[aviorp]

Originally Posted by rajamuneeb

Aviorp. Congratulations for owning this beauty. Please do keep us posted about the experience of owning a Scorpio as i am also very keen on buying one soon. Also would like to know whether your's a VLX 4x4 or a VLX 4x2. Happy driving

Thanks rajamuneeb. Sure, I'll definitely update the thread. It is a VLX 4x2.

Originally Posted by krish_go

HI,
Nice pick.. Car looks really good. Hows the dealer experience. they quoted 8.5 and you got it for 7.8 pretty good deal man. Congrats.

Thanks krish_go. The dealer actually quoted 8.75L. I will soon share my experience and things that I came across about the 2nd hand market.

Originally Posted by blackbeast

Congrats on the buy. I wish it bring a lot of happiness in your life

Thanks blackbeast.

well, it is not that great a deal. 3 yr old and 45+ on the odo. I would have liked to put a lakh more and brought a year old done ~15k.

My dealer experience, should answer your question.

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[aviorp]

Dealer experience and how the 2nd Hand Market works.

From the time I decided it was a Scorp, I have spent nearly 2 to 3 hours everyday for almost 3 weeks, going around all the pre-owned car showrooms in Bangalore.

Number of Scorpio's found : Just 4 (mHawk and 2008 model)

Not even one 2009 model or 2010, even on Ad-mags or any other classifieds that I searched in those 15 odd days.

So, when I knew, this was the one for me, the dealer who quoted 8.75L bought the price down to 8.3L without too much of bargaining. He even showed a receipt of someone who tried to purchase the car 10 days ago for 8.35L, but could not buy as his loan was not approved. It was an actual receipt, similar to the one he provided me, so I know it was not fake. However, there was more to this.

'Middle-man' thing :

When I first visited National motors and the first Scorp that I drove, which I have mentioned in my buying experience, did not have any sought of documents nor service history. I was keen to know things and for the heck of it, I spoke to the dealer about bargaining. He called up someone and told me, he was the owner, however the guy could not answer things like, when was the last service done and why the tyres were changed. He only spoke about the price. So, I told the dealer, I want to meet the owner in person, he said he is not in bangalore. I asked him to give his address, he spilled the beans, saying rudely to me, 'how many people do you want to talk to'? and when I asked who was guy on the phone, he said it was 'middle-man'.

This guy is usally the one, who would have introduced the owner to the dealer and trying to make some profit. I bought this up with the dealer, from whom I bought the car, when he called someone over the phone and said it was the owner . The moment I said, I know he is just a middle-man, he said it was his friend. I bluntly said, I'm only going to pay the price of the car, which it holds in the market and not anything more, he bought it down to 8L.

I dint let it go there, as I wanted it at 7.5L and nothing more because from what I have seen and learnt, There is no fixed price for a pre-owned car. The value totally depends on 'You'. I spent close to 3 hours, talking to the dealer and the owner, explaining about the depreciation in prices, with every year. For example, the moment the car is out of a showroom and you want to sell it, there is a 15% flat dip. Considering that it had done over 40K kms and 2.5 years, it was just a matter of time and convincing those guys. More over, when I enquired about the previous owner, I came to know he bought a Laura. So, I bought this up often to the owner and persisted him to lower the price. Also informed him that I may have to change the tyres in some time, get it serviced and pay insurance in Jan, which was within 6 months and end up spending atleast 30 to 40K, he finalized the deal at 7.8L. I agreed to it, simply because the car had all the documents, accident-free, service history and well maintained.

It is time consuming and very tiring, but it might pay-off. I have learnt a lot from this experience and hope this is off some meaningful contribution to someone who is looking to buy a pre-owned car.

Cheers
Avinash

[aviorp]

@NFS: Here are the pictures of the 'tiny scoops' which are located at the sides of the doors and also at the front. Its on all the 5 doors and this is common on almost all the cars.







Cheers
Avinash

[krish_go]

Avinash,
Im little confused.
These 'tiny scoops', they are suppose to be there or they are not suppose to be there on the car?
You also talked about some sound when you tap on the side, i tried with my car and and just repaired accident car in the garage (hit on the left side near bonnet and door) and did not find a different sound. But these are very useful tips though.
How about under the car, did you have any check list to see for any rust/corrusion?
thanx.

[aviorp]

Originally Posted by krish_go

Avinash,
Im little confused.
These 'tiny scoops', they are suppose to be there or they are not suppose to be there on the car?
You also talked about some sound when you tap on the side, i tried with my car and and just repaired accident car in the garage (hit on the left side near bonnet and door) and did not find a different sound. But these are very useful tips though.
How about under the car, did you have any check list to see for any rust/corrusion?
thanx.

The purpose of the spots are to verify if the car has had a major collision or not. So, it 'Has' to be there.

About the repair part - if the parts are replaced completely, you'll not find the difference. If you take it to a local repair show, they remove the dents and apply some sought of paste and then paint it. If this is the case, then, you can definitely find out.

[triedeverything]

Very interesting information!... and welcome to the Scorpio owners whatever..
Are my eyes tricking me or is there so much space in the rear? There's hardly any space in the 2010 model. Have they moved the last row back in the later models?

[aviorp]

Originally Posted by triedeverything

Very interesting information!... and welcome to the Scorpio owners whatever..
Are my eyes tricking me or is there so much space in the rear? There's hardly any space in the 2010 model. Have they moved the last row back in the later models?

Thanks triedeverything. Yeah I know, there is a long list of scorpio owners on this forum, good to be part of it though . Nope, I'm not sure about the space behind the last row on the newer one.

[naren_kk]

I like this Team-Bhp portal a lot. I am a daily visitor for this portal for almost two years and i spend around minimum of 1 hour per day. Till now i a silent spectator and today i am breaking my silence.

I have booked by Scorpio VLX BSIV with Airbags from pondicherry. Expected delivery date is end of FEB 2011.

learned lot of tips & tricks about the beast and already i have taken the printouts for PDI checklist and all set for taking my beast out of the cage.

Cheers
K K

[krish_go]

KK, Thats a great news. Congrats!! There are few things you will need check/confirm with the dealer. Adding a crash guard to front and back, adding additional spoilers at rear and any additional fittings onto the body (which may require drill) from outside may void anit-rusting warranty. I am not sure if was tried to be tricked but this is what the information i was provided by the dealer at the time of purchase. I anyway took that chance and went outside because its too expensive with them.
Confirm on this before going outside for any parts.

[mdsaab]

Congratulations! What a fine looking beast. I enjoyed your write up on the buying pre owned experience, and totally agree with you that its the buyers price which counts. Wishing you many miles of joyful motoring with your beast.

[rajamuneeb]

Aviorp just curious but could you share some real -ves of the scorpio.

[aviorp]

Originally Posted by naren_kk

I like this Team-Bhp portal a lot. I am a daily visitor for this portal for almost two years and i spend around minimum of 1 hour per day. Till now i a silent spectator and today i am breaking my silence.

I have booked by Scorpio VLX BSIV with Airbags from pondicherry. Expected delivery date is end of FEB 2011.

learned lot of tips & tricks about the beast and already i have taken the printouts for PDI checklist and all set for taking my beast out of the cage.

Cheers
K K

Congratulations Naren! I have been following t-bhp for a long time too and learnt a lot. Btw, what colour is yours and how less is it in pondy, when compared to b'lore?

Originally Posted by mdsaab

Congratulations! What a fine looking beast. I enjoyed your write up on the buying pre owned experience, and totally agree with you that its the buyers price which counts. Wishing you many miles of joyful motoring with your beast.

Thanks a lot mdsaab. Its been such a pleasure driving him around and cant believe its almost 6 months now

Originally Posted by rajamuneeb

Aviorp just curious but could you share some real -ves of the scorpio.

Apart from the things, I mentioned in my 'Driving experience', there is nothing else. So far, I have enjoyed it to the core (touchwood). I'll update the thread regularly and if I do find anything else, I don't like, will let you know.

[zulfi hansi]

Congratulations on your buy, its now more or less a cult car, does every bit of what is expected of it, and I am sure you will enjoy the experience while it is with you in the years to come.

Just one word of caution: Most owners that I have spoken to and also seen there Scorps, it is notorious for rusting, one instance, I had seen on 2009 M Hawk (new look), it was white and looked as good as brand new, but when I took a closer look I saw tiny rust dots on all doors just below the windows above the door handles, since the car was white it was more so easily visible, some rust dots were visible even from under the huge MHawk stickers on the doors, I am sure you have already geared yourself to deal with this problem. Do tell me about this.

[NFS]

Originally Posted by aviorp

@NFS: Here are the pictures of the 'tiny scoops' which are located at the sides of the doors and also at the front. Its on all the 5 doors and this is common on almost all the cars.
Cheers
Avinash

Thanks for the detailed pics and your effort in explaining this to all in TBHP. In a post after these pictures, you had mentioned that these tiny spots has to be there for a car to be considered accident free.

Please No offence you should feel, how does these spots inform us that they represent an accident free car?

Is it that only the new car from the assembly line has these spots?
New door bought from the dealer (after an accident) will not have this? I have heard that new body parts are painted just before they are fixed on the car, could be that these spots give us some indications towards such paintings?
Or Are these spots related to some paint machine holds which are only found in factory painted parts?

If it is something related to paintings, do we have these spots on each body part? like bonnet cover, bumpers, fenders etc, but not visible for some reason.

Also can this be confirmed by someone here working with Mahindra or any other Car manufacturers?

Once again my Questions above are NOT questioning our beloved member aviorp in anyway, but I am trying to ascertain the significance/real background of such a wonderful method to identify an accident car.

Thanks aviorp for the photographs and the wonderful experience of bargaining on a used car.

[aviorp]

Originally Posted by zulfi hansi

Congratulations on your buy, its now more or less a cult car, does every bit of what is expected of it, and I am sure you will enjoy the experience while it is with you in the years to come.

Just one word of caution: Most owners that I have spoken to and also seen there Scorps, it is notorious for rusting, one instance, I had seen on 2009 M Hawk (new look), it was white and looked as good as brand new, but when I took a closer look I saw tiny rust dots on all doors just below the windows above the door handles, since the car was white it was more so easily visible, some rust dots were visible even from under the huge MHawk stickers on the doors, I am sure you have already geared yourself to deal with this problem. Do tell me about this.

Thanks zulfi hansi. Yes, rusting was one of the things that I had in my 'to do check-list' but did not notice any, on the doors or anywhere near the engine compartment. However, some part of the underbody has some. The last time I took it for service, the SA told me to get the 'underbody' treatment done, which should take care of it. Planning it to get it done during the next service, which is due in a couple of months. Will keep you updated.

Originally Posted by NFS

Thanks for the detailed pics and your effort in explaining this to all in TBHP. In a post after these pictures, you had mentioned that these tiny spots has to be there for a car to be considered accident free.

Please No offence you should feel, how does these spots inform us that they represent an accident free car?

Is it that only the new car from the assembly line has these spots?
New door bought from the dealer (after an accident) will not have this? I have heard that new body parts are painted just before they are fixed on the car, could be that these spots give us some indications towards such paintings?
Or Are these spots related to some paint machine holds which are only found in factory painted parts?

If it is something related to paintings, do we have these spots on each body part? like bonnet cover, bumpers, fenders etc, but not visible for some reason.

Also can this be confirmed by someone here working with Mahindra or any other Car manufacturers?

Once again my Questions above are NOT questioning our beloved member aviorp in anyway, but I am trying to ascertain the significance/real background of such a wonderful method to identify an accident car.

Thanks aviorp for the photographs and the wonderful experience of bargaining on a used car.

It is my pleasure to share these details. These are some of the tips and tricks, I learnt from my friends who have good knoweldge about cars and also a local mechanic, who taught me this.

As I had mentioned, in my initial ownership post, these spots are 'only' to verify if there was a major accident. For example : an head on collision. In this case, the 'Company plate' cannot be replaced and also those dots wont appear, even if it was replaced from the company. The same holds true for the doors too. These are the markings done during the manufacturing of a car. I'm not sure if it serves any other purpose, other than verifying, if its an accident free car or not. I'll surely check this the next time I visit the workshop.