have been machine gunned by multiple bhpians who are very happy with their vehicles. Sure, there would be some who are unhappy but not as many as in the case of tata as I am seeing in most of threads in the forum. Some might even have thought that I was drunk while writing the thread.

But this doesn't seem to be the case with tata. I see more and more people agree with me and very few who are happy with tata. Recently my little brother who is 11 on seeing a broken down tata manza on the road side asked me "why do all cars made by tata break down?" And that literally shocked me this means that even little children have started talking about tata in a negative manner. It is seriously disgusting.

Not only that when the fluence was launched I had gone for a td of the car there I met a business man who had come in a tata indigo and he was also seeing the fluence. We both chatted about each others cars, when I asked him what does he think about the indigo he said " when I sit in it and drive it, all my doubts are cleared that it is made by a company that makes trucks." He goes on to say that in the 3 years of ownership the cars engine had seized multiple times and had undergone an overhaul. He was absolutely fed up with it. I mean Seriously, engine overhaul in just 3 years? The car had barely travelled 30k kms.

Last edited by rockporiom : 8th September 2013 at 20:41.
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Old 8th September 2013, 21:19   #50
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Originally Posted by rockporiom View Post
I was just thinking if I would have named the thread "problematic maruti cars or maruti service" or " problematic toyota cars or Toyota service". I am sure I would have been machine gunned by multiple bhpians who are very happy with their vehicles. Sure, there would be some who are unhappy but not as many as in the case of tata as I am seeing in most of threads in the forum. Some might even have thought that I was drunk while writing the thread.

But this doesn't seem to be the case with tata. I see more and more people agree with me and very few who are happy with tata. Recently my little brother who is 11 on seeing a broken down tata manza on the road side asked me why do all cars made by tata break down? And that literally shocked me this means that even little children have started talking about tata in a negative manner. It is seriously disgusting.
Your kid brother has fine observation skills and he will surely grow up to be an ardent automobile enthusiast one day!

I used to be a complete Tata fanboy-cum-total Tata loyalist at the turn of the millennium. After 13 years of having owned two Tata Indicas in succession (2000 pre-V2 DLE which was replaced by a 2007 Xeta 1.2 GLS), I have been forced to become wiser solely because of my long list of bad experiences with pathetic Tata quality and extremely bad unreliability. The consistently horrible treatment I have received at the hands of Tata's after sales service centres (including and especially their subsidiary Concorde) was like rubbing salt into my wounds.

I have accepted it as a part of growing up and becoming wiser. It has been a sobering experience which has also been good for me in two ways - one, I have learnt (the hard way) that fanboyism tends to backfire badly upon fanboys (not just with car brands, but with a whole load of other things too) and two, I have now learnt to fix many things on cars by myself and also diagnose what causes some issues to occur and exactly what has to be done to fix them. Yes, you can indeed say that spending a lot of time under the open bonnet of a stranded Tata car or one that refuses to start has made something of an amateur mechanic out of me.

I would ask you not to be worried by the few replies that attack you overtly or covertly. I hope you already know that anyone who staunchly and vitriolically defends the quality and reliability of Tata vehicles simply hasn't owned one for any reasonable amount of time. That, or the fact that they are lucky in the sense that their Tata vehicle simply hasn't exposed its true colours to them yet.

Thanks for starting a thread that states the truth in simple terms about Tata's quality, reliability and customer service (rather, the lack of all three) from owners' own experiences. This is what makes this site special and completely different from the rest - owners' first hand experiences. Not the paid-for, biased reviews of TV & auto magazine journalists and certainly not the childish verbal duels between fanboys and haters, with trolls fuelling both sides and getting a thrill out of it

Cheers!

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Old 8th September 2013, 22:12   #51
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Originally Posted by RSR View Post
I used to be a complete Tata fanboy-cum-total , I have now learnt to fix many things on cars by myself.

Cheers!
I understand every word you said there. Two years of owning a TATA car the knowledge I gained was to put it invaluable. Because I got to know each and every part and component of what's under the engine. That sinking feeling of having something repaired and again some minor thing coming up yet again that just cannot be explained by words.
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Old 8th September 2013, 23:31   #52
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re: Tata cars - Reliability and service?

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Originally Posted by abeerbagul View Post
I have a Tata Indica Xeta 1.4 Petrol, 2006 manufactured. I purchased it pre-owned in 2008. Now in 2013 after 7 years and 60000 kms, it is going beautifully.
You are one of the few lucky guys here on the thread!

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Originally Posted by abeerbagul View Post
Tata Service is not consistent across all dealers. B U Bhandari in Pune was amazing, Millenium is crap. Didnt dare to try Pandit. Now get it serviced and the local garage. All genuine spares available across the counter, at reasonable rates.
See the point made here is clear. T.A.S.S is bad and after trying all of them you had to settle to a mechanic. A mechanic knows a Tata better than a engineer at Tata! I like that!

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Originally Posted by rockporiom View Post
I was just thinking if I would have named the thread "problematic maruti cars or maruti service" or "problematic toyota cars or Toyota service". I am sure I would have been machine gunned by multiple bhpians who are very happy with their vehicles.
Had you written that, may all members would have thought you are not in your senses.

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Originally Posted by rockporiom View Post
There would be some who are unhappy but not as many as in the case of tata as I am seeing in most of threads in the forum.
Out a 10 customers, may be 1 or 2 would say Maruti, Honda, Toyota, Ford would be bad as a company and their products but for Tata at least 7 would fire their A.S.S for quality and inconsistency.

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Originally Posted by RSR View Post
Thanks for starting a thread that states the truth in simple terms about Tata's quality, reliability and customer service (rather, the lack of all three) from owners' own experiences.
You typed my mind out buddy. Great!

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Originally Posted by abishek2222 View Post
Because I got to know each and every part and component of what's under the engine. That sinking feeling of having something repaired and again some minor thing coming up yet again that just cannot be explained by words.
It is like making T.A.S.S your second home/partial office. That is the worst part in a car owning experience. If a car makes you visit the ASC regularly it is not built for transporting people from 'Point A' to 'Point B' rather from 'Home' to 'ASC'.

Tata has to wake up and do something quick to save their name in India and if they want to sell cars that give them respect and recognition.

Somebody please send this thread to Ratan Tata or the higher management!

Anurag.
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Old 8th September 2013, 23:40   #53
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re: Tata cars - Reliability and service?

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Originally Posted by a4anurag View Post
Somebody please send this thread to Ratan Tata or the higher management!

Anurag.
That gives me an idea why not post the link to this thread on the facebook page of tata or rather mail this to tata. Maybe then this would drill some sense into them about what the customer wants and expects from the brand.



Was scanning tata motors website, when I came across this. Tata definately has a big misconception about the quality of service provided by them.
Tata cars - Reliability and service?-screenshot_20130908234632.png

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Old 8th September 2013, 23:54   #54
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re: Tata cars - Reliability and service?

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Originally Posted by aravind BS View Post
I sold Indica in 2011 and got almost 40%(including exchange bonus) of the investment back, that shows the demand of the product in the second hand market. Offcourse there are minor niggles which I dont have to exaggerate that I cant live with it.
I too own a tata indigo GLX, 2005 model. For last 3-4 year I am thinking about replacing it with a new car. However, no one ever told me a price above 1lac. Considering the condition of the car (except minor problems and power window failure, the car is doing fine) I feel the price quoting by the dealers is very low and I am using it. Even few months back, i was in the market to search for a new car. Since the resale value was not good, I have decided to keep it for another year. I feel my car is performing much better than my friends cars (2006-2009). Hence I never felt that I have to get rid of this one.

May be some tata cars are bad (or some cars are good, I am one among those lucky guys)

Last edited by benbsb29 : 9th September 2013 at 05:28. Reason: Fixed broken quote tag.
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Old 9th September 2013, 00:03   #55
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re: Tata cars - Reliability and service?

Problematic Tata cars or Tata service?

Answer = None

The way I see it is we Indians are more mobile than ever, I frequently come across used two years old vehicle done 40K km.

I think 20 K km per year is way more, usually 12k is fine even in Americas.

So if people are driving more we need more reliable vehicles (less breakdown) and support.

It is just that TATA has to adapt, or else 'Who moved my cheese'
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Old 9th September 2013, 00:12   #56
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re: Tata cars - Reliability and service?

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Originally Posted by ritz3645 View Post
Problematic Tata cars or Tata service?

Answer = None

The way I see it is we Indians are more mobile than ever, I frequently come across used two years old vehicle done 40K km.

I think 20 K km per year is way more, usually 12k is fine even in Americas.

So if people are driving more we need more reliable vehicles (less breakdown) and support.

It is just that TATA has to adapt, or else 'Who moved my cheese'

That is no excuse for tata cars breaking down all the time. My dzire travelled 45k kms in 2years and there were no issues except for regular maintainence. A better example my 1000 travelled 675000 kms and had only regular expenses and it never broke down even once in the 18 years we owned the car.

If what you say is true then we should be seeing cars from all manufacturers breaking down on the roadside all the time.

Sometime back British company mg had come into partnership with tata to build the indica under their badge named as the rover. The car was basically a rebadged indica. The car got negative reviews from almost all the magzines and shows in uk. It was also declared as the least reliable car and the car was discountinued in 2005 barely 3 years after coming into production. This shows that us Indians have higher tolerance than others, the same car was being sold here for a much longer time and we kept on buying it despite poor customer reviews.
Attached Thumbnails
Tata cars - Reliability and service?-280px2004_rover_cityrover.jpeg  


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Old 9th September 2013, 00:23   #57
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re: Tata cars - Reliability and service?

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Originally Posted by rockporiom View Post
Was scanning tata motors website, when I came across this. Tata definately has a big misconception about the quality of service provided by them.
this is the first thing that came to my mind after reading that Image.

Quote:
We provide the best standard of service,
  • State-of-the-art world class pneumatically automated workshops
  • Qualified and trained Technicians, Service Advisors and Customer Relationships Officers.
  • Use of special tools and quality parameters for repairs.
  • Best in industry labour charges.
  • 24 hours helpline and a breakdown help line vehicle
  • 100% assurance of usage of genuine Tata Motors spare parts.
  • Usage of specially blended lubricants and long lasting paints
  • 1 year warranty on workmanship on all kinds of repairs
What they have written is correct. Don't you understand them?

Very qualified technicians so they get you again and again to their service centres;

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Originally Posted by ambadan View Post
May be some tata cars are bad (or some cars are good, I am one among those lucky guys)
Please thank Tata for giving you a good car.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ritz3645 View Post
The way I see it is we Indians are more mobile than ever, I frequently come across used two years old vehicle done 40K km.

I think 20 K km per year is way more, usually 12k is fine even in Americas.

So if people are driving more we need more reliable vehicles (less breakdown) and support.
My Ritz VDi has travelled (still travelling though) 100000 kms in 2.8 years, so according to you my car should have broken down a multiple times and I shouldn't be choosing Tata because I have to clock in heavy mileage?

That can't be a reason to defend Tata. I am sorry!

Anurag.

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Old 9th September 2013, 00:23   #58
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re: Tata cars - Reliability and service?

I own a tata car for last 9 years, first 2004 Indigo and now 2010 safari. As many have mentioned these cars comes with a lot of niggles which gives a heavy heart some times. I just wanted to share some experience i had with other brands which we own. The longest my safari spent in T.A.S.S was 1 1/2 days for turbo replacements, but all other cases the car was returned after repair on same day. Though taking the car to service center was a pain, i never had any issues getting the warranty approved and parts were available off the shelf.
Our 2011 Laura had an ineffective A/C this year summer time. Vinayak Skoda in Bangalore took 3 days to troubleshoot and arrive at a conclusion that the compressor and few other items need replacement. Warranty was approved after two days from Skoda, since warranty claims are approved by Skoda after service center sends them all the computer readings. Now to change the part, skoda will send new parts which are tagged to the chassis number. So service center is not allowed to use the parts in their shelf. So the parts arrive after 2 weeks and the parts are fitted after 3 days and the car was ready for delivery. I go for pick up and run through the engine bay and see that the air filter cover was not tightened. 3 weeks to do a repair under warranty. I am sure if it was TATA, 2 days max.
My dad's Hyundai i10 Auto which is an year old developed a starting problem and service center guys confirmed the trouble to be with starter motor. Now warranty procedure starts. First they have to record the unusual sound from starter, then look for a similar model car, swap the starter and confirm that the sound is normal, record this again and send these files to the warranty team, who will then confirm if the warranty is approved. Its more than 2 weeks now and no news from them and we are forced to use the car with a defective starter and being Auto, makes it more difficult since push start is not possible.
Again our 2008 make Xylo had an alternator failure in 2010. Mahindra A.S.S took 5 days to repair it under warranty. Reason: Repair is done by Lucas which Mahindra doesn't have much control. I dont think this much delays would have happened with TATA. I am sure there are equal number of happy customers too with TATA, as Indicas are still hot with taxi operators. I posted this to share my experience I had with other brands and not to prove anything about TATA.
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Old 9th September 2013, 00:43   #59
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re: Tata cars - Reliability and service?

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Originally Posted by ameaa View Post
owned a tata car for last 9 years, first2004 Indigo and now 2010 safari. As many have mentioned these cars comes with a lot of niggles which gives a heavy heart some times. I just wanted to share some experience i had with other brands which we own. The longest my safari spent in T.A.S.S was 1 1/2 days for turbo replacements, but all other cases the car was returned after repair on same day. Though taking the car to service center was a pain, i never had any issues getting the warranty approved and parts were available off the shelf.
Our 2011 Laura had an ineffective A/C this year summer time. Vinayak Skoda in Bangalore took 3 days to troubleshoot and arrive at a conclusion that the compressor and few other items need replacement. Warranty was approved after two days from Skoda, since warranty claims are approved by Skoda after service center sends them all the computer readings. Now to change the part, skoda will send new parts which are tagged to the chassis number. So service center is not allowed to use the parts in their shelf. So the parts arrive after 2 weeks and the parts are fitted after 3 days and the car was ready for delivery. I go for pick up and run through the engine bay and see that the air filter cover was not tightened. 3 weeks to do a repair under warranty. I am sure if it was TATA, 2 days max.
My dad's Hyundai i10 Auto which is an year old developed a starting problem and service center guys confirmed the trouble to be with starter motor. Now warranty procedure starts. First they have to record the unusual sound from starter, then look for a similar model car, swap the starter and confirm that the sound is normal, record this again and send these files to the warranty team, who will then confirm if the warranty is approved. Its more than 2 weeks now and no news from them and we are forced to use the car with a defective starter and being Auto, makes it more difficult since push start is not possible.
Again our 2008 make Xylo had an alternator failure in 2010. Mahindra A.S.S took 5 days to repair it under warranty. Reason: Repair is done by Lucas which Mahindra doesn't have much control. I dont think this much delays would have happened with TATA. I am sure there are equal number of happy customers too with TATA, as Indicas are still hot with taxi operators. I posted this to share my experience I had with other brands and not to prove anything about TATA.
If there is one company in india that is worse than tata in service that has to be skoda. I could have also started a skoda thread as many of my friends and family members are suffering from huge repair bills but I didn't. No offense against skoda owners the simple reason why I didn't start a skoda thread was that skoda is plain shameless whereas tata is careless.

Skoda has spoilt its name in most of the news channels where in one case the owner had become disabled for life because his laura blew up. And skoda showing their concern happily denied the warranty claim.

Careless can be rectified but shameless is something that just should be avoided and nothing can be done about it.

And as for the other companies, though the claims took time. I just want to ask you how many times did you have to visit the service center for one or the other reason in comparison to tata? Did you visit tata A.S.S more or the other companies?


Quote:
Originally Posted by ameaa View Post
I used to have at least 4 to 5 visits between service interval of 15000 with my safari but this has drastically come down since the car has done 90K. Now its hardly 1 or 2. I had only 2 warranty claims on my indigo and rarely remember visiting service center other than for routine service. In a years time our i10 was in service center couple of times with ECU issues, like low power, loose connector, power fluctuations and now starter motor. Xylo had couple of issues under warranty and even had a complete brake system failure and a clutch failure few weeks back.. All these cars are fully maintained with Authorized service center.
Yeah but that means that you visited tata A.S.S more in between service intervals when conpared to the other conpanies isn't that correct? Because that's what I understand from your post correct me if I am wrong.

About the xylo did that happen together? That is seriously shocking did it cause an accident?

Last edited by rockporiom : 9th September 2013 at 01:03.
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Old 9th September 2013, 00:53   #60
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re: Tata cars - Reliability and service?

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Originally Posted by rockporiom View Post
And as for the other companies, though the claims took time. I just want to ask you how many times did you have to visit the service center for one or the other reason in comparison to tata? Did you visit tata A.S.S more or the other companies?
I used to have at least 4 to 5 visits between service interval of 15000 with my safari but this has drastically come down since the car has done 90K. Now its hardly 1 or 2. I had only 2 warranty claims on my indigo and rarely remember visiting service center other than for routine service. In a years time our i10 was in service center couple of times with ECU issues, like low power, loose connector, power fluctuations and now starter motor. Xylo had couple of issues under warranty and even had a complete brake system failure and a clutch failure few weeks back.. All these cars are fully maintained with Authorized service center.
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