[iamahunter]

Its similar to what Rancho said in 3 idiots, you just need an uniform to enter the school.

A couple of Incidents with me.

1. Trident, Nariman Point - Maruti 800.
Had to attend a meeting at the Trident, Mumbai and had taken the 800 to work. The car was not in a very good shape (barely usable). Used to drive it to work once a week for so that the car is in use.
Expression on the valet's face said it all. I think there was a small argument between them when I had arrived about the obvious who will be parking the 800.

2. AER Lounge - Swift
The Swift was technically in a very good shape but visually was dented here and there - thanks to the one family one car and all learn on the same car rule. Also, thanks to the parking space and humid weather, rust was quite evident.
The car was also missing a left mirror cover from the practice session previous night. The mirror's structural integrity, its nerves(wiring) and and its working was all visible; also, the homely cello tape was kind enough to hold the blinker in place.
My friend(now wife), she understood the situation, the valet did not. The blinker was holding on to its dear life when the car was returned. Also the valet's tip stayed in the back pocket as he preferred to walk away after fetching the car.

3. Triumph Showroom - 10 year Old Unicorn
My first visit, I was treated like a jerk. I am thankful to the sales person who atleast spoke to me - only to let me know that I can look at a used one if I have the budget. I was not given any testrides.
Next time went in the uniform, well dressed and in a shiny Seltos, the behaviors changed, all the questions answered and detailed information was provided. I was even offered water.

[RoboCop13]

Nov 2020 - My parents were admitted in the hospital of a medical college for Covid. I used to go everyday to supply essentials and fruits etc., The entry into the campus was allowed only upto a point, there onwards one had to walk till the building and pass the bag to security staff there.

On two occasions I went in Figo and once in a Baleno. Entry was denied.
Next day I went in well polished white Ciaz, I thought of stopping at that barrier gate and slowed down. To my surprise, watchman raised the gate and saluted before allowing me in.
Thereafter as long as my parents were in hospital, I continued going in Ciaz.

The security’s response was probably due to all those white Ciaz cars used commonly by the government officials. Or he just thinks a sedan needs to be respected and not hatchbacks.

PS: I was a little disheartened because Figo is my favourite.

[nishantbhatia84]

Originally Posted by Ragavsr

I would like to hear your opinion on how cops in general treated you.

In 1.5yrs of driving in Mumbai I've actually never faced any issues with cops. Even during an instance when I ended up jumping a signal, the cop was super nice! Since I used to drive through the night, it was normal to encounter multiple drunk driving checkpoints, but even there I was never harassed. I think it is: 1. The fact that I was driving a cab, and 2. Cops get to know you and the car when you are regularly driving in the same area.
There was times when I used to pass the same checkpoint 3 to 4 times in a night, so after the first/second time they didn't even bother stopping and checking, just used to let me go!

[Asif 6959]

Happens most of the time to me and it human nature to be judgmental of things.

1st time it happened (2009) was when I arrived on my bike (The then premium sports - Karizma) at the Taj Mansingh Delhi for my MBA entrance exam/interview. I being the biker then was pissed as hell but then realized where I was and my condition was in no way I could hold a fight and ask for a parking for the 2-wheeler. Walked out and parked the bike in a side lane and quietly attended my exam.
Later heard several such instances from other friends and was told by many working in the Hotel industry that for "security reasons" unauthorized 2-wheelers are not allowed in most 5 star hotels.

Most times when am driving my humble AltoK10 and arrive for meetings I do get the look and judged, but don't give a damn as I know I would have taken half the time to reach my destination and will take half the time reaching back home. (Life of a commuter in Bangalore).
In the past used to drive to Chennai for work in the Alto and reach my Hotel (Fairfield by Marriot in Sriperumbudur) and would get the looks from the security to the doorman. But once they start seeing you regularly i.e. business I give them they greet you well.

I for sure get to know the difference in treatment when I go out with family in the Creta!!!

[clementw]

Oh yes more than once! But the reason is a little different than the thread above. In both instances I got into an accident and the fault was on the two wheeler rider who hit my car. A crowd of good Samaritans gathered and you can guess what happened next both times.

The two wheeler riders get away because as per the logic of some the two wheeler driver cannot be at fault. In both incidents the two wheeler riders were allowed to walk away scot free and I had to claim insurance saying hit and run by unknown vehicle. So if you are in a car and you get into an accident with a two wheeler, chances are you will get wronged

[madrasilemon]

1) I have noticed many times that when sitting inside my bolero in any given traffic signal in chennai, the road side hawkers, beggars & eunuchs either just doesn't bother me or glance for a second or so and move on. They must have thought either that I am a Babu, or his driver.

2) While driving the Ignis or Alto in the family, I could feel that people tend to help me out of the tight spots. Is it that all small car drivers are novices/require assistance to drive in tight situations?

3) There is a supermarket security in our neighbourhood who will open the door for car owners, help in carrying the purchase upto the car and what not. But, whenever I go there in my humble Yamaha, He never bothers, except for the order - put your bike in centre stand, park in the inside row or, dont engage your side lock. Funny thing is, I once visited the store in Bolero and then in Yamaha within a gap of 30 minutes and experienced the contrast once.

[CEF_Beasts]

I face something rather different! My society guard salutes me when I am in my EcoSport and doesn’t when I am in my Fortuner .

[Duckdoc]

Originally Posted by iamahunter

Its similar to what Rancho said in 3 idiots, you just need an uniform to enter the school.

A couple of Incidents with me.

1. Trident, Nariman Point - Maruti 800.
Had to attend a meeting at the Trident, Mumbai and had taken the 800 to work. The car was not in a very good shape (barely usable). Used to drive it to work once a week for so that the car is in use.
Expression on the valet's face said it all. I think there was a small argument between them when I had arrived about the obvious who will be parking the 800.

Interesting you should mention the Trident. I was there for a conference a few years back and there were 3 Lamborghinis parked in front side by side.
While I was admiring the above, one of my acquaintances told me with a smile, many years earlier when working in Mumbai, she used to park her Tata Nano there while attending meetings and the doormen used to treat her with the same courtesy and respect shown to the others.
It was one of the many reasons I like Mumbai as I think it is the most egalitarian of all our cities.

[iamahunter]

Originally Posted by Duckdoc

Interesting you should mention the Trident. I was there for a conference a few years back and there were 3 Lamborghinis parked in front side by side.
While I was admiring the above, one of my acquaintances told me with a smile, many years earlier when working in Mumbai, she used to park her Tata Nano there while attending meetings and the doormen used to treat her with the same courtesy and respect shown to the others.
It was one of the many reasons I like Mumbai as I think it is the most egalitarian of all our cities.

Dear Sir, pardon me if my words conveyed any wrong message. I was not treated any different than others present there.
I might have guessed it incorrectly, but that's my understanding.

Also, somethings are just in your mind than what the reality is, especially when you arrive in a luxury hotel in a beaten up car.

Off-topic.
Just for thoughts, I am totally unaware of how the hoteling industry work - Are valets on payrolls of the hotel or contract basis.

IMHO, it would make sense to outsource it to a smaller contractor/firm. And in such a case, a very well behaved valet cannot be always expected.

[Ultim8]

I've experienced one such incident months back while returning home with family from my native town. It happened while I was waiting in a long queue of traffic at Pallikonda toll booth, driving my dad's Ford Fiesta which is almost as old as a teenager.

A Mahindra XUV500 happened to be stuck in front of the diversion barrier, but it was adjacent to us. Just because the driver was in a larger car driver suddenly tried to bully his way through the gap between the barrier & our car, and slowly inched forward in an attempt to intimidate us and to cut us off in front.

Quickly told me to slowly approach that car as if we're going to hit it, and I gladly obliged. The XUV500 driver then stopped his attempt & let us go through, afraid of being a victim of damage costs

If anyone tries to bully like this with their car, they better be ready to pay for it in damages!

[mayankk]

My firm's CEO once let me drive his 911 carrera to a resort in Greater Noida, jaypee. Last time I went there, it was in my Tucson and had to park in the parking. The humanity!!
With the Porsche however, it was parked right there on the portico of the resort. So, yeah....

[DieselTurbo]

Having gone to a prestigious Anglo Scottish school in South Mumbai. The fees wasn’t very high but many of the cities elites sent their kids there due to the school reputation.

During my time in school, I was totally care free and clueless about money, cars and just liked football and hanging out with friends.

However, apparently there was a unsaid social rule I discovered in the 8th grade. I had become good friends with a few people over school football, whose families were among the ‘social elite’. Page 3 type people.

One of them told me that their group only talk and Invite people to their birthdays if the person has a car which is worth atleast 20 lac. And this was back in 2010 or so. (A lot of them had CRVs which was interestingly the car of Ranbir Kapoor in the movie Wake Up Sid where he plays the role of a spoilt rich brat)
I found this so strange I just laughed and thought it was a joke for a good year or so.

I found this absolutely ridiculous. We as a family were well off but no one was really interested in cars. We had 4 Toyotas at home and my car to ferry me around was my favorite red color Qualis. It is a part of my childhood and i have had some of the best memories in it.

However, once when leaving an extra curricular activity a student comes up to me when I was getting into my car and tells me - why are you in a servant car dude my driver owns that car. How poor are you?

This incident to this day enrages me. Just cause of my emotional attachment to that car.

The 10th grade onwards I started caring a little about personal appearances in terms of looks personally and socially (some of it having to do with girls and some just my hormones and Punjabi blood).

I started coming to school in our new Mercedes E280 and instantly the ‘cool kids’ started asking me to hang out with them and go for movies and drives with them after school.

This gave me a very strange but weird lesson of our countries obsession with appearance and status. I ended up ignoring their invites as most of their post - school hangouts involved alcohol and heavy drugs.

I know my case may be so different to 99.9% of the incidents of discrimination based on vehicles in our country. But it just shows that these scenarios are prevalent in every part of society.

Even at a level where a teenager has his own chauffeur and a decent car like a Qualis. Which was and still is a massive luxury in this country. Is made fun of for not having a car worth more than a certain amount.

As said by personal icon and entrepreneur Kunal Shah of CRED fame:

Status driven societies like ours can never do better or progress as Wealth driven societies.
We try to pull everyone down whose trying to succeed in life rather than helping them and don’t like it when someone does better than them in life.

Ending note - most of those kids are still very rich, living in NYC, London, LA living it up, many with drug problems, not sure how to do the ABC of business, waiting to run multimillion dollar family companies. I’m waiting for how this movie of life progresses and for our 10 year school reunion in a few years.

[ronk]

In the late 2000s, I was in Kolkata and would regularly visit a popular bar/nightclub in a famous hotel. Now Kolkata in those days weren’t really a place where you got judged by your car, but this hotel definitely was!
I had a 10yr old Maruti 800 and my dad had a new Getz then. Every-time I took my 800, they would either say the parking is full, or the valet would never come near the car! However, whenever I took the Getz, the valet would immediately take it for parking!
We friends would normally have a good laugh about it, and would prefer to take the 800 just to see the reactions. This lasted months till they actually started recognizing us and accepting the 800.

In contrast, recently in Bangalore when I was visiting a few premium german car showrooms to shortlist my next car, I would purposely try to take old cars and park right in front to see how they treat. I took my 8yr old polo, my bike and a 13 yr old civic. Most of the time I felt they did not really treat negatively because of the car.

[no_fear]

Have my fair share of discrimination and reverse discrimination stories.

I drive a 2nd hand 2016 white Skoda Rapid. It is well taken care of, but nothing fancy. I am often mistaken for an Uber.

The first time I went to pick up some foreign business delegates at an elite Delhi hotel, the valet rudely told me that Ola / Uber cars have to wait outside and they will call me. I was asked to park outside. I told them politely that I am here to meet some people and they are waiting for me at the lobby. They kept insisting me to park outside. I didn't want to make a scene, so drove out, parked the car outside, walked back, went to the lobby and accompanied my guests outside to the car.

2nd day went for breakfast at the same hotel. Took my MV Brutale and the valet recognized me from previous day, after I took my helmet off. Asked him with a smirk if I need to park the bike outside. He was very apologetic.

Have been to several dates, where the ladies commented sarcastically that I must not be financially well off if I am driving a 2nd hand khatara Uber vehicle. It really sucks when people judge you by what you drive. I don't pursue any further, but quite a few of them go through my insta or FB posts and then realize that I own several high end motorbikes, and the tone completely changes. I receive a lot of messages for 2nd dates and follow ups. I block them and move on.

[lionell]

Had a similar experience albeit with our motorcycles in Ahmedabad. We had a group of Ninja 650s in Ahmedabad and used to ride out every weekend. A rider with a Suzuki Intruder M1800 joined our group and used to ride with us regularly. On one of our coffee rides we decided to return to the Marriot near SG Highway for breakfast. The Intruder was riding ahead of us and reached ahead of us, he was ushered straight through the gates and was asked to park right in front of the space near the lobby, I guess on account of the bike being massive and intimidating no one asked him to park elsewhere.

Guess what? When 6 of our green Ninja's landed on the front gates we were asked to use the back gate in a rather crass voice, the attendant there said no bikes are allowed through the front gate. We reached the back gate and surprise surprise there was little space to park, it was jam packed like sardines in a can with their staff motorcycles kissing each other sides. Noticed a few squeezing themselves out of the tiny space. We obviously couldn't park there. We turned back and fought about it with the attendants. Guess what? They asked us to park outside or elsewhere. This led to a conversation at the breakfast table and the Intruder rider mentioned he parked in front of the lobby, we were enraged and how!

I shot off a stinker to the Marriot in Ahmedabad and its International support on the unwarranted discrimination describing the whole scenario. They apologised for the inconvenience but reiterated the fact that motorcycles are not allowed through the front gates. Like they never read my email.

Left a bitter feeling, specially because they were discriminating. We didn't mind parking at the back but there was absolutely no space and we reiterated that each bloody panel of the ninja cost 20k upwards, if anything were to happen to it.

By the way at the same hotel HDs get preferential treatment and special parking in the basement meant for cars as well as the lobby. SIGH.