[RS90]

It is always tutored that humans are social animals and socialising, spending time, sharing sorrows, laughing together was one of the best healers. Who could have ever anticipated that a day would come when not socialising would be essential for survival. These days everyone is advised to stay away, human ability to recognise others by hairstyles, face and body structures is being tested, a smile passed to someone goes unnoticed, a small bottle of alcohol fits inside every pocket moving out of the house.
These are unprecedented times. It has inevitably made us make a lot of changes in our lives. On a deeper thought, everything has changed. One of my very close friend was blessed with a baby girl, no matter how much I wished to meet her, I exercised restraint. Education has changed, from what used to be a jamboree in the name of lectures in college, arguably one of the best times of our lives, is now sitting in front of an iPad or a phone and listening to a lecture, but on a lighter note, the students don't fail to amuse with their impromptu ideas of mischief, I wont go into details, I am sure you would understand if you have ever witnessed a teenager taking online classes. From weddings with big pomp and show to weddings which even the next door neighbour does not find out about. Keeping in quarantine all letters and parcels you receive for 12-72 hours prior to opening, sanitising fruits and veggies with more than just water, compulsory second bath after coming back from work and the list goes on.
Getting down to the brass tacks. What changes has this pandemic made to your entire notion of vehicles. I am listing a few of my observations.

1. A car for a more personal mobility. I know many people who have shifted or are planning to upgrade to a car from a two-wheel, metro, cab, etc. based mobility options for their want to have personal mobility options. I am sure the used cars are going to have a lot of new takers.

2. A quantity vs quality conundrum: More often than not, households these days have more than one member who needs to go out for work, would it make more sense for them to have two Hyundai Santro instead of one Honda City? Major downer, this could prove quite detrimental considering the already alarming air quality.

3. The need for a second, cheaper workhorse: There is a containment Zone very close to where I live. Talking to one of my acquaintances who reside there, I found out that ‘all’ positive cased of Covid - 19 were closed in that locality and each and everyone from that area had got themselves tested and had a Covid-19 negative report to prove. They followed the containment protocols to the T till all cases were closed but the containment was not lifted as it was still sometime to reach the 28 day mark. As the rest of the city was under unlock procedures, these poor folks were stuck. Self-employed were losing clients to competition and employed were losing on jobs. All this when the economy was already distressed due to the recent nationwide lockdown. These people managed to take out their second cars from these zones and park them on the main roads. They now walk around one km to their cars and go to work. As parking their more expensive cars was not an option, there are many rundown Swifts, Citys etc on the road. I neither agree nor disagree to their actions, one on hand they are in violation of lockdown norms, on the other they have to secure their livelihood.

4. If having a workhorse for daily commute did not have enough advantages already, it just got another one - sanitisation. I fill up my spray bottle with 1% sodium hypochlorite solution and spray the interiors and exterior door handles of my Amaze, which is now my daily driver. I would never dare to do that to the Mercedes or Fortuner.


5. Steps taken to ensure your vehicle does not develop problems during extended stagnancy because of the lockdown. I am attaching some pictorial advices I received from my Mercedes dealership.



How can one possibly leave this key in the ignition?
















These are just some of my observations, what are yours?

[GTO]

Not much because I've had a home office since a decade now. The only changes are:

- No more Uber or Ola until a vaccine comes out.

- Less running for my cars because there is nowhere to go to! No restaurants, no driving holidays (can't believe I am typing this).

On the upside, our testing of new cars has resumed and is in full swing .

Originally Posted by RS90

2. A quantity vs quality conundrum: More often than not, households these days have more than one member who needs to go out for work, would it make more sense for them to have two Hyundai Santro instead of one Honda City?

Agree with point 1, but not this one. I don't think any family will need more cars than they have currently. Reason = everyone is working from home. 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.

[Shreyans_Jain]

- Monthly running has reduced by a factor of 10 straightaway. You can’t go anywhere casually. Essentials are available nearby. I am going to factory only once every 10-15 days.

- No Uber, no Ola.

- I have 3 cars. For the first time in my life, the batteries in one got discharged due to no running. Making it a point to idle them for 15 minutes once every week

- Fuel expenses have reduced drastically. Yayyy! Diesel at 80+ rupees REALLY pinches.

- Depreciating assets like cars suddenly feel like a waste. What’s the point in throwing in 20L of rupees + 3 years of interest if the thing is only going to stay parked all day?

- Upgrade plans shelved. 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. I am truly sick and tired of my City and have eyes on the new Creta and Harrier. We will hopefully revisit this once things (read working) start normalising.

[paragsachania]

Nothing has changed as I mostly worked from home since more than 4 years.

However, with remote schooling, daily runs to drop my kid and get her back has stopped indefinitely and that means the running has drastically reduced too, which was otherwise adding 36Km a day at least.

There were no such long drives that I have had since last 5 months except one to my hometown last month.

However, I have been taking out both the cars regularly to pick essentials not easily available near my home(which is walkable) and hence none of the 2 cars have showed any signs of weak battery for remaining parked, at times for 2 weeks without a crank.

Never had any upgrade plans in the near future. 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.

[KarthikK]

Some negatives:

• Low usage of vehicles in general. I used to travel almost every weekend and clock an average of 30,000-40000 km every year totally, across multiple vehicles. That will drastically reduce now due to working from and staying predominantly at home, plus all travel plans are shelved for the near future. Now we are literally driving/riding just for the sake of using the vehicles.
  
• Doesn't make sense to invest in any new vehicles or even on new accessories on the existing vehicles, where will we ever get a chance to use them even if we spend now? The economic situation in the foreseeable future may not be supportive of any big ticket purchases for a majority of folks, me included.
  
• Travel preferences will change quite a bit once things start opening up. I would prefer only established hotels and resorts for trusted hygiene practices, or maybe very less populated / remote area homestays or tiny B&Bs with minimal capacity and crowd. Everything in between (budget and size wise) will be avoided, and so, a lot more research will go in before every trip. Heck, even roadtrip breaks and check points have to be planned carefully to avoid crowded and famous restaurants en route, and food / restroom stops and breaks have to be quickly and watchfully executed .

Positives:

• Savings increase as someone rightly pointed out. A lot of money has been saved by not being able to go out, eat out or even fuel up the vehicles as often as I used to. Though I wouldn't really 'wish' for this type of savings in an old-normal era, any savings which came now are welcome and can be used later for something else (obviously automotive or travel related )!
  
• Once the situation improves and more clarity emerges on the financial future, maybe deals will get lucrative on new vehicles for those who can still invest in one.
  
• I am a sucker for preowned vehicles, and this covid phase will only end up flooding the market with premium vehicles over time. If I can afford one later, I would definitely be watching the preowned space for any droolworthy deals post this covid phase, which can be exploited to get something really nice for less. Time to wait and watch for the next few months.
  
• More time for DIY exercises, more time for cleaning or detailing the car, more time for Team-BHP as well, lol!

[KPR]

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. Rather I'm spending every Sunday on thorough interior cleaning and disinfecting activities. One thing I've found with this is I'm more satisfied and always feel good when I sit inside the clean car than its clean exterior looks.

[jkrishnakj]

I used to be be doing a 100 KM round trip to office 3 times a week. That has stopped. While i sorely miss the drives, the positive side is the expenses towards fuel has dropped dramatically. As a family, we used to do atleast one long drive a month. I am not complaining on the money savings, but i definitely miss driving out.

I got two cars at home, and we alternate for the regular grocery/veggie shopping and errands.

[Garth]

Personal impact -
-- Negligible running for past 5 months. Hardly driven a 100 km maybe. Fuel was filled up almost 5 months ago.
-- Plans to upgrade my steed to something more contemporary delayed

Positives that I have noticed -
-- AQI below 50 always
-- Negligible dust pollution

[Bibendum90949]

i've driven only 1000 kms since March, against a norm of 8-10K otherwise. Imagine the money i've saved on fuel. These days, almost everyday I take my cars out for a half hour to an hour's drive - albeit without any stops or human interaction. Just can't see them sitting idle. It reminds me of the adage "A Ship in Harbor Is Safe, but That Is Not What Ships Are Built For”. These 1000 kms are logged that way

As luck would have it, I did a 23 day road trip from Bangalore to Manali in Feb first week in my new Seltos. Looking back, that was just in the nick of time. The dreaded name covid hadn't quite reached our ears then. And since March that word would've been printed and typed in billions around the world. Who would've thought our lives with cars would be thrown totally out of gear. Now another road trip looks like a very distant dream

Hoping and praying the world would be back to its old order soon without any further damage.

Take good care and stay safe.

Cheers,
bibendum.

[BLACNWYTE]

Some positives:

• The monthly use of the car has doubled since I'm working in the essential sector. (I'm getting to drive more)
• Less expenditure since there is an uncertianity about future. So all avoidable/ pleasure purchases has been postponed.
• Started to live a more healthier lifestyle. Home exercises and food. Special emphasis on the hygiene front.
• The pace of life has reduced a bit. The mad race has lost some steam.

Negatives:

• Fuel budget has doubled as well. I'm feeling the pinch of not getting the diesel model. But then, nobody foresaw this.
• Work load and timings has increased. Risk of exposure not only to self but loved ones too.
• Less family time. No more fun rides or family shopping in the weekend.
• Car care has reduced a bit. I haven't cleaned the exterior of my car in a month since I'm taking it almost thrice a week on highway runs in monsoon rains. Anyway I still clean the interiors on a weekly basis at least because I'm spending a lot of time in there.

[locusjag]

Well, I have begun asking myself if I even need a car, while I have two.

The unused TUV 300 of mine has suffered diesel leakage after a rat bit through a fuel hose in the engine bay. The leaking car had to be taken away in a flatbed tow truck. Meanwhile, I'm paying an EMI on the car as it depreciates when lying unused. I'm saving money to build my dream home, having already bought a plot for it last year. The EMI on the car suddenly seems questionable to me.

My used beater A Star AT reeks of rat urine whenever I switch on its AC. Rat footprints abound inside the engine bay.

Rat spray, raw tobacco leaves, rat poison...many paths have been tread upon already. You name it.

The two neighborhood cats from whom I expected rat protection have resorted to destroying my motorcycle's seat for sharpening their claws; the rats meanwhile have a felonious market-sharing agreement with the cats and they have seemingly taken over my cars.

Both cars have run less than 400 Kms in 4 months.

Here are some further (im)ponderables - I'm hearing that fuel rots inside fuel tanks after 3-4 months. Further, BS6 diesel, with its low sulfur, might allow bacterial slime formation inside the TUV's fuel tank.

My employer has meanwhile shown a glimpse of a Work From Anywhere policy, which will be unveiled at any time now. I don't know if this policy is for the next year or for good.

Road trips are out of the question for an unpredictable period of time. My TUV has borne my family through 3000 Km roadtrips every November/December, with multiple other trips through the year. Those seem to be distant memories now.

While these are merely open-ended thoughts inside of me, "thoughts become things", as the famous bodybuilder/street philosopher Kai Greene says often. My eyebrows are raised, my forehead is creased and my mind is open. I love my cars though, don't get me wrong.

[Eddy]

I really do not see any change right now since we all are working from home. However, we did not replace my Swift which was being driven primarily by my Mrs as she switched over to the convenience offered by Uber.

Once we start going out again, we will have to see how we manage that situation. She really enjoyed her 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).

[harry10]

For me it's more or less the same. Both cars are still doing combined 2000 plus kilometres every month. Mostly for work purposes. I wish my work had the work from home option like many others around me. Except for work and the usual grocery runs the only addition has been my weekly club cricket matches have resumed. Gyms will be opening soon but I plan not to go till a vaccine is founded. Same with cinema halls. Covid has seriously taken the fun out of life pleasures.

[srini1785]

Originally Posted by locusjag

Rat spray, raw tobacco leaves, rat poison...many paths have been tread upon already. You name it.

The below post is totally and not meant to offend you or your predicament.

Unless you changed your opinion in the recent past, I know you are averse to present day EV tech but since you asked for a solution, i am giving it. Modern EV tech would solve your problem. The rat that is so addicted to your fuel lines would be electrocuted when it bites through the wires of a EV. Unless they have alternate source of nourishment, the cats will also cease to exists since there are no rats to feed on. Its safe for the environment too with less cats and rats which feed on dirty diesels. Again , Ev's can be left standing without problem unlike ICE powered cars. All it takes is one recharging and you are good to go. Of course , few sparks may fly around due to rusty contacts but nothing to worry about.

You may have to leave the car in ON condition with hand brakes engaged while you leave it in rat infested long term parking but this is needed for the circuit to remain closed which a precondition for the rat's electrocution. As an added convenience you can mark out the phase lines for the sake of the rat's eyesight. Even if rats are colour blind there is a 50% chance that they bite the correct wire. Even with such a hit ratio, believe me, they will fall like ninepins. So ready to take the plunge and change your automotive life post COVID19? .

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by srini1785

The below post is totally and not meant to offend you or your predicament.

No I'm absolutely open to ideas and thoughts. I even treat my own positions as dispensable ones. Logic remains a bedrock for me.

Unless you changed your opinion in the recent past, I know you are averse to present day EV tech but since you asked for a solution, i am giving it. Modern EV tech would solve your problem...So ready to take the plunge and change your automotive life post COVID19? .

Interesting thoughts there. I know that EVs have a fraction of the number of moving parts as an ICE powered car. They should also have a fraction of the wiring involved as well.

When I build my home, I fully intend to have EV charging facilities, or at least a space earmarked for it. I still have that Hyundai EV from Canada in mind where it blew apart a garage spectacularly upon overnight charging. But - I have my eyes on newer Lithium ion tech that promises to stop batteries from exploding for the reasons they do right now.

So yes - in the long run, EVs will be in my garage Thanks for adding the rat problem angle to whatever works in favor of EVs.