[RGK]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

My experience with Spinny Max, especially has been disappointing.

Sorry, I did not have any experience with luxury vehicles.

I saw a few cars between 10–20 lakhs, and they were perfect. Our findings and their report on the website were almost the same. It is always better to pick from the owner directly even if the car has few dents or scratches.

If anyone is going to look at Spinny or Cars24, It is better to see cars in an open area than in their car park.

Originally Posted by maddy42

Now coming to the cons of this experience:
Dealers have cornered this market and it is high time india needs a platform like Craigslist along with carfax for listings and transparency.

Very true. I couldn't find a vehicle directly from its owner. Even online platforms like OLX is flooded with dealers.

[Thad E Ginathom]

In early 2000s, in UK, I bought a car. It was a Rover 820, AT. That's essentially a British-built Honda Accord.

It was 4 years old, mileage I do not remember, condition good (one bumper patch, paint didn't quite match.) The list price of this car would have been 20,000 GBP: it cost me 4,000 GBP from a dealer.

It is recognised that, when buying a new car, in Britain, more than 20% value is lost on the way home. Used-car buyers, even on day two, do not pay the tax content of the cost of the car. Can I get 75% discount on a four-old car in India? I don't think so. The market is set by the sellers, and I don't blame dealers: they have just benefited from the cultural norm. And they have to buy from someone.

[Asoon]

Used car market is still very messy and a high trust deficit segment

There are 2 major reasons for this (both are interlinked)

1) Price Discovery / Standardisation
There is no KBB / price standards, no way to derive pricing mathematically factoring different parameters (color, tyre condition, engine condition etc.) and insights to historical data to statistically model the price (Fabia pricing crashed after discontinuation, but did not happened with Polo / Ecosport). There are no many nuances that you need a large , unbiased data pool to assign weightage to each parameters (e.g. Black coloured Swift will get a lesser resale value (true for small almost all cars) or Chocolate brown duster >> black duster etc.) and finally the elephant in the room, the most critical parameter for pricing "True Vehicle Condition" and there is no way to precisely gauge it. which brings me to the second point

2) Vehicle History / Service History
Till 6 years back only Maruti / Hyundai used to have a central data base and if you want service history of VW / Honda you will get it in one particular service centre (where work was done). This coupled with repairs done outside OEM (no records) builds an ecosystem where you will have to rely on the words of mechanic which you have hired for INR 1K for evaluation. There are multiple cases where even the most proficient evaluators miss the critical gaps (major accidents etc.)

Bottom line is used car is not for everyone, if you have good understanding or have network to get things done else, stay away

PS - 2 out of 3 cars I have owned are used cars, ROI >>>>> than new car purchase

[maddy42]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

The market is set by the sellers, and I don't blame dealers: they have just benefited from the cultural norm. And they have to buy from someone.

From your mention of cultural I have a story so please bear with me - I helped a colleague buy a used Hyundai in the US from another indian person. We did the usual checks on carfax and the car looked clean and so went ahead with the purchase.

After couple of days it starts to throw the check engine light, and we took it to numerous mechanics and the issue would always come back after few days. The car drove fine with no other issues.

But after 8 years, i had left the country by then, i receive a mail from my colleague where she found out that this car was picked up by the previous owner at a auction in a as is condition, with some work being done on its engine compartment and all parts lying around.

Mind you - The car still drove fine, but to somehow be blamed for a check engine light after 8 years, made me salty! Its definitely cultural.

[jazzy]

Originally Posted by maddy42

Mind you - The car still drove fine, but to somehow be blamed for a check engine light after 8 years, made me salty! Its definitely cultural.

Interesting! I bought a Honda from someone I didn't know, non-Indian. He clearly told me the car was repainted as it had a few scratches and minor dents. The car served me really well, no issues ever.

[ridersam]

Originally Posted by Asoon

Used car market is still very messy and a high trust deficit segment

Definitely agree with the trust deficit part based on recent experience of exploring the used car market. As I listed in my thread below, my old car which I sold off had the ODO turned back and is even listed as a higher variant than what it is.

Not to mention the price quoted after in ad that I see is 1.5 X what I had sold it off for.

I was lucky to have got my earlier car from an individual who had low usage and had kept it pretty good condition, but this time round just could not go through the time and effort it took to find the right car. As the meme keeps going round now days - INDIA (in all aspects) is not for beginners...

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post5743539 (2024 Hyundai Creta Facelift Review)