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Old 11th July 2015, 21:27   #16
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Re: No. 3 car seller in India? Not Mahindra or Honda, it's Maruti True Value!

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Originally Posted by tsk1979 View Post
...
The used car market, esp in non metros is a hell hole.
The car seemed to be very well maintained, and had just 38K on the odo. Ran like a dream.
However, when we ran the car through toyota dealer database, it was revealed that the car has run over 125000kms!!
Please keep in mind that True Value (or any other branded used car dealership for that matter) do not guarantee odometer readings. What you found out could have been found by anyone who went throughthe service records of the vehicle.

Worse, some of the franchisees of "reputed" used car brands have been found tampering with the odometers themselves. And if the car has been serviced in that very dealership, heavens help the buyer.

Last edited by Technocrat : 14th July 2015 at 01:22. Reason: Please quote selectively as a long quoted post causes inconvenience to our mobile readers, thanks
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Old 11th July 2015, 21:50   #17
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Re: No. 3 car seller in India? Not Mahindra or Honda, it's Maruti True Value!

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Originally Posted by fighterace View Post
Please keep in mind that True Value (or any other branded used car dealership for that matter) do not guarantee odometer readings. What you found out could have been found by anyone who went throughthe service records of the vehicle.

Worse, some of the franchisees of "reputed" used car brands have been found tampering with the odometers themselves. And if the car has been serviced in that very dealership, heavens help the buyer.
The problem is that it is very difficult to find untampered cars in the open market. Almost 90%+ cars are tampered with. With true value, there is a good percentage of non-tampered cars.
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Old 11th July 2015, 22:32   #18
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True value is a safe bet to anyone going the used car route in India. One reason why Maruti commands such excellent resale is the presence of true value which sells its cars at a premium to market rates.


So, if a buyer known to you decides to purchase your Maruti, he would be willing to offer a better rate as he would have already done his homework by going to the nearest true value and compared prices of similar cars there.


More over I have personally experienced true value sales staff flogging down non- Maruti cars when it was taken there for valuation. Nothing wrong in it, but that provides an added incentive to a Maruti customer to remain loyal to the brand since he is assured of a better price during resale.
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Old 11th July 2015, 23:54   #19
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Re: No. 3 car seller in India? Not Mahindra or Honda, it's Maruti True Value!

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Originally Posted by tsk1979 View Post
The problem is that it is very difficult to find untampered cars in the open market. Almost 90%+ cars are tampered with. With true value, there is a good percentage of non-tampered cars.
The reason being that the average middle-class salaried individual with an untampered, ASS serviced vehicles would simply go for the turnkey approch of "exchanging" is old car for a new one, just to avoid the hassle of selling the old one. The value that they get for the same is a joke. But they constitute the bulk of the desireable used cars in the market.
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Old 12th July 2015, 10:37   #20
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Re: No. 3 car seller in India? Not Mahindra or Honda, it's Maruti True Value!

Hello All,

Definitely interesting statistics. India has a huge used car market and considering most of it is the open market where you have to be extremely prudent and lucky to crack a good deal, Maruti have been very clever in entering it and giving users one thing which is often lacking, trust. Add to this the sheer size and presence of Maruti Network and voila, we have a winner.

If the Indian used car market has to mature like the one in the West, we need reliable outlets and this is what True Value gives us. No wonder it is marching ahead in terms of sales numbers. Kudos to Maruti once again.
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Old 12th July 2015, 21:55   #21
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Re: No. 3 car seller in India? Not Mahindra or Honda, it's Maruti True Value!

If you find any used car dealer trying to force you to buy one particular car of all the cars in the lot saying its the best deal ever, don't jump the gun and agree to it. Please get a mechanic from outside, put that car on the jack and check for any freshly welded frame joints or shoddy touch ups that indicate if the car has been in an accident.
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Old 12th July 2015, 23:10   #22
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Re: No. 3 car seller in India? Not Mahindra or Honda, it's Maruti True Value!

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Originally Posted by Live To Jive View Post
Also not every car sold through a True Value outlet is a Maruti. They buy and sell all brands.
Is that so? I have seen only Maruti cars in the few True Value show rooms I have visited. Because they can run whatever tests they run, certify and give warranty to, only Maruti cars. The non-Maruti cars may be the ones that come for exchange during new car sale, I don't think they are sold through True value.

Case in Point, a friend of mine bought a Wagon-R from a Honda dealership.They did just a service and oil change, I don't think he got any warranty for it.
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Old 13th July 2015, 01:15   #23
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Re: No. 3 car seller in India? Not Mahindra or Honda, it's Maruti True Value!

I bought a used 3 year-old certified Swift Vxi from a True Value showroom run by C.A.R.S India, Kottivakkam (on OMR) in Chennai.
1) It was supposedly a "clean" history car, as per what they said when they sold it to me. But after 18 months when I tried selling them the same car, they said that the car had had a major accident, after popping the hood! They refused to buy from me. I ended up selling to Lanon 'U' trust used cars on ECR in Chennai with a big hit to my wallet.
2) The gear shaft had a major problem which dogged me initially. In between gears, the car would go into neutral gear by itself. The True Value guys denied any problems in the car however. I fought by e-mailing the regional marketing head at Maruti and got the gear shaft replaced under the warranty. It ran smoothly after that.
3) 3 tyres had major mfg defects; the car would make a "dug-dug-dug" sound that wasn't noticeable at high speeds. I had to fight this one with JK Tyres, which replaced 2 of those tyres for me based on a ratio of remaining tyre life (original versus remaining tread-depth multiplied by the tyre's cost).

Overall, I learned my lessons the hard way. Once these niggles were sorted out, I had a trouble-free 18 months of ownership with the Swift. I even bought a similar 3 year old Swift VXi from another True Value for my sister; but this time I took a trusted mechanic along to evaluate it. My sister's Swift runs like a beauty to this date!

Although, looking back - I did notice that almost all the cars in the CARS India showroom at Kottivakkam had 25,000 - 35,000 Km on the odo. Coincidence, tampering, or just a conscious acquisition/sales strategy followed by them? I'll never know and don't want to know.
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Old 13th July 2015, 07:13   #24
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Re: No. 3 car seller in India? Not Mahindra or Honda, it's Maruti True Value!

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Originally Posted by tsk1979 View Post
So that to do? Go to a more trusted source.
Of course there are tampered cars there too, but there is also a high probability of finding good un-tampered cars at outlets like True Value
Total myth.

Hang out an hour at any good meter electrician's shop and you'll see all manner of folks turning up, including True Value salesmen. I've seen one such instance myself in Gurgaon.

The only solution is to match company service records and not accept a car with a break of more than 3 months.
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Old 13th July 2015, 18:58   #25
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Re: No. 3 car seller in India? Not Mahindra or Honda, it's Maruti True Value!

The used car market in any car economy is always estimated at ~1.5 times the new car market. With the new car market at close to 2 lakh units, the 3 lakh figure for used cars seems reasonable.

Also, the 12% market share is actually a little conservative, I feel. Of the 3 lakh cars sold in used market, how many get sold through official channels? I am guessing not more than 1 lakh (may be even less). That gives Maruti a whopping 30% (or more) market share right away.

Also, the used car business is like a recession beater. If the new car sales go through a dip, the used car business usually picks up. Importantly, once the car market opens up, the used business gives a nice bump to used car sales as people look to discard old cars and buy new ones.

All said, some one at Maruti realised the importance of being in the used car business long back and established the business very well - hats off to their execution!

We have ourselves purchased our current car (A-Star Automatic) from True Value and our buying process was very smooth. The SA admitted about a fender alignment and minor dent on the door that was fixed. It was also reflected in the service history.

The odo showed 10k kms and the previous service record also matched. To top it all, the extended warranty purchased by the previous owner was passed on to us - where usually it is non-transferable. Overall, a very nice experience.

The car has run about 6k kms since we bought it. Every service experience is very good. When we had a break-down a few months back, the True Value SA from whom we bought helped us get a towing van. Right from the ceremonial delivery to the after sales service, every touch point feels like we bought a new car, totally
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Old 13th July 2015, 19:14   #26
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It's a known fact worldwide that the used car sales are always more than new car sales. There's no point in comparing it to sales from new cars.
I've also noticed that most of the cars in the used market have ran kilometers between 30-40,000. It's not a coincidence but mostly due to "clocking" by shady dealers. It's very easy to do it but equally difficult to prove unless you have receipts from the servicing dealership (but we know that they can also be easily forged). For now just keep your eyes open before purchase. Yes, Maruti True Value is a step in the right direction in this endless sea of chaos. Hope others will also start similar programs.
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Old 13th July 2015, 20:19   #27
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Re: No. 3 car seller in India? Not Mahindra or Honda, it's Maruti True Value!

I have had a bitter experience thrice dealing with True Value from Varun Motor, Hyderabad. I found that they are no good as compared to cheap 2nd hand car dealer.

First time I sold them a car in 2011 as an exchange, they deducted amount saying that there are pending traffic Challans on it. Again I sold them a car in 2014 they did the same. By coincidence the 2nd car was brought by my friend's cousin, who calls me one day & says there is pending Challans on the car & who is going to pay it. I informed my C.S.A in True Value who just kept lying that it is paid for 6 months. Altimately it was paid after 6 months when I wrote a mail to the regional heads in Maruti. Then I found out that the challans on the first car were not paid till 2015 & again I had to Escalate this issue.

Third time I suggested one of my friends to buy a car from True Value. They sold him a car whose readings were tampered with & the Traffic challans not paid had to Escalate this also to get it resolved.

I found True Sales Men to be aggressive but they do business without any ethics.
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Old 13th July 2015, 20:24   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by desdemona View Post
Does Maruti Suzuki 'prop up'/'inflate' the resale 'value' of Maruti-badged cars, thereby creating a potent feedback loop that promotes herding-biased buying of their new cars, since 'resale' is SUCH a priority to the VAST majority of mass market buyers in India, more it would appear than in any other comparable country?

This bears investigation as a potentially anti-competitive practice, using market-pricing-power in an adjacent market to boost market-pricing in the main one.

If the CCI can investigate and pass adverse orders on the spares front as they did late last year...
Interesting analysis there! Thinking business, I am personally pretty sure the business guys at Maruti have the same intention!
And this will definitely influence aam junta to take decisions favoring Maruti.
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Old 13th July 2015, 21:01   #29
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Re: No. 3 car seller in India? Not Mahindra or Honda, it's Maruti True Value!

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Originally Posted by phamilyman View Post

The only solution is to match company service records and not accept a car with a break of more than 3 months.
Can service records be trusted either? Is it not possible to tamper with the odo pre service too.

This is why buying used is a gamble. You can't trust any sources.
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Old 13th July 2015, 23:38   #30
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Re: No. 3 car seller in India? Not Mahindra or Honda, it's Maruti True Value!

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Originally Posted by prakhar1998 View Post
Can service records be trusted either? Is it not possible to tamper with the odo pre service too.

This is why buying used is a gamble. You can't trust any sources.
They can't be tampered at will. When I took my car to MSM for a running repair, the odo reading was wrongly entered as 27750 instead of 21750 in the system. I noticed this in the bill at the time of taking delivery and showed it to the SA, who promised to set it right during my next visit. I went back for annual service last month and reminded him about this.

The service was over but I was made to wait a while, because they had shot off a mail to MSIL HQ regarding this with proof of previous service records, and were awaiting approval from them to correct the odo reading to the current level in the data base. It seems without their approval it can not be altered.

Finally the approval came and the alteration was carried out, after which the bill was printed.
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