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Old 5th July 2010, 00:03   #1
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Why don't the car companies have online tracking service for new bookings?

After going through booking experiences of many bhpians, I was thinking why a car company cannot launch an online booking tracking service in India? Most of the time, it was the salesman / dealer the culprit who was fooling the customer. So isn't it possible for a company to come up with a process wherein customer will be issued with a booking number and he can check online when the car is expected to be manufactured in / despatched from the factory?

I believe dealers can track it through their intranets so the same service can be extended to the customer.

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Old 5th July 2010, 00:12   #2
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Why don't the car companies have online tracking service for new bookings?
My guess is, it may not happen. Reason being that, such a facility is not even available in a country like US.
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Old 5th July 2010, 00:17   #3
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Then how will that non-scrupulous dealer make an extra buck by allotting a car meant for someone waiting for loan clearance to someone willing to pay cash? Or pay a premium? Or use your car as a test drive mule for a day or two?
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Old 5th July 2010, 09:47   #4
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then the dealers cannot fool around as it happened in my case
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Old 5th July 2010, 10:03   #5
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Car manufacturer with less dealers or starting in India can show the way. Every other manufacturer is trying to do segment first sort of thing, so why not Industry first! Eg. Nissan with very few car models and only 11 dealers across India can start thinking about making the booking process centralized. Once the booking is done, customer can track his/her car delivery through various stages of production to shipment.

I mean how we can track a simple courier. We can easily find out where it is now and which location and all that.

For the easy buck for dealers (or can I call it BLACK!), introduce an option of Tatkal - it is present in Railways, Passport so nothing wrong in this. Indian automobile industry is changing rapidly, so more professional approach would be appreciated. One manufacturer have to start this online booking - the rest will follow
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Old 5th July 2010, 10:35   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ph03n!x View Post
Then how will that non-scrupulous dealer make an extra buck by allotting a car meant for someone waiting for loan clearance to someone willing to pay cash? Or pay a premium? Or use your car as a test drive mule for a day or two?

You worded my thoughts. Anything is possible in our country. Remember the Fortuner booking when it opened?. Premium of 3-4 Lakhs
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Old 6th July 2010, 07:40   #7
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Although not impossible but it may take years for this to realize. May reasons go behind for not happening this immediately.
1) Dealer infrastructure which most of the times is not developed. This being prominient in tier II & III cities. Also an oppurtunity for the dealers to make a fast buck out of the urgent bookings which goes unnoticed by the car manufacturers.
2) Many car bookings happen through third party dealers who are not in the car manufacturer's list even. Asking the car companies to keep a track of such bookings is out of question.
3) The car business being so volatile. Some months it is at a record and some a dismal low irrespective of the car perfomance. The companies presently use the infrastructure funds for doling out cash incentives.
4) The Indian customer is so used to chasing, he would miss the fun of either undertable dealing or hurling the choicest abuses if his delivery is delayed.
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Old 6th July 2010, 10:29   #8
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Old 6th July 2010, 10:35   #9
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It is a question of will rather than the means.

While the service records of all Maruti cars are centralised which covers all the A.S.S , why not a similar system for bookings?
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Old 6th July 2010, 17:50   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by raju2512 View Post
While the service records of all Maruti cars are centralised which covers all the A.S.S , why not a similar system for bookings?
If Maruti does this, then every other manufacturer worth mentioning would be forced to do this.
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Old 6th July 2010, 18:00   #11
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it's just about picking up the gauntlet. If someone can revolutionize the whole car delivery process by this method, imagine the goodwill such a brand will create for itself. I hope some car company guy is surfing this thread and considers this idea, it would be even cooler if India were the first country where this could take place.
P.S. it would be a boon for Polo or Nano owners who have to wait forever to get their car, atleast it would give them a realistic picture of where they stand
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Old 6th July 2010, 22:47   #12
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Well the answer is pretty simple.

There had not been any requirement to do so. If you think about it deeply, until few months no car manufacturer had this situation of book and wait eagerly.
This is only a recent phenomenon till some months back, the vehicles were already in the dealer location all you had to do was walk in and select what you wanted. That being the case no one thougth of a order tracking system's requirement.

Again, once the demand stablizes again no one will see the need for them, we are thinking of it only because we are made to wait. Once that is stablize you will also not bother about it.
What say ?
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Old 7th July 2010, 07:50   #13
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The online tracking system would be effective if there was an online booking facility made available by the car manufacturers. How many of us would want to book online? We would like to see the vehicle first, take a test drive, negotiate hard for discounts and then pay an booking amount hoping that the delivery is on time. If this were to go online, then the discounts would not exists, also what about the registration process. For sure that would not happen however advanced tech is used.
How many car manufacturers do you think would provide an online booking/tracking services. I remember GM on their website had the provisions to book a can online, do others have the same.
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Old 7th July 2010, 10:42   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xingamazon View Post
This is only a recent phenomenon till some months back, the vehicles were already in the dealer location all you had to do was walk in and select what you wanted. That being the case no one thougth of a order tracking system's requirement.
I thought Maruti Swift had a pretty long waiting period.
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Old 7th July 2010, 18:50   #15
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I support this idea.

Why can't the car manufacturers do this seemingly simple thing for their customers?

I recently booked the Polo by paying 50K. In return all I got was a copy of the order form.

I asked for a booking number, they said they have none. I have nothing to show that the dealer has actually booked my car with VW.

In fact a few days later when I called up the sales exec., he hadn't actually booked the car. It took me a few more days before he finally admitted to booking the car.

Did he actually book it? Did he book the variant I wanted? I really don't know.

Now if the dealer gave me a booking number and if I could feed it into the VW website and see my order (perhaps the ETA as well), my blood pressure would go down a few notches.
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