All right, i know it has been quite some time and the thread has been moving nowhere, but here comes the final chapter of my Booking story.
May 20, 2011 - The Loan processing
I am adding this point for helping all those freshers like me who approach the Bank for a loan for first time
Here are 3 golden rules you need to keep in mind before approaching an institution
1. Bankers are NOT Gods - You need money to buy car but that does not mean that the lending authority is some god, they are not giving you money for free,
they are earning a good profit from the interest they levy, So STOP acting like their subordinates
2. Be professional in approach - We are not there to make friends, so do loan shopping, have options in hand so that if they dont bend more then you can always threaten to take the business away to other bank
3. Be Prepared and plan in advance - It is obvious that when you are taking a loan, you need to repay it as well and interest rates are pretty high
these days; so try and keep the loan amount only to the limit where you can repay it without being overstretched
Now, i had planned to take loan from HDFC bank as i already have my home loan there but on enquiring i found that the interest rate is higher and also
there is no prepayment option
So i turned to my older Banker "Saraswat bank", some people may laugh on hearing the name but my experience turned out to be very good as always and guess what i got my loan approval in 2 days, who says small banks are not keeping up with competition and also since we have known the bank for so long, it was like taking money from a family member (but on interest though
)
May 30, 2011 - The VIN Check
It was a bright sunny morning and i was supposed to goto maruti Godown to go check on VIN number to make sure the car was not an old one,
i had called up the dealer on Saturday that week and he had said it was an April car, as Sajo and others had advised, i went to the TBHP thread
where they have provided detail steps to calculate Month / Year of Manufacture (it was very helpful),
So i went to Godown (Garware open ground, near Finolex)..I stepped thru the gate and Sagar pointed towards the car and said "Wo raha sir aapka Gaadi"
And there stood my car...All shabby and covered in Dust, Initially i was angry and suddenly i took a good look around ad guess what there were around 100+ cars all dirty and dry (Including a Kizashi, the guy who must have paid the money would faint if he saw his car in that condition)
I asked him that how can they treat cars like this, on one side they say "Use MGA Car Cover to protect you car from dust and rain", and here they are
kept like this, what surprises me more is how do they make it look so pleasing on the day of delivery
He got the keys and i asked him to pop the hood, on the left there was a plastic cover, he opened it and there it was "
DB", which meant April - 2011,
So now i was sure he was not lying about the car manufacture, i went back with a smile on my face as a major query was now answered
June 1, 2011 - The Car is mine, finally
As i had mentioned many times, down payment was done but fingers were crossed to get a "yes" from the bank, and as mentioned above that yes came pretty fast
But due to one document pending from my side, things got delayed by 10 days
Finally on June 1, 2011 i got a call from my bank that the Pay order was ready, i quickly said to myself "
Thank You God, lekin Ab aur twist mat lao is deal main"
went to bank, thanked the loan officer, got the pay order home and kept it in front of God, then called maruti showroom that i was coming to make my final payment - what a climax
I went to showroom and also submitted my company ID proof for Corporate discount, made the payment - got the receipt and he asked "Sir Gaadi Kab le jaa rahe hai"
I said "June 17, Mere Dad ka 60th b'day hai aur ye unka b'day gift hai meri taraf se..."