[glenmz]

This happened to me at Kadubisnahalli, near JP morgan (Bangalore)
I filled petrol at The IOC bunk next to JP morgan and went in to check the air. I usually step out when fuelling and filling air. But this time, I didnt.
So the guy checking air informs me that - Sir punchure ho gaya. I was surprised since I would have noticed when coming in.
Then the chap says - Sir - there is a puncture shop next door. I smelt a fish here. Asked him to fill up air - which he was not happy about. Insisted that i visit the puncture guy. I told him otherwise.
After filling up air, I decided to check the tyre. This was a santro, tube type tyre. I was in queue as there were quite some guys on bike waiting for tyres to be fixed. Meanwhile he removed the tyre. I heard him quoting 250 for fixing puncture on tyre! I asked him how much for the car to which he says 250. Told him its generally 50, even for a tubeless type tyre its Rs 100. He did not budge (maybe he is having a busy night). I Checked the tyre, it was still holding air. Asked him I am not fixing it. He demanded 100 for his services - 50 for removing and 50 for fixing the tyre back. I put the tyre myself gave him Rs 50 and left.
Took it to the usual guy who fixes the tyre. Seems like the pump attendant had fiddled with the valve! So now, extra careful when checking air.

[sumeethaldankar]

Here's my story. I had office on Sun. After a 12 hour shift i headed to my parking in co premises. when i reached the parking i saw the RR tire was a bit deflated. The tire seem ok in the morning and i did not notice any drop in pressure. I have a electric pump which i decided to use since my journey was through remote places on the highway and did not wanted to take a chance.

I pulled out the pump and tried to fill air in the tire but i ended up on reducing more air rather than filling it up. I decided not to push it further and decided to go to a puncture wallah. I drove the car slowly and around 1-2 kms noticed a puncture repair guy. I showed him the tire and he quoted 150 bucks for a puncture. It being sunday and i was already tired and a bit sick as well i did not haggle much. I just wanted to get out of there. He proceeded to remove the tire with my own jack and Tommy bar as he said someone had taken his.

Now comes the drama part. As one guy was busy with the jack and Tommy, the other while standing in front of me,blocking view of his partner, pointed to a shiny metallic object on the road and exclaimed it's because of such things that puncture's happen. As he attempted to retrieve same from the middle of the road while dodging vehicles i was forced more of less to look out for him rather then looking at what the second guy was doing. When traffic cleared and when he reached the shiny object he 'found' out that it's not a nail but just a metallic colored blunt object and left it as it is. All this next to vicinity of 4 to 5 traffic constables sitting just 4-5 meters away from us who had their beat chowky there.

The second guy filled air in the tyre and showed me that leakage is from the valve. He quoted 250 bucks for the valve. Now since the car was already a bit deflated before i reached these guys i asked them to check for a puncture was well. He applied a soap solution and water to check for any bubbles on the tire and found none. This time i watched the tire like a hawk and refused to sit down in spite of being asked to sit twice by the second guy. I made sure those guys did not mess with the tire. When he removed the valve, there was a twinkle in his eyes and asked me where i fill the air from? I mentioned from my regular pump. He showed me a hole in the valve and said someone has pierced the valve.

Now comes the twist in the story. I had mentioned earlier that i had tried to fill air from the pump. Upon touching the valve before i noticed air hissing out.It means the valve was already damaged and i really have no idea whether these guys puncture guys had taken me for a ride or someone messed up the valve when my car was parked in the co parking area. The valve had a neat hole and i am totally stumped as to "who dun it ?"

[dj78]

I came across this post and video today about how worn out tires are modified and passed off as new. http://blog.caranddriver.com/see-how...ed-off-as-new/

This is really scary!

[dhanushs]

^^ Not exactly as new, but in the Gujri, they sell these as slight used tyres.

In fact there is a big market for these tyres. Most of the used car dealers get tyres like this.

[danlalan]

I have just been a victim of the Puncture scam.

Location baner,Pune just before getting onto the national highway where you enter /exit from hotel sadanand towards mumbai.

I had stopped to check my tyre pressure as the previous day i had filled 32psi.
Wanted to regulate it to 30psi.

The buger charged me 3000/- bucks to fix 20 small punctures at 120/- a puncture and a valve.

At that time i never realized as he said you may have gone over broken glass. so he kept rotating the tyre and filling the punctures. At the end of 1 rotation he completed about 15 punctures and 5 more on the side wall.

For people travelling along that route, DO NOT FILL AIR from that section.

[Angst]

Even I became a victim of this Puncture Scam today!

While starting from my office in Vikhroli(Mumbai), I noticed that my front tyres seemed slightly deflated. I am very particular when it comes to maintaining tyre pressure and I check it at least once a week when I fill CNG.
On JVLR, just after descending from Powai Flyover and going towards L&T Flyover, there is a tyrewallah underneath the pedestrian bridge. One of the shed types. I did not get out of the car while the guy was checking and filling up. He took a while with the front left tyre and when he was finally done, he got up and said, “Sir, yeh tyre toh puncture hai!”. I got out and checked the tyre. It seemed normal. Just the way it looked in the office parking. I said, “Puncture toh lag nahi raha”. To which he said, “Sir, 3-4kms chalaoge toh poora flat ho jayega!”.

So, I agreed to let him remove and check the tyre for puncture.

When I reached his shed, there was already one biker who was getting his tyre checked and I could not park the car close to the curb. So, in order to let him mount the car on the jack safely without obstructing other traffic, I got in and started to reverse. But, he gestured and instructed me to bring the car in front.

When he removed the tyre, there were four nails stuck in the tyre! All of them close to one another. I did not suspect any foul play and asked him to replace it with the spare tyre.

I had replaced the valve pin of the spare tyre 3-4 weeks back from my local tyre shop because it was leaking air. I also had that tyre checked for punctures at that time and none was found.

When that guy took out the spare tyre he bounced it a several times on the ground and rolled it towards the front. When he reached the front side, he suddenly exclaimed, “Sir, stepney mai bhi puncture hai!”. Now, this was the first time I got just a little suspicious and said, “Kya baat kar rahe ho yaar! Yeh toh kuch din pehle hi check kiya tha!” To which he said, “Hindi hi bol raha hun, Sir! Puncture hai!”. And he showed me a bent nail stuck in the tread which he removed without much effort with his plier.

He seemed to be proud of this line, “Hindi hi bol raha hun , Sir!” which he delivered with a grin, each and every one of the numerous times that I blurted out, “Kya baat kar rahe ho, yaar!”.

I could clearly recall that my local tyre guy had checked the tyre thoroughly. Hence, I refused to get it repaired and asked him to put it back and repair the one he removed from the wheel. He fixed the four punctures, started filling air and again exclaimed, “Sir, valve bhi gaya hai! Puncture pe chalaoge toh valve toh jaana hi hai!” I had no other option but to agree to replace the valve for 350 bucks! I asked him to give me the old valve which he removed.
In total, I coughed up 900 bucks. 150 for each puncture and 350 for the valve, minus a discount of 50 after some haggling!

When I reached home, I took the car to my local trustworthy tyre guy and had him check the spare tyre again. He checked it thoroughly for 10mins by immersing it in the water tub and said there is no puncture. I told him I saw the other guy remove the nail in front of me! To which he said, the other guy probably lodged it in between the tread without me noticing and removed it quickly! I also showed him the valve which I had retained. He asked me how did it get bent like this! Obviously, that guy must have twisted it to show that its leaking air when immersed!

By now, I was seething! I rushed home and Googled for “tyre puncture fraud” which brought me to the TBHP thread. I have been an avid follower of TBHP since atleast 6-7 years and a mute member since 2014 (I do feel extremely guilty of not having shared anything, despite having gained so much from this forum).
But, as fate would have it, I missed reading about this scam all these years! If only I had hit upon this thread a day earlier, I would have saved 900 bucks and my tyre from being murdered right in front of me!

My Made-in-China Dashcam did a good job of capturing this rascal(guy in striped T-Shirt). He also has an accomplice who is off-camera.

Video 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_qR1kssisg

Video 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mQpLPj09I8

This is the exact spot where this guy is located: https://goo.gl/a7Fzbw

[AveekKumar]

Just got home after an irritating incident with the puncture guy. A few days back, I had filled air in the Shell petrol pump near Magarpatta City but somehow knew that the guy filling the air did not do a good job. Since i was getting late for work i decided to let it go, thinking i would check back later. Laziness got the better of me and i deferred the refill task for a couple of days. Today while returning from work i thought my car was hugging the road a bit too much. Stopped in this puncture shop to check for air when i was told there is a puncture. Sure enough there was just 15 psi in the front right Tyre. The guy took out the tyre and with some probing took out 9 punctures on the side wall. He told me beforehand that each puncture would cost me 100 bucks. Damn! As the count kept increasing my heart was in my mouth. 100 * 9 was too steep an amount for the work that was being done. He suggested a patch to be put inside the tyre and also found a leak in the valve. All this in a 3 month old car. I denied the patch and valve and just told him to finish he job. I was out of cash and had just 700 bucks with me. The guy says "Sir, ATM baaju me hai. Gaadi chhodke paidal jao". I thought no way. Gave him 700 bucks and left. I felt cheated. This was no joke. I know i am at fault here too since i should have checked the psi earlier. 100 bucks each puncture. I am still so restless. I should just buy a puncture kit from amazon for 200 bucks.

[sinhead]

Rs250 / 350 for a valve?? I bought valves from a Bridgestone outlet for Rs50 each. Rs 100 was for chrome-stem ones.

I keep a puncture sticker/ patch in my car. I guess I'll keep a spare valve too.

[chinmaybaikar]

Originally Posted by AveekKumar

Just got home after an irritating incident with the puncture guy. A few days back, I had filled air in the Shell petrol pump near Magarpatta City but somehow knew that the guy filling the air did not do a good job.

A lot of roadside and even the IOC Puncture man people do this. When they say that there is a puncture, just ask him to fill up the air and that you will get the puncture repaired some other time. Once while doing the regular air pressure check, the IOC guy had said that there's a puncture in my tyre. I just asked him to fill the air and that I'll look after it later. But I noticed that the tyre was maintaining the pressure. The next time I visited him, I mentioned about this incident and he had nothing to say.
Also its mandatory that the valves will/should fail as soon as the repair guy removes the tyre. Apparently the valves communicate with the punctures and decide to fail :banghead:

[swift_guy]

It happened sometime in October 2015, we had stopped to get the tyre pressure checked at a petrol pump. Car was a friend's i10.

There were 2 people at the air filling shop and one of them came with pressure gauge and sat near the front left tyre. He would have taken hardly 10 seconds that the car in front had moved away. The second person asked us to move the car forward. He found 2 nails in the tyre, took them out in front of us and repaired the tyre. He took Rs. 120 for the job. By that time, the other guy had moved around the car once and said that he had checked all other tyres. We sat in the car and the first person asked us to reverse first as his pipe (for filling air) was stuck below the tyre. We did so and went on our way.

2 km later, we found that the rear tyre was flat. We thought that something was fishy and instead of going back to the same air filling shop, we stopped at a roadside shop this time. The person here was experienced (according to his age, speed of work) and started repairing the tyre. He found 2 holes again and we told him that we had another similar puncture just some minutes back. He asked the place from where we had got it repaired and we told "Shop outside Sector 12 Pump". He had a good laugh and told that we had been fooled. He explained to us what would have happened, and was 100% right : "Car was stopped, one person sat near the front tyre, placed 2 nails ahead of the tyre, other one asked to move car forward, they declared a tyre puncture and one of them engaged in a conversation while repairing the puncture, and the other one placed 2 nails behind the rear tyre, they asked to reverse the car, tyre went over the nails giving them another opportunity for taking money from us (which we didn't give them!)". He said that most people in Faridabad know of this and stay away from this guy.

My friend had to spend 170 bucks and 2 punctured (though repaired) tyres due to these guys.

[shankar.balan]

My colleagues and I were on a work trip to Mumbai Thursday and Friday. Got back last night.

On Thursday our office Admin chaps had booked a Car Club car for our use while there in Mumbai.

The driver, a decent, soft spoken sort of soul, met us at the Airport and we went along for all our meetings as usual. We had, as we do normally, left our small luggage/ overnight suitcases in the boot area of the Innova that we were using.

In the last meeting of the Day, somewhere near Saki Naka area, the roads to the office that we were going to, were blocked on account of some digging. So we asked him to park up and walked along for our meeting.

Halfway through the meeting I kept getting repeated calls from the driver which of course, I couldn't take. Anyway we finished the meeting in another half hour and came out to find the driver distraught and worried. He told us that while he was parked, a couple of guys came along and tapped on his window asking for some directions. He in good faith, lowered the window and spoke to them.

In the meanwhile, these guys accomplices went quietly to the rear of the vehicle, opened the hatch door a chink, and pulled out my colleague's and my small overnight suitcases and went off. (This is what the driver surmises must have happened).

Anyway, we got to the car and called our Admin who in turn called the local office of Car Club who sent three of their local reps to meet us.

At first they were all nice and sweet and said they would accompany us to the shops to buy replacement items and all that. After around 30-40 minutes during which time they were constantly on the phone to their HQ, they said no, but we had to go to the local police and lodge an FIR.

We declined, because the last thing we wanted was to hang about some corrupt police system for no fault of ours. After all, when the robbery took place, we were in the meeting and had no idea what was happening.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I commandeered the car, made the driver take us to the shops, got a few clothes etc for the next days meetings and then got dropped off at my hotel.

We had of course, taken photos of the driver, the car club guys, the car and all that. We had also immediately listed down the contents and value of the things in both the stolen suitcases.

We've shared all this info with our Admin guys and asked them to get the requisite compensation from the Car Club guys based on the agreement that the two companies have in place between them and the fact that this was a robbery for which we, the passengers, are not really liable.

The point we are making, for lack of anything else, is "Driver Negligence".

The fact is that I lost about 60K worth of items (including a tablet, Kindle, sunglasses, aftershave, clothing, small silver idol and so on) and my colleague lost around 30K in his luggage.

The upshot is that we are going to demand Car Club makes good the losses and will replace all these items and produce the bills and make a claim against them through a debit note or something, since we have a running account with them.

This scam has been perpetrated on us because sadly, in a Toyota Innova, if one switches off the ignition, then the central locking system releases all the locks on all the 5 doors including the hatch, thereby allowing such a crime to happen covertly.

In the european cars, one sees that the central locks on the 4 doors get released, but not the hatch (as in the case of my yeti).

This whole locking system needs to be re engineered by Toyota to prevent such issues in future and I hope that they will do something about it.

Other than this, there isn't much one can do, apart from trying to take recourse in the best most amicable manner possible, from the service provider.

Its crazy that such things happen in broad daylight in one of the most powerful cities in India. Really makes one think, how safe really are you, when you travel around, on business or personal work!

[NPV]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Its crazy that such things happen in broad daylight in one of the most powerful cities in India. Really makes one think, how safe really are you, when you travel around, on business or personal work!

Sorry to hear about that, quite a loss on account of valuable stuff in the overnighters!
I always make it a point not to leave behind any bag/overnighter,etc in a vehicle when heading out be it my own car or a taxi. Always safer for you to carry it with you, I know in this case there was an exceptional/unexpected situation due to the road work.
Another thing is to consider buying a laptop strolley that can also serve as an overnighter so you can take it to meetings like these.
And yes Toyota needs to fix this Central locking mechanism!!
I'm also wondering if someone can really open that hatch on the Innova so covertly that it goes unnoticed ? Could the driver be possibly involved in this incident ?

[swift_guy]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

In the meanwhile, these guys accomplices went quietly to the rear of the vehicle, opened the hatch door a chink, and pulled out my colleague's and my small overnight suitcases and went off. (This is what the driver surmises must have happened).

Quite a bad happening, but I think the driver was also involved in this. I was shocked to know that you left the luggage in someone else's car due to road work. I was very certain that the driver would flee with the bags. But by cooking up this story, his job isn't affected you see. Otherwise he would have lost his job. How can one be so lost in conversation?!

The fact that they took out two decent sized bags from the opening itself raises suspisions. The hatch lid would have been opened at least 15-18% to drag the bags out, right? How can this go unnoticed?

By the way, I didn't understand how this post is related to this thread. It should belong to "Unusual experiences on road" thread.

[shankar.balan]

The overnight suitcases were very small and compact.
The driver (in my estimation) could not have been involved in this. He is too decent a chap - was in shock - can't be faked to that extent.
And he said very mildly that in 20 years of driving, he's never had such an experience.
Several of us travel a lot.
I personally have travelled a great deal to all sorts of places across the world. Whenever I have had the use of a cab at my service, I ve never seen any reason to carry all my bags with me into meetings and the like. Scores of people leave their bags in the vehicles.
Most of the time, this can't happen because the vehicles invariably have separate boots. In this case, it was a Toyota Innova (which type we also use quite extensively). Unfortunately, the hatch central locking mechanism and timing does not make for a secure experience and sadly, neither does the Innova have a rear boot space lid or cover, which can mask the contents from prying eyes.
The thing is this is a lesson learned now.
And I guess, in future, however inconvenient it may seem, I will probably end up carrying very very light absolutely essential stuff (even lighter than what I normally carry, which itself is very light), for overnight trips. And I think I will start specifying that I don't want an Innova in future unless the hatch is separately lockable.
But I really don't see it as an option to lug my overnight suitcases all over the place for meetings etc. It is infinitely more convenient to leave these in the car itself when one goes for meetings.
Truly, when it comes to travelling light, I have crafted it down to a fine art, at least for these short trips! Only one set of clothes. Bare essential toiletries. Basic stuff like sunglasses and chargers. The only aberration this time, was that I left the Kindle in the bag.
I refuse to carry the common back pack type of office bag, vastly preferring my lovely soft leather slimline bag, for my slim laptop and a notebook and pen.
A learning experience this time for sure. Unhappy and expensive, but yet, a learning.

[VW2010]

Be careful about this Sathya Petrol bunk opposite to airport in CHennai. If you are filling air, just get down and stay close to these guys. If you are not alert and playing around you will see the guy filling air coming to you with a Nail saying you have a puncture and the tyre is losing air.

Simply refuse, fill the air and leave. This bunk is notorious because they will definitely fix an imaginary puncture by poking a hole