Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Long-Term Ownership Reviews (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-term-ownership-reviews/)

-   -   The First Grand Vitara on Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-term-ownership-reviews/30922-first-grand-vitara-team-bhp-103.html)

My GV just has 16 months left on the FC and I don't have any pending repair or upgrade in mind.

What is the new policy on renewing the FC? How did you get that huge number, is it MH specific or all India numbers?

I wonder what will be the road tax...

Not sure about new policy, i guess the process will be same however with enhanced rates and additional taxes, surcharge etc.

The number estimated in my post include Road tax+Greent tax+ Registration charges+ incidentals. The search on internet suggests that Road tax for old personal vehicles will be 40% of tax paid on new vehicle(As per existing rules in Maharashtra ). In view of the news about Green tax that would be levied on the Road tax and overall punitive environment to push for new car purchase, the estimate is not conservative.

Initially I had planned to dispose off or scrap my GV in 2022 (15 years). It has run a shade over 1 lakh kms now.
Then the Covid epidemic came along and has knocked my financial planning for a toss.
FM "thewhiteknight" is also mulling over whether to keep or sell his GV in 2023.

Both of us are agreed that no petrol car on sale now in the Indian market offers the same features ie.:-
1. Rugged badroader
2. All round independant suspension
3. Full time 4wd with low range gearbox.
4. Not too much of electronics.
5. Easy to service at any Maruti service station.
6. Relatively cheap parts. Though prices have crept up now. And delivery times are stretching.

I have already done all the repairs to suspension, bushes, belts etc. in 2019 & 2020.

So my thinking is to renew the registration for another 5 years and pay whatever tax is needed. I will also get the vehicle transferred to my name from my mother's name then. Once the lock-down ends I will enquire about the charges and when the process can be initiated.
I am planning to get a round of preventive maintenance done this month. Mainly changing the water pump, a/c compressor clutch and the gear box support bracket. Should cost 20k tops. And budget for additional 40-50K per year for additional repairs over and above regular servicing. It still works out cheaper that just getting hit with the depreciation on a 30-40 Lakhs new car.
I am not too eager to go down the used car route for two reasons - i)no suv available comes close to the GV at a reasonable price. ii)My GV is now a known entity and I have got the hang of how to manage it. I am quite confident of using the vehicle for another 5 years without too much bother.
The only thing that will change my mind is a well maintained 2012-2014 AT GV!

Truth be told I do not see any viable successor to the GV in 2027. I will cross that bridge then.

https://vahan.parivahan.gov.in/vahan...atonHome.xhtml

This is the website page for renewal of registration in Pune RTO.
Last year it had allowed me to enter vehicle details etc. and go ahead. But now it is saying renewal services are temporarily suspended.

I got into another link for the green tax and I got an amount of Rs 3000.
Please see attached screen grab.
So it looks like that the major cost is going to be the 5 year registration tax.

Just 3000? Then it is cheap right? Or am I missing anything?

My take - renew it and retain it, use it well.

Petrol private vehicles should face less problems even at 20 years. Worst case, even if you have to scrap it in 5 years, you should be near break-even when comparing the 1.6 lakhs vs costs associated with new vehicle over these 5 years. May be better if you consider the depreciation of the new vehicle.

Yes, going to be real iffy for diesel vehicles

Same ideas are rattling in my head for a while, especially with the pandemic, the driving has become so rare. Any car that will fully replace GV will cost well over 30L. GV is so sorted out, CBU quality, and it can keep running as long as parts are available.

I will renew the FC for another 5 years.

I think this would change once the scrappage policy kicks in.

Agree, vote bank politics is expected to be a factor here, especially for 15 years old vehicles. Probably the non commercial cars from tier I, II metro would be soldoff to rural/towns, as happened in Delhi post the NGT order.

Thinking of the car, this is the first and foremost thing that comes to mind.

My GV is registered in a Tier-III town, and will remain so. Hopefully, it can escape this scrappage policy.

I was expecting around 40K.
Rough calculations show the road tax component to be between 60k to 75k.
I will be starting the process of extending the registration once lock-down ends. I will update on this thread.

More than the vote-bank part, I hope the concerned authority here makes things more rational in terms looking at functionality than ambitious progression of the whole system in terms of moving towards EVs.

But this is a political discussion point.

At least you guys have the option to renew. I have a Grand Vitara and a Toyota Camry both in Mint condition, and both completing 15 years in Dec 2022. Being in NCR it will be sad to scrap both the vehicles.

I just hope and wish the scrapage policy is implemented in Delhi-NCR too.

I think you would have considered selling these to outside NCR. I believe you can manage the NOC in the next few months, before you reach end of the year. Sooner the better.

I talked to a RTO consultant regarding the renewal issue.
According to him there are two component of the renewal charges:-
1. Renewal fees - this is expected to go up significantly by atleast 4 times.
2. Green tax - This is to be levied in place of road tax. There is no clarity on what the structure of this tax or the amount will be.
He said that currently renewal of registration post 15 years is suspended as the RTOs are expecting new rules.
So we will have to wait for the rules and policy to be notified.

I had faced, in 2019, serious problems of water ingress and accumulation into the dickey hidden storage. The main dickey area would be dry, including the matting.

(ps: image picked up from the internet & marked up. My dickey is never so clean or empty:cool:)
This occurred when the vehicle was taken out for long drives in the rain. I had inspected the beading and found it proper. I tried to find out the pathway through which the water was seeping in. The beading was as dry as the sands of the Sahara. So it had to be a capillary leak. But I never could find out any probable points. By then the monsoon season passed and I decided to look into the matter next year.
Early in 2020 January I read a post on UK Suzuki forum about one member's similar problem. On checking my car I found the cracks in the sealants! This occurs in the sealant that is used to waterproof the weld joint between the side body panel and the roof panel.
LH side:


RH side:


So I liberally applied Silicon sealant at both the places.


Unfortunately I have not been able to take the car out, for a long enough drive, during the 2020 monsoons due to the lock-down. So I don't know if the repairs have been successful.
Hopefully I will be able to get the vehicle properly drenched in this monsoon. I will report then.

Even I've faced the same issue, but in my case, it was related to improper sealing of the back door against the beading. I got the door set properly in 2018, and all was well after that.

Water can seep through to the secret storage even if the rear door beading isn't installed properly over the adjoining plastic trims.

Rear door beading in place - sealant also intact


Plastic trim adjoining the secret storage


Secret storage floor - bone dry after the door was set properly