Sep 01, 2010 18:45 Hrs
After the early morning blush, I did not try to take the car out on my own on to the roads. Instead engaged a "companion driver" immediately and his job is to just sit next to me and relax.
True.
More than learning how to drive perfectly on your own, it is more important to learn about the imperfect driving of other drivers on the road so that you don't get hit. This is the sad situation of at least Hyderabad traffic.
Gopal is an 8 year experienced driver who will accompny sitting next to me while I am on the driver seat. He is going to be with me for the next one month or till the time I perfect the GTX beast whichever is earlier. His job is to correct me & advise me on my driving skills. All these years, I was spoiled by the cab provided by the company and I never tried venturing on to the road by myself.
Now coming to the story,
I took the car to my office and to few client meetings I had and in the evening started early to reach New Mars garage where a painted RH mirror is waiting to be fixed. The car was without both the mirrors and I had to order new ones. As the garage mechanic fixed the mirror, a senior mechanic, Madhu came by and the garage incharge Nandu gave a brief about the car to him. The previous day, Madhu was absent and the car was serviced by another mechanic.
Madhu took the car keys and took the car out for a quick spin. Gopal accompanied him while I went to the accountant of the garage to settle the bill.
As the bill printout came to me, I have observed all the parts and labour charges. About INR 8000 was the parts cost and INR 3000 was for the labour. I will share the complete cost breakup a little later, But I found something wrong in some parts pricing.
I asked Nandu to change the air intake pipe as it was broken. I think it is a very common problem in GTX and in general all Palio models. They purchased a new pipe from Autofin service centre and replaced it. But strangely, the cost was mentioned as INR 1500 where as the original MRP on the package was only INR 1100. I told the same to the accountant and he later corrected it after two days and refunded the excess money charged. But it left a bad taste. If I had not seen the original packing, I would not have got the idea of original price of the part.
Lesson: Always insist on showing the original part packaging before replacing the part. Or at least you can ask them to show you all the parts packaging where pricing labels are pasted.
Madhu came back after 15 minutes and gives me this.
" Sir, there is a problem in the fuel injection system or oil sump/strainer. We need to open the oil sump and do a thorough checking"
"ohhh. What's the issue. The car was running fine today" I can hear the heart beat increasing. It was close to 19:30 Hrs and I was in a hurry to go home.
" True sir. You might have never crossed 60kmph in the city traffic. When Nandu told about the oil light issue, I suspected this and took the car beyond 60kmph and the warning light appeared again"- Madhu is clear in his voice.
I was getting annoyed. Just one day before I gave the car for complete checkup and now this is a new issue. Why did they not checked the car completely.
I went to Prabhu and told him- "What is this new issue Prabhu?"
" We can not access the oil sump from the under body and we have to open up the complete engine bay to check that. We thought since the oil leaks were not there, the warning light was appearing only because of the absence of the engine oil" Prabhu explains. He further adds, "If the oil/fuel injectors have any issues, we have to replace them"
Damn man. Too much for a learning owner. " How long would it take to clean the oil sump and what would it cost.? I am not disheartened, but annoyed at the way the car has been dealt with.
" It would take a day to get it done, leave the car tomorrow morning and you can collect it by evening" Prabhu says. " Just cleaning it would be around INR 1200 and I will let you know if the fuel lines need replacement".
Gopal and I calmly take out the car and reached home. I was silent all along and Gopal was driving. He took the car on a short sprint to go beyond 60kmph and the oil light appeared again. As we slowdown, it disappeared.
I asked Gopal to come early next day by 08:00 Hrs so that we can handover the car again at New Mars.
Fiat cars can make you really shaking by virtue of the performance and also the pain it gives. Wow, it's a true replica of Indian marriage.