[vinaydas]

This is why I see Lexus will have a good market share if introduced In India.
Germans/Europeans cant even dream about the reliability that the Japs provide.
Imagine a person with a 7 figure salary catching an auto home after his 7 series breaks down!

[pgsagar]

Auto? Why would he catch an auto? He would rather take an a/c cab.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

Auto? Why would he catch an auto? He would rather take an a/c cab.

He is more likely to have more than one vehicle. First, if he could afford a 7 series, he could definitely afford a cheap hatchback. Second, if he decided to invest such a lot of money in the 7-series, he must have done his homework and knows that it might die on him.

[Sn1p3r]

Hi Guys,

I do not have the direct number of the Flatbed service in Gurgaon but Orion Hyundai arranged it for me.

Please call Orion Hyundai
Landline: 0124-2311619, 0124-2311620, 0124-4080007
Mobile: 9891014111

Good service, he even gave a bill. Helpful guys.

I wish no one ever uses this service. Happy motoring.

[jigbarai]

It is good for the humor bit, but otherwise I dont think the purpose of the thread is totally relevant.

Cars are machines and they are bound to break down. Some more frequently than others.

Yet, only cars like the Mercs / BMWs and the likes are likely to use services of a flat bed truck only if they break down and nothing else.

One reason as already highlighted is the cost factor.

Another imporant reason is the ability to fix something broken in these cars would only be at the dealership. No one would even dream of having a road side mechanic deal with these cars say for lack of knowledge or even voiding warranty issues.

You have countless marutis / hyundais and even hondas breaking down on the roads, but for these cars - the first thing one will do is to see if someone close by can come fix it and get it moving, next option would be to tow it. Only very rarely will one think of getting a flat bed truck for such cars. Highly unlikely to happen.

Hence, just coming to a conclusion that europeans are less reliable than others, simply on the basis of usage of flat bed trucks, is incorrect.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by khoj

in an year or so it will become mandatory by the insurance companies too, that you cannot tow your vehicle. If you tow they will deny your claim outright.

Originally Posted by jigbarai

It is good for the humor bit, but otherwise I dont think the purpose of the thread is totally relevant.

Cars are machines and they are bound to break down. Some more frequently than others.

Yet, only cars like the Mercs / BMWs and the likes are likely to use services of a flat bed truck only if they break down and nothing else.

One reason as already highlighted is the cost factor.

Another imporant reason is the ability to fix something broken in these cars would only be at the dealership. No one would even dream of having a road side mechanic deal with these cars say for lack of knowledge or even voiding warranty issues.

You have countless marutis / hyundais and even hondas breaking down on the roads, but for these cars - the first thing one will do is to see if someone close by can come fix it and get it moving, next option would be to tow it. Only very rarely will one think of getting a flat bed truck for such cars. Highly unlikely to happen.

Hence, just coming to a conclusion that europeans are less reliable than others, simply on the basis of usage of flat bed trucks, is incorrect.

Somehow I feel that the thread title does not match the contents inside.
I agree that without these premium cars and their breakdowns, the flatbed truck business will run out of business. This is what the title says and this is what the discussions inside the thread should be.
But somehow its now turned into a "reliability of german cars" discussion.

Most of us would have had the experience of our Marutis,Hyundais breaking down and some mechanic in a corner of any road coming and fixing it. if not in a way mentioned in the manuals but atleast is his own "magical" way. many a times even if the warranty is void we don't care as much as we would do for a premium car.

I'm working in a German firm and I know that Germans generally don't go things not mentioned in the manuals or SOPs. So thats why they carry it to the dealership where all the necessary equipments will be available.

Reliability of german cars cannot be linked to the use of flat bed trucks.
I completely agree with khoj and jigbarai here.

[srishiva]

Statistics prove that German cars are less reliable (everything is relative in real world as usual). Its not just the electronic gadgets that fail.
So, on a lighter note the title of the thread makes perfect sense.

[jigbarai]

^^
I guess we are going OT here with the reliability discussion here but how do you trust these statistics here ?

Stats have their way to say and make us interpret things but then stats come from data and there is no way anyone can gurantee that the data being used to analyze is complete in all respects.

It is possible to have close to 100% 'history' of mercs and BMWs, but who is maintaining a database of all the marutis tatas and hyundais which have broken down and fixed at road side shops ? They form a significant percentage, while at it.

[Ash_vtec]

Hang on, just went to the "Honey... I broke the Mercedes thread..".
Why is a Honda Accord (new gen) on a flatbed ? In all my time on the road i have NEVER seen a honda/toyota being towed unless it was parked illegally or smashed beyond repair.

But yeah, JAPANESE = reliable/cost effective/efficient motoring.

However before we go banzai on the germans, let us also remember that these guys build one of the safest cars around (when in complete working order)

[racerme?]

Last week was a TD week for me and visited all brands from Maruti to VW.At VW and Skoda showrooms I was awestruck with the quality of these german cars and was arguing with my friend to get his nhc replaced with a vw vento!!!
I wish he doesn't watch this thread or else i would surely be having some embrassing moments.So in terms of reliability:

(Japanesee>>>Koreans>>Americans)>>>>Germans.

Would that be the correct order or am i missing something

[stanjohn123]

Wonderful Thread GTO .

Its a fact that Germans are not anywhere close to reliability compared to the Japanese and Koreans. But its difficult to understand why they still don't make reliable cars.

Year 2000 - 2005 saw a whole lot of crappy cars from Mercedes. It was even told in Top Gear about how unreliable they were and the reason being they were more interested to make profits with lesser grade parts in their cars. Are they still doing the same ??

Makes me think one more thing, we've seen a lot of accidents in German(European) cars in the 'accidents in India' thread. What's the proof that these are not just Human Caused Errors ??? Maybe we should have an investigation team like the one In USA that probed the Toyota/Lexus accident case's.

With all the new softwares that are installed on these German marquees and which are prone to failure quite often than not, we really cannot count out a car's capability to cause the accidents too.

But the good thing is they make strong cars. So the chances of survival are more even if something does go wrong. Phewww.

[stanjohn123]

Originally Posted by vinaydas

This is why I see Lexus will have a good market share if introduced In India.
Germans/Europeans cant even dream about the reliability that the Japs provide.
Imagine a person with a 7 figure salary catching an auto home after his 7 series breaks down!

Yeah this is one thing that still perplexes me. Why hasn't Lexus come to India yet ? I'm sure they will do a lot better considering how reliable and luxurious their cars are.

I'm also sure most of the German Luxury car buyers don't like seeing their cars in the showrooms more often and that they are inclined more towards luxury than the driving experience that their cars offer them.

[gkoneti]

Somehow this thread is misleading. Are we talking about Luxury German cars or All German cars or All European cars? or only Mercedes and BMW luxury cars?

The title itself is misleading. And how funny is the way to decide on the reliability of German cars. Are these pictures of flatbed trucks would decide the reliability statistics? Very funny. Very very funny.

[honeybee]

@gkoneti, with members here owning all sorts of different cars, isn't it interesting to see only a few of them reporting problems with their vehicles which require the cars to be towed away?

Doesn't it make you wonder that the Marutis and the Hyundais of the common people rarely face this feat while the top end, luxury models of internationally reputed brands are facing this awkward moment?

While nobody would say this is the way to judge the reliability of a particular car brand, it surely is a serious concern if these cars are breaking down in the middle of the road (or the sides thereof) and have to be towed away, barely weeks into service.

I guess there should be a policy where in every auto commercial along with the fuel efficiency, the government should make it mandatory for the manufacturer to publish details of cars which have come in for warranty replacements, say within six months of their leaving the showrooms. That would give some indication of the quality of the vehicle.

How about making a 5 year warranty mandatory for every vehicle?

[PlatzdaTurbo]

Though im pretty sure there might be a few cases of Audis having broken down and being transported on flat-bed tows, being an Audi owner and not seeing a single recorded (photographed) scene of an Audi being towed on this thread so far makes me so happy ! Boy i sure am in love