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Hassles of owning a discontinued car or brand in India

I'd like to hear from folks who own discontinued cars / brands and have been through these hassles.

BHPian rajushank84 recently shared this with other enthusiasts,

This is an uncomfortable topic, one we tend to avoid.

But at some point, many of us think about this. As petrolheads, are we missing out by sticking with "safe" brands and models that have a wide service network?

What's the worst that can happen? Or, in Jeremy Clarkson's voice: "How hard can it be?" - To own a brand / model that is no longer around?

Let's break that down:

  • Service and repairs
  • Getting stranded god-knows-where with accidents/breakdowns
  • Financial / resale-value concerns
  • Safety concerns with older cars

Service and Repairs

Broadly, the service work should be doable by competent independent shops.

The concern is parts. But in today's world of online commerce and a global market, how much of a concern is this really? I understand there is a difference between a rare car that was launched only in India, versus a car that existed globally and has a used-parts market.

Example:

  • The Civic we had between 2007 and 2011. In India it is gone. But globally, there has to be a significant market for it. Chevy Cruze, Fiat Punto and so on are similar.
  • However, you can't expect the same for say, a Daewoo Cielo.

The other concern here is, how many independent shops agree to service these cars? How many independent shops exist in the first place, in some cities?

Q: What's the worst that can happen?

A: Practically, you end up waiting for spares for quite a while, with the car dysfunctional.

Getting stranded god-knows-where with accidents/breakdowns

This is broadly similar to the regular service concern, except.. there's no telling where you will be. Halfway to a hill-station the Mitsubishi sputters and stops. What next?

Q: What's the worst that can happen?

A: Car needs to get towed to a metro that has an independent shop that can handle it. Possibly towed to your hometown so that you don't have to take days off work going back and forth. All the towing can cost a bomb and be a pain in the neck.

Financial / resale-value concerns

This is purely subjective of course and varies for each wallet. But the way I see it, this is heavily mitigated by paying less for buying the car in the first place, compared to a contemporary model.

For example (for a 5 year ownership):

  • Buying a Swift for 9 lakhs and selling it for 4 lakhs, compared to = 5 lakhs + interest lost in depreciation.
  • Buying (say) a Cedia for 2 lakhs and letting it go for 50K. = 1.5 lakhs lost in depreciation.

So even if you spend 3-4 lakhs for maintaining the Cedia and keeping it running, you're still in a comparable space to that Swift.

Q: What's the worst that can happen?

A: Your car gets sold for peanuts.

Safety concerns with older cars

This is a legitimate concern. But doesn't have to be always applicable. For example, again the example with the Civic, or let's take a Linea. You could still be better off safety-wise buying those over say mid-trim Swift or an i10. You could very well get a Fiesta Classic in Titanium model than a newer generation Santro. So it is relative.

So, summarizing... what's the worst that can happen?

  • Your service and repairs can take quite long
  • Breakdowns/accidents can be a hassle on long trips
  • Financially you may take a bath unless you hit a super-cheap deal when buying
  • If you buy a car without safety features, you may be putting your life in relatively higher risk

I'd like to hear from folks who own discontinued cars / brands and have been through these hassles. Do you think the concern is exaggerated? Or would you totally stick with only service-network-friendly brands next time around?

I think it is also worth mentioning some cars I would buy that are discontinued:

Old Honda City

Mitsubishi Cedia Sport

Fiat Punto/Linea

Ford Fiesta 1.6

Ford Ikon

Maruti Suzuki Zen

Honda Civic

Chevrolet Cruze

Fiat Palio 1.6

Old Maruti Baleno

Thoughts welcome. Worth doing? Worth the hassle of owning an older car we really like, versus settle for a newer car for the sake of service network?

Here's what BHPian Jeroen had to say on the matter:

With the exception of my company cars, almost every car I have ever owned was out of production for a long time, or in a few cases the brand ceased to exist (E.g. Talbot).

In the end it is down to buying a decent second hand, and not worrying too much about all these things mentioned. Hey, if I buy a 7 year old Jaguar at about 10% of its original cost who cares for the odd expensive repair.

I have owned dozens and dozens of cars. Mostly at least 5-8 years old, rarely with less than 100.000 km on the clock. If you ran out of spare parts, you just trade it in for the next one. Or scrap it.

New car ownership versus well used car ownership are two completely different things. I never worry about the cost, because I don’t have depreciation. Which as far as I am concerned should be a major worry for anybody buying new.

Reliability on most modern cars is by and large very good. It is really very rare to suffer a break down that will prevent you getting home.

Of course, most of my car ownership and experience is based on living and working in western countries. But if I read some of the horror stories on brand new cars in India and general spares for availability, owning a brand new car in India might not give you any advantages over a well-used one. You have to ask yourself this question; what is worse, breaking down with a brand new vehicle and getting poor service and virtually no parts available in all of India?

Or breaking down with a second hand car, that cost a fraction of its new version, and not being able to get it serviced or parts because it’s obsolete?

Here's what GTO had to say on the matter:

Couple of thoughts from my end, as I end up in this situation frequently due to how long I keep my cars.

  • As long as the model was popular in India or worldwide, you will never have a problem with its maintenance. Popularity means there is enough labour + parts support in the after-market. But God help you if you end up with a flopped car.
  • 90% of cars sold today will offer you acceptable to good levels of reliability up to 200,000 km easily if maintained well.
  • You need a very competent independent garage. I own a niche 2-door Jeep model that is 24 years old and was discontinued 2 decades ago. But owning it is a breeze because of two exceptional indies I know.
  • Stick to a model with promise, abandon the one that doesn't have a future. Don't throw good money after bad - know when to cut your losses. As an example, you will still see 2007 Toyota Camrys running well on our roads. But the 1st-gen Skoda Superb sold in India? RIP.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

 
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