[GrandTourer]

My father suggested that we buy the Celerio, because two of my cousins own them. He's not much into the car scene anymore, and didn't even know the name of the car. He just said why don't you buy the one that cousins A and B have.
Thankfully I managed to convince him on the Polo GT TSI.

I have seen this happen more often than not, where people see cars in their extended families and buy the same one.

[mopy95]

True story about 10-11 years ago. My 1st cousin's family comprises his parents and him only. They shifted from our ancestral house to a fairly big bunglow in a Tier 2 city (Bhubaneswar).
They had a Maruti 800 with AC & power steering , which was enough for a family with 3 members but apparently there was a lot of free space in their garage, which wasn't aesthetic to their eyes, so they sold the 800 and bought a Safari.
Unfortunately his father couldn't keep up with its size and after numerous scratches and close calls, they sold it within 2 years to settle for a Wagon R and that car has stayed with them ever since. Talk about vanity learns a lesson.

[logicalidiot]

This is one interesting thread .
In our country, there are tons of stupid reasons why people buy cars. I'm sure I'll have a good time reading this.

Originally Posted by GrandTourer

I have seen this happen more often than not, where people see cars in their extended families and buy the same one.

It's exactly opposite in my family. If somebody buys a particular car, then the other person will look for something else instead. I remember me suggesting my dad to buy Punto back in 2011, but he cited the reason as my cousin already has it.

[landcruiser123]

My grandpa (who was selfless and never spent much on himself; massive respect) decided he wanted to buy a car and learn driving because his friend was selling his old 800 for INR 50k. Problem was, he was 70 years old at the time and hadn't even ridden a cycle in 40 years - forget about driving a car or riding a scooter.

Originally Posted by Axe77

One of my relatives bought an old car - an 800 - just to retain stake on a parking space in mumbai.

Originally Posted by RavSam

Why do I get a feeling that this was requested by our GTO

This is why: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/what-...100-000-a.html (What's the coolest car one can buy for Rs 100,000?)

[Samba]

My friend bought a Esteem Lxi in Bangalore during his MBA days just because his girlfriend was working as a sales executive in a Maruti showroom! Circa 2007.

[ashis89]

Back in the 90s Tata Sumo was a rage. An acquaintance, who runs several businesses and keeps few cars for business and joint family needs, wanted to buy a Sumo. The nearest dealer was 320 kms.

One day, off he went in his Esteem to buy a Sumo. When he reached the other city, the dealer informed he didn't have ready stock and the long waiting period. Since he had come buy a car and didn't want to return empty handed, he bought a Mahindra Commander (closed body) and took it back along with him.

A month or two later, he was traveling for business to the same city and since the dealer had one in stock, he bought a Sumo this time.

Both the vehicles served him very well for the next few years.

Two of my colleagues bought vehicles even though they didn't really like it. One of them bought a Yamaha R15 because it was the latest and most expensive bike in the market at that point in time. He learnt riding after getting this bike. Another guy bought a Baleno hatchback because it was the latest one in market and it will grab attention wherever he drives it.

[vj123]

Extended family register their vehicles with "0990" plate.

They plan to add a new vehicle or replace their two / four wheelers, when the next registration alphabet is due in their local RTO.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

Exactly around 20 days later, I found him driving a Fortuner. Surprised, I went ahead and asked him about the Scorpio. His answer- Scorpio has been taken over by wife for her driving practise and since he was being deprived of the same, he went ahead and bought himself a Fortuner

You’ll be surprised to see how easy it is to learn driving on big engined diesel SUVs. Visibility is excellent, bikes and autos don’t cut your way, there is ample low end torque, the clutch is not sharp and you just about never stall. They are very forgiving. I learnt driving on a Scorpio myself.

[asit.kulkarni93]

1. A distant relative picked up a Ritz 10 years back and looking at his car another relative of ours picked up the Ritz. The second Ritz crashed into a bolero camper the very next day and since then that relative hasn’t touched the car. Because there were two Ritz’s in the family, a third relative picked up a Swift as he wanted something different. So yeah the swift was so different. Plus now he regrets picking it up during out-station trips thanks to the tiny boot.

2. A well off family friend had a Rapid 1.6 TDi which he decided to sell because he found the service expensive and picked up a Dzire LXi. Although the Dzire was replaced by a Tucson in less than a year, the whole ordeal of moving to a Dzire never made sense to me. His son at the same time was looking to replace his 2010 Swift LDi. I had explained the importance of ABS and airbags to him and made him understand why he should pick up a (O) variant or some car with decent build quality. He eventually got the normal swift VXi as Maruti gave him 40k off.

3. A relative’s Alto had barely done 60k KMs but he decided to sell it and replace it with an Estilo because of the fear of running repairs. Looking at his approach many other relatives were selling cars at the 55k KMs mark finally I made two of them understand the concept of running repairs and they decided against selling the car.

[tharian]

This is not a weird reason because I didn't want to ask, but these are about two cars in my apartment that were bought and left unused most of the time.

One was a Elite i20 bought second hand by a girl who stays by herself. She had just finished learning to drive and bought this car and I was thinking she is going to drive it everyday to work. She ended up hiring a driver once a while and now I see the car lying unused covered with dust.

Another was a new Dzire AMT. This is owned by a husband-wife who already has a second gen Verna. The Dzire was for his wife to use. I've seen her drive it just once or twice and rest of the time it is left parked in the open exposed to rain and sun.

Makes me wonder, why buy something when it is not going to be used at all.

[WhiteSierra]

Ok this will be a weird thing for us anyone who reads or listens to this, but it made sense for him during that period, Few say, Love is blind that was true in my friend's case. My brother's friend bought a Mercedes CLA in 2016 just to impress his girlfriend, she left him few years later but he is enjoying his car even now

Now this Merc is the official car for all his friends and relatives weddings.

We all make fun of him that he developed that love relationship with his Merc instead of his girlfriend.

[creative420]

When Tata Nano was launched, they partnered with multiple banks you could book the car from. My uncle had a bank account with Canara. The branch manager was a known friend. He booked the Nano for my uncle who already had some 5 cars for all driving members in the joint family without his approval. My uncle ended up buying the Nano and it served as a running-errands and a practise car for the kids growing up in the family.

[smileline]

He ends up selling most of the cars, before even completing 10k on the odo. I'm patiently waiting for his Gypsy. It has barely done a thousand kilometers till now.

Regards,
Shashi

It would be great to know this person, can get hold of a few good preowned cars, with good amount of depreciation.

[fazayal]

Originally Posted by NaXal

A friend was getting overweight, his father called a mechanic & got the AC removed from his room to push him towards early morning workout.

He went out & bought a battered used car & called me to collect it & park it at his home garage. He couldn't drive, so I thought now he will learn driving but no, he bought it to sleep there at night to enjoy the AC

Sleeping in a car with AC on can be fatal! Just stop from anyone doing it!

[srini1785]

An acquaintance of mine, who does not know how to drive anything and walks to office , suddenly ends up buying a TATA Tiago. He also appoints a driver. He then parks the car prominently in front of his house. Two months later, his daughter gets married and a week later the car disappears and he back on foot to office.

A big disappointment for his SIL who I believe was eying that car.