[supremeBaleno]

Services offered:

• Servicing and running-repair of all cars / SUVs.

What I like:

• Very skilled mechanic, with around 12+ years of experience in the Middle-East on GM cars (including Hummer, Cruz, Cadillac etc)
• Around 10+ years experience in repairing cars in India (most Indian brands).
• Honest straight-forward dealing. Will clearly put forward available options to you - will not insist on replacement of parts, where repair is possible. Eg. an Accent was diagnosed with ABS sensor failure by HASS and quoted 4K to fix. He found that it was a cut wire and fixed it for Rs100.
• Provides breakdown assistance on call.

What I don't like:

• Bay-space only available for 3-4 cars currently. Being a new business, this is enough for now, but could be stretched later.
• Not open on sundays.
• No inhouse water-wash facility or paint-shop - these are outsourced.

Pricing: Economical. Got the 4-year service of our Swift done with him - total cost of service was 1400 (including consumables - oil and oil-filter).
Being a new garage, I got a discount of Rs200. This does not include the water-wash charges.

Speciality / USP: Highly skilled technician, with a range of top-technician awards from GM during his middle-east stint.

What I have bought from him: 4-year service for my Swift-Zxi

Contact Information

- Name of the contact person: A C Madhusudhanan
- Phone numbers: 0091- 85475 47903
- Postal Address: Mattom-North, Thattarambalam P.O., Mavelikara, KErala - 690101
- Helpful landmarks / directions: 1km North from Thattarambalam Junction & near St-Sebastien's church, Valiaperumpuzha

[supremeBaleno]

An incident that happened recently, which I felt should be mentioned on this thread.

On his way to buy parts for a car being serviced at his garage, Madhu (owner of Gulf Automobiles) sees a Linea parked by the side of the road with a couple of people standing near it. When he returns with the parts, the car is still there and he stops to check if he can help.

The Linea has broken down and the owner/occupant is trying to reach Fiat service for assistance. As we know, even in Metros, it is a task to get proper support from Fiat A.S.S - so you can imagine the plight of this guy stranded at a one-horse town with the nearest A.S.S at Cochin that is ~100kms away. After being forwarded from one number to the other, finally he is told that he will have to get the car towed to Cochin for them to repair it.

Madhu introduces himself as a mechanic and asks if he can have a look at the problem. Ofcourse the owner has no issues (he has no choice anyway) and
it does not take much time for the mechanic to identify the problem as a broken push-rod of the clutch-sleeve cylinder. While he has seen this part usually made from metal, in the Linea it is made of plastic and this part had broken.

He tells the owner that if they get him the replacement part, he can fix the car. Again a fresh round of calls to Fiat dealers and guess what, the part is not in stock (no surprise there). It is getting late and the owner is not sure what to do.

Madhu tells them that he can get the car towed to his garage which is ~700ms away and still get it repaired inspite of the part not being available. He tells them that he can get the part made at the nearby lathe, but since it is late in the day, he would be able to deliver the car only the next day. The owner agrees and Madhu has the Linea towed to his workshop using his WagonR.

However once the owner sees the garage, he has second thoughts. Can't blame him since it is a small place and he wonders whether his "modern" car can be serviced at this small garage. One of his concerns being that it does not have a lift for cars. It takes some convincing from Madhu for him to leave the car there, with the clincher being "If I could identify the problem with your car and also take out the broken part without any lift, what makes you think I would need a lift to fix it back?"

Next day, Madhu gets the part made at the local lathe, fits it and the car is back in shape. He calls up the owner, gets the address and delivers the car. I am sure you can understand how happy the owner would have been - not only did he save big bucks (towing charges etc), but also time since a visit to Cochin and back will easily take up most part of a day.

Thought the least I could do to appreciate this effort is to put an update on this thread.

Over time, I have understood that big is not necessarily better - almost always a smaller MASS does a better job at servicing your car than a big one. Reason why I always get our in-warranty cars serviced at the local Hercules outlet (a small setup), instead of the bigger Indus MASS at KYLM. And for our out-of-warranty cars, it is always Gulf Automobiles, with the M800 being the latest to have its 70K service done there.

[carfreak]

Hey thanks a lot man, this is very near my native place and considering he has worked in the Gulf, i am sure he can easily service my Cedia too which is selling like hot cakes there!!

Just wanted to know-how far is this place from Harippad?

[supremeBaleno]

From Harippad, this would be around 10-11kms, depending on which route you take.
There is the normal Harippad -> Kavala -> Thattarambalam route which is the main bus-route and another one that meanders through the countryside/fields etc. I believe the latter is shorter.

He takes all cars and Cedia should not be an issue. Currently working on the suspension of a Fiat Siena for which he had earlier sourced an alternator from 2nd hand market. Initially I was to source him a new one from GPRoad, Chennai. But the 2nd hand part came at half the cost (around 6K) and the owner was OK with that, instead of going new.

[supremeBaleno]

I was talking to the owner recently and he mentioned that he has had quite some tbhp-ians come over for getting their car serviced / worked-upon after seeing the TBHP listing. Including some that came from a considerable distance away - Tiruvalla etc.

It would help others if the tbhp-ians could post their feedback here - what is good, what is not and what can be improved upon. Thanks.

[Flyer]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

I was talking to the owner recently and he mentioned that he has had quite some tbhp-ians come over for getting their car serviced / worked-upon after seeing the TBHP listing. Including some that came from a considerable distance away - Tiruvalla etc.

It would help others if the tbhp-ians could post their feedback here - what is good, what is not and what can be improved upon. Thanks.

Have you seen premium cars being serviced here? eg. Audi.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by Flyer

Have you seen premium cars being serviced here? eg. Audi.

I haven't seen an Audi there, but have spotted a Benz once. While premium cars arent the usual clientele here, the owner/mechanic has worked on most premium cars in the Gulf for many years. And thus has the expertise & experience to repair premium cars.

I would suggest you call him (number in the OP) and then come over.

[supremeBaleno]

A week ago, I had dropped in at GulfAuto to get my Baleno's Brake Master Cylinder Assy replaced, when I spotted this golden Swift there for suspension work.



Seeing the TN23 plates, I asked Madhu & he said the car has come from Tiruvalla (20kms away) based on this tbhp listing. Apparently owned by a Dr working at CMC Vellore.

Couldn't meet the Swift's owner, but I hope the work was to his satisfaction. Would help others if he could post his feedback here.