[raj_5004]

To be honest, the weirdest reason I have heard from many which influences their buying decision towards a car or rather a brand is the proximity of their house with the brand's service center! This is especially true for Maruti Suzuki.

C'mon guys, considering the reliability of most modern cars, we visit the A.S.S. maybe twice or thrice a year for services and/or repairs. So it is really wise to spend 360 days in a year with a car which was not your top choice, only so that you can spend less time commuting to the A.S.S. for 5 days in that year?

I can understand if people from Tier2 and Tier3 cities say this, as in many cases, many brands do not have an A.S.S. in their city and they need to drive 200~250 kms to the next city to service their car in such cases. But most brands have at least 1~2 service centers in Tier1 cities and the maximum difference in the distance between their service centers will not be more than 50 kms!

I will rather spend/utilize/waste my 10 hours in a year to drive a car of my choice.

[Joyb]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

This thread reminded me of the famous 'hanky panky' thread. I guess nothing can beat this reasoning for buying.

But today am really missing Sam around. His choice of words, narration.. all left a lasting impact. He would have come-up with some masterstrokes on this thread.

[ramradcliff]

After doing investments for income tax savings and sending some money home, I am left with 40K INR in my account by mid Jan of 2014. By this time, a friend bought a new Honda City after test driving multiple cars in that segment including Fiat Linea T-jet which I thoroughly loved. We were supposed to go to goa during the republic day vacation but he ditched me in the last minute. Used those three vacation days to zero in on a pre-worshipped Fiat Linea T-jet from a fellow bhpian, transferred remaining 40K and took a personal loan to pay the balance. We were on our way to goa next week with my flat mates sponsoring my trip. Best decision ever although a little unplanned.

[BlackPearl]

I don't know whether it is weird or not, but quite a few people I know thought it was not a good enough reason. I bought a Mini Cooper within one week of landing in London out of the initial money given by my company as there was road construction going on and the U5 bus had become very unpredictable.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Generally, buying a car for commuting is a dubious decision in London! You have to be very lucky to have parking at both ends of the journey. I had that luck for a few years. A colleague's opinion was that provision of a central-London parking space should have been a taxable benefit! I can see his point.

Originally Posted by R_Gowardhan

On the other hand, have seen a lot of people buying a Diesel inspite of daily usage for > 10 Kms

Count me in on that. Very low mileage, mostly city... I just favour the low-rev torque over high-rev petrol engines.

[rangarx]

Well, not sure this has come up already. During the first car purchase after marriage, I was suggesting Ford Ecosport for the sheer fun factor. But the wife was so strong about the proper car with a boot. No hatchback, SUV or MUV would do! Eventually, ended up buying VW Vento, since I was looking for involving ride so had to pick this with the TDI + DSG Combo. It was a strong suggestion from my sister for sheer looks too!

[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

I don't know whether it is weird or not, but quite a few people I know thought it was not a good enough reason. I bought a Mini Cooper within one week of landing in London out of the initial money given by my company as there was road construction going on and the U5 bus had become very unpredictable.

That was not weird but a brave and sensible reason to buy a car. It’s another matter that we all know your love for cars

[dicor]

Lovely topic. IMHO we should also have a thread on the weirdest reason for selling the car.

Here are few from my side
I have 2 beater cars and I keep replacing one of them every year (maybe months) without any reason. Budget is strictly under 1 lacs and if I like the car, I would buy it immediately and will sell one of the beater cars. The dent is not huge, maybe I lose around 20k every year.

To be honest there is no reason behind it. I think I have impulsive buying behaviour as I do the same with gadgets as well.

2 - Wierdest reason for selling / buying / denying / rejecting
In 2017, when I was looking for a used XUV5OO, I encountered a 6 months old W10 AWD AT priced at 16.25 lacs. During this period the vehicle had seen two owners. The deal was mouth-watering but it raised suspicion because of change of 2 ownerships in 6 months.

I checked the history and car was mechanically clean, no accidents nothing.

I asked the dealer if I can meet the owner and he rejected. Somehow I managed to get the number of 2nd owner and 1st owner.

Strange reason for buying
The first owner was a bright and bold college girl (22 years) and her father was MLA. She sold the car because XUV5OO's AWD system did not meet her expectations. She thought it's an all-terrain all-wheel-drive system but XUV stuck every time she had visited her village. So after 4 months, she decided to sell it.

Strange reason for selling
The 2nd owner brought this car because he wanted to upgrade to an SUV from Skoda Superb. He exchanged his Superb + paid 10 lakhs to the dealer and got this 4 months old XUV.

He had a weekly run of 700 KMs (at least one trip of Pune-Nasik-Pune). The comfort quotient lost in the first drive itself when he encountered the super stiff suspension of XUV5OO. He was 56 years old and suffering from backache and eventually, he realized that he will die if he keeps continuing the journey in Cheetah. So within a month, he returned the XUV5OO to the dealer at the loss of 5 lakhs.

With such frequent changes in car ownership, the dealer was not getting the buyer but as I already had the history and I was confident that car is clean so I decided to move ahead with the deal.

Strange reason for denying test drive
I asked the dealer if I can take the test drive, he refused said I need to deposit Rs 5000 first, then I can take the vehicle for a spin along with his man. The reason cited behind this was that if the vehicle meets an accident, my deposit will be fortified but if everything is fine and I don't like the car, my deposit will be refunded.

Strange reason for rejecting deal
So after a few phone calls, I paid him Rs 5000 by cheque and he agreed. I liked the car and we sat for negotiation, he has shown me the papers on his phone and they were exactly same as what 2nd owner had shown to me. He was stuck at 16 lakhs and I was on 14.5 but after 30 mins the deal was ceased at 14.75 lakhs but the condition was I will pay the entire amount in 2 days and if I fail to do so I will have to pay 16.25 lakhs (his originally quoted price) in 15 days and after 15 days he will be free to sell the car to anyone else and will seize my deposit.

Few mins later his sons came and both started arguing on the deal. The sons were not happy with their father's deal and they wanted to renegotiate but I refused. Before leaving, I again asked the father if the deal is still on and he asked me to come within 2 days.

2 days later I reached to them they thought I couldn't arrange the money but when I took my ICICI bank cheque out they said it will take 3 days in clearance so I need to pay 16.25 lakhs. I asked which bank they have an account, both sons spoke together about two different lesser-known local cooperative banks but father said SBI. I took out SBI's cheque book and son again said it would take another one day as they don't have time to go to the bank today. Who would refuse to go to the bank for 14.75 lakhs but I had sensed that these guys are trying to avoid the deal, but I was so madly love in the car that I was not in the mood to let it go. I offered them RTGS. Now clearly there was no way that they can make any excuse so with a heavy heart they said yes. Suddenly one of the sons thrown a bomb by saying that "I hope you know that vehicle will be delivered to you only after transfer" on that I clearly said, money is paid now and the vehicle will be delivered now too. It's a quid pro quo dude.

Now these guys got an excuse and they were adamant on not handing over the vehicle to me and that's where I realized I am dealing with wrong people. After few heated arguments the sold told me "I've seen your FB and twitter profile, we anyways don't deal with Mr M's supporter anyways. Deal cancelled".

That was the weirdest reason I ever saw for cancelling the deal.

Note: Mr X is the most loved/hated political figure in this country.

[Dr.Suraj]

Originally Posted by dicor

Lovely topic. IMHO we should also have a thread on the weirdest reason for selling the car.

Did you get your 5000 deposit back? Or did they scam you of that !

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by dicor

Lovely topic. IMHO we should also have a thread on the weirdest reason for selling the car.

I have heard a number of people sell their vehicles because they felt that the vehicle brought them bad-luck or is cursed.

1. It was common in the 90s in rural Tamil Nadu for people to sell their vehicles if it was involved in an accident with a pig. Yes, the pig and it was considered to be a bad omen to hurt a pig.
2. Vehicle was involved in one two many accidents? Blame the Vehicle or it's registration number and hence sell it.
3. A cousin had to sell his couple of days old Bajaj moped because he got the cursed black colour.


And of course if the opposite of the above happened then the vehicle stayed with them forever. We've even seen threads in TBHP were people want to repair and retain their to-be-written off car because it saved them from a bad crash.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by whitecloud

However, as luck would have it, he couldn't find a Fortuner within his budget. But then came the shock, his girlfriend informed him that meeting had been pre-poned by 2 weeks and he was supposed to meet her parents in next 3 days.

Haha! Looks like these marriage meetings do bring some car sales. A close friend was meeting an arranged match & the girl was visiting Bombay. My friend's family is super loaded but was always content with humbler cars like Skodas & Innovas. Yet, because of this matrimonial meeting, they bought a brand new E-Class with a single cheque. It was as simple as calling the showroom, asking for a silver one and having it delivered the same weekend.

The brand-new E-Class was then sent to pick up the girl's family from the airport.

[dicor]

Originally Posted by kiku007

I have heard a number of people sell their vehicles because they felt that the vehicle brought them bad-luck or is cursed.

1. It was common in the 90s in rural Tamil Nadu for people to sell their vehicles if it was involved in an accident with a pig. Yes, the pig and it was considered to be a bad omen to hurt a pig.
2. Vehicle was involved in one two many accidents? Blame the Vehicle or it's registration number and hence sell it.
3. A cousin had to sell his couple of days old Bajaj moped because he got the cursed black colour.


And of course if the opposite of the above happened then the vehicle stayed with them forever. We've even seen threads in TBHP were people want to repair and retain their to-be-written off car because it saved them from a bad crash.

Yeah, tell me about it. It's everywhere. A transporter in my area has one 40 years old Ashosk Leyland parked in garage as it was his first truck and brought him successs.

Originally Posted by Dr.Suraj

Did you get your 5000 deposit back? Or did they scam you of that !

Ohh yes, forgot to mention about it. I did request bank a "stop payment" on that cheque.

Originally Posted by GTO

Haha! Looks like these marriage meetings do bring some car sales. A close friend was meeting an arranged match & the girl was visiting Bombay. My friend's family is super loaded but was always content with humbler cars like Skodas & Innovas. Yet, because of this matrimonial meeting, they bought a brand new E-Class with a single cheque. It was as simple as calling the showroom, asking for a silver one and having it delivered the same weekend.

The brand-new E-Class was then sent to pick up the girl's family from the airport.

Yes, a billionaire family in my apartment were driving 10 years old Fortuner until they started looking for a groom for their daughter. A Merc GLE was brought so that they don't have to go in old Fortuner to meet their would be in-laws.

[Thad E Ginathom]

But what if the would-be inlaws turn out to be like the neighbour I mentioned, of the old-fashioned white-shirt/white-vesti/Ambassador type, who when seeing a Merc, think "Pah! Showoffs!" ?

(last time we went back there, they had bought a different car, but it was still quite humble)

[furyrider]

Short version:
I purchased my first car as I was angry that an Ola driver cancelled my ride

Long version:
On fine day in October, 2018, I booked a return bus ticket for my parents who were returning to our native place. I had pre-booked an Ola cab for them to drop them off at the bus station. Unfortunately, it rained heavily on the evening of the journey and the Ola never arrived. The driver did not pick up the phone and went on to cancel the ride at the last minute. Could not find any cabs/autos to drop them off in the last minute. Needless to say, they missed their bus. I was furious and thought I had enough of these cancellations. Told my wife that I will drop them off in my own car. Wife thought I was crazy. The next day, parents left. I searched for the nearest car showroom, company did not matter to me. Found a Hyundai showroom nearby. We already had an i10 at home back then. Visited the showroom. Santro was launched back then and the car was put up on display. Booked a Star dust Sportz MT without even taking a test drive. The next day I get a call from the showroom asking if I was interested in the Grand i10. With running discounts, the price would almost be the same. Said yes without even thinking. They shifted my booking to Stardust Grand i10 Sportz. Two days later, the car was in my parking. Showed the car to my wife. What happened next? I will leave it to the imagination of married Bhpians

So, there you have it, I purchased a vehicle without a test drive. Heck, I did not even check the car in person or go through the price break-up properly before booking it. This is probably the dumbest thing I ever did in recent times.

[400notout]

Originally Posted by furyrider

Short version:
I purchased my first car as I was angry that an Ola driver cancelled my ride

The story goes with your handle name the way you've written it, I could feel your frustration too. Interesting nevertheless.