Buying a car? be careful about your phatoore!!. Review on Choosing a Car Dealer

Bringing home something sparkling new is so very enlivening experience, ya phir tv, we are overwhelmed with the new possession(nari mukti brigade can take this with haajmola please)!

And when it comes to be as big as sparkling as the new hue of a shining beauty on four wheels one’s joy knows no bound. But this joy could be short lived but for after sales service(yes even in marriages too my friends), as it is said my friend your phatoore(future) post marriage is directly proportional to the natoore(nature) of your better half.

So be very cautious about the dealer from which you buy your car. Exactly which brands of car he is dealing in, tells a lot of your phatoore on wheels.  So after enjoying the overwhelming Maruti after sales services for years I tried to contact few other car brand dealers looking forward to a pleasant change, but their lacklustre response over phone scared me to take even the very first step, going to the dealer to test drive a car. And moreover this particular buy was just a stop gap arrangement for time being. So I cautioned myself, not to be very adventurous, and go for the tested, trusted one! Anyhow Sheila dixit is mouthing these days “if you are adventurous.

”aapke samaan ki jimmedaari aapke apne haath!” Isn’t it quite logical if you are an Indian not to go to Nigeria on hunt for marital prospects….”bhartiya naari se shaadi karo sukhi jivan beetaao na yaar”*!

So in my tryst of “sukhi jivan” I looked for dealers in my area.within 5-6 kms of radius and quite to our pleasure our neighborhood has virtually turned into a big car bazaar, showrooms after showrooms in a row. Yes I am talking of Mohan Co-operative, housing the BMWs, Ford and Porsche showrooms of Delhi and indeed there are TATA, Maruti, Skoda, Hyundai and GM jostling for their own space too! They sit together with the most basic principle of business…business todo! Ek saath khade raho….customer aayega! Have you ever been to mass swayamwar organized by some benevolent NGO?  The feel here is ditto! Much as the Punjab State Lottery ads proclaim “Iss diwali apne pasand ki dulhan laao bhangra paao”you are there almost in all brand dealership on a single visit.

As I have already mentioned with the response over phone we were quite skeptical of being received in goodwill, goodfaith, goodmood by the dealers, we chose to call the dealer at our place instead! We fixed appointments with GM and Maruti, the GM people never turned up even after repeated calls of “padhaaro mhaare desh”they missed the date every time* and our good old Maruti where bang on time, at our door step on any given day and they came not less than 3-4 times to complete the formalities! Quite impressive it was!  Yaani jis ghar mein aap rishta ker rahe wo kitne milansaar hain…aapka phatoore bright hai! And they live so near to your home! So you are sure about help being at hand always! Remember the dealer and service center should be very close to your home. So that you need not drive those extra miles to sort out tidbits of every day driving wear and tear. Check if they have pick-up and drop facility when your car needs a service….matlab dulhan apne maayake khud jaaye aur maayke waale usse waapus bhi pahunhaa jaaye….isn’t life gets so beautiful?

And then obtaining feedbacks on how well your car has been serviced over phone is so overwhelming, yes overwhelming, because I got calls from every possible person from the workshop, the driver who picked my car, the engineer who was assigned on my car, the man who washed the car, the fitter who touched up a near invisible scar, the guard who received and delivered my car at the entrance of the workshop “shaabji hum ram avataar rohan motor se ooo gadiaa bhej diyen hain ghar per koi hain na reseeve karne ke liye?” and last but not the least, the call center they have tied up with! What an overwhelming feel…sasuraal ke saare aapka kitna khyaal rakh rahein hain, sala, Sali, sasur, sasu ma, aur shaayad padosi bhi! So now you are damn sure about the relation you have made is so very delightful or rather you already knew it. Perhaps this is the trick to be the numero-uno of car bazaar in India. Thumbs up forMaruti **once again!

Oh I left out the most important part…as they said…ek baat to batana bhul hi gayaa….arey ghabraayiye nahi baraatiyon ka swaagat….freebies se hona chaahiye. **Go for the dealer which offers you maximum discount maximum freebies because may be all the Maruti dealers selling the same product but the discount and final benefits vary from dealer to dealer, and knowing it after purchase can pinch a lot, acquire  maximum number of  quotes possible from dealers across your city, me for that matter, have managed to get, central locking, gear lock, foot mats, divinity dash board art piece, perfume, genuine seat covers, steering cover, almost on freebie scheme we paid just 4000/- extra to get all these in our car-thanks to grueling bargaining session(which I could not survive I came out for a drag, annoyed! kudos to the representative who sat through the whole session) of my wife Archana….dealer ka khoon pee liyaa….for a change this one time!

So now you know my friends either you buy a car or get ready to bring your dulhan….be very cautious and alert for every details,aakhir baat aapke phatoore ki hai dost!