[androdev]

I wouldn't call it a mafia (too strong a word), just a cartel of networked dealers when it comes to luxury cars. The network helps the owners also because the car will be offered to wider audience, not just within the city but across the country. Many luxury car owners don't fancy themselves responding to random people posing as prospective buyers and prefer going through dealers. Most high-end cars are sold for a commission at the price set by the owner, so I don't think dealers are upto any mischief.

The main problem with Bangalore is this: there is a large population of prospective buyers who are looking for used luxury cars (healthy disposable income situation) but local HNI people don't like buying luxury cars and even those who buy don't upgrade their cars that often. Either these people don't want to look affluent, or they just don't see a point given the horrible roads, crazy traffic and high road taxes. This creates a large demand-supply imbalance. It is not helpful to bring in non-KA cars due to high road taxes.

It's frustrating to be a prospective buyer in a market with very limited supply but I don't think dealers have much to do with it.

[jetsetgo08]

Originally Posted by wildsdi5530

Once funnily, I visited the Maruti TrueValue dealer near Yelahanka. All the Cars on display had price cards which was more than the Ex-showroom of the cars. On asking further, was told about 1 year warranty provided, accessories installed, etc. Saw about 25 cars there and decided that buying new would be better.

Like all used commodity purchases, one has to always ensure that the price we are paying is worth it. I strongly suggest purchasing other brand cars from Truevalue as they will be reasonably priced compared to Maruti's. But the onus of ensuring the car is mechanically sound is entirely on us. What we can be sure of is the documentation part, it is like buying a Bank loan approved property.

[Cessna182]

Surprised that platforms like droom have not changed this state of affairs. In my hometown this was the case 20 years ago. A specific area was home to all the car dealers and there was no way you could buy a decent used car without them - the number of people putting up genuine web or newspaper ads was and is miniscule. Platforms like droom have changed a lot about this situation.

Looks like Bengaluru is still lagging behind when it comes to this marketplace, despite being the HQ of many used car marketplaces.

[Nithesh_M]

Originally Posted by jetsetgo08

All dealers are hand in glove in the used car market.

It isn't limited to used car dealers. My uncle tried to trade in his 3 year old 8k run Eon Dlite+ for a 2019 Santro. The Hyundai dealer offered him a fair deal which was a bit too low than what we considered considering the low mileage and scratchless condition the car was in. We decided to look around and approached a Nexa dealership to look at the Ignis hoping they would offer better trade in price than the Hyundai dealer. Their price was a joke really and we cancelled the Ignis right after a long discussion. The sales person who had his car evaluator alongside called the Hyundai guys after knowing Hyundai offered us a higher value to ask how they had promised to pay more than what they are able to offer.
My uncle was pissed at this and walked out. Turns out their former employees work for other dealers so they have connections. if you hand over your car details to one evaluator in Bengaluru the whole city will know what it was valued at.

[srishiva]

This is more of unholy nexus among the dealers and sort of price fixing at detriment to consumers.

I have always traded in or sold to car showroom dealers since I dont want to deal with any headaches later including transfer issues etc. There is also an issue of trust either buying or selling with these used car dealers. Not to mention them using the footpath as part of their parking area everywhere !

[ramnaresh_2000]

This mafia is everywhere. Even in Tier 2 & 3 cities. I am at my hometown from last 6 months (C19 situation) and decided to sell my car and get a new one.

First went to M&M, they quoted 5.2, Ford quoted 5.5 and Tata quoted 4 lakhs. I got shocked, then from a close friends relative who works in Tata Showroom came to know that these people simply take pictures of RC and post in whatsapp group of re-sellers.

They set a price of X amount, no matter where you go, you will get same or less amount from each dealer. They will not budge and will create an illusion to car owner that this is the market value of the vehicle.

They then offer few bucks extra and throw in words like "Market down hein sir, best price hein sir, Yeh model ko resale nahi hein sir, I am buying this at loss sir as you seem decent person, yeh color demand mein nahi hein sir", then they inflate the price and sell it off.

Always sell or buy directly using OLX. This will be lengthy and time consuming process. Lot of time wasters and low ballers. However, you will easily get best price than these stealerships.

If time is money for you or do not have enough patience to deal with these low ballers, then I would suggest Cars24 or Truevalue outlets. These 2 are also same level crooks, but piece of mind of documentation and transperancy in transactions.

[DriveOnceMore]

How Cars24 , OLX CashMyCar work there then?
Are they part of said cartel?

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by DriveOnceMore

How Cars24 , OLX CashMyCar work there then?
Are they part of said cartel?

The used car dealers are a part of the 'system'. Most of these dealers are "bidders" when you list the car on OLX or when cars24 lists your car in their internal bidding system. How do I know? Well, 3-4 years ago when I and my BIL went to Cars24 to sell his 2014 Chevrolet Beat, they put up the car for an internal auction. After an hour they said the highest bid received was Rs X, which was much lower than the 'market value' quoted on other websites.

A couple of days later, when he contacted a couple of used car dealers, they too quoted the same value- Rs X and even said that they saw the car listed on Cars 24!! That was it. He later sold it to a private buyer on OLX at a price much higher than Rs X quoted by Cars 24 and dealers.

Another thing I noted about 2nd hand car dealings is that, say your car is of Brand A and you are trying to exchange/sell it to true value dealership of Brand B. Brand B will always check with brand A workshops about car's service and accident history and quote price as per Brand A's advice. Sooner or later, you will get a call from Brand A dealership asking about your intention of buying a new car. If you go back to Brand A true value dealership, they will quote the same price + any discounts,exchange/loyalty bonus etc.

You are much better off trying to sell the car to a private buyer because the well oiled 'system' will not let get you the 'true value' of your car, no matter how good it is or how well you maintained it.

[carriage.retorq]

Agreeing with all the comments, and on top of these I would like to mention the omnipresent ODO tampering malpractice with most dealer cars. My gut feeling is that 8 in 10 used cars in Bangalore have their ODO tampered. I am not saying that are all fake, most are.
Most people I know will not bother to check the full service history and are easily conned.

I can recall some first hand experiences.

1. In 2016, I sold my 2010 Indigo CS in a hurry to cars24. I kept an eye on Tata service portal(they had one before) to see whom my car was sold to. After almost 6 months a new service was registered with a ODO reading of 56k. I had sold my car with a reading of 90k.

2. Last year I stumbled across a deal on Honda city 2016 VX for 6L. Seemed like a great deal for a 34k run car. Luckily I have the Honda connect app and I had the RC card of the car. On checking the car had run 70k+ and had skipped a service plus was accidental.

3. Last but not the least, I bought a used UNO 8 years back which had a odo reading of 30k. i am pretty sure it had done over a lakh. (I was Stupid)

[Sridhar K]

Very similar experience in selling my friends 2012 Passat DSG in Chennai. As others have pointed out, may be the right word is *cartel* instead of *mafia*. Once you put a car out to Cars 24 or any of the biggies, the info about the car is available with most dealers and the price is set. Unless you get a buyer directly, the car price may never be above the one quoted by cars 24 and the likes.

Every other dealer was quoting the same and had complete history of the car with them. After quoting 5.3 lakhs, cars 24 listed the car in their website at 9.5 lakhs. My friend who runs a FNG and also doubles up used car dealer got hold of the service history from VW and found that Sundaram Motors did not change the transmission oil even once in 7 years of servicing. This point was known to all the dealers. The vehicle had done 65K and this was sited by other dealers stating that there is a potential risk of mechatronics failure and the buyer would have to pay quite a bit to replace it. He finally found a buyer who bought it for 5.85 L

The same was the case with my 2012 swift ZDI post the cars 24 evaluation. They quoted 3.25 L for it(done 90k with new tyres, suspension, good ac) last year but finally found one who bought it for 3.95 L. The new suspension had hardly done 5k kms when the cars24 rated it 3*

[rajshenoy]

While selling my Ertiga last year i explored these online trade portals(cars24, olx) along with dealers as well and here is my experience

Dealers typically make sense if you purchase your new car through them(due to the exchange benefits and other goodies). Also they offer better deal if someone is exchanging within same family(eg: Maruti).

Coming to online bidding portals such as cars24 i felt this is where the cartel(or rather a "system" of interconnected used car dealers) comes in and I felt the auction price remained constant irrespective of Cars24 or Olx(or anything else for that matter)

Does it mean i am at loss ? Well the price was definitely much better than what the dealers offered and kind of same if i went with the same family car(including exchange benefits etc). However finding the private buyer takes time and effort which not many can afford.

NOTE: I feel every segment(pricewise) will have different market. Above experience holds good for cars around 10-15Lakh and anything above that might be a totally different experience(and fatter margins).

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by GTO

What exactly is Bangalore's used car mafia?

Not aware in particular about Banglore, but whenever I have tried to sell my own premium cars, many people low ball too much and probably carry an assumption that an old Luxury car means super depreciation. This gets reflected in their buying process as well.

Recently, I wanted to sell my Brand new X5 with less than 1000 km on ODO and 3 months old, people offered me 20 % off my landed price. I stuck with my figures which were about 10 % off on my landed but about 20 % off the current On-Road prices. In my opinion, it was a fair price and after 2 months, I could sell it at my price last week.

Even in this example, our member was probably able to sell his own luxury car via OLX but could not find a suitable 5 series, why?

Yes, there can be super high priced examples but most of the time people keep margins for negotiations. I priced car at the rate I though fair and had decided to keep if I am unable to sell but the first question anybody will ask me is to let him know what will be the lowest price

I wonder, what's the use of jacking up prices and reducing at later time during negotiations. Maybe people feel better this way.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by DriveOnceMore

How Cars24 , OLX CashMyCar work there then?
Are they part of said cartel?

Originally Posted by skanchan95

The used car dealers are a part of the 'system'. Most of these dealers are "bidders" when you list the car on OLX or when cars24 lists your car in their internal bidding system.

Agree.

I showed my car to OLX Cash my Car and they did a full check and offered me a low price. I moved on and took it to Cars24, and they offered the exact price, to the rupee. Their evaluation was also much shorter, more of a casual trial than actual assessment.

Also I believe the dealers between themselves mutually agree who will followup with the buyer. In my case, it was OLX - they kept calling me over next few days, but Cars24 did not check even once.

It's a cartel for sure - probably one across each city.

[greenhorn]

To the people saying this is a cartel and not a mafia -
If these dealers/individuals were organizing purely with the intention of influencing market prices and supply/demand through artificial price controls, then yes, they would have been a cartel. But then you add your typical shifty used car dealer practices like odometer tampering, curbstoning, fraud and wilful misrepresentation, harassment done in collusion - then the distinction begins to look a lot more blurry.

[motorpsycho]

In Bangalore, it is not uncommon to see the same car being sold by multiple Second Hand Car dealer, I usually surf the used car market for the heck of it, and I always see the same car advertised by different dealers, sometimes they do not even change the pics.

There is a solid network of these dealers, when it comes to selling premium used car, my friend had inquired about buying a used Ambera, The dealer was able to locate one in Bellary!