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-   -   Did you ever sell a car for reasons other than an upgrade? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/204395-did-you-ever-sell-car-reasons-other-than-upgrade-8.html)

Looks like i have a reason too. other than upgrade i sold my much loved Getz CRDi due to family pressure, the story goes like this.. i met with an accident on my Thunderbird (Red) while returning home and it was quite severe, lost tooth and fixed that after around 6 surgeries, Seeing all these my parents consulted astrologer and he said Red (color of Mars) is not in favor of me, so i sold the car (i know i should have re-painted...) :Frustrati


and of course the Thunderbird too. Now i drive Ecosport Blue and a Thunderbird Blue. hope no astrologer specify something weird.

My reason - relocation to a sea facing bungalow.

In 2012, I bought a second hand well maintained Ford Ikon which served me very well. However, in 2013 my father got a posting in Mumbai. As we works in Army, he got a huge sea facing bungalow in Navy Nagar right at entrance of the US Club. Also, my father got his Dzire and the usage of the car started getting split between the fuel efficient diesel Dzire and the fuel guzzling petrol Ikon.

Now due to the proximity to sea, the steering rack of Ikon got rusted and I got it fixed at an FNG. It costed me about 5-6k and this is when we decided to sell off the Ikon as the car was prone to further rusting. I disclosed the history and reason to the prospective buyer and he was fine with it.

Now if I think of it, the first owner of the Ikon also lived right next to the sea. So the car had been facing the sea breeze for 6 out of its 7 years. May be if you are living next to sea, this is a factor to keep in mind while deciding whether to keep an old car. Now, I drive a Polo GT TSI. Still really miss the Ikon for its sheer size and power clap:. Here is a pic of it.

2013-2015(Ford Ikon) - Sold my first car a Ford Ikon, when at some point I realised that besides leaving me with big holes in pocket it would even eat my food.
I had bought this 9 year old car like a dream come true right after one year from I started working.

Little did I know that maintaining a car is not just driving and that periodic 'service'! As I was starting my basic lessons the little boy was falling apart, I learnt everything the hard way and I decided to let it go. Sale was another experience though.
After saving up couple of grands monthly for a year I bought a 3 year old Chevrolet Beat Diesel which was a plain downgrade but wiser decision, however I could never love the car and never felt that connection I had with previous one, missed my Ikon dearly a lot of times.

Current Nexon is an upgrade from Beat and not relevant to this thread anyway.

I have not sold my car yet but I will have to do one of the following -

1. Sell it and buy a new one (obviously a better one)
2. Keep it and still buy a new/better one

WHY?

Well here is my story!

In 2009, when I first started working, I needed a car. I did not want to take loan on a depreciating asset and so I bought the cheapest car in the world. A Tata Nano.

It was a yellow LX Nano which I used for about 45000 kms across Mumbai, Delhi and Chandigarh. I used it from 2009 till July 2015. In July 2015, when the latest Genx Nano was launched, I exchanged the yellow Nano to buy the latest top end Genx Nano!

I did this because the Nano is a wonderful car. It served/serves all my city driving purpose and I have even used it on the highways (extensively). Recently I took the Nano from Bombay to Bhopal and back. I drive it sedately, it gives me amazing mileage and, in my ~10 years of Nano ownership and extensive long/short drives, it has NEVER broken down or given me ANY trouble (both the Nanos).

My father has owned several cars in his life. Which indirectly means that I have owned several cars. Ambassador, Ford Ikon 1.3 Rocam, Honda City, Esteem and old original 1.6L Baleno! Therefore, I have driven many cars and driven them extensively. Please do not think that I do not have a comparison point to my Nano and that is why I think it serves me well.

It is GENUINELY an awesome car!

Now, long story short (too late?), the trouble I have had with the Nano is that of status symbol! However charming my personality might be (ahem!), girls turn away when they see/hear that I own and drive a Nano. I am a senior manager in marketing in India's biggest telecom company and earn GOOD amount of money (ahem again!) but that does not matter to the parents of the girls whose 'rishtas' come to me because, "boy drives a Nano. Why does he drive a Nano? Something is wrong somewhere! If he says he earns as much as he does and his family is as prestigious as it is, why does he drive a Nano?"

This is the case not only for arranged marriage cases but also for dating purposes. In my 10 years of Nano ownership (and having driven it in places like Punjab and Delhi), I have understood that I cannot drive to a date in a Nano. Period! Even if the girl is nice and does not care about these things..sometime in the future it does come up. Now I am not saying that it does not work out with the nicer girls because of the car alone..but it does come up in conversation sometime or the other!

Imagine another situation - beautiful girl on the pavement waiting for a cab. Single and available me driving in my car. I spot the "babe". Try to catch her attention only to see her look away in disgust as if "koi autowaala mujhe lech kar raha hai"... LOL

I am a very practical person. I do not understand why I should own any other car other than Nano. In any Indian city, and few highway drives that I have had to do with it, the Nano is perfect..more than perfect!

So I ask my friends and the readers of teambhp, tell me which car will solve my status symbol problem? Honda City is seen as a good status car? Creta? i20? Which? Because, in my practical mind, the Nano is equal to any other car and the ACTUAL status symbol cars worth upgrading to are BMWs, Land Cruisers of the world. I do not have the money or aukat for those yettt!

So, although I have not yet sold a car for a strange reason, I may have to very soon!!!
Only to buy a 10-15 lac rupee good status symbol car (first or second hand..preferably second hand!).

PS: Why am I making a big deal out of this when thousands of people upgrade because of status symbol? Because in 2014 my then girlfriend of 6 years broke up with me because we werent able to convince her parents! They had reservations about my status because of my car!!! She said no not because of my car but because she was eventually not able to rebel against her parents. So we went our different ways! I have still not learnt and continue to drive my car (read as live my life) as I see best! But..somewhere..i now feel i HAVE to give in to the society :( and waste 10 lacs or so on a car..in MUMBAI CITY!! can you imagine!?

Keep the nano.

And why don't you get a nice impractical Ducati for similar money? Imagine rolling up on that one. Absolutely no whatever series BMW or some class Merc stand a chance against a Ducati rolling around the streets with any woman as a bystander.

Boom. Problem solved.

Same here. Pristine 15 year old, first car, a legend in her own right, Zen. Will part away from her in Jan 2019.

Sold my Ikon which i used for 3 yrs back in 2011. the fuelpump broke on the middle of the road. And as being sunday night had no mechanics available. So i called my old mechanic and sold him the car right there asked him to pick the car from the street it had broken. Not to mention it had given me umpteenth issues over the last 1 year. The alternator had died while driving on the busy traffic. Over heating due to faulty valve.

Sold my Enfield 2001 model after 10 yrs of use. However it was cumbersome to use the bike to use it for short trips. I spent 7000 towards complely redoing the bike. But got the same price i had bought it for after 10 yrs of use

Here there! She's having an awesome time at Kochi now. Numbers are updated. Crossed 72K Kms and gained 18 more BHP's! And still feels as fresh as the day I took it :)

Here are a couple of recent pictures.

Good to know that from a person who has used it so extensively! Though I liked the Nano and found it practical, I have trouble convincing anyone about buying it (including my parents).

LOL!!!

You can buy a nicely maintained and a shiny 2nd hand City for this purpose and park it at your place. Whenever you have visit the girl, take it.

For all your daily chores, you can use the Nano.

Grand I10 petrol (Sportz variant) was my first car bought in 2015 and serving me now.
And my next car will definitely be a Diesel one to have better mileage though the gap in the cost of petrol and diesel has come closer.
I don't prefer a sedan because of city commute. However will look for a powerful hatchback if I try to upgrade in future.

Have sold my cars twice for reason other than upgrade.

Bought my first car, a 1.5 year old M800 in Mar 2004 in Hyd. In May 2005 got transferred to Chandigarh. Car costed me Rs 1.75L and sold it for Rs 1.70L after 13 months of usage(appx 6200 kms).
A new Alto LX came home after moving to Chandigarh in 2005 (This upgrade was not intentional). Again in Sep 2007 got transferred to Mumbai. Purchase price 2.78L, used it for appx. 26K kms in 2.5 years and sold it for Rs 2.2L.

Both times the reason to sell was shifting to a far of place. Did not wanted to get into hassles of RTO transfer etc. And both time sale did not pinch my pocket, thanks to Maruti’s resale prowess :).

Thanks Pavi! I know that Maruti Swift safety levels aren't something we can debate upon. Hands down I've never thought of driving one. Nonetheless, 99% of the time the car will be used purely on city roads doing an average 2K kms per year and solely driven by my wife. She likes it (for now) and I don't want to be in a "Parley" state by making her drive something against her will. Its just a temporary thing and it will fade away as she starts seeing more Swifts on the road (I hope). lol:

EDIT: We both have had our share of more than frequent highway driving (as seen thru' the ODO's of the two cars we've had). Now we both have local jobs that need no highway travel and with minuscule travel times between home-work-home. Hence the bike :)

Don't buy some car to fit in. Buy a car you want to drive and that fits your needs. Worst thing you can do is to get married to someone who wants your status symbol car more than you.

Wish you all the best to find a girl who will be with you for your personality not for your status.

PS: I love my Thar, my Nano automatic and my Swift. Don't need anything costlier than them and don't need to prove anything to anyone.

I have just sold our 14+ years old Scorpio & the reason was firstly the age (RC renewal would be due next year) & the fact that we had had a major shunt on the Lalkuan-Bareilly road a year and a half back (the post is there in the forum with before after repairs photos) and subsequently decided, tho' reluctantly, that the time had come to part. Another reason has to do with the general current trend against diesels, with several mfrs. deciding against diesels due to the BS-VI norms coming soon. Car-less in Lucknow at the moment & hopefully the situation would be rectified sooner rather than later.

Earlier to the Scorpio we had sold our Tata Sierra in 2004, after 8 years of ownership, both sweet & sour. The reason was the litany of problems (both small niggles & some major ones) that the car was endowed with.

We sold our Premier Padmini (bought in 1999 as second hand) in 2006 because we did not find a good and reliable mechanic to maintain it. We sold it for spares/scrap :(
We regret the decision whenever we think of the car.