[Abhi99]

Not Sure if its qualifies but here it goes -

After moving to Mumbai and having worked there for 3 years, I almost gave up on riding/driving - owing to the lot of traffic and plenty of public transport options. It was one of the afternoons, in some team review when I felt the strong urge to have my secluded place to listen to my tracks ( only to control the frustration of that meeting). This lead to the idea of getting a car and after some deliberation decided to get one. I started researching about the audio system setups back then (2009) and accordingly budgeted for an audio system and then decided on the car.

I remember getting my HU ( Clarion DXZ575USB - read some rave reviews here on TBHP) much before the car was delivered and needless to say took 2 days off from work to get the audio install done as soon as it was delivered.

Looking back though it was a silly reason to get a car but it turned out to be one of the best decisions - since have had plenty of memorable drives in that car.

[Rajeevraj]

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

[PrasunBannerjee]

Its not exactly the final reason, but I brought my own car hardly two days before my driving license test. So whenever someone asks why did you buy a car, I tell them, "I needed a vehicle for driving license test"

(I definitely did need one, hence rushed the buying process so I could use it for the test, things are factually correct, but it wasn't the main motivation)

Another way too older incident, circa 2008 I was using a third hand 1997 1st gen TVS scooty (kickstart, 2 stroke, with square headlight) at that time apart from my humble Hercules bicycle which somehow had a weird issue of petrol finishing without getting into reserve. It was having many other troubles, including once rear wheel came off that thing while I was driving. but yes that was an issue and I anyway needed to upgrade.

When I got my Apache RTR as a replacement to the scooty in late 2009, a few people asked why did you do a switch, my answer would be, "the fuel got empty on my previous vehicle, so thought to get a new vehicle instead of refilling the fuel."

(again, factually correct, but not really. Felt like Ambani without being one. Basically you create your own happiness! And now my mobile cover got cracked too. You know what might happen next by the pattern above)

Also, off topic, and no offence to any profession or professional but somehow I feel this is the way some lawyers and media houses/professionals bend or connect facts to bring a bias.

[vibmat]

My uncle’s company had a weird rule had allowed them to claim some fuel expenses if they own a car, this rule made every single employee buy the cheapest running or even non running car just to claim additional money from the company. There were a bunch of old premier padminis and HM cars that didn’t even start.

[HooghlyBoy]

I had a bike accident in 2007 which forced me to be on Leave for 3 weeks due to an injury to my right eye.The Ophthalmologist recommended me to stop riding my bike for at least 3 years and I found the Cab bills too high. My then employer had a Car Ownership Program and I availed that, initially planned an Maruti Alto but my parents were not comfortable in it so decided to buy Zen Estilo Lxi (Pearl Silver), which I just sold off after 90000 Kms on the Odometer and endless memories.

[littlebrother]

My dad bought the Swift Diesel, Innova and Ecosport just because it's selling like hot cakes in the market. All these vehicles without even taking a test drive. He had contacts within the dealership, he went and made full payment and due to influence he didn't have to wait much for the vehicle as opposed to standard waiting period. Ecosport, even the dealers had temporarily stopped taking bookings due to production not being able to keep with the demands he managed to get one.

Well this one is not a reason to buy the car but to maintain. My brother during his graduation time in Bangalore asked dad for a two wheeler during one of his visits home. Dad said no, but before he returned to Bangalore after his holidays he got him a Maruti 800 as surprise instead. When he went to UK for for his post graduation instead of parting with the vehicle he decided to keep it at our apartment in Bangalore just so that we can take it around for shopping in Commercial Street, Brigade Road and Chikpet primarily without depending on Bangalore autos and to avoid using our bigger vehicle in the crowded and difficult find parking streets of Central Bangalore.

Note from Support: Typos fixed. Please run a spell-checker before posting. Thanks!

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by PrasunBannerjee

"the fuel got empty on my previous vehicle, so thought to get a new vehicle instead of refilling the fuel."

I love that reason!

[whitecloud]

One of my dearest cousins had a top model of Cruze bought in the year 2010. In the year 2016, the parents of his girlfriend invited my cousin to discuss the marriage. He sold his Cruze a few months before the meeting to upgrade his vehicle to Toyota Fortuner, perhaps to create a better impression, don't know exactly, just hazarding a guess.

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.

Therefore, the gentleman went to a car dealer to buy a Toyota Fortuner but came out with a Mercedes-Benz C-Class to go for the meeting/interview.The Merc was sold in next 6 months due to turbo malfunction and Petrol E220 was bought only to be exchanged out with a Superb and then that too was sold for 1/3rd of the original invested amount to buy a Fortuner.

This was perhaps the weirdest reason to buy a car.


Note from Support: Typos, grammatical errors fixed. Please run a spell-check before posting. Thanks!

[R_Gowardhan]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

One of
2 Yaris, Omni, Gypsy, WagonR- The list is endless.

-He bought both Yaris because there was 2L discount during year end. So apparently he ended up saving 4L.

-Omni was purchased just before it was phased out, for emotional reasons. Same for Gypsy.

Just when I read this, I wanted to know who your friend was and how can I manage to get him to sell the Gypsy. Having completely read your post, my hopes were shattered.

Some cars were so ugly, any reason to buy them would qualify as weird. E.g. I can't think of one sensible reason for anyone to have bought either Chevrolet U-Va, Mahindra Quanto, Maruti Zen Classic, Premier Rio or the Baleno Altura. In most of these cases the buyer has already been sold to the discounts and the "Unique" (de)selling proposition becomes his/her reason to buy.

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

[viXit]

Originally Posted by pahwa

I have my share of story on this........
Sales Rep - "Sir, we have a big range of cars - Hatchback, Sedans, SUVs, Mini-SUVs.
My friend - "I need great music quality "

Me - "Facepalm"

Pray to god the guys at the ICE forum don't read this. They go on about how the acoustics of the Fiesta are perfect and Moderator Navin's camry thread is filled with ICE goodness.

Originally Posted by Abhi99

Not Sure if its qualifies but here it goes - I started researching about the audio system setups back then (2009) and accordingly budgeted for an audio system and then decided on the car.

I remember getting my HU ( Clarion DXZ575USB - read some rave reviews here on TBHP) much before the car was delivered and needless to say took 2 days off from work to get the audio install done as soon as it was delivered.

Here's another bhpian himself. we value our music a lot sirji

Originally Posted by Miel

... They got him another identical Maruti Esteem in a golden shade.

My uncle jokingly asked the man, "Sir I think you must really love the Esteem and in that colour?! You have bought two."

The fellow replies in a whispered tone, "No sir! We bought a similar car so that jealousy-filled people will think it is the same and that we have only one car. Why invite evil looks!"....

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

This reminds me of an ex-neighbour. When I asked why he had replaced his old Ambassador with a new one, when he could plainly afford something much nicer, he replied that he did not want to be thought of as showing off his wealth.

This is such a real thing. A small fast food stall guy in my mom's workplace started off with just a small tent and a bike he would haul his stuff in. He was an exceptionally smart person who had quality and a lot of people would eat at his place. He slowly expanded and opened two stalls, added more items and increased the costs. But since most of the employees at the office were long time customers and good friends with him by this point, his business was booming, this man now drives a superb and his kids go to schools better than that of the children of most employees there, and this is a famous mnc you all know very well. I won't name it . But once the admin guys found out about his new phone , bike or his kids schools. it didn't go well for him. He shared that info with a few people in confidence and slowly it started spreading like wildfire. The admin guys kicked him out , out of PURE JEALOUSY It was so so sad to hear this. they made his life there painful and told him to either pay hefty amounts to the company as tax, or to reduce his prices to dirt cheap levels or just any of the thousand other things they'd do just to hurt him. But he was eventually driven out of the SEZ. It's painful but it's real.

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

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

Oh god.
I love TeamBHP man, look at me at 3am reading this hanky panky stuff. I had to try hard not to laugh loudly and wake everyone up. They're all fast asleep. BEST THREAD EVER

[RoboCop13]

A friend of mine chose i20 among plethora of options for a hatchback because he liked the way DRLs look when lit.
Another friend of mine purchased a beaten M-800 (CNG fitted) just because he thinks his 3+ years old Swift is too big for Bangalore traffic. Now Swift lies in garage the whole time.

[Madywheel]

Quite an amusing thread! Couldn't resist to add my two cent, although not sure if you guys think it weird.

In th start of 2009, I decided to buy a bike for office commute and occasional short weekend rides in Bangalore. Plan was to get one in limited budget and my considerations were like Hero Splendor or a Bajaj Discover. When, I told this to a friend of mine (he had an Apache RTR at that time), his response was "buy anything less than 150cc, and forget about going any bike trip with me"!

Okay, then I thought of Pulsar 150 and my friend/flatmate (he had a Pulsar 200) said "buying one more Plusar will be a dumb thing to do! Get something new."

So, there I decided to get real good one and finally bought the newly launched Yamaha FZ16 . The bike was quite an attention grabber at that time. I did many memorable rides on this bike in South India alongside those two friends

[Thilak29]

I bought Brio because its engine was super silent.
I bought Figo because its engine had a roar and turbo had a pleasant hum.

thankfully, both turned out be excellent purchases.

[king of cochin]

A friend of mine came into a fair bit of money a couple of years ago and he bought a Jeep. Not any Jeep but a 1990 vintage which was supposedly driven by the Malayalam Movie Star MohanLal in the epic movie Devasuram.

Rest assured it was NOT the Jeep used in the movie, was barely serviceable and have been rotting away in front of my friend's home for past 2 years.

Last year he tried selling it to me for 35K but thankfully wiser counsels prevailed or today the joke would have been on me.

[Zinda]

1. Few years back I was working in a company which used to provide Car Lease policy for employees. One of my friends purchased a Wagon R through the scheme just to claim Fuel and Maintenance benefits, in addition to the emis which were apparently tax exempted.
Interestingly, neither he knew driving, nor he had any running whatsoever. 7 years down the line, The Car has completed 5000 kms clocked by his wife and he still doesn't know how to drive

2. 30th Sep 2005 when I was traveling in a Bus near Begumpet, Secunderabad, I saw a big posted of Bajaj Avenger@Rahul Bajaj. I dropped off the bus at next stop to check out. Interestingly, a day before I had received first paycheque of my life! 4 hours later, I rode off my first ride, The Avenger 180cc! Sold it off 12 years and 70k kms later.