Brought home a Tata Nexon EV Max XZ+ Lux: Purchase process & delivery

My family agreed to replace the Grand I10 in case we switch to Lux variant, only because of the beige interiors that gave a better sense of space.

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Took the delivery of my car today. Here I would like to share my experience of booking and delivery. Apology for the long post but I wanted to share the sweet salty experience I went thru this process.

In the first week of May, I thought of replacing one of my two cars, Grand I10 Asta petrol or Creta diesel automatic as both are 6-7 yrs. old.

At this moment the idea of switching to electric precipitated. Thanks to Team BHP, I had a fair idea about the electric vehicles and the options available. Leaving aside the other reasons for preferring the Nexon EV over the MG Zs and Hyundai Kona, the Nexon EV fitted more in my budget.

I called the Tata customer care and in fifteen minutes received a call from dealer A. The SA explained the variants of regular Nexon EV and their pricing. He requested me to come for the TD. Next morning, we went for the TD and had to wait for good 45 min to an hour as the SA was busy attending other customers. Finally, the wait was over and the TD vehicle was brought. It was a regular Nexon XZ+ variant. The interiors were not properly maintained and gave a shabby look. Did the TD. My first driving impression was good and got me inclined into getting one. However, my family had other ideas. In their opinion, it would be a downgrade from the Creta in terms of size, space and comfort, that feeling being enhanced by the grey Interiors and the lack of their upkeep. That put me also in two minds. The SA informed that there is a delivery period of 16 to 18 weeks and the Max variant was to be launched on 11 May which I was already aware of. He also told that the Max TD vehicle is in transit and will reach the dealership in a couple of days after the launch. We returned home a bit disappointed.

On 11 May I attended the launch event of the Max live and booked an XZ+ variant online immediately on the website being thrown open for booking. Mine would be one of the earliest online booked vehicles. I personally opted for dealer B as that was more convenient for me. I did the booking considering the delivery time and with a thought of taking a call on final purchase later. The SA from dealer B called me half an hour later and asked for the documents, which I provided and he sent me the payment receipt and the booking form that did not have any booking number or the queue position. I contacted Tata customer care to know this and was promptly asked to get in touch with the dealer for the same. The dealer was not transparent on this and kept repeating that it will take about 16 weeks without giving me any firm queue status.

Two days after the launch the SA from dealer A calls me again to inform that Max TD vehicle has arrived and I can do the TD. I asked him if he can come to my place which he agreed and was there at my doorstep. This was a brand new XZ+ Lux variant and had an opposite impression over the TD of regular Nexon EV that I did earlier. My family agreed to replace the Grand I10 in case we switch to Lux variant, only because of the beige interiors that gave a better sense of space.

In the meanwhile, I kept researching on user experiences, the issues they faced and how TML responded to it. That gave me the confidence that I can manage one and decided to go for it.

On 21st May I asked my SA to switch my booking to XZ+ Lux. Yes, I did opt for the 3.3 kw charger, even as I don't have the issue with the sanctioned load, my dedicated parking location is good 80 meters away from my meter box and there is a road in between. I have approached my housing society with a couple of options, the outcome is still awaited. So, the installation of charging box is on hold and I am going to manage the charging by parking nearer to my meter with an extension cord for now. Also 3.3 Kw charger should suffice for the regular city driving charging requirements. Fast charger is only helpful if you have back-to-back long drives, which happens rarely and one can always use the public fast chargers in that case.

In the meanwhile, I also did my loan paper work and got it sanctioned.

Here comes June 14. My SA calls me to inform that a vehicle has been allocated. I am not sure if it was done at the Tata Motors end as even a day prior to this the SA had maintained that it will take 16 weeks. He asked for the full margin money to enable DMS billing. I had no idea about the DMS billing and offered him to transfer 50K to commit myself for the delivery, to which he finally agreed and I transferred Rs. 50k to the dealer’s account the next day. On June 16, he calls me again to ask for the balance margin money that I politely refused. On June 20, he messaged me that the vehicle will take another week to reach their stockyard. Next day he sent me the VIN, that gave me a bit sense of relief that the vehicle has actually been allotted. On 23 June I went to the bank to sign the loan docket and also visited the dealer. My SA was on leave that day and another individual showed me a excel sheet on his mobile that showed the VIN allocated against my name and the status as “In-transit” and current location as “Factory”. I also finalized the insurance with the dealer and opted for ICICI Lombard that cost me 55k.

On June 26 the SA calls me and tells me that he wanted to go ahead with the registration process as the RTO was supposed to suspend the registration of vehicles hypothecated to two major banks including the one, I opted for my loan. He wanted the disbursal of the loan and the margin money to initiate registration process. I was very reluctant to allow registration without PDI and more so for the vehicle that is still in transit. On enquiring about that status of the vehicle arrival, I was told that it will take another 3-4 days. I refused and told him that I was willing to wait for the restart of the registration by RTO.

On June 28 I was informed that the vehicle has reached the stockyard and was available for PDI. On enquiring about the suspended registration, he sheepishly replied “Ho Jayega Sir”. I went for the PDI the same day. In the stockyard more than 1k Tata vehicles were parked, out of which about 10-15 Nexon EVs of all variants were there. As I was little early than the SA, I zeroed in on my vehicle with the VIN provided and did the visual inspection. Once the SA came, did the PDI whatever I could as it was a very hot and humid day and we were sweating profusely. Gave my final go-ahead and transferred the balance margin money the next day and also instructed my bank for the loan disbursal. The delivery was supposed to happen on Friday the 1st July but the usual glitches at RTO server had pushed it to Sunday the 3rd.

Delivery was pretty normal. The Z-Connect app is yet to be activated. Basic accessory kit was offered complimentary so didn’t go for 3D/7D mats which I plan to upgrade later. Already notice a couple of issues that got overlooked during PDI.

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