[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by kb100

A biker cracked into my left passenger door and BOTH the dealerships in Bangalore said the entire door needs to be replaced including the moulding. I kept trying to show him how there was absolutely nothing wrong with the moulding and even the clips were intact - but to no avail. Total estimate 28,000/- plus all the insurance damage/loss of no claims and so on and so forth! (BTW - when it comes to painting - I have had experience with one of the dealers here and they did a horrible job!)

I took the car to Sai Colorium - they fixed everything in 4k!

I can totally relate to this! My friend managed to scrape the LHS front door, rear door as well as the LHS rear pillar of his new Santro while parking between the pillars of his apartment parking. Denting and painting work was required for all 3 of the damaged areas.

Took the car to HASS on ORR opposite Intel. Estimate was 14k, which included replacing the doors as per them, and so on. Needless to say, it sounded like bull to us, and we took the car to a private paintshop who did the whole job to PERFECTION in just 3k.

As for servicing costs, i have 'heard' it to be on the higher side as compared to a Maruti, but i shall doublecheck before confirming.

[VMC]

My Elantra hose pipe(coolant) had to be replaced(thats what Trident Hyundai guys told me) since it had a leak. I asked them why do I not see the leak in the garage when I park it overnight, the SA tells me that such leaks are not visible outside due to some under engine cover or something(not sure if that is the case. I have no idea on this). So I asked him to order the part and got it replaced.
Bill Amount 2040 for 4 rubber pipes plus labour.
Also whenever you service you car in Trident JPNagar, the interior of the car has oil marks all over.

I guess the dealers do not want to repair since it takes more time and less money. Replacement is always better.

What I found out is Hyundai prices are still on the cheaper side when compared to Honda, Skoda and Toyota.

[amtak]

I find MASS costs equally high if not too little. I was quoted INR 22,000 for a dented rear door of my 2005 Zen. Obviously, I had to claim insurance and loose out on NCB. But nowon, I take my car to Carnation.

[amit1234singla]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Job no 2: Fix steering rack oil leak.

SA went on to say: Hyundai does not recommend this job, even if it is under warranty, they just go for blind replacement of the rack.

..

We own two santros in the family. One 6 year old and another 5 year old. Agree to your points on costly labor and parts prices (some parts). Regarding steering pump, we had a mixed experience at HASS. We wanted to change the PS bearing and HASS in chandigarh said the whole thing need to be changed, cost 15k (2 years back). HASS in Noida said they can change the bearing, cost 3k but no gurantee if that will fix the problem, if the problem is not fixed then we have to go for replacement. Got it done from my ever reliable local mechanic, cost Rs.800 and no issues after that. I have stopped going to HASS after our cars were out of warranty and even though the cars got older the repair costs came down!

[manishalive]

The bigger issue I think is serviceability at piece part level or Individual component level.

Now in 70% of cases when we look at the parts book, components are serviceable, every manufacturer takes care of them when they introduce of a new model / product in the market.

The rest 30% cases (unintentionally missed), the service reps of the company from the field revert back to factory and get the piece parts back in the system. I have done the same for my company.

Now since Dealer makes more revenue & margin by selling complete assemblies, they try to woo customers by giving some or the other reasons.

And in many cases the service rep is also party to crime, so things never actually go to higher ups.

As a service engineer ( for my products), I know that we have all the seals, shims, gaskets, pins, bearings etc. etc. as serviceable (but then I deal with generators).

[saurabhkanchan]

most of the Hyundai service centers are grossly under-qualified- not a single technically qualified person can explain the nitty-gritty of these vehicles. The level of sophistication and know-how required to handle these vehicles is simply not there with the present lot of A.S.S in India.

the Hyundai A.S.S in India today offer replacement if the customer approaches with a problem, under the pretext of warranty. Initially, when the car is under warranty, the customer also feels happy thinking of it as a good will gesture from the company. But the same customer feels the pinch when the warranty is over. What we should realise here is that the HMIL is forcing the concept of "replacement" over "repair" as it benefits the company when the warranty expires. And in turn the practice of replacement prevails...that is what is happening with the present lot of newly appointed dealerships.

HMIL should take into account the practical aspects of maintenance in terms of experience. Merely financing the dealerships should not be the criteria for appointment. Even if so, HMIL should go through a careful selection process in appointing the Works Manager, Service Advisors.

Well this is a distant dream.

[amit1234singla]

Originally Posted by manishalive

...Now since Dealer makes more revenue & margin by selling complete assemblies, they try to woo customers by giving some or the other reasons.

And in many cases the service rep is also party to crime, so things never actually go to higher ups.

...

As a matter of fact in many service stations, SA's monthly inventive (variable salary) is directly linked to the amount of billing he generates. That's not completely right. Agreed, they have a business to run and of course, every business has to make commercial sense. However, by linking his earning to billing amount, SA is for sure going to be tempted to inflate the bill. They should also link it to the number of customer complaints received or the number of RO's dealt with (efficiency). This, in the long run, will result in happy customers and in turn will ensure that business is profitable. But I guess, not all of them have a long term view and look for short term gains.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by amit1234singla

They should also link it to the number of customer complaints received or the number of RO's dealt with (efficiency). This, in the long run, will result in happy customers and in turn will ensure that business is profitable. But I guess, not all of them have a long term view and look for short term gains.

Yes exactly what i wanted to add. The whole point here is a happy customer will return, even if the service charges are slightly on the higher side (atleast most of them). Very honestly how many of us have the time and energy to run around and figure out a good independent garage, given an option i would not.

In my particular case if i was given a reasonable solution or explanation atleast, i would have definitely got it done at my risk. And even if it was a failure i would have gladly gone in for a new rack assembly after that, coz i know that they tried atleast. I would have definitely taken the car every 3-6 months to them though the running would be very less. Referred many of my contacts.

But sorry to say, i have really lost the trust in Hyundai Service. Not just because of my experience, but due to similar horror story reported time and again. One thing most of the Hyundai owners suggest is go to an independent garage, i really don't want to do it. I still prefer an authorized garage since they follow the schedule maintenance to a T which in turn provides years of reliable vehicle.

[biyer]

Originally Posted by sidindica

Jaggu, I have been complaining of Hyundai's expensive maintenance cost for a long time now. Most of their dealerships are fraud. Parts are OK, but the labour is prohibitively expensive. And still no solution to the i20's teething problems. Can you imagine everytime 5-6K cost for a santro service? And its PMS being even more expensive than that of a jazz?

I have been a santro owner for 10 years before I bought my Honda Jazz recently. Hyundai Santro was a breeze to maintain the first 5 years. It used to cost me less than what my Suzuki Samurai used to cost for its maintenance! The next 5 years, I dont know what hit me- it was expense after expense and at one point I was regularly doing 10-15k/service due to vast number of part replacements. And yet the driving comfort was never as good as I would have wanted it to be. Make no mistake the car never gave up on me ever. It ran reliably but the finesse was gone for ever after 5-6 years- never to come back no matter how many parts were replaced. The service station initially used to exploit this "attachment" and recommend a lot of part replacements but after few years even that changed. They started discouraging me from continuing to keep the car-- I believe thats because they knew they could never satisfy me after a service no matter how much I spent on it! So it was a downward graph for me over 10 years. Having said that, I sold a car bought for 4 lacs at 1.5 lacs after 10 years. You cant argue with that!

Secondly, coming from a Santro an I20 should have been straigh-up and down sales! They botched it up so badly! We all knew that Hyundai's service
while widely available is not the most classy but sales was very aggressive. But it turned out they slipped in that too. How can they not sell me an I20?! Neither Advaith Hyundai(outer ring road, bangalore) nor Trident Hyundai(INdranagar, bangalore) could satisfy or cajole me over the steering-column rattling noise. In fact Harish from Indranagar Trident challenged me to take the poorly maintained demo car for a spin over bad roads for however long I wanted and if it rattled, he suggested I not but it! Bad idea! All i wanted was an acknowledgement of the problem and assurance that they are looking into it. But every one wanted to play blind. Fine by me! Finally I took the car on a spin down Sarjapur Road and took a right turn towards Chikanayakanahalli Village, the badlands of Bangalore! 2 kms into our 20 kms ride, the car rattled away to glory like a bullock cart esp on the drivers side! It rattled so bad the driver was so embarrassed by the sounds! Finally mid-way we called the sales guy and told him about the rattling noise and without a contest they asked me to take a call.

Not the smartest sales strategy, I would say. But it worked out well for me! Same day, I asked for a Jazz test drive and 2 kms into the same road, we knew that Jazz was The car we wanted.

Some time best laid plans go awry. I had drooled for over 6 months on I20 only to end up test-driving and buying Jazz on the same day!

[Jaggu]

Update 1- Just received a complaint registration number by SMS. I like it Pretty reasonable response time!

[diffsoft]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

@diffsoft: I had the very same expectation when i walked into the garage. Which changed very soon afterwards Hope you don't mind if i ask you for the details of the branch of Trident, maybe they might be able to help resolve my situation better.

I give my vehicles at Trident in Kalyan Nagar. About a year back I used to give it at Seshadripuram but when the SA got transferred, I also decided to move with him. But my experience mentioned above has been uniform across both. If you want to know the SA's names I can PM you.

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Warranty cover is generally smooth if the reasons are genuine, i have had no issues with the same with other manufacturers also. The moment you step out of warranty your trouble starts. Just curious, what was the reason for changing the crank and at how many kms was this done?

The crank shaft in Santro was changed in its 4th year at about 56,000 kms. I never covered Santro with warranty. Basic reason was accelerated wear and tear, given not good quality and that there were crank shaft issues with a set of 2005 vehicles. I too agree that problems start once you step out of warranty. I will soon discover it in my Verna

Originally Posted by Jaggu

I think many of you are missing the point which i am trying to figure out. Its not the HASS or warranty or the itemized billing. Am questioning the approach of replacing the whole part, when minor repair can be done and the part as a whole is very expensive.

Yes, I agree on the approach of fixing a smaller part of a larger unit instead of replacing the whole unit. I read on T-BHP that Ford tries to do that. But I have never had instances to insist on the above, or more likely, not technically qualified to suggest any ideas to SAs on those lines. I generally take the position that they know better than I do if they are logical and I am satisfied with their explanations.

Cheers,

[kb100]

Originally Posted by biyer

end up test-driving and buying Jazz on the same day!

Bhoosh..party pending!

I did find their sales team rather disinterested. Lesser said about their product knowledge the better!

I am not very convinced with their diagnostic ability. Their trial & error approach is unfortunately at our expense!

[amit1234singla]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

...prefer an authorized garage since they follow the schedule maintenance to a T which in turn provides years of reliable vehicle...

Appreciate the optimistic view but this is not right (may I say many a times). Unless we open the service booklet and list down the things to be done as per manual, they tend to miss the scheduled checks/ changes. In my earlier visits to HASS's, I used to let the SA list what he wants to do and then I would speak after he is done. In my 60k km santro service, he did no talk about gear oil change (santro requires every 30k km's, as per manual). Instead he was pushing for engine flush which was done at 50k km. I corrected him. For my service of Manza at TASS, they do attach a service checklist to the RO but none of the checks listed in there are ticked. It comes blank with the RO to the billing guy. Then I have to ensure some things I want to be checked as a preventive measure are actually checked in my presence. Agreed that this expeerience will vary from ASC to ASC.

For us, informed BHPians, reliable outside garage is equally good, as we know which fluid, filter, part to replace at which interval.

[sandeepmohan]

Very surprised to hear about expensive to maintain Hyundai cars. At this rate I don't see any reason why people call a Ford an expensive car to maintain. The cost to fix an Ikon which is considered the most expensive Ford to maintain is on the same lines as a Santro.

I have spent over Rs. 60000 to fix my used Ford Ikon but don't mind at all as I knew these were genuine things that needed fixing and the quality of work is top notch. This again has to do with the service station. I don't think Bangalore suffers from a dud Ford Service Station but it might be a different story in other cities. I have never been looted at Ford or its probably cause I knew each and everything from a technical point of view.

What I will not stand is a car being sold with a defective steering rack design. It beats me how Hyundai are selling so many i20 cars. Are people not aware of this problem? I am sure everyone buys a car after doing extensive research but it looks like the majority do not know about the steering rack fault.

I have always heard that Hyundai's are next to Suzuki when it comes to cheap ownership costs but this threads says its the exact opposite.

[biyer]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

What I will not stand is a car being sold with a defective steering rack design. It beats me how Hyundai are selling so many i20 cars. Are people not aware of this problem? I am sure everyone buys a car after doing extensive research but it looks like the majority do not know about the steering rack fault.

I have said it before -its a "finer" issue thats easy to let go off either due to ignorance or as a cost-benefit analysis by a "shrewd" buyer. Consider me a "normal" user not a motorhead. I haven't been to the automobile market for over 10 years, I "almost" missed the rattling issue. I was a buyer for Hyundai Sales to just push over and score. "Somehow" I slipped through and found wildon's thread. It just boils down to that frankly. How many people see Wildons thread vs how many who dont. Out of those that do see the thread, some do convince themselves that it will all work itself out as there are so many others in the same predicament. Safety in numbers.