[msharma_79]

Got inspired by the story of mike, so i thought of writing my own and it is not very happy happy story,

ok here we go.

How we decided to buy an IKON Flair.

Me and my wife newly weds in 2005 had been driving our individual maruti 800 and were quiet happy about it. But one day after a business meeting my wife came back pretty upset. ( She is a Interior Decorator). After lot of pursuation i was told that the client she met today was very rude and he told that" Interior decorator ki pehchan uski gaadi se hoti hai. seems like you are not doing well". and the guy left.

I thought about it and i told my wife that guy was right in a way.

it was big reason for an egotistic guy like me to go ahead with the new car, but wife tried to convince me that it was just one guy and we are doing just fine so no need to go for a new car.

Being a sales man for such a long time i convinced her back that we need a bigger car now anyways as my M-800 is really old it was 1997 Model.

so we started looking for one. Just like so many people we also wanted to upgrade to three box car.

so we looked at esteem ( good car but looks too premitive and i thougt it was on it's last leg). we were wrong wern't we????. it is still sellling like hot cakes.

anyways to shorten it we looked at all the cars accent( out of budget) indigo( does not suit ladies) and ford Ikon.

and I loved the Ikon 1.3 Flair, it was in budget, looked classy good city car. only problem which everybody told us was maintenance cost and resale value.

and one stupid thing which i did was that i tried using my logic, i thought all the good taxi operators ( like hertz and all) buy ikon and they are the heaviest users. if at all this car is high on maintenance why any business man would invest in a bad car, that too when it the most critical part of the business.


After buying the car we came to know that Ford had given big discounts to taxi operator.hehehe

We Bought the Ikon Flair.

The car was beautiful, had no ICE and so we enjoyed the sound of the engine for a week.

Earlier Hiccups

1. Heat coming from the A.C. went was awfull,so we had to keep our ac on all the time, graduating from M800 to IKON it takes time to get used to all that. but after the technician told how to keep the ac on the cool before starting the engine would stop the problem.so it more or less cured, i dont remember exactly what happened it was after that.
2. car loosing power in second gear, well that was also taken care of by the ford people in second service, i would not know much how as it was not driving it regularly.and i never took it for service till then (wait till my turn comes)

so we decided to get the stereo fitted oh sorry the ICE fitted in the car.

as i work in delhi i asked my brother a 19 yr old ( BIG MISTAKE)to get it fitted from a known vendor in Gurgaon.

when i came back in the evening a bill of Rs. 27000/- was waiting for me on the table. I ran out to see what has been done in the car.

well this is what i found

• Sony Model (will come back with it) STEREO
• and XPLODE speakers
• And big A** Pioneer Woofer and a sony amplifier.
• an automatic radio antenna.
• a gear lock and floor mats(which i asked for).
• oh and fog lamps( big role ahead for these)

The stereo was so loud that it was shaking everything inside including me.

so i scolded my brother and paid the bill.

But i love the ICE in my car now.

so everybody was happy till now.

Now the unfortunate part starts.

I was in hospital for three month due to surgeries and all thanks to apollo.
(when why how )that is a different story all together. In a nut shell my beloved car became a fairy to pick unwanted relatives from all over. it really screwed the car as it was driven by everybody who could or could not drive. lot of scartches came in this period.

So the unfortunate day i decided to go to office it all happened.

i decided to go to my office on my beautiful car. i parked it out side my office and just after 20 minutes the guard came running to me

"SAAB GAADI MEIN AAG LUG GAYA HAI"

I Ran out to check, people were buckets of water and sand on the car the front of the car was smoking from the front and front bumper had totally melted and radiator was smoking big time. as soon as my senses came back i broke the hood of the car by pulling it upwards to save the engine.

we put out the fire. somebody suggested to take some pictures of the car for insurance purpose. the first picture of my car ever was in half melt condition here are few.


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Did not know what to do.. called my father and wife they both said not to worry, I was just cursing my luck first surgeries now this.finally got hold of my self, So called up Insurance agent. car was insured with National Insurance so no cash less also.


the recovery van came from samara, buggers tried to start the car without checking with technicians, the whole car was full of smoke everything was switched on, could not switch the car off so rushed and disconnected the battery before it kills the ECM.

Now i was really scared, sat in the frontseat of the van, the recovery guys very ruthlessly hung my car to the chain.

people were staring at my brand new car, some laughing and some making funny faces.

reached samara where i was told by a gentleman not to say anything about how the car cought fire. i very obediently listened.

i was still not sure how it happened but people who were there told that there was some dry leafs were lying under the car some body must have thrown a cigerette or something.

so i stuck to this story,
Samara people had good fun on my account. finally an executive showed up asked all sort of question, i stuck to the story. he looked at me as if i was criminal and left.

came back and told me that you are in deep trouble..your faulty fog lamps are the reason for the fire.you got it fitted from the local market and now you have to pay for it.
but I said have not even got them connected because i wanted ford people to do that for me and this is summer so it was still pending.

he went back and said yeah you could be right but the whole wiring harness is burnt as it runs thru under the front bumper and it is possible ecm is also gone, radiator has got melted plastic stuck to it so that is also gone. bonet will be changed lights and lamps are also gone. the whole front will be painted again. total estimate Rs. 175000/-

I had no idea about where will i get the money, so i asked them to hold till the time i speak to surveyors.

surveyors came, very nice and very busy people, gave me ran around for 2 days finally they checked it and declared it that thorogh investgation is required on how the car cought fire.

they wanted me to put pressure on ford for selling me a faulty car. they came up with a thousand stories on how they have seen many of these things happening to ford vehicles.

finally surveyor okeyed the claim and filled the report without mentioning the fog lamps. but i was only entitled to 50% of the repair cost as the maximum was plastic. so now the story was about the balance.


anyways i arranged for the balance some how, now i was worried about how to get the estimated value down to a reasonable figure.

Main concern was ECM if that is safe then i straight away save Rs.22.500/- (half of the actually amount insurance co. rate it as plastic part).


With all my doubts about the integrity of the people around i kept going at samara every day and asking them to hurry up.

ECM was safe this news came to me after 15 days of accident.

finally something to feel relaxed about.

got my car back after a month.followed up with Insurance company paid the balance amout Rs.60000/-cash to agency got my car back.


it was sigh of relief...

wait the story does not end here...

two month's later my brother banged the car and screwed the front left fender, with all my agony i got it repaired at a local shop and paid another 3000 bucks.



No this is not the end...


the rain which we delhiwalas wait all thru year so desperatly finally arrived check out date on the picture below.but this time it was hailstorm, hails as big my fist came down on my beautifull car which i forgot to park inside.

fog lamps are gone again..hehe

the car now has around 15 or more beautiful dents on the car.just like preity Zinta's dimples.




have decided not to get those repaired as i also another no claim bonus and dont have any energy to pursue ford peple.

enjoying the car the way it is, done 25000 kms. recently.

BUT I STILL LOVE THIS CAR AND ANY PRESPECTIVE BUYERS PLEASE CONTACT AT..... NO NO JUST KIDDING NOT SELLING IT ANYWAYS.THIS CAR WILL GO DOWN WITH ME..I HOPE IT IS NOT SOME TIME SOON


WHAT HAPPENS TO THE CAR NEXT WILL UPDATE ON THIS THREAD

TAKE CARE

GOD BLESS

MANU SHARMA

[theMAG]

I'm sure your Ikon will become your Phoenix. Best of luck

[benbsb29]

Well, quite a lot of ups and downs in that ownership experience !!
Looks like giving your car to varied people to drive was the beginning of it all.

How is the car performing since the repairs that were carried out following the fire?

[msharma_79]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Well, quite a lot of ups and downs in that ownership experience !!
Looks like giving your car to varied people to drive was the beginning of it all.

How is the car performing since the repairs that were carried out following the fire?

Could not help i was in hospital.

car is running like a dream, see they did not repair, they just replaced it. so it like new only

[msharma_79]

Originally Posted by theMAG

I'm sure your Ikon will become your Phoenix. Best of luck

just like phoenix the car has also risen from its own ashes.

[finneyp]

Though you had a harrowing ownership experience with your Ikon, you still love your Car! Kudos!

The fire incident was really unfortunate, curious to know the real culprit....?

[speedmiester]

That is some sad story you got there dude.
Very sorry for what happened.

Did you come to know the exact cause of the fire?

[speedzak]

Wow! That's some love saga. Sometimes it is our cars which teaches us so many things in life.

I too have a car similar to your's. It's time I also write something like this.

[msharma_79]

Originally Posted by finneyp

Though you had a harrowing ownership experience with your Ikon, you still love your Car! Kudos!

The fire incident was really unfortunate, curious to know the real culprit....!

it is first big car, like i said i will never sell it.

could never find out what happend, but i am sure it was something external.

no need to get scared ford owners

[gopz]

manu..very unfortunate to read it man...but you do have contacts with insurance companies but still they gave you a run for the claims??

[msharma_79]

Originally Posted by gopz

manu..very unfortunate to read it man...but you do have contacts with insurance companies but still they gave you a run for the claims??

these are all recent contact, my brother has joined Private sector, and the car was insured with PSU.

[bblost]

reminds me of bumper sticker, I read somewhere (maybe team-bhp itself).

bhagwan mujhe doston se bachaley,
dushmano se main khud nipat loonga.

god, save me from these friends,
i can handle the enemies, myself.

[ramie2400]

sir your patience is awared for going ahead with your car thru the bad times.I wish you all the luck and dentless ride

[gaurav_diavolo]

1) 25000 kms and so much already seen......! You are the Man! Appears as if Ford made the 'Josh' machine just for you!
2) a quick remedy to all your problems: gift your old car to your brother and ask him to stay away from your car!
3) a lifesaver: throw away those 'manhoos' foglamps immediately
4) and finally, please start taking 'Safola'......your car is making your life way too adventurous!


for the troubles this beautiful machine is giving you, and I can understand how it feels when we save money each day, day by day for this one big achievement of our life.....A BIG CAR!

[BUSA]

That was a very well written article. Its really good to know your courage when your car was driving you crazy. I think it doesnot coincide with your stars so you sell it.

No i am not Bejaan. I mean Daruwala.