[NetfreakBombay]

Peer pressure does play an important role in buying decisions. Peer pressure could manifest itself in many ways. E.g.:

1. My boss drives an i20, how can I show up with Honda City ?
2. My neighbor's car has sunroof and shows off, must get a better one

A person's profession can also impact this behavior.

I know someone in tv serial production, he feels that he must keep an "expensive looking" car (and overall look the part of a well-to-do person) so that people feel comfortable with giving short term business loans( 2 - 8 weeks).

On the other hand I see even senior management being comfortable with hatchbacks in industries where you dont have to interface with customers/financiers. Example is IT Product companies where most of the customers/investors are not in India.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by chakri400

You evoke more sympathy than envy when you buy a fiat 😃

Add those poor souls who bought Volkswagens, Skoda and Tatas as well. Especially the ones (Polo/Vento TSI, Linea T-Jet owners) who are at a loss of words to explain why they plonked a millon+ rupees on a petrol car to their non petrolhead peers and family and not to forget the Tata Aria owners

From what I've seen, peer/family pressure happens when you ask for it. You ask for advice, you are very likely to be influenced. How much depends on how informed a customer you are.

Most often the effects are mostly the car brand (around the budget you were looking for), colour and fuel type that you buy.

[SSD2122]

I am a fiat tjet owner and am absolutely not at a loss of words on why I plonked a million rupees on my beloved tjet. I guess fellow tjet owners would agree with me. Rather than saying anything more, going through a few well written tjet ownership threads would suffice.

Regarding peer pressure, it is quite subjective. Personally I have not been bothered by it as I know the amount of money that goes into buying a car and maintaining it.
No doubt one may feel tempted but a bit of math would ensure you do not go overboard.

[kadanaJ]

I've never been bothered by peer pressure. My car is purchased by me, to be used by me! The opinions of image conscious people who buy cars as status symbols have always been something I've happily ignored (never cared about brand value).

On the other hand, I do know people who are heavily influenced by peer pressure. A very close friend of mine purchased a Jaguar XF because some cousin of his bought one. My friend knows very little about cars, nor do I think he even cares that much (he's not really a petrolhead). He just bought the car because a family member had a luxury car, and it apparently didn't look good if he didn't own one as well.

I understand his reasons, seeing as how he spent several hours explaining to me why he was buying the Jag (while I was trying to convince him not to), but I guess at the end of the day, to each his own. Everyone has a different reason for buying a car, and as long as you're happy at the end of the day, you've made a good decision.

As an afterthought though, I still don't understand why my friend bought the 2.4 liter engine Jag. I know he only cared about the badge, and not the engine, but why why why, the 2.4!

[chakri400]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Add those poor souls who bought Volkswagens, Skoda and Tatas as well.
.

LOL! That's exactly what I was talking about... Sympathy from bhpians too 😂

[karzzexped]

Originally Posted by narayans80

From what I've seen, peer/family pressure happens when you ask for it. You ask for advice, you are very likely to be influenced. How much depends on how informed a customer you are.

Bang on! You ask for it and you get it. And you get into even more trouble if there is a significant amount of knowledge difference(not meant in arrogance) between you and a family member.

Me: My dad has booked the Zest Revotron.

Family Member: Oh! you should have booked the Etios or the Dzire. Good cars all my friends have either one of those.

Me: Oh my father found this to his liking, that's why. (Did not want to start any brand fights there since I believe in giving equal respect to all those brands)

Family Member: Oh I see. By the way what brand is that Jest?? (pun intended)

Me:

[zenren]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Our organisation has a car-lease policy which leads to most folks changing cars atleast every 3 years, irrespective of whether they need the upgrade or not. And more often than not, this ends up as a "keeping up with the Joneses" trend - as in, he bought a Scorpio, so let me buy an XUV or Fortuner etc. Ofcourse in most cases, they dont even need an SUV - but who cares ?

Same here - working in an organization with car-lease option and still enjoying a loan-free 6-year old Swift now. Buying a new car and getting tax-exemption on the EMI never made sense to me if I already had a car that is ticking all my requirements. I don't see any reason to change a car that is unlikely to give me any major service bills for another 2-3 years. Only cost to me now is the annual insurance premium and the fuel bills.

Another reason I'm not bothered about a change- there are already Mercs, Audis and BMWs in the parking lot and I'm anyway not going to beat it with my upgrade. So it is just a matter of spending unnecessarily to own yet another ordinary car.

Originally Posted by model-t

The salutation that you get from the security guy in your building can be worth a million. The envious look from your peer/boss can lead to a broad smile. I think, this is very subjective. So I spent the moolah. My boss, who is at least 10 years older to me still drives in a Wagon-R. Different perceptions,different view of life, I

Envy from peers is probably a good feeling but if you invite the envy of your boss, you are asking for trouble. In your case, it looks like your boss is a sensible guy who doesn't care much about cars and has other priorities in life, considering he still uses a Wagon R. I doubt if he is really bothered about his car versus your car comparison. If you end up getting a boss who actually does that and he loses out on the comparison, rest assured - your annual hike and ratings are likely to be the worst in your team.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Just as so many SLR buyers buy a Canon because their friends have one - not that they ever end up borrowing lenses in most cases, anyways. (atleast as of a couple of years back).

That is another classic example of peer pressure in IT industry. Every other guys buys a DSLR just because all his friends own one. Then they safely lock it in the cupboard or bring it to office once in a while when there is a team event. Half of my colleagues who own a DSLR haven't used it in a long time.

[simplyself]

I never bother about what my friend/colleague/cousin buys.

I change my car only if I need to or if I like a change.

The reason is simple : car is not a luxury for me( not based on my financial position; based on my need), so have very less aspirational value for me.

It is true that people get influenced by what other people buy. It is not only confined to cars - even dowry - but also almost all consumer goods. While one cant flaunt a 32'' LED on road, car is the best thing to show off.

May be Off Topic but I heard elsewhere that the God created men to love each other and created things to be used by men; what is happening now is men started loving things and using other men.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Add those poor souls who bought Volkswagens, Skoda and Tatas as well. Especially the ones (Polo/Vento TSI, Linea T-Jet owners) who are at a loss of words to explain why they plonked a millon+ rupees on a petrol car to their non petrolhead peers and family and not to forget the Tata Aria owners

On the contrary, when I told people that the Skoda Laura that I bought in 2011 runs on petrol, they looked at me with curious eyes "who is this great soul who can afford to spend 1 1/2 million on a car and then run that car on petrol??" Almost made people stand up and take notice.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Add those poor souls who bought Volkswagens, Skoda and Tatas as well.

When I bought my Yeti some of my close friends were mighty impressed with the vehicle, its quality, the gizmos inside and the safety kit that it came with.
Without exception, these people (my pals) stated that they considered the vehicle a great value proposition, in terms of kit and overall quality, when compared with any of the far more expensive European vehicles and some of the Japanese vehicles too.

I bought it because it pleased me and I wanted it and indeed, I had saved up carefully for several months to buy it, since according to me, nothing else came close.

Having said the above, it is definitely nice to receive approbation from those whom you trust.

[architect]

Hmm, peer pressure... interesting topic! Here's my story. Sorry if its boring and long.

2001: In the middle of my 5-year-long sentence in architecture school, almost every guy in my batch had a bike or a car. I was the sort who would not ask my parents for one, so I stayed without one (of course, there were so many empty passenger seats as well that time and the time that girlfriend and me had on DTC and autos and simply walking on Delhi roads was beautiful). And Yes, whenever a new bike was bought, I was always given first "test drive". I have ripped a dear friend's Suzuki Shogun in those days, and the memory of that super-revv-happy monster without worthwhile brakes still gives me goose-bumps.

2003-2004: We graduated and out of the 50% of my class who decided to continue in India and work, more than 50% bought cars. That was time when the Zens, the Palios and the Ikon Flairs were the favoured lots. Within my batchmates, there were atleast 4 Ikon Flairs. I was car-less and bike-less (again same problem as above: not wanting to ask my parents for money)

2005: Bought a bike, sold it after 9 years of good service, early this year.

2007-2008: Friends started calling me asking about which car to buy since the first round of cars were already ageing. Suddenly the Ikons became "un-maintainable", the Palios became a "pain" and the Zens felt cramped. Everybody went ahead and bought diesels.

This set me thinking. I thought I could afford an EMI now (I was unmarried, without any other loans and with a stable job), so I plonked in the least possible down-payment, and bought a car. You could say I succumbed to peer pressure in a way ("How can I still continue riding a two-wheeler to work when my friends are on to their SECOND set of cars?"). I was twenty-eight then.

However, I went ahead and bought a Palio Multijet, at the time when Fiat was at its lowest. And no, I did not get a single rupee of discount, because my car was the second batch of Palio MJDs that were shipped to Delhi.

2014: Same story continues now, my friends have sold their second set of cars and I continue un-fazed. My Palio MJD has 1,39,000 km on the odometer, and parts will get scarce in a few years. Ideally, I should be selling. Friends keep telling me "sell it off, how many more years will you drive this car?" and I just shrug it off.

My against-the-crowd decisions of the Palio MJD has stood me through (touchwood) thick-and-thin. It has given me an occassional heartache or two and the parts prices still do, but the car has never stood anywhere and always made it to the service center without trouble. Once, the radiator leaked when I was with my in-laws in Pilani, Rajasthan. The Maruti ASS there is worse than an FNG. I asked him if I could borrow his lift, fixed M-Seal on the leaking radiator myself and drove home to Delhi. With in-laws.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Add those poor souls who bought Volkswagens, Skoda and Tatas as well. Especially the ones (Polo/Vento TSI, Linea T-Jet owners) who are at a loss of words to explain why they plonked a millon+ rupees on a petrol car to their non petrolhead peers and family and not to forget the Tata Aria owners

Spot On. I had captured the below comments as part of my ownership thread. IN my case it was worse as I am among the firs set of Vento TSI buyers and even reasonably aware folks had not heard of it.

• Vento? Which company makes it? (One person asked: Is it from Maruti? -This was surprising to me. Should go in the ‘Volkswagen-way forward’ thread)
• Automatic? Why an automatic? Don't you know to drive with manual gears?
• You paid so much for a Petrol car? (I see a “you are crazy” look in their eyes)
• 1.2 Engine. Only 1.2? That’s too less, My XXX car is also 1.2 or My XXX car is 1.6 and it is cheaper (Now it is “you are foolish/have been cheated” look)
• TSI? DSG? What is all that? I try to explain (Again a “you are crazy. You paid so much” look in their eyes)

Fortunately I have not been influenced by non petrol heads in my car purchases decisions. If I was, then there was no way I would be on car number 4 in 8 years and that too first 3 pre-owned.

[model-t]

Quote:
(Originally Posted by model-t View )
The salutation that you get from the security guy in your building can be worth a million. The envious look from your peer/boss can lead to a broad smile. I think, this is very subjective. So I spent the moolah. My boss, who is at least 10 years older to me still drives in a Wagon-R. Different perceptions,different view of life, I


Envy from peers is probably a good feeling but if you invite the envy of your boss, you are asking for trouble. In your case, it looks like your boss is a sensible guy who doesn't care much about cars and has other priorities in life, considering he still uses a Wagon R. I doubt if he is really bothered about his car versus your car comparison. If you end up getting a boss who actually does that and he loses out on the comparison, rest assured - your annual hike and ratings are likely to be the worst in your team.



Mate : Is there a definition in the quantity of being : sensible/successful/ happiness?What I learnt in school was that it is an intangible quantity. I guess you have seen bad companies/bosses. Nothing personal, but being a pessimist on a forum does not help. According to ur argument , we should never buy a 3 series till our boss buys a 5 series. Is this not ridiculous? I may have different priorities but ur argument does not cut ice. Just not happy with the generalization. It may be the norm in some companies but not the given.

Infact, your view is pretty myopic.

[sandeepmohan]

I can say that there is a example taking place at my work spot right now and I am the culprit.

A colleague and good friend at work had a Baleno (sold last week). Served him well for 8 years. Over the last 2 years, the cars been through a lot of spare part replacements. It set him back well over a lac on maintaining the car. I pushed the idea of a new car several times to which he kept saying the usual line; "I have no money". This has been going on for close to two years now and the same excuse continues plus he thinks with all the new spares on the Baleno, what can possibly go wrong. In any case, our boy decides to take the VW GT Tsi for a spin and is floored. Still; I just can't get him to buy one. He feels it will be a financial burden and does not want to get in to EMI mode again. Every time we head out for a smoke/chaii break he keeps talking about the car and how much he wants it. I ask him to introduce the car to his family. It gets shot down. The GT is terrible for folks at the back and the test drive goes very wrong. They squeezed in 5 adults, his son at 10 years old and did the test drive. The GT is binned. I recommend the Vento Tsi. My friend shot it down saying, there is no way this car will be good due to the added weight and what not. The Tsi motor will struggle is his reasoning. He just does not want to take the car for a spin aka test drive. I push for it. Suggested calling another dealer (VW Palace cross. Apple VW don't have Vento Tsi on test) and they have a car to drive. Takes the car for a spin (Tries the diesel dsg too but does not like it) and loves it. As things stand today, a face lift Vento Tsi is booked and delivery expected in a couple of months or less.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by Sanjunair5

I would love to join the bandwagon and say that I never give into peer pressure, I would like to admit that I once did! Well not exactly peer pressure, but something similar. I bought an iPad just to 'have' it.

In my case it was an Android Phone from Samsung. This was one of those purchases done with out due diligence. More than Others have it, so I should also have one it was that I readily believed that this phone was an excellent choice. One and a half year, I threw it away and went back to a Lumia.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I don't think it is worth being influenced by peers or anyone else, other than for advice and feedback.

Same pinch... . I do take advices and feedback from people, but generally take the decision based on my needs and financial plans. I have a Honda Duo two-wheeler purchased 9 years back. It still runs fine, and is still quite useful for all my day to day small trips. No plans to sell that off. I owned a Wagon R for nearly 7 years. It was working fine, clocked around 1,50,000kms. But the rising petrol costs were catching up on our budgets, plus the vehicle was also slightly ageing. Wanted to upgrade the vehicle, and it having a diesel engine was the biggest priority. Again there were friends and relatives who came with their big budget suggestions. It was all about the prestige & comfort levels (in that order). Decided to settle down for a Quanto (after short listing Quanto,XYLO and Scorpio), and all I did was asking my wife also to drive the vehicle and see. After all for quite some time it would be either me or her who would be in the vehicle and drive it as well.

I am also not that kind of an automotive buff. For me I require a basic working vehicle (a Canvas Top Jeep should do just fine), but with a family etc. it also needs to have some basic level of comfort and safety. A Rs.15 lakh car would just not make any difference to me, as for many a thing I would NOT even understand what are those subtle differences. Same goes for other fittings in the car as well. I have a basic sound system - where as I had friends who told me about the required set of speakers, woofers and tweeters etc.

I don't know if I am generalising this (and if yes, apologies). To me people who generally socialise (party hoppers, pub hoppers etc. etc. a lot also seems to fall prey for the "peer pressure". People who generally keep to them selves, generally goes around with no such pressure. They seem to be in their own world, only answering their own conscience. And I feel that in certain parts of India flaunting one's wealth/status is an expected norm, where as in other parts it may be the opposite.