[GTO]

It's raining Audis on the forum, all thanks to the whopping discounts. While there are many A4s, I just read a BHPian's post on how he bought an A6 over a 330i primarily because of the fat discounting. I have to admit, the discounts were a big part of my brother going for the Superb. My BIL bought a Tiguan over the Kodiaq - main reason was a big discount on the Tiguan which made the price difference between the siblings w-i-d-e.

Say, you had decided on Car A. Did you ever change it to Car B, primarily due to discounts on the latter? If yes, please tell us the entire story, the cars considered and the discount that drew you to change your original choice.

[ashis89]

It was the other way round for me, decided for a discounted car but, bought the one without it!

When I bought my current car, I was never in market for one.

One ad on TOI about 90k discount on previous gen Creta caught my attention and set the ball rolling. I started searching for a car thinking of encashing on good 'clearance' discounts on BS4 cars. Eventually the one that appealed to me, came without discounts and I bought it without a second thought. Even when the flash sale happened towards the end, I never regretted my decision.

[AYP]

I'd say that the chances of such a thing happening is much more likely when a 'better' car is being discounted as compared to discounts being available on a similar car which you didn't like as much as your original choice.

I remember such an instant happening with us back in 2003 when we had decided on the Santro Xing XP over the WagonR LXI. The Palio was being offered to us at a substantial discount, taking it final OTR price very close to that of the Santro. This was for the pre-NV variants. The impending JV with TATA was another reason why Fiat was clearing its stocks. We switched over to the Palio.

[abhishek46]

Circa 2012.
I was considering buying a Swift/Ritz.

The nearby VW Dealership dropped a bomb of a deal on the then-fresh Polo. (Worked out to 70K lower than Equivalent Swift)
Sealed the Deal on the spot.

Of course, regretted it later, when I later figured out how much better the 1.2K Series was.

[narayans80]

Fat discounts rarely happen in volume/economy segments (A1 to C2). They do happen only under the following scenarios:

1. Dismal sellers - Nissan Sunny, Renault Scala, Renault Lodgy
2. To be discontinued models - Abarth Punto, VW Jetta
3. Pre-facelift models when facelift is imminent - I chanced a Creta SX for 16L (~ 1L discount at that time)
4. Emission standard change - BS3->BS4 change in 2010 and BS4->BS6 change in Q2 2020
5. Pricing disasters - first gen Jazz, first gen S-Cross

The juicy discounts (6 figure INR) start from D1.

Candidates I do regret not being there at the right time with the right budget even though they were selling at juicy discounts I already posted here (Cars that you regret NOT buying!).

When I was in the market, only car I found with discounts, but still out of my budget was the Creta I mentioned above.

[Sanidhya mukund]

Was about to get a top spec Honda CRV in 2014. Back then, the W205 C-class was just around the corner, as a result of which, there were some great discounts on the W204 C-class. Got one with all the bells and whistles for just a little more than what a CRV would have been worth.

However, if I am being honest, a CRV may have been a better buy for my usage due to it’s large boot, spacious cabin, reliability and ground clearance.

[Carpainter]

As narayans80 said, fat discount doesn't happen in volume segment unless there's any special reason for it. But generally speaking I never did/wouldn't change my mind on a car just because it has a discount going on. A car purchase is usually a big ticket purchase and one goes with either head or heart or both to decide on a car. Now just because a particular model is running a discount doesn't necessarily mean I'll change my mind unless the discounted car is a segment above and suddenly comes within my budget because of the discount like GTO mentioned from 330i to A6. Although personally I think 330i is a better car to drive than A6 if the owner is going to drive himself.

[sahil624]

I changed my car choice when I was looking to buy a vehicle in 2020. I was completely head over heels for the EcoSport S (top end) diesel. Though, I considered other vehicles and did test drives too, it was just a check box exercise.

Then came the discounts due to BS4 to BS6 transition but Ecosport had none because it was already transited to BS6 engines as early as January 2020 (deadline was 31 March 2021). I decided to hunt for discounts and my first choice was Duster AWD. However, as luck would have it, none of the Dusters was available.

Then I read about Nissan Kicks through an ownership report by Godzilla on this forum and the discounts which were going on. The fact that it was based on Duster’s platform and had K9K engine got me interested in it. I went through YouTube reviews. But, before I could take a decision the COVID-19 lockdown hit us (which proved blessing in disguise because I was able to extract more discounts).

So here I was without a booking with the lockdown firmly in place. I started contacting Nissan dealers in my city over the phone during the lockdown, but they didn’t have any stock left. Meanwhile, the deadline for BS4 engine phase out passed, but I got news that dealers were registering vehicles in their stocks in the dealership’s name and would sell those as 2nd owner vehicles. Encouraged by this news, I started contacting Nissan dealers in nearby cities. Finally, I landed a deal which was too sweet to let go as I was getting a second from top diesel vehicle, which is a segment above Ecosport, for a good 2.5 lacs less than the Ecosport S. I transferred the booking amount electronically and as soon as inter district travel was allowed in my state, on 15th May 2020, I brought the Kicks home.

[lamborghini]

It's definitely played a role in some purchases such as the Tiguan, where we got a whopping Rs. 4.5L + insurance discount on the car in 2018 (would have been more but didn't qualify for some schemes). This made the difference between the Tiguan and the Kodiaq over Rs. 7L for essentially the same car less a third row that we didn't need.
25,000kms and 3 years later the only regret is the slightly larger boot space the Kodiaq would have offered us though the Tiguan hasn't let us down in that regard as yet.

[Bibendum90949]

With cars, I was always clear on what I wanted after thorough research with available information around. i've never changed the decision owing to discounts after having zeroed in on one. I keep the cars for pretty long duration, hence a seemingly lucrative discount offer doesn't quite lure me. The retrenchment in the form of discount may fade off quite soon and one may start to repent the decision for not going for the car they originally wanted.

[jkrishnakj]

I went to check the A4, thanks to the A4 price thread here.

What I came back with was immense love for the A6, having done the TD of the A4 and A6 back to back. Just could not help admiring and falling for the A6.

With sweet discounts on the A6, and a quick discussion with the wife, we stretched our budget to pick the A6 right then.

So, yes, discounting did influence our decision. It did sway me away from the other Germans, which could have been a segment lower.

5000+ km on my A6 in the past 6 weeks has been nothing but joy. And I continue to look for an excuse to head out.

[Hayek]

Think discounts do make a big difference, and have substantially impacted my last two car purchase decisions.

Back in 2016, I was evaluating the Mercedes GLC and the BMW X3. The ex showroom list price including Octroi of the X3 was ₹58 l while that of the GLC Petrol was ₹54 l and diesel ₹53l. The X3 was of course due to be replaced with the newer model in 2017 - and an upfront ₹10 l discount was on offer. But there was a temptation to buy the newer GLC 300 - a more powerful petrol for ₹ 5 - 6 l ex show room more was attractive, especially if some discounts could be obtained. The smaller boot of the GLC was a disadvantage but had not turned into a deal breaker. But as we negotiated, discounts on the X3 increased while there was next to no movement on the GLC - and finally getting the X3 for ₹ 10 l less than the GLC clinched the deal. If the X3 was priced at a level similar to the GLC, I am 90% sure I would have picked the GLC 300.

Similarly, this year, I started off looking at the Kia Seltos (₹17 l ex showroom if I recall). Liked it but felt the new Compass was better, especially given the 8-12 week waiting period on the Seltos and the GNCAP results. But the ₹25 l plus ex showroom price on the Compass Model S Petrol brought it dangerously close to the prices at which Team BHPians were buying the Tiguan Allspace. One of the dealers quoted ₹ 32 l ex showroom, but when I got a quote of ₹29 l from another one, that clinched the deal. A Tiguan Allspace seemed to offer so much more than the Compass for less than ₹4l extra. Of course, the fact that we buy on a company account and hence the extra OTT for imports in Maharashtra does not apply also made a big difference. At a ₹ 9 l difference based on the ₹34 l list price of the Allspace, I would have most likely picked the Jeep (or perhaps even the Seltos given where the Jeep was priced).

[Tapish]

Originally Posted by GTO

Say, you had decided on Car A. Did you ever change it to Car B, primarily due to discounts on the latter? If yes, please tell us the entire story, the cars considered and the discount that drew you to change your original choice.

I was recently in this boat. Like I have mentioned on my buying post, I was initially considering the City V CVT. However, when Hyundai offered the Verna SX IVT at a price significantly lesser than the City V CVT on road, it was a no brainer since I saved almost 2 lakhs + over the comparative City model (VX) and got a better-specced car than the City V at almost 60k less.

Originally Posted by Tapish

The story of our Verna SX IVT in Starry Night

I was looking at the City V CVT model that would cost around 14.xx in Ahmedabad on road.
One fine day, while we were out shopping, on a whim, I drove into the Concept Hyundai showroom to enquire about the Verna. A Verna MT was there on display and my wife was sold on the car. The Sales Manager Samir Malik gave us a fantastic deal on the car and I asked him for some time to consider. Since the look and feel part had already been approved by the better half, the only consideration was if the gearbox was well mated to the engine and if the rubber band effect was controlled. I took a longish test drive and came back duly impressed with the smoothness of the combo. I read up all I could on the car, the 2017 variant review and all videos I could find and it seemed a go!

[tp_dominator]

Let me give my own example about the volume segment. I was in the market in late 2016 to buy a small diesel hatchback which could carry out my office and personal duties. Maximum budget was at 7 lakhs give or take a few thousands. The only car fitting in that criteria was the Tata Tiago XZ diesel. I had almost finalized on this car and it also carried a 3 month waiting period then. But being closely associated with the industry, I got to know of a contact at Singh Hyundai (now closed down).

Not only did they offer me a little extra for the exchange of my Gujarat registered Grande Punto, I was able to bring down the list price of the top variant Grand i10 Asta (O) 1.1 diesel by a good 1.25 lakhs and the price post discounts was 7.30 lakhs for it. Tiago was listed at 6.70 lakhs IIRC and the price difference was meager with no discounts on Tiago however hard I tried my contacts and moreover the delivery was immediate. Suffice to say they were reasons enough for me to pick up the Grand i10.

It might not have been a next segment car but the engine surely was better than the Tiago's diesel motor. Loved every minute of the car's ownership especially due to the lucrative discount offered at that time.

[porsche_guy]

Back when we were out to get an upgrade for our old Swift G13, we looked at the Verna 1.4 EX(?), the newly launched 4th gen Honda City i-VTEC and the Volkswagen Vento 1.6 MPI .

Verna didn't feel too good so was striked off the list after the TD, however the City was in competition till the very end mainly because of the status symbol the City brand is attached with. It matched our requirements too but still we weren't that happy with it. I especially remember how plasticky and low quality the car felt, a huge departure from the 3rd gen City my uncle had.

After checking out the Vento, we saw the quotation for the Comfortline and were back into a dilemma. It turned out to be just negligibly cheaper than the City SV variant which we were considering. S would have been cheaper but it was way too barebones for us. Almost walked into the showroom and handed over the cheque at Honda for the lack of options.

But the same day, our VW SA calls and gives us this superb price for a Dec 2013 mfd. MY14 car(this was in June 2014) and gave us such an amazing price, it became a no brainer! Finally got the car which we liked the most at a very tempting price and that too the top variant. I'm not going to reveal the price here but let's just say it was about a lakh and a half cheaper than the City SV MT we were considering

I thank almighty that the SA called when he did, Otherwise we would have been stuck with an inferior car with tons of issues (which the 4th gen is known for) and never got to experience the much higher quality german engineering.