[prskumar]

My first used car is Maruti Zen LX 1998 model. Bought in 2003 when it had 56000 on the ODO for 2.5 lakhs. Bought it from a private party though an agent. The only thing I miss in this car is the power steering. At slow speed turning, power steering would have helped.

The car has been trouble free for the last 5 years. The only maintanence that has gone in are battery, tires and brake pads. Planning to upgrade to a sedan in April this year. This time I'm planning for a new car.

[lamborghini]

Our last used car was our Accord.
We bought it in early 2002 with only 9Kkm on the odo.
Buying experience was good and the car was amazing. It has done 75,000km without any major problem and is simply amazing! We still haven't found any car to replace it with, even with a budget extending towards 50L!
The main reason we bought it was because it got it for some 11.xx L. Quite a good price for a Aug 2001 Accord.

[kutlee]

Originally Posted by GTO

@ kutlee : Yup, I remember your thread on the OHC. The regular 1.5 delivers 99% of the Vtec and is an equally fantastic buy.

What do you mean by this? Didn't understand.

Lol...a boosted OHC delivers more than 99% of regular cars currently on road!! hihi...(and consumes more gas as well).
What i meant was i don't like buying used cars. The reason i bought used was i didn't have money when the car was still in production. And when i had money i couldn't like any other car as much i liked OHC. So had to buy used...

[arpandiv]

I have just bought my first car,its an Alto 1.1 VXI 2002model.picked it up for a steal,dealers/brokers ask if i want to sell the car to them for around 30K more then what i paid,thats the kind of deal I got.
The owner is a Parsi,so car has been maintained well,cosmetically its ok,few dents,but no loss of paint on metal parts. Like any car used in mumbai commutes the bumpers are messed up hehe.
engine wise its in good state of tune.Alternator belt and clutch setting are two things i need to look into when i do get the time.
I commute by it from Kandivali to Ghatkopar East daily and it does the job well.Easy on the pocket too.
Took me four months to find this model and but i feel it was worth it completely. I went couple of times to true value/first choice but they were way too expensive.Also tried contacting dealers from the newspaper advertisments but their cars were yuck seriously. Did contact individual buyers who had advertised in newspapers but their asking prices were too high.
After getting the car replaced fluids,filters a bit of mainetance(the hydrallic pipes which hold the boot door in place had gone kaput)
Also went and ordered for seat covers from SR TRADERS,tardeo this guy is really good at his work and quite reasonable,the seat covers gave a new feel to the car

[normally_crazy]

Somewhere in January 2007, the car - 2004 skoda Octavia vRS (November registered), 20000 kms on the odometer. Got a call through a dealer about this RS in silver. Went with him and checked the car out. belonged to Director of a company who had shifted to Delhi since the last 3 months. So the car was rarely driven in the last 3 months.

Took a TD and fell in love. Noted the registration number and went to Nummer Eins to check out the history. Nummer Eins gave me the print out of the whole history. The car was clean.

The dealer was dilly dallying, so I called up the guy directly and clinched the deal. And what a deal. 50 % off on the Mumbai on-road price.

Am I a happy man ? You guys still want me to answer that question ?

[condor]

lamborghini : Our last used car was our Accord.
... It has done 75,000km without any major problem and is simply amazing! We still haven't found any car to replace it with...

Just regular maintenance should see the car go on forever.

I've done two pre-owned Honda's and they have been beauties. The first was a 1999 Acura 3.2 TL, in 2003. A gem of a car. Bought it from an Acura dealer. It had been traded in with the dealer, and had done about 32k miles, fully loaded, clean history and came with a 1 year full warranty. There was a premium, as with all pre-owned, certified Acura's. Could have got a brand new V4 Hyundai Sonata or even a top end Civic.

It sure got me a lot of attention, and was a source of pride. Was a heady combination of pride & enjoying the drive. Lasted about a year and 12K miles till I totalled the car in up-state NY.

Was a heart breaking incident. And after a 225BHP, V6, fully-loaded premium sedan, it was so much more difficult to find another car.

And while looking around, the same dealer calls me about a 1999 CR-V. It had done about 56k miles, while, driven by a lady, and - again traded in. One drive, throwing it around on the by-lanes of Connecticut had me hooked. The change from a sedan to a Ute helped a lot, though I dont think I will get over the Acura 3.2 ever.

While the CR-V was only a 4 cylinder, 140 BHP machine, it was a beauty by itself. After another year & about 12k miles later, had to bid her bye when I moved back to BLR.

While these two were good, clean transactions, even though I paid a small premium of buying it from a dealer of premium cars, the first experience wasnt very good. It was a (possibly 1994 model) Padmini 137D, in 1999. Paid a higher price, had to do a re-build .. but after that it worked fine, apart from the usual small repairs.

About a year & half later, decided to move to a new Indica. Got a fair price for the car. The Indica's initial problems had been sorted out by then, though it was not yet badged as V2.

Looking back, I feel that the 3.2 TL & the CR-V worked for me because they had already been screened by the dealer, and they were automatics. My major grouse with another's driving style is the early gear changes, trying to squeeze out better FE from the car. Dont know if I'll look for another pre-owned, maily because I doubt I will find a car that's been used like I like to use mine. Unless it is an exception.

[nutmello]

Originally Posted by GTO

ONLY on Team-BHP will a petrolhead buy a car without even seeing it once!

hi all! i bought beautiful fiat siena wihout even seeing it after seeing the classified in team bhp forum. car was delivered in mint condition.

[idly]

Hi All,

My first used car which i still adore and drive is the Zen 2003 VXI, i paid 2.4 lac 1.5 yrs back for the car. Had run just 15k when i laid my hands on her. In 1.5 ys I own, she has never argued, pulled me to a fight, never asked for more attention, extremely co-operative.

I have made 40K now, and I just love my ZEN. I feel PALIO and ZEN were/are(to some extent) two amazing hatch machines even today on Indian roads.

Iam planning to power her up in the couple of months, starting with tyres.............till today she is all stock.

[bblost]

Year: 2006
Month: September

Car Specs
Wagon R Vxi
2004 model
14500 kms on the odo
Silver
No ICE
Insurance renewal due in a month

Paid: 3.23
3 free services.

Experiance so far.
Kms at about 29k kms.
Drives from hyderabad: Chennai, Kuntala falls.

City Milage: 13.5 -+ 1 kmpl
Highway Milage: 17.5 -+ 1 kmpl

Love the car
had a great experiance buying it.
having a great experiance owning it.

Pics avaialable in BHP Garage.

I don't like the idea of buying a new car.
Have enough knowledge and more importantly the patience to choose a good one.
This Wagon R was booked in 10 minutes of seeing her.
The car's Carma felt good.

[bblost]

Originally Posted by nutmello

hi all! i bought beautiful fiat siena wihout even seeing it after seeing the classified in team bhp forum. car was delivered in mint condition.

I remember reading your fascinating thread about the same.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/introd...-team-bhp.html

[TSEA]

My First Used Car was a 1998 Toyota Corolla LE Sedan (AT), bought from a private party at Houston,TX back in 2007. The car has already clocked 129000 miles (over 2 Lakh Kms ). I needed a car for 6 months and this one fit my tight budget of 4000$.

The buying experience was simple and the owning experience was great. I got the necessary fluids topped up once and it ran perfectly. I was really happy and pleasantly shocked with the condition of car that had so many miles on it.

The car was primarily used for my office commute and occasional short outside the city drives. After using it for 5 months, I sold it off for 200$ less than my purchase price.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by nutmello

hi all! i bought beautiful fiat siena wihout even seeing it after seeing the classified in team bhp forum. car was delivered in mint condition.

Originally Posted by bblost

I remember reading your fascinating thread about the same.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/introd...-team-bhp.html

How can we forget, Nutmello. That was a Team-BHP first....a car bought within 2 - 3 SMS'!

[Dippy]

One fine day in August 2006 I decided that I wanted to upgrade my my Zen AT. The car I wanted to buy was well an OHC. Since the car is out of production and I didnt not like the NHC, i started scouting the used car market. It was difficult to find a low run OHC and more so because I was looking for an automatic.

Finally found one at Automart India, a 2001 model with 33k on the odo. They would be refurbishing the small ding dongs on the body and giving it to me. Mechanically it was perfect. Paid the token and waited. Unfortunately due that car's loan forclosure issues and the unwillingness of the previous owner to let go till he got his new car pissed me off.

So one day I saw an ad in the TOI for an AT OHC 1.5 exi for sale. Made calls to the dealer and went and checked it out. The car was in prestine condition, an Oct 2003 model, the last of the OHCs. It had done only 24000 kms and had an MH01 registration. Add to that it came with factory beige interiors. I verified the service history with the Honda dealer and picked up the car then and there itself without wasting any time.

The odo now reads 47xxx kms. The car has been a dream and most of my friends were finding it difficult to believe it was a used car. Only expenditure has been regular service, got the AC resistance changed once and upgarded the ICE. Tyres will be changed soon now as it is still on OE Bridgestones.

The buying experience overall was good and I am enjoying every bit of this car.

[shobhit15]

The first used car I bought - Esteem VXI 2006 (Pearl Silver)- was in January 2008. A person in my office (who sat barely 10 metres away from me) was going to US for long term along with his wife and was selling it.

November 2007
I was looking for a car for my father to replace his aging Matiz. He always used to like Esteem but since now the production was stopped, we were in a bit of dilemma as to which one to buy since we didn't want to spend more than 5 lakhs. After TD'ing cars like i10, U-va, Spark etc we were still undecided.

January 10th, 2008
That's when I spotted the advertisement posted on the online notice board of my company of an Esteem VXI - run only 7000 km bought in Oct 2006 - for sale for Rs 3.4 lakhs (negotiable). The 3rd service was done in November and the car was covered under warranty till October 2009.

The same day I contacted the person and took a test drive of the car. The car felt new except for the scratches (which I figured could be fixed by spending a few hundreds) and one wheel cap missing. Even the seat plastic covers had not been removed.

That evening I informed my father of it and he was excited as well.

January 11th, 2008
Went to the Maruti dealer where the car was bought. Confirmed that the car had no accident history and last service done in November 2007 as claimed by the seller.

January 12th, 2008
Next day I brought the car and the seller to him. We got a known auto-mechanic check the car. When the mechanic opened the bonnet and gave race, slight rattling sound could be heard from the engine compartment. He told us that probably some bearings needed to be changed in water pump. Rest all was ok except for some minor clutch adjustment. Then, began the negotiation and we managed to clinch the deal at Rs 3.15 lakhs.

We were pretty excited. I mean we got an almost new car at such a low price. It was agreed that the car would be delivered on 17th January

January 17th, 2008
Car delivered. Went for an outing in the car with family. enjoyed every bit of it.

January 28th, 2008
After all the paperwork was done, the first thing I did was take the car to Motorcraft Service station in Noida. Gave the car a general checkup plus washing. The Motorcraft guys fixed the rattling issue which they said was NOT the water pump. They told me that this problem occurs in all Esteems and crops up after every 5000 km. They did not charge me a single rupee for it (probably covered under warranty). Total cost - 350 rupees.

January 30th, 2008
Got the scratches etc done from outside workshop in Sector - 16. It seemed that the rear door had been painted before. So spent Rs 2500 to get that side painted along with all scratches with original Maruti paint.
After the job was done, the car looked brand new. I was really happy.

February 2nd, 2008
I bought a car perfume and put some CDs for my father.

February 15th, 2008
For the final personal touch, got great leatherite seat covers (cost Rs 2200). The car now really ROCKS and my father is enjoying every bit of it.
Overall I spent Rs 3.21 laks (incl. transfer, seat covers, paint etc). No problem whatsoever faced till now. Planning to take it to Jaipur soon.

[vasanthn21]

I had a good learning experience when I went to buy a used Indica (I had the horse sense to take an expert along rather that replying on my knowledge of cars). You can see the post on 32st January in http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/what-c...first-car.html

I have a deal at hand. A friend's friend's ex-roomy wants to sell his Zen MPFI. The problem is the owner is in US, the car is registered in Bangalore, but the car is in Pune!

The car is Mar 2005 Model, 19K kms on ODO, and the asking rate is 2.55L. My expert friend tells me this is a good rate for the car. Probably going cheap because the car is in Pune and buyers have to go there and check it. I am not sure if there are any other problems with the car -being the reason for it going low.

The plan is that the owner will inform me once the Car Loan is pre-closed and then I will be going to Pune along with my car expert friend to look at the car. We might also get a second opinion from the Maruti guys at Pune. The deal is that i would pay 50K if I like the car, take the documents and the car, and drive back to Bangalore. (The owner's friend in Bangalore has my contact details).

After getting all the paper work done, I will be paying the balance amount to the owner.

A few questions:

1) Does anyone smell anything fishy in the deal
2) What special precautions I have to take in terms of documentation when I am getting the vehicle transferred from a person who is in US to me in his absence? I am told that the owner has signed the Form 29 set and left it in Pune. Will this suffice to complete the transfer (and of course the NOC form the bank where the loan was taken)?

Awaiting inputs... thanks in advance.