Are Indians being ripped off ?

aaggoswami · 29th June 2008, 22:42

I competely agree that we are ripped off.

I think that this is mainly because of taxes and the manufacturers attitude. The manufacturers attitude although plays a very small role in prices, but they do overprice products sometimes.
For e.g. a Suzuki SX4 Sport ( i.e. SX4 Sedan in US ) has 2.0 ltr. engine and 7 years/100,000 mile warranty and this range starts at $14,339.
In India this equals to 14339 * 41 = 587,899 rs. Now in India we get 1.6 ltr engine and a lesser warranty.

evo · 16th August 2008, 13:24

The govt is really mad. With the additional Guzzler Tax, we sure are getting ripped off big time.Excise,Guzzler Tax,Vat on the full amount.Registration charges based on the car price in some cities.!

We pay taxes on taxes and not just the base!

harry10 · 16th August 2008, 14:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by evo

The govt is really mad. With the additional Guzzler Tax, we sure are getting ripped off big time.Excise,Guzzler Tax,Vat on the full amount.Registration charges based on the car price in some cities.!

We pay taxes on taxes and not just the base!

We need to pay registration charges based on car price in All the cities and this is also referred as road tax, the kind of roads we get these days its easy to understand who is eating all that money.

Thad E Ginathom · 16th August 2008, 18:34

I think that is the same all over the world.

UK has road tax, as well as considerable duty on fuel, not to mention the tax on car purchase.

Then comes tolls, congestion charges, high parking charges, even to park outside one's own house --- and mutterings of not being able to expect to continue to use the roads "for free". As if they ever were.

sujithnk · 24th August 2008, 23:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by harry10

We need to pay registration charges based on car price in All the cities and this is also referred as road tax, the kind of roads we get these days its easy to understand who is eating all that money.

I totally agree. I had to pay 278000 as road tax for my BMW 530d and trust me the roads that we have in cochin at present are just really bad. What else can i say .

I agree cars are overpriced in india especially because of all these duty etc etc.

Even hybrid civic is soo expensive because of the duty we have to pay whereas in US they give a subsidy for buying hybrids

thanks

toiingg · 25th August 2008, 22:23

Are we being ripped off ? Yes !!

We are being charged more for the same cars, but off late, there have been quite a few incidences on TBHP itself where its clear that the company has decided to take us for granted.

Trying to avoid blame even when it knows that the 'particular' car was defective/damaged/repaired and sold to the customer as new. When confronted, they try to justify themselves.

My question is, would they have had the same attitude if this was the US ... or UK ? I think not. The fear of multi million $$ lawsuits would definitely have an impact on the way they treat their customers.

They may make really good cars, and i guess 1-2 cars can slip by even the stringent QA's, but when brought to notice, should'nt they rectify the mistakes ?

agentsmith2 · 29th August 2008, 11:23

Waking this old thread up - I did a small unscientific study on salary medians and the price of a BMW. Indians take 175 months on an average salary to buy a BMW. For Americans, its about 6 months.

agentsmith2 · 29th August 2008, 11:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by agentsmith2

Waking this old thread up - I did a small unscientific study on salary medians and the price of a BMW. Indians take 175 months on an average salary to buy a BMW. For Americans, its about 6 months.

Attaching the numbers. Don't know why they don't show up in previous post.

GTO · 29th August 2008, 15:33

Have you considered any industry in particular, since the average salary in the States or the UK is certainly not $72,000 / GBP 36,000 p.a.! It would take a good degree and / or 3 - 5 years experience before someone is making 72K / month in the states. A similar profile would be making way more than 20K / month in India.

mobike008 · 29th August 2008, 16:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO

Have you considered any industry in particular, since the average salary in the States or the UK is certainly not $72,000 / GBP 36,000 p.a.! It would take a good degree and / or 3 - 5 years experience before someone is making 72K / month in the states. A similar profile would be making way more than 20K / month in India.

you mean per annum don't you?

I think the average salary in the US has taken a huge dip offlate. I would say it is between 45K-55K per annum.

Sudipto-S-Team · 29th August 2008, 16:32

I think we should remember two things while doing these comparisons - A. pricing is a strategy. Companies charge what they think customers can pay or are ready to pay and this will vary from country to country, region to region. B. Don't do a straight conversion of the rupee to dollar or pound for these comparisons. That will give a very distorted and misleading picture, particularly for high value items like cars. There is a concept called purchasing power parity which is more important here. PPP in short means what an average British guy can purchase for one pound (not any one fixed item but various average items) in the UK is not quite what an Indian can purchase for Rs 80 (assuming pound to rupee is 1:80).

agentsmith2 · 29th August 2008, 19:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO

Have you considered any industry in particular, since the average salary in the States or the UK is certainly not $72,000 / GBP 36,000 p.a.! It would take a good degree and / or 3 - 5 years experience before someone is making 72K / year in the states. A similar profile would be making way more than 20K / month in India.

I took IT industry standards and standard data-bank built by a partner HR company which works with mine.

This salary is of an IT-Admin with 2yrs exp. In India - you can stretch the salary to 30k / month for a city like Pune. The partner company works as an HR offshore outsourcer - but the numbers are highly skewed towards specific geograhy. US numbers are for California - not for Kansas or Texas [Where the salary could be as long as 2-3x Indian Multiple]. Australia - Sydney. Malaysia - KL and UK - London. Move to johor-baru from KL or Singapore could drop the salary by half.

As I said - it was an unscientific study. Feel free to throw in some numbers you might know.

Neel · 29th August 2008, 19:39

a different perspective to the story so far :
- imagine the number of car's that would have been on indian roads, had the cost been cut by half! in a way the high price regulates the vehicle industry...of course the govt makes the most of it...next come the car manufacturers...

agentsmith2 · 29th August 2008, 20:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neel

a different perspective to the story so far :
- imagine the number of car's that would have been on indian roads, had the cost been cut by half! in a way the high price regulates the vehicle industry...of course the govt makes the most of it...next come the car manufacturers...

Or - would've prevented hundreds / thousands of two-wheeler injuries and deaths. How many near ones have you lost to two-wheeler injuries ? It's criminal to not let two-wheeler drivers enough options of owning atleast a car. That's why I love the Nano.

High car price is just a barrier that keeps the less-fortunate away. High per-capita car consumption is inevitable - given the economy. The car price comes out of the national savings. Instead, the Govt should keep infrastructure in pace and focus on providing good mass transit options.

Also, People buying cars doesn't necessarily equate to more cars on the roads [meaning - people driving those cars all the time]. Most affluent Manhattan based New Yorkers own atleast one car - or have the wherewithall to own one - but prefer city Mass-Transit for in-city commute.

Govts keeping you from buying a car by jacking up the price should invest the extra income in good mass transit. It works like that in Singapore. In India, they don't. That's the real rip-off.

DieselFan · 29th August 2008, 20:29

In my view there are lot of naive people in India or people who can throw money and buy cars that are much more expensive then their true value. Global car companies are trying to make use of this weakness of select few Indians. Also they would not want to set up a entire manufacturing line to produce less than 1000-2000 cars a year.

If a company takes risk of setting up a manufacturing line and localizing most of the non critical parts they use on their cars then the prices for those cars will be cheaper than US/Europe market. very simple logic see the nano - fully Indian car at a dirt cheap price of 2500 USD. Which company in the world can even match this price by even 50% markup in their own market - none.

29th June 2008, 22:42	#121
aaggoswami Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: Vadodara Posts: 4,982 Thanked: 2,931 Times	I competely agree that we are ripped off. I think that this is mainly because of taxes and the manufacturers attitude. The manufacturers attitude although plays a very small role in prices, but they do overprice products sometimes. For e.g. a Suzuki SX4 Sport ( i.e. SX4 Sedan in US ) has 2.0 ltr. engine and 7 years/100,000 mile warranty and this range starts at $14,339. In India this equals to 14339 * 41 = 587,899 rs. Now in India we get 1.6 ltr engine and a lesser warranty. Last edited by aaggoswami : 29th June 2008 at 22:44.
	() Thanks

16th August 2008, 13:24	#122
evo BHPian Join Date: May 2004 Location: Kolkata/Shillong Posts: 780 Thanked: 158 Times View My Garage	The govt is really mad. With the additional Guzzler Tax, we sure are getting ripped off big time.Excise,Guzzler Tax,Vat on the full amount.Registration charges based on the car price in some cities.! We pay taxes on taxes and not just the base!
	() Thanks

16th August 2008, 18:34	#124
Thad E Ginathom Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Chennai Posts: 11,007 Thanked: 26,449 Times	I think that is the same all over the world. UK has road tax, as well as considerable duty on fuel, not to mention the tax on car purchase. Then comes tolls, congestion charges, high parking charges, even to park outside one's own house --- and mutterings of not being able to expect to continue to use the roads "for free". As if they ever were.
	() Thanks

25th August 2008, 22:23	#126
toiingg BHPian Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Calcutta Posts: 639 Thanked: 266 Times	Are we being ripped off ? Yes !! We are being charged more for the same cars, but off late, there have been quite a few incidences on TBHP itself where its clear that the company has decided to take us for granted. Trying to avoid blame even when it knows that the 'particular' car was defective/damaged/repaired and sold to the customer as new. When confronted, they try to justify themselves. My question is, would they have had the same attitude if this was the US ... or UK ? I think not. The fear of multi million $$ lawsuits would definitely have an impact on the way they treat their customers. They may make really good cars, and i guess 1-2 cars can slip by even the stringent QA's, but when brought to notice, should'nt they rectify the mistakes ?
	() Thanks

29th August 2008, 11:23	#127
agentsmith2 BHPian Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Bay Area Posts: 130 Thanked: 2 Times	Waking this old thread up - I did a small unscientific study on salary medians and the price of a BMW. Indians take 175 months on an average salary to buy a BMW. For Americans, its about 6 months.
	() Thanks

29th August 2008, 15:33	#129
GTO Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 70,545 Thanked: 300,872 Times View My Garage	Have you considered any industry in particular, since the average salary in the States or the UK is certainly not $72,000 / GBP 36,000 p.a.! It would take a good degree and / or 3 - 5 years experience before someone is making 72K / month in the states. A similar profile would be making way more than 20K / month in India.
	() Thanks

29th August 2008, 16:32	#131
Sudipto-S-Team Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Kolkata Posts: 1,320 Thanked: 290 Times View My Garage	I think we should remember two things while doing these comparisons - A. pricing is a strategy. Companies charge what they think customers can pay or are ready to pay and this will vary from country to country, region to region. B. Don't do a straight conversion of the rupee to dollar or pound for these comparisons. That will give a very distorted and misleading picture, particularly for high value items like cars. There is a concept called purchasing power parity which is more important here. PPP in short means what an average British guy can purchase for one pound (not any one fixed item but various average items) in the UK is not quite what an Indian can purchase for Rs 80 (assuming pound to rupee is 1:80).
	() Thanks

29th August 2008, 19:39	#133
Neel BHPian Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Bangalore Posts: 178 Thanked: 35 Times	a different perspective to the story so far : - imagine the number of car's that would have been on indian roads, had the cost been cut by half! in a way the high price regulates the vehicle industry...of course the govt makes the most of it...next come the car manufacturers...
	() Thanks

29th August 2008, 20:29	#135
DieselFan Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,584 Thanked: 259 Times	In my view there are lot of naive people in India or people who can throw money and buy cars that are much more expensive then their true value. Global car companies are trying to make use of this weakness of select few Indians. Also they would not want to set up a entire manufacturing line to produce less than 1000-2000 cars a year. If a company takes risk of setting up a manufacturing line and localizing most of the non critical parts they use on their cars then the prices for those cars will be cheaper than US/Europe market. very simple logic see the nano - fully Indian car at a dirt cheap price of 2500 USD. Which company in the world can even match this price by even 50% markup in their own market - none.
	() Thanks