[RhythmDivine]

All,

A big thank to all who approved my request. After unsuccessful attempts way back in 2007 to 2009 got married, started family, got busy with more responsibilities, didn't got time to try again. Now when things are settling out at home, I gave it a try once more and I got lucky.

Life has changed a lot in past 10 years, I still remember when I used to live alone, away from family, always got hooked to TBHP site all the time, reading forums and getting to know about automobiles. Well, to be frank, I owe all my automobile owning in past 10 years to TBHP forums. And I passed on the same knowledge to my wife and my relatives as well, everyone in my family without any doubt, reaches out to me as and when they have any query related to automobile (specially when purchasing a new one or old one).

I am originally from Jammu and at home we have a gem of the car, Alto 800, I usually call it black mamba . Back in year 2004 we purchased our first car a black Alto 800 and it is still doing the duty with more than 100k kms on odo. I too was a novice before started purchasing cars in Delhi (got a job in Delhi in 2006 and purchased my first car in 2007). Please note that I never preferred a brand new car in Delhi NCR, always opted for used cars drove for couple of thousand miles and then changed it to some other used car.

My journey with my OWN purchased car started in 2007 with Daewoo Cielo and my God what a car that was. It was a big leap over Alto 800. Well it served me for an year before I sold it off because of niggling problems and spare parts issue

My next would be totally out of league as compared to Cielo, a Fiat Uno 1.2 EL, no PS, no PW just Ac and Heater. It was a Mum registered car and I got it from one of my manager in office who never wanted to part ways with the car but he had to as he was moving abroad. It again served me for sometime and then I sold it off to another colleague in office.

Next in line was a decent Maruti Zen. A decent Zen without any issue, served me for some more time and then I moved on as it started giving issue with the AC compressor

Then I became obsessed with the Opel Corsa Sail, got a decent black colored with alloys and all the amenities in it. A big leapover from Zen. However, because of rising petrol costs have to part ways with it. It served me well for an year and then I sold it off to a known person.

Now I was again looking for something good and at cheap price, stumbled upon a decently maintained ikon 1.6 sxi and my oh my, what a beauty it was in Ferrari red color, thats what I used to call it. Fully loaded from company with 6 cd changer, leather seats, alloys, spoiler etc. I sed it for couple of years and then changed to another Ikon, named it silver ghost . Sold this off after a minor accident involving holy cow.

I re purchased my opel sail once again, from same owner whom I sold it off and drove for nearly an year before started searching again and guess what this time I got a real Ferrari Red from Fiat.

Guess what I was in love with Fiat again, this time it was a 1.2 sports in real Ferrari Red color. It also served me for an year or so before I sold it off because of an minor accident which ruined the front suspension and side fender.

Search again started and it ended again with an ikon however this time it was a Flair, named it storm. It was a properly maintained car and I kept it pristine for couple of years and then sold off to move to a higher year model.

Got a Fabia petrol from Mahindra First Choice and this was the first and last time I got a car from a dealer and guess what it was in pristine condition with an year of warranty as well. However had to pay extra money for the warranty. Served me well for nearly 10 months and then fuel pump got bursted. Enquired about warranty and they started behaving as if I am calling from Mars, in the end no warranty claim was settled and had to get the pump changed on my own, more than 25k spent from Nawab Motors. Sold it off and started my search again.

And guess what my love affair with Fiat started again, this time it was a Fiat Linea Emotion. Once you drive a Fiat, you just can't part ways with the company. It stays within you. It's been an year I have owned this car and no issues as of now, Drove back and forth from Delhi to Jammu few times and no problems at all. Got a decent mileage of more than 25 on highways and being a Diesel it is quite cheap as well to drive. Forgot to mention that this is the first time I have purchased a diesel in my life and I am in total love with the sudden rush coming from the turbo, though a small one

In all those years, I also did some small mods on most of my priced possessions. Striping, exhaust manifold and muffler, boom box to name a few.

Will share pictures of all my cars in near future, have to dig those out from my old hard drive, god knows if it is still in working condition as haven't used it from past few years

[Omkar]

A warm welcome to the forum.

Originally Posted by RhythmDivine

All,
Will share pictures of all my cars in near future, have to dig those out from my old hard drive, god knows if it is still in working condition as haven't used it from past few years

That's quite a journey you have had! I still have the Alto 800 and it's still a fun to drive car.

Would love to read about the car journey in detail for sure and also your contributions to the forum. On a side note, do read the instructions of posting on Team-BHP (related thread).

Although, can you elaborate the thought process on the frequent switching of cars? Feasibility in terms of use, finding the right car and financial thoughts as well.

[Sherlocked]

You have owned 10 cars so far and out of them there were just two Marutis and no Hyundai speaks a lot about your choice in cars!

Although I can see that all your picks were a depreciation disaster and could be acquired for the same amount of money that one would pay for a lower segment car such as a used WagonR or i10 (or even cheaper than these).
This is the magic of used car market. Value for money quotient is increased substantially.

However, mostly all your purchase weren't what we would call a "safe purchase". Buying a used Opel or Daewoo or even a Ford Ikon for that matter has its own share of niggles and unforeseen expenses. Not only they are heavy on pocket but time consuming too. I bet, living in Delhi helped you to some extent as used car parts are available at ease in places like Mayapuri.

Buying and selling so many cars would have made you much knowledgeable in RTO matters and ownership transfer issues.

Please share some pics of your old cars here and welcome to the forum.

[RhythmDivine]

Originally Posted by Omkar

A warm welcome to the forum.



That's quite a journey you have had! I still have the Alto 800 and it's still a fun to drive car.

Would love to read about the car journey in detail for sure and also your contributions to the forum. On a side note, do read the instructions of posting on Team-BHP (related thread).

Although, can you elaborate the thought process on the frequent switching of cars? Feasibility in terms of use, finding the right car and financial thoughts as well.

Hi Omkar,

Thanks for your reply and yes this is a long journey for me, however, after marriage and kids the frequency of switching cars has come down. Only 3 cars in last 5 years.

From school days I was totally into motoring world. Reading any and all the articles, watching F1 on star sports back in those days, Rally races, 125, 250 and in those old days we used to have 500 cc bike category races as well. Always planned to have my own car and drive it independently. My first driving experience came with an M800 and guess who tought me driving, my fiance. It was a big thing to drive a M800 with an AC and gradually my father bought the first car home, a dashing black alto 800 with PS, AC etc, big thing in those years. Learnt or I should say discovered the mechanic in me in Alto.

Financially, I was never let down by any of my vehicles as all of them were properly maintained/serviced before selling it out. Even smallest of issues were dealt with proper care. I still remember selling my Red Devil Fabia after spending nearly 50k on refurbishment and maintenance but still I was in positive, financially. There was only 1 loss incurred during all my vehicle adventures and that was Fiat Palio which got a minor accident and have to sell it for loss.

The only reason for switching cars so frequently is nothing other than the kid inside me, who wanted to experience each and every vehicle I can afford. Always dreamed of a proper luxury vehicle (Merc, BMW, Audi etc) in my garage, this is on my cards and I hope and wish that someday I would be able to get it. As I was living away from family and independently hence usability of cars was none of the concern as I was the only one driving it, occasionally my fiance would drive it as she also moved to Delhi for work.

Now the big question comes in mind, how to find a proper car and how to negotiate with the price being asked. Well, to be frank, I always hunt for cars online (no dealer cars preferred) and then quote my price without even looking at the car (take off 30% to 50% of asking price). If you get a reply, my first question to the seller is, service records, if yes then we can go ahead and negotiate a little bit. However bonus comes in picture when there is no service history, then you have to see the car first, drive it, feel it and negotiate heavily on price. I am sharing my experience here, any car below 10 lac or say more than 3 years old can turn into a proper serviced car, if you know how to do it. I mantra is quite simple, purchase a car (peanut price) and then spend some money on it, servicing, cleaning, polishing and other stuff. Drive it for few months to an year, post it for sale and take home profit if you know how to present your vehicle. That being said, never ever lie to the purchaser, tell him everything that you have done in the car and he will be more than happy not to negotiate further.

As I said above now the frequency of changing cars have slowed down however I still take care of cars as I used to. My recent (1 year now) Linea Emotion, I purchased from a person in Delhi as it was not used and covered with dust and scratches on bumpers. This was a gem from inside however if you look from outside, it was horrible to watch. Tried starting it, it didn't worked as battery was dead, got a new battery and gave it a push and boom, it started. So how the deal went with this person, it was a 09 model with 66000kms on odo, confirmed it from Kashyap Fiat, complete service record was available with the owner and before parking the car, it got a proper service, including few parts changed and the bill was around 65k for last service alone, yokohama tyres all around. Negotiation started with seller asking 250k and I was quoting 130k. Because it was not presented to me in a proper way hence I was quoting this price. Anyways, deal was done at 170k with seller getting both the bumper painted from company. Now after driving it for nearly an year, 10000 kms and spending on just Mobil1 synthetic oil, Castrol coolant and regular diesel with systemG, I am quite happy with my possession.

I even got an offer from one of my colleague in office for this and he is ready to pay 210k, no question asked. But I will keep this for a while with me till the time there is a nod from my wife, only after that I will think of selling it.

Morale of the story is, do not get exicited on seeing a car, hold your horses and negotiate with the seller, you can get a gem at cheap rate if you know how to find it. And same goes when you are selling it, present your vehicle in a way that purchaser doesn't even think of negotiating. Never hide anything when selling the car.

Please get in touch with me and I would be more than happy to share my knowledge acquired from past 10 years on selling and purchasing the cars and how to maintain them.

Originally Posted by Sherlocked

You have owned 10 cars so far and out of them there were just two Marutis and no Hyundai speaks a lot about your choice in cars!

Although I can see that all your picks were a depreciation disaster and could be acquired for the same amount of money that one would pay for a lower segment car such as a used WagonR or i10 (or even cheaper than these).
This is the magic of used car market. Value for money quotient is increased substantially.

However, mostly all your purchase weren't what we would call a "safe purchase". Buying a used Opel or Daewoo or even a Ford Ikon for that matter has its own share of niggles and unforeseen expenses. Not only they are heavy on pocket but time consuming too. I bet, living in Delhi helped you to some extent as used car parts are available at ease in places like Mayapuri.

Buying and selling so many cars would have made you much knowledgeable in RTO matters and ownership transfer issues.

Please share some pics of your old cars here and welcome to the forum.

Thanks Sherlocked,

You are correct living in Delhi/NCR has its benefits, you can get any and every part of vehicle in brand new condition from Kashmiri gate however you should know how to negotiate the tiny lanes, once you are inside those lanes, you can get everything. Even if you do not get it from Kashmiri gate then Mayapuri is a good hunting ground for used parts. Touchwood, have never got into a situation where in I have to go to Mayapuri.

For RTO matters, I usually go for single owned vehicle as these are easy to sell and transfer. I have never went to RTO personally, always got in touch with the Agent who does it for me for a marginal fees.

As far as Hyundai is concerned, I am not a big fan. Don't know why, but I never liked Hyundai vehicles at all (personal choice). I always prefer a vehicle which is least in demand and whose value is depreciating (for majority), however if same vehicle is properly maintained and cared then there is always a niche market for them.

Take an example of Octavia petrol, people always stay away from it because of high maintenance and petrol cost however same vehicle with VRS badge can fetch a good price in market, only for selected people.

Used car market is a gamble and one should know how to play in it.

[CaptainPrice]

Originally Posted by RhythmDivine

All,

I still remember when I used to live alone, away from family, always got hooked to TBHP site all the time, reading forums and getting to know about automobiles. Well, to be frank, I owe all my automobile owning in past 10 years to TBHP forums. And I passed on the same knowledge to my wife and my relatives as well, everyone in my family without any doubt, reaches out to me as and when they have any query related to automobile (specially when purchasing a new one or old one).

...

In all those years, I also did some small mods on most of my priced possessions. Striping, exhaust manifold and muffler, boom box to name a few.

...

Will share pictures of all my cars in near future, have to dig those out from my old hard drive, god knows if it is still in working condition as haven't used it from past few years

Welcome to the Team-BHP Family, RhythmDivine. (Interesting username by the way; reminds me of the song by Enrique)

Your introduction is a long and yet interesting post, RhythmDivine. I'm sure that all the knowledge you've acquired will come in handy to you as well as the rest of the Forum. Congratulations on doing all those mods and I hope we all get to see the pics soon. Good luck with the digging.

Cheers!

[RhythmDivine]

Originally Posted by Sherlocked

You have owned 10 cars so far and out of them there were just two Marutis and no Hyundai speaks a lot about your choice in cars!

Although I can see that all your picks were a depreciation disaster and could be acquired for the same amount of money that one would pay for a lower segment car such as a used WagonR or i10 (or even cheaper than these).
This is the magic of used car market. Value for money quotient is increased substantially.

However, mostly all your purchase weren't what we would call a "safe purchase". Buying a used Opel or Daewoo or even a Ford Ikon for that matter has its own share of niggles and unforeseen expenses. Not only they are heavy on pocket but time consuming too. I bet, living in Delhi helped you to some extent as used car parts are available at ease in places like Mayapuri.

Buying and selling so many cars would have made you much knowledgeable in RTO matters and ownership transfer issues.

Please share some pics of your old cars here and welcome to the forum.

Hi,

Here are the pictures of my precious possessions. Managed to save few of them in my HD.

[Varun_HexaGuy]

Hi sir,
Welcome aboard. That's quite some swaps you've done over the years and all of them are not the choices of the usual aam-junta who buy used cars.

I gotta agree with you man. Fiat's and Ford's are a bliss to own. Nothing comes close to both of these when it comes to sheer driving pleasure. On another note, we've owned similar cars as well. I've owned a Uno 1.7D ELX (top-end) which was in the family till 2013, then we had a Palio 1.6 GTX which we bought used and exchanged it for a Linea 1.3 MJD in 2009. Now, we have a Compass 2.0 Multijet in the extended family. So we are now kinda away from the Fiat family.

Hope you enjoy your stay here,
Varun

[jetsetgo08]

Originally Posted by RhythmDivine

Now the big question comes in mind, how to find a proper car and how to negotiate with the price being asked. Well, to be frank, I always hunt for cars online (no dealer cars preferred) and then quote my price without even looking at the car (take off 30% to 50% of asking price). If you get a reply, my first question to the seller is, service records, if yes then we can go ahead and negotiate a little bit. However bonus comes in picture when there is no service history, then you have to see the car first, drive it, feel it and negotiate heavily on price.

....

Used car market is a gamble and one should know how to play in it.

Welcome to Team-Bhp, sir. 10 cars in 10 years is quite a feat.

This should post should go straight into http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/buying...car-india.html

Few questions w.r.t. negotiation, could you share how often does the 30%-50% negotiation work out? I see that most of the times one doesn't get replies. Does the same apply to mainstream high resale value cars? Which online portal do you use? Sharing this information/experience would be really helpful to many of us.

Thanks in advance.

[RhythmDivine]

Originally Posted by jetsetgo08

Welcome to Team-Bhp, sir. 10 cars in 10 years is quite a feat.

This should post should go straight into http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/buying...car-india.html

Few questions w.r.t. negotiation, could you share how often does the 30%-50% negotiation work out? I see that most of the times one doesn't get replies. Does the same apply to mainstream high resale value cars? Which online portal do you use? Sharing this information/experience would be really helpful to many of us.

Thanks in advance.

Hi JetSet,

Thanks for the appreciation.
More valuable the car, more negotiation will happen. Currently there are c class merc available in NCR for less than 200k with proper service records, yes these are old (2002 to 2005) but you can find a gem.
Normally 30% to 40% of the over priced car can be deducted when you knew what are you buying. All depends on your negotiation skills.

[fine69]

Originally Posted by RhythmDivine

Normally 30% to 40% of the over priced car can be deducted when you knew what are you buying. All depends on your negotiation skills.

Try that with a well-kept White Fortuner in NCR

Actually I bought a 2013 White Fortuner 4x4 last year and the journey was tiring to say the least. Well kept Fortuners are hard to find and the criteria of it being 'White + 4x4 + well-kept' only lowered my chances.

I plunged on the first good deal I got and paid a good premium for it but then it was also because I got desperate.

It was my first used-car purchase and I learned so much from just this one deal that I'm super excited to buy another used-car just so I can put all my learning in that purchase.

Originally Posted by RhythmDivine

Morale of the story is, do not get exicited on seeing a car, hold your horses and negotiate with the seller, you can get a gem at cheap rate if you know how to find it. And same goes when you are selling it, present your vehicle in a way that purchaser doesn't even think of negotiating. Never hide anything when selling the car.

This is precisely where I went wrong. However, my situation was such that I really had to close the deal since I needed another car at home.

Lesson learned is to be patient, really patient and you're bound to find a good deal. I also bought a house last year and its safe to say that both real estate and used car market isn't for the impatient. One needs to be calm, patient and a good negotiator to crack good deals.

PS: How much does your agent charge you for the RTO transfer? My dealer charged 4500 if I remember correctly.

[RhythmDivine]

Originally Posted by jetsetgo08

Welcome to Team-Bhp, sir. 10 cars in 10 years is quite a feat.

This should post should go straight into http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/buying...car-india.html

Few questions w.r.t. negotiation, could you share how often does the 30%-50% negotiation work out? I see that most of the times one doesn't get replies. Does the same apply to mainstream high resale value cars? Which online portal do you use? Sharing this information/experience would be really helpful to many of us.

Thanks in advance.

Originally Posted by fine69

Try that with a well-kept White Fortuner in NCR

Actually I bought a 2013 White Fortuner 4x4 last year and the journey was tiring to say the least. Well kept Fortuners are hard to find and the criteria of it being 'White + 4x4 + well-kept' only lowered my chances.

I plunged on the first good deal I got and paid a good premium for it but then it was also because I got desperate.

It was my first used-car purchase and I learned so much from just this one deal that I'm super excited to buy another used-car just so I can put all my learning in that purchase.

This is precisely where I went wrong. However, my situation was such that I really had to close the deal since I needed another car at home.

Lesson learned is to be patient, really patient and you're bound to find a good deal. I also bought a house last year and its safe to say that both real estate and used car market isn't for the impatient. One needs to be calm, patient and a good negotiator to crack good deals.

PS: How much does your agent charge you for the RTO transfer? My dealer charged 4500 if I remember correctly.

Hi,

Exactly, agree with what you just said, not for the impatient, for sure. Recently bought a Fortuner for my cousin, white + complete service record + 4*4 and deal was cracked for less than 800k. Spent couple of thousand in detailing and bumper paint, that's it.
Seller was hard pressed not to leave any penny however as I said in my previous post, we should know how and when to strike and never ever get excited. I knew under the dust and gravel lies a gem of machine and I can craft it into a diamond and thats where I pushed the seller, paint + cleanliness

For transfer, my Agent used to take 2k however recently he has increased it to 3k.