[razor4077]

There's an article on Bardoli in the latest issue of Top Gear. Has anyone visited this place? Are the deals there actually good?

[cooljai]

If some one buys a new car with the intention of selling that in a few months, and not bothered about the price, I would seriously doubt the way that car was driven.
Always best to have an extra eye while buying one.

[IQBAL VEERJI]

Originally Posted by c-zar

It's just a stereotype -

• Parsi owned (to give the impression that it's been maintained and treated with great care with attention to details - almost obsessively pampered);
• Doctor owned (to give the impression that it is carefully handled - as if the doctor drives in the same concentrated state of mind as when he performs a surgery );
• Lady driven (to give the impression that it's been driven sedately - yeah, right ), etc.

Think about the value of a car owned by a Parsi Lady Doctor

There was advertisement which said "This car is like my CHILD and was very lovingly maintained" ,I dont want to part with it but due to parking problems I want to SELL it OFF. New buyer must promise to take good care of the CHILD

[troublemaker]

Okay, Gujju feedback was called for. Here's mine:

The scenario:

• It is a fact that people from South Gujarat own huge number of motels in US.
• During the winter months, the elderly go back to the motherland and relax.
• They do buy new cars, use it and sell it off while coming back. Riding in new cars while on vacation is definitely prestigious in the village/town.
• The "loss" (aka cost) is compared with car rental in US. Therefore few thousands here and there don't matter.

For the authenticity: My ancestral village is near Bardoli and I live in US now.

[razor4077]

So there are good deals to be had? Top Gear mentioned that an Accord V6 was bought by a dealer for ~3.5L and sold for twice that amount :O

[vigsom]

Originally Posted by razor4077

There's an article on Bardoli in the latest issue of Top Gear. Has anyone visited this place? Are the deals there actually good?

Bardoli falls on NH6 viz. Surat-Dhule-Nagpur and beyond
If one has good contacts in the Bardoli used car market,one can get super deals on great machines.

I have known people to get lemons as well from Bardoli ; but that is the case everywhere.

[h@r$h@l]

Bardoli has a HUGE market of used cars. I visit bardoli once every 3-4 months to meet my relatives and have seen literally 100's of used cars lined up. You get everything from Nano to E class on display and if you want something higher, they have their sources.

As somone mentioned above about NRI's coming and buying and selling in short span is the truth. I had once come across an Innova ( variant with ABS / Airbags) for an asking price of about 9L IIRC and only had <10K on ODO. It was bought for an elderly couple who were there for 3-4 months to attend a wedding in family and over look restoration of their ancestoral land.

We were once offered a Safari VX for around same price as innova. The car had close to 12K kms done up in about 3-4 months but the car was terribly maintained and driven mostly in farm / village roads. The car had scratches n small dents all around. Eventually the deal was closed for 8.75L by a buyer from some where around Baroda. Sunday's is the best time to go to Bardoli to hunt around for deals. Forget the deals, its a scenario worth seeing.

[kalpeshc]

I've traveled on that road and have heard some tales which I am not sure are true or not. My cousins from Surat have told me that there's a village near Bardoli which has superb bungalows and is fortified by a compound wall from all sides. They also have a central RO plant and get filtered water through their pipelines !! We always used to wonder as kids - bisleri from taps !!

[iSpoke]

Being a gujju, I too came-across this story many a times but was bit skeptical about the authenticity. Have heared the same story that NRIs come for vacations and rather than hiring a taxi for couple of months they buy new cars and sell-off while returning. Yep, there are indeed few villages in/around Bardoli that have at least one family member settled in US.

[swiftnfurious]

My thoughts & responses for the first quote in bold italics below.

Originally Posted by c-zar

It's just a stereotype -

• Doctor owned (to give the impression that it is carefully handled - as if the doctor drives in the same concentrated state of mind as when he performs a surgery );

For me when some one says doctor owned, I somehow relate to high mileage clocked on the car. May be thats because I have a friend of mine whose parents are doctors and their cars used to do insane kilometers.

• Lady driven (to give the impression that it's been driven sedately - yeah, right ), etc.

This is scary for me - I usually associate this with more dents & scratches but an engine which ideally is a GEM [no high revving] !

Originally Posted by Digitonsam

Best time to buy is after jan 15th.

Whats the Jan 15th funda ? People who want to sell their cars will sell it any time right? Or did you mean that they usually return after their vacations in Jan / Dec last ?

Originally Posted by agspins

For example we were offered a 6 months old Swift for 3 lacs as the owners were flying back to UK after a long vacation...

Now that looks like terrific resale buying value !

Originally Posted by troublemaker

Okay, Gujju feedback was called for. Here's mine:

For the authenticity: My ancestral village is near Bardoli and I live in US now.

I love that disclaimer !

Offtopic:

Originally Posted by kalpeshc

They also have a central RO plant and get filtered water through their pipelines !!

Whats RO plant ?

[kalpeshc]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Whats RO plant ?

Reverse Osmosis plant. Similar to Kent (hema malini wala)

[tanwaramit]

that sounds interesting.

Arent deals available round the year ? and if so then how much is the difference ?

[vivek.ks]

May 2011 TopGear also has a feature on Bardoli emerging as India's biggest used car market. It has grown over years due to a large population of NRI's in surrounding areas. Article mentions that if you are lucky enough, you can get a used car with low mileage.

[dave7377]

i am living in Surat and have visited Bardoli car market a number of times.

i wanted to buy a fiesta back in 2009 and so visited the market. Firstly it is very difficult to predict about the condition of car unless you know the dealer or have some contact there. i was offered a Fiesta Sxi in 2009 of 2007 vintage for Rs 5 lakhs. Though i had a doubt that its a Exi model as seat head rest were different. My doubt only got confirmed when i saw the original RC book. Other than that all logos, crome gear knob, door handles etc were painted as in Sxi.

Finally i bought a new one after that experience.

Its a good market if you know someone local there.

[dr.faramroze]

I have recently been to Bardoli in the month of May not to buy one single car but along with friends and relatives who wanted to have instant deals into varoius choices. My concern was buying a car around 60000 kms, single hand at any price for my wife specially being any South Gujarat district registration. We saw, drove hundreds of cars but not a single one was guaranteed to reach us till Valsad from Bardoli. When we asked the sellers about its delivery guarantee and road worthiness, they held their hands up. As it was scorching hot sunday afternoon, we sneaked out as soon as possible. There were flood affected cars, some cars with cheap lpg installations, most cars will guttery dirty interiors. Cars older than 2002 were repainted with very good finish but mechanically poor. Only about 10% of total cars were direct easy genuine buys. Almost all cars had their meters tampered. It is not advisible to buy from Bardoli, or you will end up spending double the price of your so called cheap cars. Two wheelers could be a good bargain in Bardoli.

We have bought 21 cars in the last 6 years from Mumbai from private sellers and Mahindra First Choice Goregaon. We have been duped thrice in 21 car count whichh was quite comfortable. Usually we got corporate, parsi owned or doctor owned cars which we drove with utter joy. The latest we bought was for my wife, as seen on an ad on Carwale.com. We went to see various Maruti 800s and zens all over Mumbai upto Panvel. Now we had spent nearly Rs 4000 only on travelling to see the cars. Finally while returning we reached Executive Car Mall at Desai Petrol pump, Sion circle. The seller was so confident and transparent in his dealing which made us ready in seconds. He prepared the documents, took my wife's xerox copies for his record. When we asked him about the reliability of the car, he said we can pay later and his driver will come to drop us till Borivali and take the money from our residence. He also added that call me after reaching and tell him how quickly we were dropped home. And we entered home in 40 minutes. It is a beige metallic Maruti 800 2004 model, run 70000kms, owned by a newspaper media major for Rs 77,000 and not a single rupee added after purchase. Got NOC for Gujarat for Rs 1800 in 3 working days. Re-registered to Gujarat RTO for Rs 9000. The car is very well maintained, satisfied.

Yes, Parsees treat their vehicles with great care but its sad they dont get resale value according to thier efforts put in.