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Old 30th July 2020, 17:53   #16
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Re: How has Covid-19 changed your automotive life?

I haven't been able to come back to India due to the lack of flights and the unreasonable procedures for crew change by the various governments. So there has been no automotive life to be precise. However my wife religiously starts the car and moves it about a little bit every week. Hoping for things to get moving in August.
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Old 30th July 2020, 18:00   #17
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Re: How has Covid-19 changed your automotive life?

As we are living in the Netherlands these days, Covid-19 has had perhaps a different impact then most of our members in India.

The obvious impact on our automotive life one is of course that we have used all our cars a whole lot less! That is our regular cars as well as my three classic cars!

All though we never had a full lock down, my wife and I self quarantined for several weeks at the beginning of this crisis.

The mileage with the company car has come down considerable. Last year I spend 3 out of 4 weeks travelling internationally. Which meant almost every week I drove back and forth to Amsterdam airport, almost 200 km every week for that purpose alone. I havent been to Amsterdam airport since mid January!

Both my wife and I enjoy day and weekend tripping and that has come to a complete halt, with the obvious impact on car usage.

Those members who follow my “fiddling with cars” thread will have noticed that the various jobs on my classic cars have all but dried up too. They have never been in a better condition. I have only just started driving them a bit again.

But also, the many other “automotive activities” I used to be involved in, have completely dried up. There are no club meetings/Tours, no technical events, no car events at all. If you follow my “fiddling” thread you will have seen that I used to visit various multiple car related events every months, throughout the year.

We have managed to do some car related events online. Spanner mate Peter and I organised a technical event for the Dutch Alfa Spider Register Club a little while ago.

So, all in all, lots less hours/miles in all the car. And everything else I associated with my automotive life / hobby / interest virtually wiped out!

Having said that; things are improving here in the Netherlands. A few weeks ago, I organised the first Alfa Spider tour for just a handful of Spideristi friends. All of us are scheduled to sett off for our annual tour to France, in a weeks time! Fingers crossed, the corona situation does not change for the worse. Or we will have to cancel.

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Old 30th July 2020, 18:20   #18
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Re: How has Covid-19 changed your automotive life?

I have always had 2 cars in the house since 2012. One for the city, one for the open roads. Somehow the pandemic has got me thinking about the hassle of maintainance, service intervals, insurance and the sheer fact that I cannot neglect one at the expense of the other, lockdowns or otherwise. I am veering towards buying that one do-it-all car that will serve multiple purposes, city driving, highway touring and mild soft-roading. Would like to do some extensive adventure touring whenever the situation eases.
The cars that could possibly be candidates range from the Creta/Seltos to the CRV and everything in between. Lets see !
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Old 30th July 2020, 18:20   #19
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Re: How has Covid-19 changed your automotive life?

A 100 km round trip used to be a fairly routine affair once or twice a week, now I drive my cars for 20- 25 kms every once or twice a month so that don't stay parked at one place for long and I get the tyre pressure checked as well.

I have not recharged my Fastag account since February!

No trips to the airport,malls and multiplexes.Even my trips to the petrol pumps have reduced drastically! The last time I refueled one of them was back in April.

My workplace and my home are within vicinty of each other so I cannot even drive to work.

The good thing is that they stay clean for long!
While I used to wash them every week now I do that when necessary which sometimes happens after a couple of months.
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Old 30th July 2020, 19:52   #20
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Re: How has Covid-19 changed your automotive life?

Driving distance per term has reduced a lot. I have a travelling job but work from home is the new norm like most of you.

How has Covid-19 changed your automotive life?-kmpermonth.jpg.

Same is the case is with fuel efficiency as shorter drives in city do not really help with better numbers.


How has Covid-19 changed your automotive life?-fillupkmpl.jpg

What has improved: More time at home obviously. On top, I started using my bicycle more. Not a lot yet, but I am getting better at it.
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Old 30th July 2020, 23:42   #21
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Re: How has Covid-19 changed your automotive life?

To be frank in these unprecedented times, just taking out Linea Tjet for a short drive and listening to golden era old hindi songs helps feel normal. Once you shut the cabin and spool the turbo on a straight road, man that really calms and rejuvenates me!

Else, usual grocery runs in my Nano Twist and Suzuki Burgman are the only things needed. Overall driving time has reduced to a great extent. Rest it's online work, family time and exercise routine.

Last edited by SSD2122 : 30th July 2020 at 23:43.
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Old 31st July 2020, 23:11   #22
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Re: How has Covid-19 changed your automotive life?

Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post
.....The only exceptions would be for those who have resumed work or are planning to in the near future, but they are in the minority IMHO.
Belonging to the construction industry, WFH is just not possible in our line of work.
I am glad the testing has started, hope to read new reviews soon

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain View Post
...The disastrous economic situation caused by the abrupt and mismanagemed lockdown affected everyone including me. No work = no money = no new cars. This part is sad.
Indeed the economy had been severely hit. While having a casual discussion with my friends from Faridabad, I was shocked to learn about the number of industries shutting down. Very sad.

Quote:
Originally Posted by paragsachania View Post
.....So the current situation doesn't affect me. However, I have been spending a lot of time "with the car" with a lot of pending DIYs which got executed recently.
Happy to know you remain mostly unaffected. Looking forward to your DIY threads.

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Originally Posted by KarthikK View Post
....where will we ever get a chance to use them even if we spend now?
Quote:
Originally Posted by KPR View Post
I don't know why but post Covid I've started to become least bothered about looks of exterior of my 5 year old Punto.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BLACNWYTE View Post
Less expenditure since there is an uncertianity about future. So all avoidable/ pleasure purchases has been postponed.
I believe Covid has taught us to prioritise in life. Many things which we considered a necessity pre Covid, now do not seem so important anymore.

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Originally Posted by Garth View Post
Positives that I have noticed -
-- AQI below 50 always
-- Negligible dust pollution
Oh yes! Pollution levels have definitely come down, but did you notice they rapidly degraded a step or two once we shifted from lock to unlock phase? Not being a pessimist, but for the good AQI, monsoons deserve credit too.

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Originally Posted by locusjag View Post
the rats meanwhile have a felonious market-sharing agreement with the cats and they have seemingly taken over my cars.
Love the way you have put it!
I understand your pain though, I am myself dealing with ant infestation on one of my cars.

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Originally Posted by Eddy View Post
...hassle free "no-driving, no-parking" stint with Uber and going back to owning and driving will be a difficult transition (if it eventually comes to that).
I remember reading a thread which showcased the economic benefits and convenience perks of Uber/Ola-ing instead of buying a car. It made a lot of sense then. Now, maybe not.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeroen View Post
A few weeks ago, I organised the first Alfa Spider tour for just a handful of Spideristi friends. All of us are scheduled to sett off for our annual tour to France, in a weeks time! Fingers crossed, the corona situation does not change for the worse. Or we will have to cancel.
I pray this situation eases for us as well and we too are able to satiate our travel bugs.

Quote:
Originally Posted by dileepcm View Post
Driving distance per term has reduced a lot. I have a travelling job but work from home is the new norm like most of you.
What has improved: More time at home obviously. On top, I started using my bicycle more. Not a lot yet, but I am getting better at it.
Very nicely put, I have serviced my firefox as well, planning early morning rides soon.
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Old 2nd August 2020, 11:18   #23
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Re: How has Covid-19 changed your automotive life?

- No Uber/Ola/Autos for the foreseeable future.
- Cars are taken out once every weekend for a 20-30 kilometer long drive.
- Exteriors cleaned once a week. Interiors cleaned once a month.
- My Grand i10 now sees a full tank of fuel once in every three months, the Creta probably gets this once every in one and half months.
- Tyres including the stepney are topped up with Nitrogen once a month.
- Not checking for any essential fluids/oils because they were serviced recently.
- Cars are used exclusively only by the family.
- Cars are stocked up with gloves, sanitizers and surface disinfectant sprays. I personally disinfect all contact surfaces before and after every drive.
- No roadtrips, no hotels/restaurants/malls for the foreseeable future.

Last edited by TejasKinger : 2nd August 2020 at 11:32. Reason: Correcting information
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Old 2nd August 2020, 11:18   #24
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Re: How has Covid-19 changed your automotive life?

We were considering buying a new car before the pandemic struck, but not a chance that we'd spend on a depreciating asset in these times of uncertainty.

We'll definitely hold on to both our cars for another 2-3 years atleast. Usage has anyways gone down from 3000 kms per month to at best 300kms per month.
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Old 2nd August 2020, 11:37   #25
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Re: How has Covid-19 changed your automotive life?

I might sound philosophical here, but I will be going against the tide here:

I always use to spend so much amount of time running behind work, success and ofcourse money (which is absolutely needed when you are running something which have atleast 15 employees who depend on your income to fulfill their monthly needs).

I kept on delaying all the fun activities like travelling, exploring the country and the world thinking that one fine day I will do all this. But, covid has given all of us a reality check and made us realise that other side of life is beautiful and one should always enjoy it.

It was always said that 'Happiness in materialistic things are shortlived.' And now we all are understanding what this statement means.

Coming back to topic :
With Covid situation, we realised that we all can finish same amount of work in less time instead of working nonstop for 14 hours altogether. Also the work schedule is quiet relaxing now.
I am planning to continue the same work timings post covid phase and use the extra time to roam around aimlessly in my car with my family, and soft music playing in the background.
Also, a monthly outstation drive will be a must. I have also finalised a plan to take staff with their family along for picnic every 6 months.
My car usage has infact increased in Covid. We were looking to upgrade our WagonR automatic to i10 Nios automatic just for the sake of it, but now we realized that doing this is an absolutely waste of money. So, WagonR will now get a cosmetic upgrade. Meanwhile, my Etios diesel will chug along and can confidently survive for another 500 years.
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Old 2nd August 2020, 15:24   #26
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Re: How has Covid-19 changed your automotive life?

I ended up buying a car during this period, anticipating opening up of both wife's and my office in the near future. We were completely dependent on public transport/UBER/OLA/Zoomcars for our office and outstation runs, so this purchase was a decision taken from a precautionary standpoint.
Now that I look back, COVID has been a blessing in disguise for us. I've always dreamed of owning a car here in Mumbai but never got around to actually fulfilling it because we never found the need for it. I always thought car ownership in Indian cities is a waste of money and so other means of transport, especially in Mumbai, was more than enough for us. Now that I've brought the car home, I've been thinking why did I not take that decision sooner.
The feeling of car ownership being a wasteful proposition might return once the situation becomes normal and traffic gets back to usual but right now, with limited traffic and empty roads, driving on Mumbai roads is pure bliss.
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Old 2nd August 2020, 15:37   #27
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Re: How has Covid-19 changed your automotive life?

Absolutely. It pains to pay EMI and see car sitting idle.Nano is doing job for errands, but Baleno doesn't find much use.Have to take her out on Short joyrides once in a while to keep it in shape.
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Old 2nd August 2020, 16:06   #28
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Re: How has Covid-19 changed your automotive life?

Work from home is not an option for me. So the usual usage has been the same but overall running has gone down as there is no restaurant, shopping mall, cinema, weekend trips anymore. Was thinking of changing one of our cars but that plan has been put on hold atleast for this year. Business is less than usual as well and we can only hope that we'll get out of this pandemic sooner. Heart is longing for a long drive but my mind is winning this time.
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Old 2nd August 2020, 18:25   #29
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Re: How has Covid-19 changed your automotive life?

Car usage has come down drastically more of due to a job change and nothing due to Corona pandemic.

The car is used for 25 kms a day whereas it was 100 kms a day with my older job.
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Old 2nd August 2020, 18:59   #30
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Re: How has Covid-19 changed your automotive life?

Quote:
Originally Posted by TejasKinger View Post
Cars are stocked up with gloves, sanitizers and surface disinfectant sprays. I personally disinfect all contact surfaces before and after every drive.
Very much required these days. Did you notice discolouration or corrosion to any plastic/leather trims?

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Originally Posted by pavanmadhini View Post
We were considering buying a new car before the pandemic struck, but not a chance that we'd spend on a depreciating asset in these times of uncertainty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carpainter View Post
Was thinking of changing one of our cars but that plan has been put on hold atleast for this year.
Sad to know you had to postpone your plans for now. On the upside, you would have more options to choose from a year or two down the line.

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Originally Posted by DrCar View Post
It was always said that 'Happiness in materialistic things are shortlived.' And now we all are understanding what this statement means.
True to the core. Covid has made us reorder our priorities list. I expect good outcomes of this restructuring, just like you

Quote:
Originally Posted by sharatravan View Post
I ended up buying a car during this period, anticipating opening up of both wife's and my office in the near future. We were completely dependent on public transport/UBER/OLA/Zoomcars for our office and outstation runs, so this purchase was a decision taken from a precautionary standpoint.
Congratulations for your new car!
I have observed having two cars has become a common trend. Like I stated in the second point of the original post.

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Originally Posted by silverado View Post
Absolutely. It pains to pay EMI and see car sitting idle.Nano is doing job for errands, but Baleno doesn't find much use.Have to take her out on Short joyrides once in a while to keep it in shape.
Ask me about it! Having multiple cars in the house and being the only one required to go out for work, I have formulated a kind of work roster for cars specific to each weekday, just to keep them all in shape. However, I skip sanitisation of the car when I know it would not be driven for at least the next 3 days.
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