Here is my little story of the car i just bought. Here we go...
I was tired of my dying fuel guzzler 2002 Palio 1.2 ELX and was after my dad's permission to buy a new car. Though i too am the earning member in the family but he is my dad and dad is the boss of house.So after watching me pled him for almost six months or so he finally gave me the nod. And begun my hunt for a new car. I didn't knew what should i be looking for as owning three different cars(Palio, Santro and a Viva) in the same house i didn't knew which segment i should have been looking for. I was confused been a Fiesta Diesel, SX4, NHC and Linea. The first three were going in for fabulous discounts due to various reasons and recession being the primary one.
I am not a major style freak but i wanted something with more power and FE compared to a Palio. So immediately SX4 was out of the equation. Everything else was a little over my budget but not something i couldn't manage. But then my good friend Manish made me look at his Swift D. Not thinking about an hatch i somehow didn't really liked the idea. But being a true tech geek i thought why not do a little research on the net about the sedans. And that was the time i finally registered at Team BHP.
Immidiately after registering i managed to spot quite a few Swift D "worshipers". So i asked myself...Huh... It is that good... Lets find out. Started reading the threads and slowly an steadily made my mind to go in for the Swift. And on 27th of March 2009 finally went ahead with the booking with a TD. And after booking the car without a TD i became a little more confused. The same can be understood in this thred.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/hatchb...-after-td.html
The shocker while booking. The salesguy told me that it would take 2 months months for the delivery. I was so surprised as i was in the mindset that due to recession the availability of the cars would be sooner then expected. Feeling stupid i realized that a good car will sell no matter what. But still i requested the sales guy that see if he could deliver the car before 2 months and he promised me that it wont exceed 2 months at any cost.
On 16th of April i called up the sales guy for a quote as i thought to file my papers with my bank to process the loan well in advance. I again inquired about the delivery and he told me to be a bit patient and he would do the best possible. On 20th the sales guy gave me call asking me how soon can i get my loan approved. I said the very next day and then he dropped in the good news that i can have my car before the end of the month. I was quite happy hearing that. He again called me on 24th March and informed me that i can do a PDI of my car on 25th. Since i had to go out of the station and could only return on 26 i told him that i would come by 27th with all the papers and the DD. But unfortunately on 27th the banks were closed and on 28th i found that my loan was still not processed by my bank.
I decided to chase my branch manager and he promised me that my loan approval will come from the headquarters by evening. At 4:00 in the evening he informed me that my loan approval has come and he gave me another good news that being a old customer and having a Current account with CC limit with the bank my loan amount has been approved with a 10% ROI instead of 11.5% as earlier informed by him.
Today i collected all the required papers from my residence and visited my bank for the DD. The manager told me that i can collect the DD by 1:00 as there was some election training going on with the bank. I decided to visit the dealership for a PDI and as soon as i met my sales guy he informed me that he has already done the PDI for me and i can check the vehicle if anything needs to be taken care off. I told him that i would be getting the registration done by myself and i would drop in the DD after 3:00 in the afternoon. I went to my office and finished some pending work and then went to my home to have my lunch. At 3:30 the sales guy called me up and asked me weather i would be coming with the DD today or not. I told him i would be there by 4:30. I went to my bank and the branch manager was ready with the DD. Went to my dealership and handed over the DD to the salesguy and he asked me this " Sir what will you have as it would take another 15 minutes for me to get your car ready for the delivery". This was an absolute shocker as i was in the impression that the delivery would only be done next day.
I thought for few seconds and told him that i will be back in 30mins and he can prepare my car in the meantime. I went to the nearest shopping mall. Picked up a decent perfume and got it gift wrapped. Called my close friend and told him that in another 2 hours i would be 1 driver short as i myself had arrived alone to the dealership in my santro. And he told me that he would be there in 15 mins. Went back to my dealership and gave the gift to the salesguy and after about 45 mins from that i got the car keys in my hand. The sales guy took the liberty put in Mudflaps, Mats, Stering Cover, Car purfume and gods idle in the car. He then made me understand all the paperwork and the service intervals. Then a sweet lady came and congratulated me and handed over me a box of sweets. By that time my friend had arrived. The lady then performed a small puja and the supervisor of the dealership gave me a demo of the car. The car was finally filled with 5 Ltrs of fuel and after a handshake and a tip to the cleaner i left the dealership.
TBH the car buying experience was a good one and i don't have a single horror story to report till now. I also talked to reliance people and got my insurance done in the morning directly with them instead of the dealership and got a good discount of Rs 3000 as what i would have paid extra if i would have got the insurance done from the dealership. I wouldn't have saved that money if it was not for the thread i posted yesterday on TBHP for which i got an infraction. But i am happy that the TBHP saved me a good 3K.
Now the next challenge is to get the registration done with the RTO office by myself as if i would have got the same done with the dealership it would have cost me a good Rs. 2500. But that is tomorrow.
As for today like somebody else posted on the forums "Oye VDi, VDi Oye"
Switch
29th April 2009, 22:51
