[sparkguy]

Dear All;

Finally after lot of followups my membership to this forum got approved today.
As a first thread I am very happy to announce the purchase of new Chevy spark

Thought:
I was thinking to buy a new car for myself since long. After birth of my kid it became absolute necessary.

Choices:
With limited budget of 3 lac (stretched to max) choices were Maruti 800, Alto, Spark Base model, Spark power sterring and Santro (ok I need to stretch a bit more for Santro) After going through reams of pages for pros and cons of each model, doing test drive, inviting suggestion from friends and sufing auto websites I decided for Spark base model. Maruti 800 is outdated. Alto I was driving few yrs back and wish to upgrade from 800 CC, Santro I drove a bit at my inlaws house didn't like he VERY tall boy design. Power sterring was kind of luxuary I can do without so Spark PS was also out. I took my entire family for test drive of spark base and I liked the overall quality of machine. Far powerfull than existing Alto, Never heard anything bad about the car in reviews also tilted the scale in her favour. I got the much needed green signal from my wife too for spark.

Color:
Swinging from White to black to blazing red wife finally settled on Icy blue and as usual I cant collect enough courage to go against her highness wish!!

Dealership: Sadly not much of choice here. Since I stay at Noida there is only one dealer for Noida, Gaziabad and east delhi, Shiva Motors (branch:Centrestage mall Noida).

Deal (Promises):
1) Discount of 60 K
2) Mud flap
3) Matting
4) Gear lock
5) Soft toy
6) Registration no. of choice
7) Visit to warehouse to select the car
8) Delivery within 1 week
9) Number Plate

I tried all other dealers from delhi too, was getting a slightly better deal in terms of 1K here or there but I decide to stick with Noida dealer for obivious reasons.

Total the deal was for 2.87 (including incidentals)

Funding:
Decided to try nationalised bank so went to SBI. 2 lacs, 1 year, 11.50%, daily reducing, No foreclosure charges after 6 mothes, No prepayment penalty. (Sounds sweet. Isn't?) and yes Rs 500 as processing charges and stamp papers of Rs 200. Need to produce tons of document for sanctioning. Paid more than 100 bucks for xeroxing only. Loan got sanctioned in 10 days with lot of push from my end.

Visit to warehouse:
A dirty looking stockyard with 50 odd cars parked in haphazard way with tons of dust settled on each car. It was difficult to even recognize the color of car without cleaning it a bit. I somehow managed to locate two Icy blue, done some checking and noted down the VIN no and handed over to the executive.

Delivery:
After delay of 10 days or so and after quite a push from my side the guy finally called me for delivery. I insisted on inspection before delivery or regitration. At the time of inspection I noticed that the car although of same color but was not the one which I selected in ware house. Executive gave some lame excuses apparently that car got delivered to somebody else. I inspected this one very throughly with a previously prepared checklist and found even this one ok so decided to go for it. I finally got the car delivered at my house.
Bit relaxed I was searching for something and suddenly I pulled out the DD for 2 lacs which I was supposed to submit to dealer. Executive apparently forgot to collect the same from me. Some panic calls from my side to poor chap and he came running to collect the DD. Earlier everytime when I use to call him he will be either out of noida or in Faridabad or elsewhere but today he came in less than 2 minuts.

Modifications:
1) Seat Covers: 1.5 K
2) Perfume: Rs 150
3) Autocop 7000: 3.5 K
4) Sterring Cover: Rs 50
5) After market sun film: Rs 300

Initial Feedback:
1) Good choice (Friend's wife words)
2) Compelete Value for money
3) Excellent ride quality

a) Still getting adjusted to centre speedometer
b) Positioning of Wiper and turn indicators is bit ackward
c) A pillar restricts side view while negotiating a turn

Pain Points:
1) Rate of interest was 11.75 and not 11.5 % as promised
2) Selected car was not delivered(As explained above)
3) No regards for time. Missed delivery date by weeks and even on delivery day missed muharat time by hours
4) My friend working in a smaller company got corporate discount of 4.5 K but in my case it was only 2K.
5) No temp. number. I was given a transit number which is not valid. I reliazed this after paying a challan for 500 bucks.
6) Didn't got the underseat tray as well as external antenna. Dealer said that it got discontinued from GM
7) Altough lies and sales goes hand in hand but this guy was too much. He was supposed to help me in bank while collecting the loan DD( due to some wrong quote from their end), I confirmed it too before starting. After 15 minutes I reached bank and he reached faridabad.

Overall POOR experince from Shiva Motors, Noida GM dealership,

Lessons:
1) Could have negotiated deal in a better way by
a) Arranging loan by myself and approaching dealership armed with a sanctioned loan
b) Opting for insurance from outside insted from dealership ( Atleast 1.5 K saving)
c) Bargaining harder (Human behaviour)
d) One dealer in town is monopoly. Could have avoided the same.

Will post pictures shortly.

[Heman]

Originally Posted by sparkguy

Dear All;

Finally after lot of followups my membership to this forum got approved today.
As a first thread I am very happy to announce the purchase of new Chevy spark

Congrats on your purchase of the Spark. I bought an Alto, delivered just last week.

Originally Posted by sparkguy

Deal (Promises):
1) Discount of 60 K
2) Mud flap
3) Matting
4) Gear lock
5) Soft toy
6) Registration no. of choice
7) Visit to warehouse to select the car
8) Delivery within 1 week
9) Number Plate

I tried all other dealers from delhi too, was getting a slightly better deal in terms of 1K here or there but I decide to stick with Noida dealer for obivious reasons.

Total the deal was for 2.87 (including incidentals)

That is a nice deal. I too got some 15 accessories with my car. But was not happy with the quality. Although I was promised MGA, they had given me NMGA accessories. Had to fight out with the dealer to replace them.

Originally Posted by sparkguy

Visit to warehouse:
A dirty looking stockyard with 50 odd cars parked in haphazard way with tons of dust settled on each car. It was difficult to even recognize the color of car without cleaning it a bit. I somehow managed to locate two Icy blue, done some checking and noted down the VIN no and handed over to the executive.

That was nice. I was not given an opportunity to choose my car.

[quote=sparkguy;1157385]
Altough lies and sales goes hand in hand but this guy was too much. He was supposed to help me in bank while collecting the loan DD( due to some wrong quote from their end), I confirmed it too before starting. After 15 minutes I reached bank and he reached faridabad.

Overall POOR experince from Shiva Motors, Noida GM dealership,
[quote]

I think all the dealers are same everywhere. In my case, after I enquired about car, I used to receive atleast 2 calls everyday. But Once I gave them the payment (I went for complete downpayment) I stopped receiving their calls. In fact everytime I had to call and confirm the date and time of delivery.

Originally Posted by sparkguy

Opting for insurance from outside insted from dealership ( Atleast 1.5 K saving)

Really. I did not know that.

By the way I was just checking the Final Invoice (the one which has all the details of the chasis & engine numbers. The Invoice which we get on the day of the delivery.) The amount on the Invoice is 20,000 less than the price sheet (which containes prices for all the cars, shown at the time of enquiry) they have. i.e for the Maruti Alto, I got an Invoice of 253000 (ex-showroom) and the price sheet had a price of 274000 (ex-showroom).

Also the receipt of registeration was different.

Has it happened in your case also? Or does it happen like that ?

[sparkguy]

In my case the final invoice was fro Rs 200/- more than what I paid. But I remember when I bought Alto few years back I also got final invoice which was less than the list price. Maybe Maruti strategy !!

[greenhorn]

some pics of your angel would be appreciated

[prince_pervez]

Congrats man! Some Pics of your angel will be appreciated.

[Lalvaz]

Congratulations SparkGuy on the new car and the new kid too!!!

The Spark is a fun vehicle, and its a pleasure to drive her in city traffic where she zips in and out of the smallest openings. Just perfect for a small family. Hope she serves you well in the years to come.

Please do post a detailed review once you've done some running, and dont forget the pics.

Good luck and wish you safe motoring.

[Fountainheader]

Congrats on the cute angel! And please post a few pics of the same.

Originally Posted by sparkguy

Modifications:
1) Seat Covers: 1.5 K
2) Perfume: Rs 150
3) Autocop 7000: 3.5 K
4) Sterring Cover: Rs 50
5) After market sun film: Rs 300

The mods look too cheap to be true. For my Swift I spent 5k on seat covers, 500 on steering cover and 3200 for the Sun film.

[mukeshgoel]

Congrats buddy ! Spark is cute little car.

Enjoy your ride.

[Eddy]

Congrats Sparkguy. Nice and detailed experience. You have bought my favourite color in Spark , and hence I want to see some pics !!

[Dieseled]

Congrats SparkGuy ! what about the ICE? Does spark come with an in dash player, if not what are the plans.

[sudipt123]

Sparkguy, congratulations! Indeed the spark is a great zippy car- I have one too. Even the colour is very nice- Icy blue, initially had decided on the same colour- but it seems GM has stopped the Colour.
The absence of the radio antenna & under seat storage is outraging This was confirmed by the dealer after the PDI done by me.
I wish you many miles of happy driving.

[loving_alaap]

hi, congrats for a nice car.

Its a good choice after GM is continuously giving hefty discount.

Well, u could bargain a bit more & could also inquire about the new engine option: 800 CC (I heard somewhere).

Anyway enjoy the car.

[sparkguy]

Originally Posted by loving_alaap

hi, congrats for a nice car.

Its a good choice after GM is continuously giving hefty discount.

Well, u could bargain a bit more & could also inquire about the new engine option: 800 CC (I heard somewhere).

Anyway enjoy the car.

GM has reduced the discounts for 2009 model by approx. 20K although now the cashless ownership scheme is standard now. Earlier they were charging 10 K more for the same

[sparkguy]

Originally Posted by sudipt123

Sparkguy, congratulations! Indeed the spark is a great zippy car- I have one too. Even the colour is very nice- Icy blue, initially had decided on the same colour- but it seems GM has stopped the Colour.
The absence of the radio antenna & under seat storage is outraging This was confirmed by the dealer after the PDI done by me.
I wish you many miles of happy driving.

Thanks sudipt123. I have seen lot of icy blues parked in their showrooms or warehouse but I need to confirm for 2009 model.
Can you please confirm presence of underseat tray and radio antenna in base model of spark for 2008 model?

[sparkguy]

Originally Posted by Dieseled

Congrats SparkGuy ! what about the ICE? Does spark come with an in dash player, if not what are the plans.

Boss got no money left for ICE. Will use my N73 as my personal music system till I manage to save some.