[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Even tatas, whose cars are otherwise feature rich, do this. No ABS, while ABS is a standard feature for MG Rover City (or whatever ti is called in UK).

[kbk_75]

Oh, I thought I'd list the various ways in which the government taxes us vehicle owners:

On vehicles:

1. Excise
2. VAT
3. Octroi
4. One-time registration fee
5. Bogus pollution control fees
6. Insurance

On fuel:

1. Duty
2. VAT
3. Octroi
4. Excise ?

On roads:

1. Tolls on roads

Does anyone know what the other charges are? And what the rates are?
So say a car costs a manufacturer 1 Lakh to make, and they decide to sell it for 2 lakhs, how much does the government make on this, and as a result, what does the end-user wind-up paying?

The irony of it all is that the oil companies are mostly state-owned, so the duties and taxes on the import and production of fuel are totally senseless. They are just designed to collect more money from the public. At least give something back to the motoring public!

We should start a petition to demand better conditions given the amount we pay.

[raul]

Everytime there is this discussion there is talk about Indian taxes, but does anybody have the cost of this so we can tabulate. Other countries have tax structures too.

I remember I made a post in another thread about the average earning of the Indian professional PA, from junior to midlevel vs their US/UK counterparts and what fraction of their salary it would take to but a car and Indians are really up against it. Most of the car makers seem to prefer a 'cream strategy' and build premium brands via premium pricing and even at that price don't deliver the standard product and addons, airbags etc that they do abroad.

And remember you have to add increased manufacturing, marketing and other related costs to the US/UK prices, simply there is much higher cost of business that they incur in western countries compared to India and from the pricing it really does seem we are being taken for a ride. There is profiteering going on.

[vkochar]

Cars I feel whcih are really over priced are -

GETZ ( Ridiculously priced )
CRV ( Insanely priced )
Honda City - comparing it to Thailand.
BMW - now that it is being made in India - I still feel it should have beena round the 25 L price range than being over 30.

[mail4ajo]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

Even tatas, whose cars are otherwise feature rich, do this. No ABS, while ABS is a standard feature for MG Rover City (or whatever ti is called in UK).

Its because these safety features are a must on cars sold in most of Europe and other nations, while in India ABS is luxury and optional or rather put it this way, safety is optional.

Pay and take it if you value your life....

[mail4ajo]

Originally Posted by raul

And remember you have to add increased manufacturing, marketing and other related costs to the US/UK prices, simply there is much higher cost of business that they incur in western countries compared to India and from the pricing it really does seem we are being taken for a ride.

Yes, every major manufacturer says entering India is lucrative since cost of production is low, availability of skilled labour etc but the actual reason is that the average Indian buyer has higher disposal income than ever before.

Indians used to have one of the highest savings capacity. And these companies are out to grab that disposal income. I remember my parents talking of years of savings to build a house. I never saved much for my flat, Just got a home loan. Same is the case with car buying. Manufacturers just exploit this buying behaviour with higher car prices.

[musicmanaman]

I have always felt we are victims of the situation here, but after reading all the above arguments, I feel worst now, Why should we pay more for less and even after paying soo much we have to drive on roads that are only ment for cycles.

I was the other day speaking to an Australian and when I told him that my 99 carb zen costed me around 3000 aussie dollors to buy, he said the some thing similar would cost about 1200-1500 dollors in Australia. I then check out some second hand Australian car sites and was amased by the second had car prices there, you can get a very good condition Benz for 1500-3000 aussie dollors and that'a about 125k Indian money. I sure feel cheated by our taxation situation.

[ramzsys]

ok, how much will be the real cost of making a car?

[rohan_fonseca]

Check out the prices of these cars at the second hand market. Then we would all feel like idiots for buying an 800.

[BUSA]

Overpricing due to tax is common to all Indian cars, but overpricing by manufacturers is another, case in point is Honda and all their offereing except the Accord.

[theMAG]

All vehicles in India are overpriced compared to their international rates. A layman's take:

1. Weaker purchasing power of the rupee
2. Indian taxation structure
3. Low volumes compared to developed markets; resulting in higher unit price by the manufacturer to retain profitability.

[nitrous]

Bottomline: India isn't the right country for a car enthusiast.

[deepakvrao]

Originally Posted by mail4ajo

This is nothing new. We are certainly paying more for any car in India. Is there any car that is cheaper in India than elsewhere. Please let us know.

A small joke, when I visited my US office, a collegue used to pick and drop me in his BMW X3. His jaws dropped when I told him about the car's price and pofiles of people who use them in India. He felt like a king when I was with him.

Another person who drove me around in a Porsche Boxter, though the car prices in India were unreasonable. He picked his Boxter for about 38000 USD. Imagine what it costs in India????

Cars in India are cheaper than total cost of ownership in Singapore AFAIK.

[finneyp]

Some Overpriced cars according to me:
1. Santro
2. Zen (earlier version)
3. Getz
4. Corolla
5. Honda City
6. Honda CRV

[diabloo]

Once I paid $4 to get my shoes glued (finding the cobbler was bigger thing). Same would have cost Rs5 here. You win some, lose some. Can't have both.

Originally Posted by prashanthyr

I was surfing the net when i came across some car prices and compared it with what we pay in India....and boy! are we being taken for a royal ride! Ex: Hyundai Accent (Verna): $12665 starting for GLS 5 door in the US
Hyundai Verna: 798,000 approx ($19500) for mid level model (Xi) in India

Honda Civic: $15010 starting for DX. LX is $16960. EX is $18710.
Minimum 1150000 ($28000).

And cars sold in India dont have standard features available in the US like side/curtain airbags (Honda), airbags/ABS (Hyundai).

These are just two examples. Other cars which are overpriced include Sonata, Corolla, Accord, C-class, E-class, S-class, 3 Series, 5 Series etc. I havent included cars like Camry, CR-V since they are imported fully built and are subject to heavy taxation.

What's really jarring is that most reviewers/magazines - Autocar in particular call these great value!!