So finally I landed up at Select Auto on 17th May, with my 10+ year old Alto. It had just crossed 80k kms on the odo, and it was time for a major service. The car has held on extremely well over the years and does not show her age. Most things were fine as far as I was concerned. I was looking for the 80k service, plus a thorough checkup of the car inside out, in order to find any issues that may be lurking and could be a potential problem in future. Apart from this, there were a few niggles, listed below.
- Front right power window winder would not stop when the glass is rolled up completely
- Body noises and rattles, both within the cabin as well as outside
- Gear shift wasn't smooth. Shifting into reverse would sometimes need more than 1 attempt
- Suspension was suspect. I could feel the imperfections of the road through the steering wheel (could be a steering assembly issue as well) and suspension would make noises going over rough patches
- Front cross member had rusted and needed to be replaced
Met Mr.Shanbaug. True to every post made here, he is a true gentleman, a really honest and knowledgeable mechanic, and overall an extremely sincere and pleasant person. While I was waiting for him, one of the mechanics came up to me and asked what the LTD sticker on the driver's door was about. I told him it's an online community of automobile experts and enthusiasts, and this is where I found out about this garage in the first place. He then said that he has seen lot of cars coming to the garage having that sticker, but never really found out what it was all about. It was kind of a very proud moment for me.
He sat in the car and started her up. Switched the AC on/off a few times, and kept an eye to the drop in RPM in neutral. Then he took her for a test drive, me alongside.
He said that the car is in reasonably good shape for her age, and there don't seem to be any imminent issues. He mentioned that the engine is missing some RPM, which is not normal. Also for a 4 cylinder engine, the engine note is a bit rough. I mentioned the suspension problem, but he said he couldn't notice that much of an issue. Still he decided to take a look at it. Apart from that, he agreed that there were a lot of noises and rattles.
We got back to the garage and he took me to his office. There we discussed the various jobs to be done and issues to be investigated. He made a complete list of all the work, and gave me an estimate of 10 days, quoting that most of the time would be taken to eliminate all the noises since that requires a lot of trials.
This was a saturday. He said he would call me on Tuesday/Wednesday after investigating the car and would give me a report and a cost estimate.
This was the problem. He would never revert back. I contacted him around wednesday or thursday, asking for updates. He said he would revert back by saturday. He did not. I understand that he is a busy man and has a lot of cars to attend to, but I think something as basic as this needs to be paid more attention to. I contacted him again next week, and he promised an update soon. Again like before, this did not happen.
By the end of the week, when I asked him for an update again, he said that the welding of the cross member is remaining. Once that is done, he would take a test drive and give me the report. In the next week, I asked him again. He said that he has taken a test drive, and is not satisfied with the engine's tune. He has performed a compression test, and while 3 cylinders are significantly high (200-220), one cylinder showed a surprisingly low reading (100 or so). He said he would check the issue and get back to me.
Two days later, he said that they have investigated all possible causes and concluded that the low compression is due to wear and tear. The car is ready for delivery and he would let me know the total cost in a day. He contacted me the next day (this is the first time in 3 weeks that he contacted me on his own) and said that the total cost was 19-20k. While this is relatively higher than what I was expecting, I had enough faith in him going by the posts made in this thread and did not think much of it. I was sure it was a justified cost. This was around 4th June. I was supposed to go and collect the car on 7th of June, but due to some urgent issue at work I was unable to go.
I visited the garage on 9th, and met him. He showed me the entire list of work done and the associated costs, as well as the prices of parts and consumables. Following is the entire list.
Labour Charges:
1 SERVICING & FULL CHECK-UP. REPLACING ENGINE OIL & OIL FILTER. FLUSH RADIATOR & REPLACE COOLANT. REPLACING GEARBOX OIL. 760.00
2 TUNING UP OF ENGINE. REPLACING SPARK PLUGS, FUEL FILTER. OPEN & SERVICE THROTTLE ASSY. REMOVING & REFITTING INJECTORS. 980.00
3 CLEANING & CALIBRATING INJECTOR. 1180.00
4 REPLACING TIMING BELT & TENSIONER. REPLACING ALTERNATER & A. C. BELTS. OPEN & SERVICE GEAR LINKAGE & REPLACING BUSH KIT. 1600.00
6 ADJUST VALVER CLEARANCES. CHECK ENGINE COMPRESSION. 350.00
7 OPEN & SERVICE ALL FOUR DOOR GLASS WINDER & CHANNELS. REPLACING FRONT RIGHT DOOR GLASS WINDER ASSY. INSULATING ALL FOUR DOOR PANELS & DICKY DOOR. 860.00
8 REMOVING & REFITTING DASHBOARD & COLUMN ASSY. INSULATING AUDIO SYSTEM, AIR DUCTS, METERS. 1150.00
9 REMOVING & REFITTING FRONT BUMPER. REPLACING MOUNTING BRACKETS. REPLACING & WELDING FRONT CHASSIS CROSS MEMBERS. 1200.00
10 SERVICING A. C. SYSTEM, REFILLING GAS & SERVICING OIL. 1600.00
11 REPLACING GEARBOX MOUNTING. 450.00
12 REMOVING & REFITTING ANTENA & REAR SPEAKERS AFTER INSULATING. 250.00
TOTAL 10380.00
Parts:
1 FRONT ROGHT DOOR GLASS WINDER. 810.00
2 GLASS SUPPORT BRACKET. 112.00
3 BOSTIC 118.00
4 INSULATION TAPE. 161.00
5 TIMING BELT. 617.00
6 TIMING TENSIONER. 946.00
7 SPARK PLUGS. 552.00
8 FUEL FILTER. 430.00
9 THROTTLE BOSY KIT. 109.00
10 ALTERNATER BOLT. 218.00
11 AIR CONDITION BELT. 252.00
12 DOUBLE TAPE. 140.00
13 SCREW, BOLT & NUTS. 94.00
14 OIL FILTER. 89.00
15 GEAR LEVER KIT. 346.00
16 CROSS MEMBER. 1437.00
17 GEARBOX MOUNTING. 682.00
18 CLIPS. 54.00
19 BUSHES SELECT SHAFT. 96.00
20 BUSHES SHIFTER JOINT. 84.00
21 COOLANT CAP. 32.00
22 GEAR BOX OIL. 676.00
23 PETROL 1.00 LTR. 84.00
24 DIESEL. 1.00 LTR. 128.00
25 CARBON CLEANER. 184.00
26 GREASE. 118.00
27 ENGINE OIL. 1273.00
28 THINNER. 176.00
29 COMPRESSOR OIL. 322.00
TOTAL 10340.00
The total cost was 20,720/-.
I had previously asked him not to wash the car before delivery, being aware of the common practices how cars are washed in garages and service centers. Yet when I arrived there, a guy was already washing the car (scrubbing would be more appropriate) with a rag and a bucket of soap water. I cringed at the sight.
He explained all of the work to me, and mentioned that the low compression in the engine was nothing major to worry about. He ensured that it would not be a potential problem, until its time for a rebuild. Let me clarify here that I do not consider any of the work done or parts replaced to be extra or unnecessary. I am completely satisfied in this regard and have absolutely no complaints regarding the same. Also, the interior was quite clean, contrary to what I had been expecting by reading a few posts in this thread. However, the grills of the rear speakers had been removed and not fitted back. It was left on the boot floor. I later fitted them myself.
We settled the bill, and he said he would email me the entire detailed statement later. We had some minor friendly discussion, and I left soon. The PUC of the car wasn't done, so he sent a mechanic along who drove me to the nearby petrol bunk and got the PUC done. I tanked up at the same time. I dropped him off at the garage and left.
Coming to the car, the service done was absolutely top notch. It was a 100% dedicated job, and I cannot take anything away from him in this regard. All of the work was done with utmost perfection and with very high attention to detail. She drove smooth, and most importantly, silent. Gone were the irritating rattles and body noises, and the bumpy and noisy suspension. The gear shifts were slick, and the engine hummed almost melodiously. Let me reiterate this, the drive experience was better than what I had expected and I was happier than happy. The 1.1 Alto already has a very good low end, and these days it only seems better. To put it in perspective, I can strut along comfortably in 4th gear at 30 kmph and not break a sweat. The engine does not feel strained by any means even when the rev is around 1k. It kinda made me doubt if the tachometer was malfunctioning.
What I wasn't happy about was the way the exterior of the car was treated. There were quite a few noticeable scratches all around the body, with two major ones on the left rear door. Also on this door were some purple stains which would not go away with washing. Near the antenna on the roof there was a film of adhesive. The finish on the hood was in quite poor shape, with a lot of scrubbing marks all over it. This was very very disappointing and put me off completely. It was something that gave a bad taste to what has otherwise been a very good servicing experience. I had a complete detailed scheduled anyway, so with a lot of effort I was able to take care of these imperfections and restore the paint to good shape. However, something like this is totally unexpected when you give your car to be taken care of.
Here are a couple of pictures of the stains and scratches. They were more severe than they look in the photos:
Overall experience:
Positives:
- Experience of meeting Mr. Shanbaug and talking to him
- Attention to detail
- Quality of work (100%)
- Customer satisfaction
Negatives:
- Lack of response wrt time or cost estimates
- Poor care taken of the car during the service (and trust me this is a major point, something that I would hold against the place)
Final opinion: If there was 1 place in Mumbai I would recommend for mechanical jobs on your car, this would undoubtedly be it. The man does the best possible job, and charges quite reasonable prices for the same. However, I sincerely hope he takes greater care of the cars while they are there and this is certainly something I will give him my feedback on the next time I speak to him.