[DriverR]

I had previously mentioned about the differential treatment i received by valet people at 2 luxury hotels when in my Nano. So now i am gonna mentioned about a positive discrimination i face in my Nano. At traffic signals, beggars normally skip my Nano! At most, they make an obligatory round and quickly move on to the next better vehicle!

[ashis89]

From my experience, finding a good FNG and sticking to it has been a good experience so far. And I have this experience in 4 different cities that I have resided in the past 10 yrs.

My FNG used to charge me similar (quite low) fees when I went on my Bajaj Caliber bike. When I bought a new Pulsar 180 (can be considered a 'premium bike' 5 years ago), his service levels and charges remained the same. Even today, when I take my dad's Activa for a service once in 9-12 months (extremely low running and I stay away from home), he hardly takes any labour charges, treats me to a good cup of tea and the owner keeps me company while his boys work on the scooter.

I found a FNG for my 6 yr old WagonR in Hyderabad where I go for a wash once in a couple of months and a service every 6-8 months. Even he is very prompt, doesn't charge me for small works and dissuades me from unnecessary expenses/replacements. My friend take his new top end Baleno and gets the same treatment/bills.

The other advantage of sticking to a single trusted FNG is the guy knows your vehicle's history and can help with better diagnosis and won't take you for a ride. Just like a family doctor.

My two cents.

[unni246]

Originally Posted by ron_9191

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.

Hey Ron,

May I know who this guy is as I'm too looking for a guy who loves his job rather than just somehow do a fix. I am from Bangalore too and own a Baleno lxi, so hope you understand the scene!

Originally Posted by ron_9191

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.

Absolutely true. It's because of such guys that the duplicates are thriving in the market. Even if the original costs marginally high, people tend to look away.

[Sheel]

Discrimination because you have a cheaper bike or with less cubic capacity than others.

Even riders won’t value your opinion and discrimination is shown despite you being an enthusiast, properly geared. And the best part is outride them in the corners.

Then at biking meets etc, bigger bikes and riders who own them get preferential treatment. It is everywhere, just like corruption.

[lamborghini]

Am I the only one who loves the discrimination because I have a cheap car?

Helps that the said car is made popular by Uber and the like (Etios). People give me way more often than when I am driving one of the bigger cars.

Plus, I am not worried about Valets & road side parking in the car either, and it's perfect for when I bump into a customer.

Net net - Saves me a fair amount of time and money

But yes, no doubt that a bigger and nicer car does garner a little more respect in some parts of the city and in some establishments.
But to be honest, I don't care that much to notice.

What I have noticed though is colour, and registration number play a bigger role than the car. Our old E Class with a VVIP number got a lot more respect on the roads than the 5 series & A6; and same for the White Corolla (as I pass by the courts everyday to work, and a couple of ministers/judges seem to have a near identical white corolla as well).

Oh, and my friends hate it! They don't see why I would take the 'cheaper' cars out. Maybe if they learnt to not slam doors, and the joy of driving a manual at night with sparse traffic !

[selfdrive]

I was reminded of this thread earlier this week during; when and where else; my daily commute

At the roundabout near Eon SEZ in Kharadi, a SUV coming in from the right zoomed across me when I was already turning left. Now, due to my ongoing commute issues, my blood is usually on the boil and it does not take long before my ears turn red, the horns protrude out of my head and steam starts spewing out of my ears

But as the SUV clumsily flashed across, I spotted a sticker on the rear door which said ARMY. It was as if a fire extinguisher emptied its contents on me or a bucket of ice water was emptied on my head.

During the remaining few minutes that I drove into the parking area, I was just wondering how differently I would have reacted if that SUV had the normal SEZ/ housing society stickers or perhaps a political party sticker or even a police sticker

[TrackDay]

I recently came across this article on the internet where a women received a note from her neighbor for parking her economy budget car in a posh street.

The Note left on the car

The alleged street

Some Isle of Wight resident has accidentally made the place sound unbelievably cool by comparing a small island off the British coastline associated mainly with rain-drenched camping holidays with Beirut, cultural boiling point and melting pot of the Middle East. The touch paper for this shot to be fired? Fifty-six-year-old Julia Laursen's Skoda Fabia.

The incident on Littlestairs Road started when someone claiming to be "The Littlestairs Road Management" put a note on Laursen's car, reports The Sun. Laursen shared the contents of the note to her own Facebook page; sadly, the post is no longer publicly available.

"What the f*#k! Because my car isn't a show off Range Rover or some other 4x4 for popping the kids to and from school. Call all my island friends with slightly rougher, but much loved looking vehicles. Pop over to Littlestairs Road in Shanklin and give these tossers a taste of what Beirut might look like," Laursen apparently ranted online.

Image and article source : https://www.thedrive.com/news/40624/...ectable-street

Have you ever been the victim of a particular treatment because of the car/bike you ride ? Regardless of race or gender, one might face issues due to their ride. There are plenty of instance where bike riders have been flagged down, despite having proper documents and riding gear while riding safe. Their only fault - expensive bikes. Similarly imagine driving an Omni in a posh neighborhood and your most likely to be identified as some kind of kidnapper ! Seems like there is always a hidden rule of understanding within our society for each road and locality. It can be driving an expensive sports car/bike in a middle class town road and your termed as brash whereas do the same with an entry level car/moped in a posh locality and folks over there will look down on you.

Treatment can also stem from other vehicles on the road. Do you gain the same experience from other motorist when you drive a Swift as compared to say something like a Fortuner. My experience with rides have been whenever I go to a premium place like a Jewelry shop or say a 5 star hotel. If I take the expensive car in the house, the security will allow me to park in the front, whereas if it is the cheaper hatchback I am always guided to the parking lot a bit away. Do share your views and experiences on this matter.

[aravind.anand]

I remember a drive-in at my hometown Coimbatore. We were quite regular there, and towards the end of the century - about 1999-2001, when the more stylish and up-market Lancers, Opel Astras, Ford Escorts had started to appear and suddenly the Maruti 800 my dad had was looked down upon. we were served water in glass tumblers while the upper-class cars had 'thermocol' tumblers - plastic and paper cups hadn't made their appearance I presume

And on weekends, when the place was getting crowded, once the security did not allow us inside citing that the place was full, and just when we were reversing out, a Lancer (IIRC) was allowed inside. My father lost his cool, he walked back to the gate and created a scene there. We all felt bad and humiliated at that moment, and stopped going to that drive-in restaurant altogether.

[Researcher]

Definitely seen this quite a few times, especially in semi-urban and rural areas. My experience, limited to four wheeler ones here, says larger the vehicle, more people prefer to notice and usually give way. Could this be fueling the SUV craze we are having? Probably.

In my opinion, if one needs just a single vehicle to be sort of 'invincible' for any given location or occasion, it has to be at least a Storme/Innova/Crysta/Fortuner/Endeavour and in white! Additionally, I also felt that the person is quite important too. A thin or shabbily dressed guy in an SUV will command far less respect than well-built guy dressed to the occasion.

Although, all this is still way less 'invincible' than most uniformed auto wallahs, cab drivers and bus drivers!

[gkveda]

This world belongs to all of us. Irrespective of the background, Rich, poor, beautiful, ugly, high-class, low-class, white or black, every living being here has full rights to live on this earth and utilise the resources equally. Just because I am fair, I don't have rights to say not so fair person to move out from the area.

But, unfortunately, this culture of discrimination is there everywhere but in different forms. In railway booking, First class, second class etc. Even while booking tickets, tatkaal, normal reservation, etc. In flight, executive class and economy class. In hospitals, super speciality ward, special ward, semi special ward, general ward etc

We have accepted all above discrimination where there is a differential treatment due to variation in cost for the services.

But, where there is no cost involved in Services offered(example: discrimination in allotment of free parking slot based on car), we feel this is NOT fair.

I am not saying, what they are doing is right. This shows how intolerable the world is becoming in this so called sofasticated era. They want to show their "class" ism even in their car parking area.

What I am saying is, if the same parking slots had different parking amount for different rows, we would not have bothered too much and would have parked in slots marked for our cars.

Some one has said, we have solution to every technical problem but we don't have a solution to the superior-inferior problem which is socio-economic problem. Probably, if the population of the country was completely under control and infrastructure was in abundance, this issue would not have been in existence. But the ego of the people, creating discrimination barriers within themselves based on economic conditions, colour, etc should be controlled probably only through strong enforcement of legal systems

[SmartCat]

On the flip-side:

1) Some fruits & vegetable vendors might jack up the prices - depending on your ride! Ditto with bribes charged by traffic cops.

2) If a German luxury car owner gets involved in a fatal accident, (s)he will make it to the news.
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...sive-cars.html (Media biased against BMW / Mercedes / Audi & other expensive cars)

[MSC]

I have not faced much difference on the road. However this partiality was seen at an unexpected place. At a Hyundai service station.
Until last summer's, my daily drive used to be a 17 year old Santro Xing. I replaced the Xing with a Venue last summer's and extended my Hyundai family with a Creta at the time of Diwali. (Both the siblings being the top of line SX-optional variants).
Earlier, when I used to go for service or any repairs, the service advisors despite being free, would scamper away, as if trying to avoid getting involved with a 17 year old small and long discontinued car. Its none of their interest if you are a one day old customer or a 17 year old veteran. I needed to catch hold of someone despite having an appointment. Most of them would be shying away. But when I changed my car, first smaller Venue and then followed with bigger Creta, literally I was able to see same service advisors running towards the car asking for details of jobs to be carried out.
Its the norm I think every where. Bigger your car, bigger person you are expected to be and hence receive extra pampering.

[Jeroen]

I would say there is also a considerable cultural component in this;

When we lived in the USA and I would stop with my Jaguar X308 to get petrol, almost always, somebody would walk over and compliment me, ask me questions. And it would be all kinds of people. In the USA if somebody has a nice car, or a nice house, you compliment them and think about what you need to do, to get one yourself

Here in the Netherlands and certainly in the UK, I am concerned people will scratch it intentionally if I leave it parked somewhere. And it has happened. In some countries/cultures people are incredibly small minded, to the point where they start damaging other peoples goods. Very different from the USA.

Ask any BMW driver: at a busy junction nobody will let them pull in, and they will have found people spitting at them. For no other reason the own/drive a BMW.

By and large most people here in the west are quite alright with Classic Cars. They will often feature at events in towns, markets etc. Most people enjoy looking at classic cars, even if they are not car enthusiast perse.

But there is a small group of people, who believe that either classic cars are owned bythe extremely wealthy and or are extremely polluting and therefor those cars need to be damaged, scratched, spit and poop on.

Take all kinds

Jeroen

[hridaygandhi]

Apart from the usual differential treatment at 5-stars etc when I am in my BMW vs Jazz, the other difference I have noticed is on the highway.

If I am driving my Jazz and flash lights to overtake, the person normally does not give way, and when I do overtake him/her, their ego gets hurt as to how an old and small vehicle managed to overtake them. When I am in the X1, people always want to race me on the highway, even if I am driving sedately, to boost their ego if they manage to overtake or drive past.

Other difference is in the city. I get hugely irritated by people driving with their high beams on in the city. If I am in my Jazz and flash lights asking them to shift to low beam, they don't oblige. When I am in the X1, most people do.

[vj_torqueaddict]

We do have a similar insightful thread here already: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/stree...cheap-car.html (Discrimination because you have a cheap car!)