[mayankjha1806]

Sad to see the state of affairs of used car industry, you experiencing it first hand and all of us readers now being aware and know about the practice. The used car industry keeps hitting its own foot which will eventually make it difficult for themselves if not checked.

Nice to see you were finally able to sell the car, and yes its not rocket science to figure out of the car has had accidents, your first mechanic was either a novice or was hand-in-glove with the seller.

Thanks for sharing the learning's.

[lohithrao]

Sarthak, you dint have a great start with the 4wheels but am sure many would learn from your experience.

Yes, offlate buying a used car from a dealer is a big risk, even i almost got duped by M&M first choice....dealers like FC have a set-up where they fix all visible issues and sell it to un-suspecting buyers.

Anyways, you have made a good choice with Honda and am sure it will compensate for the first experience...

[subratasenn]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Despite all the issues you have managed to get a very good price for the car.
========
The new car buyer also will be happy since his car will sell easily in the used car market as it will be known as a brand where odo reading is backed up by the company.

I think this is a brilliant idea. Frankly, I never knew that digital odometres could be tampered like this. I own a second hand Alto VX 1.1, 2001, which I bought in 2005 and the odometre was showing 23,000 km only. However, before buying I checked this with service record of Maruti and the odometer reading seemed to be correct. I never had a problem with this car and the Odometre is now showing 83K. I had always been a strong advocate for buying used cars, as the prices come down hugely as compared to a new car. But after reading this post, I'll rethink about it. Anyway, this time I am set to get a new car and so shouldn't be worrying about it.

[SDP]

Originally Posted by sarthakgupta

....
July 2012,
Car began to smoke heavily with no boost at all. Mileage dropped drastically from previous levels of about 17 - 18 kmpl to 11 - 12 kmpl. By now had read enough articles on Team-BHP to deduce it to be a Turbo failure. Diagnosed at service centre as a Turbo failure (they connected some device and found that there was almost no boost). Cost for a new Turbo - about Rs. 65,000.
...

Does the Turbo cost so high in all cars with turbo-charged engines? I understand that its a high-precision engineered component, but still 65K sounds ridicuously high. Is this beause its a Hyundai or all turbos cost something similar?

Can fellow TBHPians who have seen turbo-replacements (not necessarily Verna, but any diesel car), throw some light around the pricing?

[sanjeevskartha]

Originally Posted by sarthakgupta

The last service was done at about 73000 kms in August 2010. This translated to car being at about 80,000 kms when I purchased it in January 2011.

• The car had met with accidents - not one but three, at 500 kms, 10,000 kms and 27000 kms.
• No record for about service history for about 20,000 kms from 50,000 kms to 73,000 kms.

Decided to sell the car.

August 2012,
Got it evaluated at few places - all of them immediately recoganised signs of accidents and me being second owner quoted prices in range of 2 lakhs to 3.11 lakhs max. Decided against selling it to a private buyer since I won't be able to milk any unsuspecting buyer by not telling him all the issues, like I got milked.

Sold it to a dealer for 3.11 lakhs.

Sad to know that you got cheated. It would be really good of you to share the VIN of the car so that any prospective buyer would not get duped. The dealer would probably tamper the odo again and pass it on to some other unsuspecting customer.
What you don't want is another BHPian(or anyone for that matter) buying your car from the dealer and then writing a review about being cheated

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by SDP

Does the Turbo cost so high in all cars with turbo-charged engines? I understand that its a high-precision engineered component, but still 65K sounds ridicuously high. Is this beause its a Hyundai or all turbos cost something similar?

Yes, that is the typical cost of a turbocharger.

Skoda turbos cost around a lac and Scorpio turbos around 75k. I know these prices from replacements that my friends have had.

[sarthakgupta]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

I don't get one thing though - how did the mechanic who did the first evaluation not figure out the accidented past - leave alone the 40k kms difference?! It just surprises me especially because when you were out to sell the car, you mentioned that people could figure out that the car had been thru' accidents.

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Nice to see you were finally able to sell the car, and yes its not rocket science to figure out of the car has had accidents, your first mechanic was either a novice or was hand-in-glove with the seller.

Yes, even we feel that he must have been brought-off by the seller.
I observed how the used car dealers found out signs of accident while evaluating my car. It is actually very easy. A car can never be restored to a factory manufactured state.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

So, is the City pre-worshipped or the '12 City?

Its the '12 City CE.

Originally Posted by n.devdath

This means your monthly commute, at the minimum is 20X2 = 40X30 = 1200kms.

While the City is a trouble free car, I would not buy a petrol car for that kind of usage every month. I understand your nervousness about buying a diesel car after all you ve been through but a new or a clean pre owned diesel car is what you should be looking at IMO.

Originally Posted by blackbeast

+1 . listen to dev and don't let your past experience influence your buying decision.

clutch is prone to failures in diesels. I have seen turbo failures in swift as well. This should not deter you from diesels.Now I'm looking to buy an used petrol but it suits my criteria. I suggest to read petrol v diesel thread on the forum. Despite all the hassles, you could sell it for 3+ Lakhs. Its another lesson. Diesel = resale value.

Actually there is a difference now. With completion of my studies I am able to leave office by 5:30 P.M. and thus I have joined the chartered bus service being employed by other colleagues. So my daily running will be about 5 - 10 kms per day max. (Indore is a very small - entire city within 14 km of diameter !!!!!).

Originally Posted by blackbeast

This is perhaps your first lesson. Why would you go for a mechanic when you have hyundai service guys do this at a free of cost ?

Blackbeast sir, as I have mentioned in my post - we had absolutely zero experience with cars. I didn't even know what is a service center or even the fact that a car needed service. I got introduced to Team-BHP after I had purchased that car. The car, along with Team-BHP have been my teachers in field of cars. Many things that seem pretty obvious now were big revelations at that time.

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Just wondering whether car companies could make basic data like date of service and odo reading during the service carried out, publicly available on their websites.

A similar system does exists in US. I think it is knows as carfax. They charge some fees and provide all data related to a VIN

[condor]

Originally Posted by SDP

Does the Turbo cost so high in all cars with turbo-charged engines?

Yes, they do cost a bit. But then, Hyundai spares are priced high.

[subratasenn]

Just a question to the experts. What happens if someone decides not to replace the turbo boost? What happens if one continues with the turbo lag. How much uncomfortable is that?

[sarthakgupta]

Short Term Effects:
Due to insufficient air charging the fuel doesn't burn completely which leads to loss of mileage (Mine dropped from consistent 17 - 18 to 11 - 12 kmpl) and heavy smoking (even under mild acceleration).

Long Term Effects (from some European websites):
Prolonged driving in these conditions will eat up your exhaust after-treatment systems i.e. the catalytic converters (SCR systems on modern European diesels are quite expensive), EGR systems and Diesel particulate filters.

MPFI Petrols donot suffer from these issues as they do not have so many exhaust after-treatment devices (mostly they do with a simple cat con - AFAIK Honda i-vtec doesn't even have that).

However, the new gen direct injection turbo charged engines like the VW TSI or the upcoming Ford Ecoboost can suffer from these issues.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by sarthakgupta

Short Term Effects:

Long Term Effects (from some European websites):

Wow Sarthak, that was a nice answer. What are you studying these days?

[sarthakgupta]

Devnath sir, you have no idea how much this car has taught me.

After all of my experience I can say one thing, If one really wants to learn about cars, buy a second hand car!!!!!!!

[sandeepmohan]

It is unfortunate that your Hyundai ended up as a melon for you. You were cheated.

I was in almost the exact same situation when I had a Ford Ikon 1.6. I bought this car as I had no money at all and needed a decent set of four wheels. My dad funded it. I was not really cheated. The mistake was mine as the car was 9 years old and had run only 50000 odd km. No odo tampering. The chap I bought it from was my neighbor and the car was mostly standing in his garage more than being run and hence the low miles. What happened was a chain of part replacement one after the other. I spent 1.9lac on the car and spent an easy 1.2lac on its upkeep for close to two years. Thank god for my wife or I would continue to be heading flat broke every few months due to the maintenance expense for this Ford. It is a superb car to drive. Ford just ruined it with the part costs.

I sold the Ford in October 2011 and it was a huge loss. However, the new owner is happy with it and I am glad the car is serving him well.

Team bhp was unknown to me back in 2009 when I bought the Ford so the only inspection was my own inspection which proved useless. I am better prepared now. I may not have the ability to tell if the car has been through a shunt though. I will buy another used car if there is a need. You need to be really careful selecting one. I won't buy the idea of someone recommending one even if it is from a known person. That no longer has any truth in it.

The Honda City is the safest bet among the sedans. The SX4 is another very good option.

[aditya101]

Originally Posted by Harbir

Virtually every used car I have looked at in the last year (and I have looked at a huge number) showed evidence of odometer fraud.

My neighbour sold his first generation Swift LXI/LDI - he was proudly telling me that when sold it had done more than 1 Lac Km but got the odometer reset to <50,000 Km

I cannot imagine buying a 1 Lac Km car!

[Harbir]

Originally Posted by aditya101

My neighbour sold his first generation Swift LXI/LDI - he was proudly telling me that when sold it had done more than 1 Lac Km but got the odometer reset to <50,000 Km

is it not a quintessentially indian trait to feel smart and satisfied at having gotten more than was fairly due to you through some cleverness which invariably involves deception, unfair practice, or dishonesty?