[ValuableRecluse]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Conclusion: The owners of these Marutis posing as Toyotas should be aware, they haven't just signed up for better service and warranty, they have also unknowingly become a member of the rip-off club. For parts which are common with Baleno, they can still opt for MGP and get away, but those carrying a Toyota logo will be charged heavily! I wonder if those Fortuners and Crystas carrying an eye watering price tag, actually cost that much to manufacture or is Toyota just reaping benefits of its immense Brand value in India, Food for thought!

Toyota has a massive fan following due to their reliability, robust design and longevity. This leads to great resale value not only in India but also in other countries with particularly difficult driving conditions.
Strong brand = High priced logo.
After taking the trouble to reach where they have, they can’t have other cars masquerading as Toyota’s
As a Fortuner owner, I’m always pleasantly surprised at the low service costs.
Also, Toyota service can be surprisingly accommodating. I had done multiple deep water crossings in Spiti, so much so, I had to stop and air dry the airfilter.



On returning, I wanted TASS to drain the oil from the differentials to check for water ingress. There wasn’t any. Since the oil was in good shape, the SA , had the same oil which had been carefully collected in a clean container, refilled back in the diffs!
Saying, ‘Sir, the oil is good, no need to change it!’.
Honestly, I don’t know of any other ASS that wouldn’t try to make a quick buck, advising me to change the oil- to be in the safe side!

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Prologue: My brother owns a mid variant Yaris and we have planned to get Dzire's 15 inch alloys, since OEM Toyota alloys are so expensive. We decided to get Glanza's hubcaps to make it completely Toyota. At that point we didn't think much about the prices, since MGP Hubcap with Suzuki logo carries an MRP of Rs. 75. And it's not that they are of bad quality in any way. We thought Toyota's price would be similar if not less.

Thank you so much for taking the trouble to expose this loot! It is shocking beyond belief, as a Glanza owner, that Toyota is charging nearly 10-15 times than the actual cost for literally the same Maruti part! One can understand if the difference is prices is by a small percentage, but this is just too much!!!

It is an eye opener for me because when I chose the Glanza over the Baleno, it was primarily for the good service reputation that Toyota dealerships have and the fact that Maruti dealerships tend to got so crowded that SAs do not have the time to listen or address you concerns properly. By opting for the Glanza over the Baleno, I thought I would get :
1. The same Maruti fuss free ownership experience in a less crowded, more responsive SAs at the workshop
2. Easily available & cheap spare parts with Toyota(as it is essentially the same car!).
3. A sllghtly better looking front end.

The car has been extremely good so far and am very happy with it. Great FE figures, extremely smooth and good to drive and No major issues or rattles to report. But to think that just for T badge, Toyota can exploit the good faith that Maruti vehicles enjoy and then engage in such daylight robbery is extremely disconcerting. If one thinks about it from another angle and if Toyota is really honest about the spare part prices, one has to wonder with such difference is spare part prices, how is Toyota able to sell the Glanza cheaper or at the same price as the Baleno variants. Or does the "loot" start only after you go in for service or accident repairs? Clearly, the ugly answer is now staring at the face of Glanza and possibly Urban Cruiser owners!!!

I too checked with the local dealership about the cost of these hub caps. I was quoted an even more exorbitant price(per unit). When I enquired about the Glanza hub caps, I was told by the SA it would cost Rs 1060/-. Thinking that 1060 was for a set of 4 (Rs 265 per unit), I sheepishly asked if it was for a 4 -piece set. He replied in the negative, stating Rs 1060 was the cost of 1 Glanza hub cap!!! So far I was under the impression that the cost of spare parts would be uniform across the country. But to find out that the even in that aspect, there is an alarming difference in spare part prices between cities. I wonder if local workshops can manipulate & control the sales price of spare parts?

Or is there more to this than meets the eye? That Toyota's Glanza/UC spare parts suppliers are different than Maruti's and are built at higher quality specs(nearly impossible)? This is the label on the Alloy wheel rim box(that I had changed last year) - there is no mention of "Maruti Suzuki spare parts" anywhere.

[ACM]

1) The pricing of select parts with visible Toyota Logo vs Maruti may have been kept high on purpose to create a barrier for those with Baleno changing badges easily.

2) The difference in pricing (Costing) for this part wouldn't be that significant even considering the qtty as the quantity of Glanza isn't too low. Manufacturers like TATA, Renault etc. would not have been able to price their products so competitively if that were the case; considering much smaller numbers than Maruti for sometimes even better quality. Especially considering the numbers prior to the last 2 years.

3) Toyota ofcourse overcharges for the brand name.

[jithin23]

If Aliexpress or Amazon UK/US could send us our prefers to India, life would have been much simpler . Can't thank the legends at GoI enough for keeping astronomically high customs duty and obnoxious rules in the name of vocal for local. Manufacturers some way or the other try to cut corners. In our country it depends on us as to what kind of trade off we are willing to settle for and partially need to account our herd mentality too for making a few manufacturers powerful to charge what they feel like.

Still, 800 for a hub cap is daylight robbery! Looks like the T badge is 22ct silver and hence Toyota is charging that much

[IN07KL0484]

That's some price difference for wheel hubs and not at all justified!

That being said, I have both Baleno and Glanza in my extended family in Kerla. Both CVT, similar top trims and bought within months of each other. Everytime I visit Kerala, both the cars are available and I prefer Glanza almost everytime. I am sure it's just a feel good factor but the fact is I subconsciously prefer the Glanza. Though neither are used for highway runs and are strictly limited to city duties.

I have been to service centers for both these cars and both have soft spoken, friendly representatives at least down south. Though, the Toyota experience have been slightly better as the representatives seem to be more keen to hear your problems and at least try to provide specific solutions. At Maruti, you almost always get blanket answers to your issues.

Now, in Delhi the difference is stark. I have been to multiple Maruti service centers for my own swift and I have stopped going after the first 3 years. The unprofessionalism is unbelievable with "dekhlenge\ho jayega sir" attitude. Toyota service centers, even in Delhi, have soft spoken and polite employees and to me this makes a world of difference. I would prefer to go to a Toyota service center on my hard earned weekend rather than to the Maruti one. Add on reliability of the vehicles and you have a not so bad combination which justifies many picking Glanza over Baleno. Especially in a country like ours, where even some showrooms are known for shady service practices.

If Toyota is using Maruti cars, I think Maruti should get their employees trained at Toyota. At least the customer facing one's.

[howler]

That’s a pretty misleading title based on just one part , and not a critical one. Some times certain non critical cosmetic parts are priced discouragingly for a reason. They are slow moving and keeping inventory of such parts doesn’t make sense. It’s like walking into a 5 star hotel for a bottle of water. Toyota mechanical parts are priced for what you get , there’s a whole lot of ‘behind the scenes ‘ that goes into making the Toyota experience, so OP needs to take that into consideration, some statements made in the initial post are pretty misleading.

[shancz]

Wow, at first it I though they overshot a decimal point which would have been an apt pricing even after adding the Toyota surcharge.

IMO they won't be making any parts themselves since the whole reason for them selling MSIL cars is to boost numbers and profit, creating a separate process for making a few parts while they can just be ordered from the supplier seems improbable.

Also don't think they'll be using any higher quality parts to be honest picking, cues from their complaints about taxation and profits also wouldn't make business sense.
I expect them to charge a premium in service due to a different charge structure(not aware/experienced on it), even spares to be priced a bit higher like 10% but nothing more.

Still, absolutely clueless on how they could charge something as absurd as this.
But if I look at it in a cunning way here's an explanation, just looking at the value a bump of 800 in your bill is much likely to go unnoticed. Even if you saw "wheel hub cap : 860" in your bill most people would gloss over it since the actual price of this isn't known and people won't be making a hue and cry since the amount is less. But if they start charging let's say 14k for an alloy over 7k from MSIL, though just 2x(rather than the 10x earlier) more expensive but the amount itself will raise questions.
So they're trying cheeky stuff

Originally Posted by skanchan95

This is the label on the Alloy wheel rim box(that I had changed last year) - there is no mention of "Maruti Suzuki spare parts" anywhere.

They won't be handing over MSIL parts to customers, that would be too rude.
Note the heading on the box, it already clarifies that it was either manufactured/packed so most likely the OEM ships it to their plant where they enter it into their system, create a mapping with the OEM part number(to handle any warranty claims/recalls) and then create a new Toyota part number in the system, and finally package/paste the Toyota sticker, ready to be handed over to customers.
So the customer stays in the Toyota ecosystem(for which he paid) and gets MSIL sourced parts.

[ff1609]

If I was in the market for a Baleno/ Glanza I would still pick the Glanza knowing that the spares may be somewhat overpriced because I will not have to deal with Maruti service.

Despite the more expensive spares, Glanza service will cost less for the average user because at Toyota there will be no - injector cleaning, hinge lubrication, engine decarb, ICE coolant, engine flush, polishing cloth, drain plug washer etc. charges slapped on to the bill. At Maruti it is nearly impossible to avoid these 'paani ka injection' kind of offerings which are 100% margin and zero value services.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by ff1609

If I was in the market for a Baleno/ Glanza I would still pick the Glanza knowing that the spares may be somewhat overpriced because I will not have to deal with Maruti service.

Despite the more expensive spares, Glanza service will cost less for the average user because at Toyota there will be no - injector cleaning, hinge lubrication, engine decarb, ICE coolant, engine flush, polishing cloth, drain plug washer etc. charges slapped on to the bill. At Maruti it is nearly impossible to avoid these 'paani ka injection' kind of offerings which are 100% margin and zero value services.

TBH these extra things depend on the dealer ethics more than brands. I've seen cases where even Toyota dealers try to milk ignorant customers. Was recently reading about a case on forum(was on Crysta thread IIRC) where a customer was told that for rat bite on fuel hose, he will have to replace entire fuel tank because child parts aren't available.

[gopaneel]

Originally Posted by Ashley Nair

One doubt, please. Why these people are buying a shamelessly rebadged Baleno at an exorbitant price, only for the sake of Toyota logo? Had they exercised their commonsense earlier, they need not have been put to the present unpleasant situation of buying a wheel cap at thrice the original price. Letting that aside, this is clear daylight robbery by Toyota, amounting to an unfair trade practice, to say the least.

Originally Posted by PrideRed

The Glanza costs only 5-10K more than Baleno. Sometimes with discount thrown in, works out cheaper than Baleno. For extra 10K you get 3 yr warranty instead of 2yr of Baleno and for people who feel embarrassed to say they drive Suzuki, you get a T Badge and lastly you also get more expensive alloy caps.

Originally Posted by aniketi

In first place, I really don't see any point in buying Glanza over Baleno just because it is sold by Toyota. When car is almost same, why to go for Toyota? Just because you think you have bought better car and better brand? Lol.

Toyota will definitely overcharge people for it's parts. Not sure same will happen in servicing and other charges as well. Better option is to go for Baleno only if you like that car. You will also get service anywhere with Maruti A.S.S. spread all over India, almost.

I'm one of those guys who went for a Glanza and not the Baleno. I'm not sure of the case now, but when I got the car, the Glanza was 30k cheaper than the Baleno and this was before discounts. The Glanza also has an additional year of warranty as someone has already mentioned. Unless the difference in price was so much for all parts, I'm not really worried that the hub cap is expensive.

But something I am worried about is that the technicians at Toyota don't know the Marutis as well as they know the Toyota's. They've not been able to solve a brake noise I've had for quite a while. A Nexa technician would probably be able to since they know the car better.

But overall, I'm have no complaints about picking the Glanza and not the Baleno.

[landcruiser123]

I really hope this thread doesn't start a trend of people nicking alloy wheel center caps from Toyotas and Hondas and sell them cheaper in the grey aftermarket.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by locusjag

And they've also mentioned the Toyota brand's price skimming and why these Mahindras make sense to them now.

I report from a part of the world where more UTE's are sold than cars. I don't see Mahindra's running around for sure. Its either a Hilux, LC (for very heavy loads) or a Ranger. There has been uptake of SAIC's LDV and Great Wall ute's due to their low price.

As for Mahindra's Scorpio and Xylo ute, I've seen maybe a dozen at the most. They are too ordinary and basic to be used off road and be on road. The low price isn't attractive enough.

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

I report from a part of the world where more UTE's are sold than cars. I don't see Mahindra's running around for sure. Its either a Hilux, LC (for very heavy loads) or a Ranger. There has been uptake of SAIC's LDV and Great Wall ute's due to their low price.

As for Mahindra's Scorpio and Xylo ute, I've seen maybe a dozen at the most. They are too ordinary and basic to be used off road and be on road. The low price isn't attractive enough.

I certainly didn't imply that Mahindra have eaten up Toyota's market share in Australia and South Africa.

There seems to be a concerted effort by Mahindra via YouTube influencers (a certain "Roothy" in Australia, Cricketer Matt Hayden etc.) to market their Utes. But it's certainly possible that Roothy is doing it of his own accord. And multiple such reviewers exist in the S.African and Aussie markets who all mention the facts - these Mahindras cost half of their Toyotan counterparts and deliver superior fuel efficiency as well, while remaining mechanically robust. They have also mentioned Mahindra's credentials - as an OEM who has been making jeeps and tractors and whose jeeps tread in the Himalayas as trusted vehicles even today. (Boy, I sound like a fanboy but i'm merely relaying what I've seen on YouTube. Don't mind me, I'm just a fly on the wall, amused by Mahindra's outreach. I wish them well.)

[rajshenoy]

It is a concerning news !!

As an owner of Toyota(corolla altis) and Maruti(now Alto k10) i find the regular service bills are same. So I think Toyota is very competitive when it comes to consumables and service cost.

However now with Baleno, Brezza and other cross badged maruti cars, they better pass on those benefits to end customer as well.

[Aravind_M92]

Clearly you haven't seen Honda's pricing for hubcaps ��
Each cap is priced at a staggering ₹1788 per piece! I wanted to paint my rims black and get the OEM Black hubcaps. The SA was pretty sure it would be under 100 per piece. After checking the price, he himself asked me not to purchase them��