[Passiautonate]

Comments here+ my personal experience- Brand and size affinity is more prevalent in North of country stretched till Mumbai. I once saw a Merc guy fighting with head of security in Gurgaon mall as guard didn't cleared the blockade for him to enter from wrong end. I standing in queue in my humble Fiesta was sure of his right bestowed by Dieter Zetsche and stamped by Angela Merkel

In cities like Pune, Bangalore and Chennai I don't see much affiliation for a bigger car, they still refer you as Bhaiya as soon they get a sign of your roots.

No doubt ostentatiousness originating from Sadda North India, Vaddi Gaddi

[i74js]

Originally Posted by rugsrags

The discrimination is definitely here and i did notice is today itself.

Post this there was a marked difference in the SA attitude especially since he was sitting and listening in on the manager discussing with me about my other cars and it runs down the line because post this while handing the car to me it was cleaned and the interiors given a once over again by their cleaners!! The icing was the SA mentioned to me that he was very surprised that all the claims were approved with the surveyor not once complaining and that he should probably have understood right there and then. I didn't react to this but on seeing this post i can completely relate that what a few people might take for granted is something which isn't as common place as it looks to those few people and of course the make and model of your car matters in this materialistic world.

Interesting read and I can relate to it. This whole thread of discussions can be completed in one line:

Either you have arrived in your life or you should be able to announce it through your car !

[rageshgr]

Not been discriminated in my car fortunately yet, but have experienced "judging" in my TVS Wego. Whenever I pull up at the V-Power lane in my TVS Wego, they tell me "Sir, this is the V-Power lane", as if they are thinking "Yo poor dude, don't you thinking this petrol too rich for your Wego blood?"

So I am thinking, "Of course I know, I will even fill 99 octane in my Wego , my wish".

The irony would be yesterday I would have used the same petrol pump in my GT TSI and they happily put 2500 rupees of V-Power and asked whether I want free service, oil-change, etc etc.

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by NiXTriX2004

Even pedestrians!!!! If they see my Nano coming they nonchalantly raise their hand and continue on their merry saunter across the street.
If they see me in my Fiesta, they rush across.

To be honest, I find the opposite. Pedestrians are unsure if the Nano will be able to stop in time or within distance. Neither am I confident about the consistency of its braking abilities. So they are usually wary.
Maybe I drive it differently

[Mr.Boss]

This is becoming a common site at least in metros. Few multi-brand garages don't entertain major repair jobs on smaller (and older) cars or they give an estimate which will be more than the actual value that car, which makes people literally run away from them.

Same scenario is followed in case of 2 wheelers as well. There are plenty of garages in Chennai with boards which read "TVS 50, Bajaj M80, Scooter will not be repaired here" On chatting with one of the mechanic on this regard I got the below reply

time and energy spent on those vehicles will be at par with (or sometimes higher than) the latest bigger bikes but people relate the repair cost (to be specific, labor cost) with the cost of the bike. For general service if 500 INR is charged as labor for a 150cc bike costing close to 1L, people expect at least 50% reduction for a Scooter or moped which is around 50k. There is no point in spending same time and energy and arguing with those customers and finally losing few hundreds

[rohansachar]

Originally Posted by NiXTriX2004

Even pedestrians!!!! If they see my Nano coming they nonchalantly raise their hand and continue on their merry saunter across the street.
If they see me in my Fiesta, they rush across.

I 100% agree to this!! When I drove my Manza, no real rush from pedestrians to cross the road.

TOTALLY DIFFERENT SITUATION WHEN I PRESS THE HORN OF MY SAFARI STORME!!

[PrasunBannerjee]

Originally Posted by GTO

Not at a garage, but I most definitely see a difference on the road. I'll give you one example.

It's an early weekend morning and I'm returning from somewhere (IIRC, a breakfast). Pass a police checkpost in my German car and no one stops me. I'm wearing the usual morning attire - tracks, tee & a red Schumacher cap.

I come home, take the Jeep out (IIRC, it required diesel) and drive past the same police checkpost. Wearing the same attire (including a prominent red cap), and the same cop who nonchalantly let me go just minutes ago pulls me over, asks for my papers, checks the Jeep out etc. . I politely reminded him that I just passed by moments ago.

Its the opposite in two states so far (personally witnessed it); Rajasthan and Chattisgarh. I've personally witnessed that the gatekeeper of a big property politely asked the Merc E-class owner to park somewhere else as it was blocking the porch, and himself opened doors of the Scorpio and then opened the gates for us, ours remained on the porch for next two hours and the poor Merc guy was there for maybe a few minutes.

Yet, to conclude, people are discriminated on basis of the phones and automobiles. Living simple is hard these days. Only reason that iPhones and cars are status symbols. I'll be called a passionate biker/rider and respected to a certain degree till the time I'm using my 70,000 rupee Apache RTR or 1 lac rupee Bullet. The moment I step into a car of just twice or thrice the value of the bikes, I'd enter a lower segment somehow (heck, I paid more money for the car than bike) and be treated likewise.

[kvish]

It is a good thread indeed!. Discrimination happens everywhere whether we like it or not, we are programmed with it and it shows once in a while knowingly or unknowingly. (I'd be hypocrite if I say I dont discriminate ever).

The most important thing is to acknowledge this as a reality and we choose to be unperturbed by it. The moment we put too much weight into this then it becomes a bottomless money pit. Whenever I think of getting a new car, I think to myself, that costs 5-6 holidays abroad (which is of higher priority to me), and then I keep my urges away, knowing fully well, the sub par treatment that I may receive owing to my bling possessions or lack of it, once in a while. We have to get dense to such things. No other option.

[locusjag]

In the year 1999, when my dad was posted to UCO Bank Jamshedpur, my dad told me how a few of his customers' bank accounts, FDs and lockers were investigated by Income Tax sleuths. Their logic? These customers had Daewoo Cielos, hence they must have undeclared sources of income.... I didn't bat an eyelid at this back then.
But come to think of it now, our country has lived through times in the not-too-distant past when vehicle-based discrimination has worked the other way!
In fact, in the pre-1990s constipated era of our economy, I am starting to think that anyone who had cars were probably subject to IT scrutiny.
If I understand our past correctly, before 1990 - with absurd income tax rates (in the 90% range) and controlled production rates, if you owned a Lamberetta scooter, you had achieved something. There were these year(s)-long waiting periods before you got your ordered scooter. against this backdrop, wouldn't Ambassador and Premier Padmini owners have been discriminated against by the IT department?

[PrasannaDhana]

I have experienced it a lot of times.

I dont own any luxe brands, even then there is discrimination. There is this restaurant where the security guard won't even stand up and direct me for parking if I drove in my Kwid/Celerio. But the same guard would dutifully get up, direct me to the spot if I were in my Safari/Ciaz.

And whenever we drive to a star hotel in my city, I have noticed that the door man comes forward and opens door for my brother's Q7/A6, and would just ignore my Ciaz/Safari.

This discrimination doesn't stop with cars and bikes alone. Use an iPhone in public, everyone decides you are a rich guy, and treat you better than the regular samsung/moto user.

Same happens at fuel pumps, if I ride my CBR 250R / Duke 390, they pick the speed petrol nozzle even without me telling them. If I was on my sister's Dio, they ask me twice if i really want Speed petrol.

There is one popular song in Tamil, which highlights "Money is God". Indeed, it sounds true!

[aerohit]

Like/Believe it or not - India is a VERY poor country, not to mention the caste system ingrained in the religion. So the discrimination based on materialistic things is very likely.

In a developed country/society you are less likely to face discrimination, at least not based on materialism or the type car you drive. This is because for the most part, car is just a mode of transport and nothing else.

[Red Liner]

This stupid bias extends to motorcycles too. After having met many from the so called super biking fraternity, my respect for humble commuters has gone up manifold. And there are a lot of things commuters have done that 99% of sbk owners wont even dare try on a good day.

Sometimes i feel terribly ashamed when a family of four on a scooter stare at me on my bike and smile in admiration.

[ron_9191]

I feel part of the reason for the discrimination is purely because of the people with cheap cars that the mechanics have dealt with. I use a 2002 Maruti 800 5 Speed as my daily driver now. The thing was made to conquer our traffic infested roads and I absolutely love driving it. The 800 had a lot of niggles but she's getting fixed slowly now with original parts. My other car is a beautiful 2007 Baleno Vxi which I brought it fresh from the showroom and the thing is pampered as she accompanies me only for my long drives and nothing else.

I was speaking to the mechanic who normally works on both the cars and one of the things he shared with me is that he genuinely wants to fix the issue with a car that drives in to his garage, but people always think or at least most of them think that the mechanic wants make a few extra bucks and cheat them. Trust me there are mechanics who would love to see the cars they work with running like clock work. Thankfully I have one of those mechanics. But one day when I was in the garage with him fixing the lifter for the glass on the LH front door and changing the window garnish two guys on a red 2004 Santro drove in and said the coolant leaks out of the car all the time.

My mechanic borrowed sometime from me as they said it is a bit urgent and since I was completely jobless that day, I decided to observe him troubleshoot the issue. He had the car running and lifted it up on the ramp and then he inspected the possible places for a leak and found none. He then switched off the engine for a while and this time, the car was literally urinating its coolant out of it and he found a corroded water jacket and suggested it should be replaced. Gave the part number to his customers and advised them to get a new one. Half an hour later, they come back with a duplicate part as they said that the original part was really expensive. To me the duplicate looked worse than the corroded one, and when I questioned them why they haven't gone for the original one, they just said they use the thing as a push cart and dont care what happens to it. My mechanic was really crossed at the attitude of these guys and he said people like these dont deserve to drive cars cheap or expensive.

[Pontiac]

I don't think it can be generalized. But maybe true by a broader sense and on metros.

I get the best treatment always when I take my 10 year old Scorpio to service at ITL motors Palakkad, KL. I never felt neglected for all these years.

Whereas I had to battle with multiple dealerships to get niggle off of my Audi A5 here in the US.

There was a peculiar sound coming out from the door on the driver side of the coupe at high speeds (85mph+). The service guys could not figure out as they can't usually take the car above speed limits. They said they cannot do anything about it. Disappointed from the dealerships, I took it to highway with a duct tape. Kept on sealing with duct tapes on the rubber bushings where the door meets the body at all places where I thought the sound was coming from. At one point, I almost nailed it. Later I took the car to the same dealership and asked them to change the complete rubber beadings on the driver door. As the car was on warranty, they replaced those on the entire car for free. But man, I hated the dealerships for those days when the sound would kill me and had vowed multiple times to never visit the dealership again ever.

[crdi]

I have many times experienced the other extreme of this scenario, i.e. being obviously discriminated against when you are in a bigger/expensive car.

I drive around 150 kms almost every day through crowded roads of kerala, stop at malls and restaurants of various profiles, and use different vehicles from the family.

I have noticed that when I am in a bigger/expensive vehicle, there is an overall attitude among other road users and even the guards and cops to enthusiastically enforce things, even while I am going 100% by the rules. Where as they do cut me some slack while I am in smaller cars.

Maybe they feel the grudge of some other occasion wherein they were offended by some stupid elitist. Discriminations of all sorts will happen as long as the extreme social disparity exists in the nation.