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Old 29th September 2010, 16:11   #781
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Originally Posted by Sahil View Post
Yes it is capped at 50% in recent years, but I have carried forward this NCB from a very old policy hence 65% remains.
We rarely ever claim insurance hence have several of our cars still under 65% NCB
Sahil, need a small clarification.

You can take 65% NCB on only one car at any given time right?
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Old 29th September 2010, 21:45   #782
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Originally Posted by nowwhat? View Post
Sahil, need a small clarification.

You can take 65% NCB on only one car at any given time right?
Yes obv, one policy on one car
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Old 29th September 2010, 21:55   #783
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Originally Posted by Sahil View Post
Ex-showroom thane-9 lakhs
+ insurance-25,000
+ RTO tax- 65,000
+ CRTM-1000
Octroi as applicable. In my case, with Pune octroi and benefit of 65%NCB(yes I have an old policy yet alive) the final OTR for me will be 10lakhs rounded off
Wow. that is straight 1L less than what we have in Bangalore :(

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Originally Posted by sidindica View Post
IAB and VW India report that 4000 ventos have been booked.
Not bad. Hope wait period is not going to go up with bookings.

BTW, ANHC is going 50K less (Including free insurance). Planning to check that this weekend. Same with Optra magnum - huge discounts.
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Old 30th September 2010, 09:04   #784
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I am really wondering why VW doesn't learn from its Skoda mistakes and sharpen up their dealer network a little. Frankly they don't seem to care about the prospective customer, assuming (wrongly) that the car will sell itself.

Take my case- I walked into VW Downtown Mumbai with the family about a month and a half ago (before the Vento had arrived). The dealership guys were very nice to us, showed us the Jetta and pointed out what will be there in the Vento and what not. They signed me up for a test drive of the AT (with diesel HL as backup) and promised I would be among the first to be called when the TD car arrived. I was initially impressed by their treatment and prompt response to my calls/text messages, but later started having misgivings as the promised TD started getting delayed more and more and eventually never materialised.

I also called the VW Pune dealer (Vidyut) around the same time. A lady telephone operator answered my call and took down my contact details, promising that someone from Sales dept would get back to me earliest. Nothing. Finally I swalowed my pride and called them again yesterday. I reached a guy who said "I am busy with something. Can you please call my colleague? Same number, last 2 digits 51." When I called up said colleague, he didn't take my call. I text messaged him, but still no callback.

Compare this with my Honda experience. I walked into the Linkway showroom at Goregaon, was offered tea, someone showed me the display vehicle, gave me the brochures, explained finance options, took an appointment for TD for the AT and within a few hours I had finished that as well. Then someone called me for a follow-up, offered a corporate discount and asked when I would be ready to make a decision (I said one month). A month later, he called me again, offered insurance free plus a slightly higher corporate discount and asked me again when I would be ready to make a decision. In between someone called me to check how my TD experience had been. Sheer class. I am nothing but full of admiration for Honda for the professional way in which they have operated so far. I only wish I had liked the ANHC AT so that my decision would be so much easier.

Anyway, I guess I will walk into the Pune VW showroom and see for myself how things are. Don't understand why companies don't effectively use even basic forms of communication effectively in this day and age, let alone internet technologies. And I am pretty sure that if I continue getting this kind of treatment from VW, despite how much I like this car, I will lose interest in it and start looking elsewhere.
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Old 30th September 2010, 11:05   #785
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Originally Posted by noopster View Post


Compare this with my Honda experience. I walked into the Linkway showroom at Goregaon, was offered tea, someone showed me the display vehicle, gave me the brochures, explained finance options, took an appointment for TD for the AT and within a few hours I had finished that as well. Then someone called me for a follow-up, offered a corporate discount and asked when I would be ready to make a decision (I said one month). A month later, he called me again, offered insurance free plus a slightly higher corporate discount and asked me again when I would be ready to make a decision. In between someone called me to check how my TD experience had been. Sheer class. I am nothing but full of admiration for Honda for the professional way in which they have operated so far. I only wish I had liked the ANHC AT so that my decision would be so much easier.
Beware of Linkway Honda @ Goregaon. The sales team maybe good and over enthusiastic to sell you a new car but their service is pathetic. Inflated estimates, improper (or no) diagnosis and false promises are few of their traits. I would suggest you to consider other Honda dealers or check with other Honda customers about the A.S.S. of other Honda dealers.

Your VW experience sounds Skoda-ish. Did you check The VW showroom at Santacruz West? There is a Honda showroom right next to it. So you can kill two birds with a single stone.
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Old 30th September 2010, 11:09   #786
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Originally Posted by noopster View Post
Compare this with my Honda experience. I walked into the Linkway showroom at Goregaon, was offered tea, someone showed me the display vehicle, gave me the brochures, explained finance options, took an appointment for TD for the AT and within a few hours I had finished that as well. Then someone called me for a follow-up, offered a corporate discount and asked when I would be ready to make a decision (I said one month). A month later, he called me again, offered insurance free plus a slightly higher corporate discount and asked me again when I would be ready to make a decision. In between someone called me to check how my TD experience had been. Sheer class. I am nothing but full of admiration for Honda for the professional way in which they have operated so far. I only wish I had liked the ANHC AT so that my decision would be so much easier.
Hi noopster,

Earlier in February I was thinking of buying the ANHC AT.

I called up my nearest dealer for a test-drive and they insisted that I have to come to the showroom for a test drive of the manual version. Just for your reference, most other car dealers including VW have sent cars to my residence.

The dealer then said that Honda is planning to add some more features the next month on the AT variant and it is better I wait until then before taking a test drive or doing anything.

Nobody called after that. I then called a couple of months later to find that the price of the ANHC AT had gone up by more than a lakh.

My memory of all this is a little foggy because no-one came to visit me and no-one gave me a brochure or anything in writing. All it was were a few phone calls.

Contrast it to a month or so back and the same Honda dealer called me numerous times to bring the Jazz to my residence. It was another matter that I had initially fixed a time to TD the Jazz and he failed to call or show up, but the dealer was constantly in touch.

Point I am trying to make is that once the initial hullabaloo dies down, expect the VW dealer to be just like the Honda dealer you met.
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Old 30th September 2010, 11:50   #787
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...Point I am trying to make is that once the initial hullabaloo dies down, expect the VW dealer to be just like the Honda dealer you met.
I could not agree more with this point you have made. I will cite an example as well. About a year and a half back the Jetta was being considered. When we requested VW to bring the car for a TD, to our surprise they got both, the manual and the DSG (at the time). The Honda dealer at one point refused to get the Jazz to my location. This was when the car was just about launched. I went to their showroom (right next to VW downtown by the way) and test drove a Jazz (very recently). The car was filthy, dashboard scratched, certain plastics broken and seats so filthy that my wife refused to put our 2 year old daughter on them. And this despite the fact that my father bought a Civic from them 3 years back.
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Old 30th September 2010, 12:53   #788
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Reading about all these stories about the treatment meted out to consumers at dealerships makes one think that the customer is no longer the king.The economy is booming,cars are flying of the shelfs,so courtesy, politeness and good experience in a showrooms all seems to have gone out of the window.And this is not a problem with just one brand,none of is above the other.
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Old 30th September 2010, 13:24   #789
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Today saw a while registered Vento (i think petrol) near CIT Nagar showroom. The addition of boot to in Vento (from polo) go well with the design of the car and no odd look as in the case Dzire.
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Old 30th September 2010, 19:32   #790
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I wanted to test drive a Polo 1.6 and went to Elite Motors, Bangalore. They didnt have a TD car, which didn't surprise me. But what surprised me was that the sales manager told the polo 1.6 are "made to order" cars (duh!) and I can place my order and get the car by Nov. Are we talking Bentleys here?? I obviously couldn't go for a car without a TD and the manager told me the TD car will be available in Jan. VW has such a thin presence in India and they still can't manage one TD car of every flavour in their stable in every city where they have a presence?? Why? If they can deliver the car to me by Nov, cant they also get a TD car by then?

I came back after TD'ing an accident stricken Polo 1.2 (exteriors were damanged on one side) and with the SA discouraging me from driving too long.

I believe there are 2 ways to sell big in India
1. Be omnipresent (Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai etc)
2. Act premium (Honda, Toyota etc)

VW preferred No.2 and are acting premium. I don't know how far this attitude of theirs will take them, especially once the euphoria dies out.

The one positive out of the whole vento wind is that Honda has stepped down from their high pedestal and giving long overdue discounts on their bread and butter ANHC and making it now, strangely, VFM.

-lc

Quote:
Originally Posted by NevGin View Post
I could not agree more with this point you have made. I will cite an example as well. About a year and a half back the Jetta was being considered. When we requested VW to bring the car for a TD, to our surprise they got both, the manual and the DSG (at the time). The Honda dealer at one point refused to get the Jazz to my location. This was when the car was just about launched. I went to their showroom (right next to VW downtown by the way) and test drove a Jazz (very recently). The car was filthy, dashboard scratched, certain plastics broken and seats so filthy that my wife refused to put our 2 year old daughter on them. And this despite the fact that my father bought a Civic from them 3 years back.
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Old 30th September 2010, 20:48   #791
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Hi, this is my first post, so please do take it easy on the noob. I have booked a Vento Diesel Highline in Silver. Here's my Vento story.

I had first visited Bhasin Motors in Southex Delhi around a month back along with my mom and dad. This was before the Vento was available even for display in the showrooms. The first car that met our eyes was the Polo in Black and by god it looked stunning. My parents were also impressed with the boot space. Though we were looking for a sedan, we would have gladly booked the Polo had the rear seat leg space been decent. My brother is a tall fella, so this was definitely a deal breaker.

However, just for the sake of it we inquired with the sales executive about the Polo. To his credit the SE was courteous, but it was pretty much evident that he was not at all keen about selling the Polo and was constantly mentioning the waiting period of 4-5 months. Obviously Volkswagen is least interested in selling the Polo as of now.

I then inquired about the Vento and was told that it would be available for test drive the following week. Corporate discount would be Rs.14,000. He also assured us that a discount of around 5k would be possible for Insurance.

I went to the showroom the following week. Didn't find the previous SE and so talked to another SE, lets call him T. This time a White Petrol Highline Vento was on display. Unfortunately, no car was available for test drive. Further, the Diesel version was not even available for display. I was told that the car would be available for TD the next week. T also asked me to give him a call before coming to the showroom in order to confirm that the car would be available for TD. Though a courteous chap, he did not offer to send the car to my residence for TD. Since the show room is not too far from my house, I too did not insist on it. Also, he initially flatly refused that any discount would be possible on Insurance. It was only when I mentioned my interaction with the previous SE that he agreed that it would be possible.

As for the Vento on display, I just loved it. I am a fan of clean simple looks and to me there are no other cars in the 10 lakh segment that look as great as Vento or Polo. People keep saying that Vento or Polo are not head turners, but I can't help turning my head whenever I see a Polo on road. I am sure it will be the same with Vento. In any case, a car is like the girl in your life, all that matters is that you should find her beautiful, the world be damned.

Now coming to the interiors, I did find the dashboard a bit too plane jane even for my clean tastes. However, it is hardly a deal breaker. A lot has been said about the arm rest and it is true, the weird thing is a complete disaster. To me that was the only negative in the car. Though again nowhere close to a deal breaker.

T was patient in answering whatever questions I had with the car. Although what does that sensor/light at the bottom right of the driver's seat do left him completely stumped. Amazingly he still doesn't have a clue about it. I found the boot spacious enough. The leg room was more than decent. So, our only real deal breaker from Polo was addressed adequately in Vento.

The other minor irritant with Vento was that the back seat Head rest seemed to intrude a bit too much. I would have preferred if it was positioned a bit backwards. On long drives, I am not sure how comfortable would it be to laze back the head and try to catch some sleep. The gear shift was great, so was the tilt and telescopic steering. I wasn't too impressed with the driver seat height adjust. Maybe I was expecting it to make a dramatic difference, but all that I could feel when increasing the height was that the back of the seat was tilting forward to give a better view. I have never seen a height adjust before, so maybe its just me.

So, in terms of look and feel the Vento was hitting all the sweet spots and all that was left was the test drive before I booked the beauty. More about it in a later post since this one is turning out to be too long a first post.
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Old 30th September 2010, 21:17   #792
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My only point on the sales and service feeback would be:

1. We may not be comparing one on one. We should give time for Vento/Polo production and delivery to stabilize and then check the customer response of VW. Even if its the same, then I agree, it would be bad.

2. Its possible that VW may get caught with deluge of Vento requirements.
(But I guess the sales guys can give back a courtesy call and ask to bear with them. So much for basic courtesy).

3. Honda was also not as clean as you say. At one point in time, there used only one dealer in whole of Bangalore, and as I heard from many guys, he used to be very arrogant.

4. Hence my only take would be that it may be situation dependent. But as I said before, they can be bit more professional in terms of courtesy and response times.
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Old 30th September 2010, 23:57   #793
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Test driove the Vento petrol, diesel and Polo 1.6

Hello Folks,

As a regular visitor to this thread, I've been waiting eagerly to share my bit of the experience in the quest to have a first hand feel of the wind.

It was way back in early August that I called up Praveen from Volkswagen Palace Cross and registered my interest in the Vento Petrol Highline. He promptly jotted down my e-mail ID - over a noisy phone connection - and assured that he would intimate me as soon as they have a TD vehicle.

10.30am on the 6th of Sep, I promptly get a call from Praveen, inviting me to get behind the wheel. Thanks to my unenviable schedule and domestic errands, days turned into weeks, albeit only three.

It was at 4.30pm on the 29th of Sep, that I and two other enthusiastic colleagues, finally stepped into the showroom and demanded, what we more than certainly knew, VW would find impossible to organise - what with one or two TD vehicles in each showroom. A TD of the Vento Petrol, Vento Diesel and the Polo 1.6 - in that order and the same evening.

After 20 minutes of scurrying and frantic messaging, three VWs lined up one next to the other.

The Vento Highline Petrol felt like the car I wanted to own, with absolutely no signs of stalling in the third gear, over a neatly laid speed breaker, and a quick acceleration from the second - this is the one thing I always yearned for from a city car - no frequent gear shifts.

The Vento Diesel, cliched as it may sound, felt like it was power by Pratt and Whitneys. Coudn't try much in the limited time and traffic, but nevertheless got a feel of the torque this one can generate on the big lanes.

While it was very clear that they did not have the Polo 1.6 TD yet, we went ahead with the 1.2, and needles to say it felt like the juices were seriously missing - maybe it was a crazy thing to try the 1.2 after TDing the Vento Diesel.

After returning to the showroom, and Praveen's assurances of an early delivery, my eyes returned a third time to the display Pepper Gray Polo. I was reminded of my trips to Germany and the constant ogling at the classy compact-yet-practical VW, and deep down in a corner of my heart, was a message I could barely miss

While I've been there before (4 and half years ago to be precise - between the Esteem and the Swift) and admit it wasn't easy, yet another tussle seems only inevitable.

Cheers,
Pannags
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Old 1st October 2010, 01:24   #794
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I don't care about the way pre sales execs deal with me. Its anyway for a short duration and I do not have high expectations. What matters basically is how they handle after sales - including maintenance bills.

Anyone who could share Polo / Jetta experiences??. I am surprised that its still an unknown area. Is it because of the long service intervals?
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Old 1st October 2010, 09:58   #795
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Hi Desidino,

Welcome to the forum & hearty congratulations on booking the Vento Diesel Highline in Silver. Your Vento story (though too long as per you) made an interesting read. What is the delivery date for your Vento? Also how much did you shelve as the booking amount? I think you are one of the very few lucky ones to get a corporate as well as insurance discount on a newly launched car.

Eagerly awaiting for your next post, pl include your test drive experience in it.
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