My wife was a bit worried about the 195 mm ground clearance, but my son and me assured her that it was sufficient, and she gave a go ahead.
BHPian Prasidhi recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Finally, got the Nexon EV Max XZ+ fully free to use... Been a little late in posting as I took time to consolidate stuff.
I was waiting for the longer range Nexon as I will need to travel to Kerala (Kozhikode and Wayanad) frequently and the Nexon Prime range was a bit lesser in my estimate. We were very happy to see the Nexon EV Max on launch day and decided to take a test drive and then finalise. (First mistake, not to book on the opening day itself).
A visit to Kropex was not at all good, and they never called back, Prerana did not have any TD vehicle in their BTM showroom and had to go to Lal Bagh, so went with KHT Motors who got the TD vehcile home.
Had a TD and was quite happy with the vehicle, though wife had a bit of prejudiced mind on the back seat comfort as she had read about the same. We needed a higher ground clearance to go through the native Wayanad and she again was a bit worried about the 195 mm ground clearance. My son and me assured her that it was sufficient, and she gave a go ahead. SA promised that the delivery could happen by July though the waiting period is higher.
Booking:
We finally made the booking on 29th May with KHT Motors (2nd Mistake: Should have booked online).
Booking process was smooth as the SA guided me with the details and I provided him the Aadhar and PAN details and the booking was made along with a payment of ₹21,000. Next day they issued a receipt for just ₹11,000. The first of the umpteen follow ups started here. I sent them a mail and finally the correction was made and a fresh receipt of ₹21,000 was given.
Allotment:
June was over and in July called up the SA and he told in two weeks the allotment would happen. In July end, he checked up with his authorities and told it would happen in August. Called up TATA Motors, they told me that they don't have any idea as the booking was made through the dealer and they took it as a complaint and forwarded. This prompted KHT to give me my waitlist number (I was 3 in KHT and some 20 odd in Karnataka). Meanwhile my SA had quit and joined Mahindra. The team leader of the SA who was communicating with me told me that it was because of me the SA had quit. (Interestingly, I am still in touch with the SA and he had told me that it was his job empowerment and not any complaints was the reason he went to Mahindra). The team leader was so rude and I actually wanted to cancel the booking and move to another dealer. Kerala dealers were delivering vehicles in a month by then. Then KHT sent me a mail stating that Rohith would be my connect point and he will interact with me.
Rohith, for one good thing was never giving any false assurances of delivery, he always told that vehicle has not been allotted and he doesn't have much idea when it will get allotted. Then in September he called me to tell that one vehicle allotted to someone can be allotted to me as the person is not intending to take delivery and the vehicle was lying in the yard. He told the de-allocation will happen soon and in 10 days, the process can be completed. I had arranged the amount and kept on following up and he told the de-allocation from the earlier person never happened from TATA's side. Whole September went that way.
On October 1st, I got a call from SA that a fresh vehicle has been allotted to me by TATA and it would take around 10 days to reach Bangalore. I got a mail confirming that from KHT on that day along with VIN and chasis number. As many of the fellow BHPians said, downloaded the Z-Connect app and found that the vehicle is in my name and lying in PUNE and once they despatched it, Z-Connect lost connect.
PDI and pre-delivery:
Though I found the VIN in the app and the mail sent by KHT matching, somehow had a doubt on the motor number that it ended with 01234 (which is too good to be true). I had told Rohith and team that I wanted a PDI once the vehicle is in yard, and he had agreed to that. Went for the PDI to the yard and checked the vehicle. Checked the chassis number, but not the motor number, as I was not able to locate it. Was ok with the vehicle condition and gave a go ahead for Registration and also paid the full amount. (3rd mistake - Checked only the VIN and not checking the Motor number).
Insurance:
KHT had given the insurance amount for the vehicle as ₹1 lakh and I was not happy with the quote. So, during booking itself I had mentioned to KHT that I would be taking the insurance outside and not from them. Meanwhile, took a policy from Acko (IDV 5% lesser than the Ex-Showroom price, which is the norm as per RTO) for a premium of ₹47,518. (Return to Invoice, Tow Assistance and Accessories cover). The whole insurance policy was taken online in 10 minutes time. The person who called me was quite helpful and told me to be very careful while entering the chassis number and Motor Number as it was difficult to change them later in the policy. She had warned that one will have to mail to their corporate mail id to change these details, which may take time.
Payment and registration:
Made the full payment, however SA did not take any money for accessories as he told me that none of the accessories are available. [Not even the Ganesha idol and perfume, which was very hard to believe]. Don't know whether they were not happy with me as I did not take the insurance with them.
SA was asking me to do the registration with Indiranagar RTO (KA03), however I refused it as my jurisdiction was in KA01. They were not very happy as they told it happens online and I will have to wait more once the application is submitted. I didn't budge and insisted on KA01 itself. They delayed submitting the documents for almost a week and meanwhile told me to take delivery without having registration. I refused outright as it was illegal to take a vehicle even without applying for Registration.
Then came the twist. SA called me and told me that on inspection, they found that the last 5 digits of Motor Number is not the one mentioned in invoice, and they will get it corrected from TATA. They issued a fresh invoice, corrected their CRM, meanwhile I had to correct the insurance policy. (Acko had told it will be a tedious work). I contacted Acko and surprisingly, in a matter of 30 minutes, they did the correction and sent me the updated policy. [Full marks to Acko, hope their service later on will be as good].
Submitted all the documents to SA and it took another 3-4 days for registration process to complete. They blamed RTO, but what I found is that as soon as the application is uploaded online, you get the ewgistration number allotted on the same day or worst case the next day. It was the delay at the dealer side that caused the problem and RTO process is smooth. Downloaded the vehicle details from Mparivahan and cross checked. Dealer again had caused an error in my name and missed one alphabet. Now they have promised that it would be corrected once I get the RC Card. (Fourth mistake- Not insisting on dealer to show me the online application). Now I didn't want any chance and was ready to wait till the number plate is fixed.
Charger installation:
Didn't get any call from TATA Power even after the registration was complete. I had told SA that the charger had to be fixed before delivery and it took a couple of Twitter escalations for the TATA Power guys to come and do the installation. They told me that that they got the request from the dealer very late. Fixed the charger and told me to increase the connected load by 1kw as it can cause problems in future.
Delivery:
Finally, on 26th of October, dealer informed me that the number plate is ready, and I can take the delivery. Even though I was not happy with the process, as I did not want to spoil a good occasion, carried small gifts for SA for their efforts and went to take the delivery. SA walked me through the documentations and other process, explained the working of the car. Here also they made a mistake of quoting the incorrect motor number in the invoice. (I would rate his knowledge level on EV as average, and I had more knowledge obtained from our forum from you all folks). Car was delivered without any accessory (not even mudflaps and mats) as the stock was not "available". Was disappointed to see the number plate is not aligned properly and as it is an HSRP, it cannot be removed and refixed. The Service Advisor there assured me it would get corrected during first service (I don't believe that as HSRP cannot be removed and refixed). Delivery experience was not very great (my Palio delivery 14 years ago was much better than this), here the entire staff present wore an uninterested look on their face.
Now the delightful PART:
Vehicle is an absolute bliss. Driving is super smooth and maneuvering in the traffic is effortless. Fell in love with it in the first instance of driving and forgot all the not so good experiences with the buying process. Decided to go for a Graphene Coating. Had called up Rakshit of Autorush based on the feedback from our fellow BHPians.
Coating:
Rakshit is a cool guy to deal with and he quoted me 30k for Graphene coating and 22K for partial PPF (Covering in vulnerable areas). His knowledge on the subject is pretty commendable and was very genuine. He gave clear timelines and adhered to the same, He also had told me not to take vehicle out in the rain for at least a week after Graphene coating. To my bad luck, it rained in Bangalore and had to keep car in the covered parking. The work was very good, and he also scheduled another round of top up coating sometime in 2nd week of November. Car looks glossy and great after coating, very happy and satisfied with Autorush.
Initially, I was not very comfortable on how to set the cruise control and one of our fellow BHPians had helped me. Drove through NICE road and tested the cruise control. Now driving at 135 kw/hr, and was able to achieve 128 kw/hr after E-City flyover with cruise control. Hopefully, will be able to get more out of the car once my driving style improves. Tested Eco and City mode and did not have the guts to take the vehicle to Sport mode now. Will do it later sometime. In Eco mode itself, I felt the vehicle had more power than many of the ICE hatch backs I have driven.
Will provide more updates after my long-distance trip scheduled in the coming week.
Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.