Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Review: Hyundai Dealerships Chandigarh

I recently read that chandigarh has the highest car per person rate in india, but sadly the dealerships here aren't that good as you might expect, specially the lower middle segment dealers for cars and almost all motorcycle dealers. My recent purchase of a Hyundai i10 got me into contact with various dealers in and around chandigarh, i hope you benefit from this information.


1. ULTIMATE HYUNDAI CHANDIGARH
Since i bought my car from here and have had extensive contact with them, i start from here.
There are 4 hyundai car dealers in chandigarh and mohali, Ultimate hyundai chandigarh, Charisma hyundai chandigarh, KLG hyundai chandigarh, Joshi hyundai mohali. My obvious initial step was to go to each one of them, try to know how good they are or how bad, get a test drive, interact with them, get a quote and then finally decide. Here is my first impression of Ultimate Hyundai: NO WAY IN HELL I'M BUYING FROM HERE!
You read it right, its a government office, worse than it. Nothing gets done on time, everything somehow hits some inexplicable roadblock, you hear silly excuses all the time some of which are so absurd you can laugh a whole week thinking about it.
But anyway, i went there again, to get a test drive, here is what they said: WE DONT HAVE A TEST DRIVE VEHICLE AVAILABLE RIGHT NOW, WE HAVEN'T BEEN ALLOTTED ONE. ANYWAY CUSTOMER WHO IS SERIOUS ENOUGH TO BUY WILL NOT ASK FOR A TEST DRIVE PLUS THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE WHO COME HERE FROM THE ADJOINING PVR CINEMA JUST TO ENJOY A DRIVE AND NOTHING MORE. SO OUR MANAGEMENT DISCOURAGES US TO GIVE TEST DRIVES TO CUSTOMERS.
I finally got a test drive from KLG hyundai.
Then came the time for taking quotes, and believe me i have no idea how they managed to bring a gap of Rs. 4000 as compared to other dealers. Comparing with KLG, which i like the most, they were having a a price already less by Rs. 1000 and above that they were giving some accessories which i got converted into cash which fetched another Rs. 3000 making the total gap.
Now you would think 4000 isn't a big deal when you are talking about buying a 5 lac thing, but trust me, when you are trying to find small things to reject or prioritize a dealership, such things matter. So the decision was made, Ultimate it is. I gave solace to myself thinking that once i get the car from here i will always get it serviced at KLG so i will have the best deal from all respects.
I always asked the dealers very categorically how long will the delivery take, Ultimate said at max 12-13 days, i said lets make it 15 to make room for any glitches. I got the delivery after 22 days.
Don't think the damage was just emotional, that they cheated on the delivery date, i placed the order on 15th February 2010, car arrived on 10th march 2010, during this period the excise duty increased. Initially i thought it would not affect us since we already had made the order well before the date of increase, but as it turns out, Ultimate hyundai placed the order on such a date that the car was billed on 28th February 2010, a day after the prices rose.
You can imagine my rage, we had to pay 10,000 more just because they could not make the order on time even when i made all the payments and bookings well before that date.
Even here don't think they made any apology or anything that could have comforted us, hell even their explanations are so vague you want to get the car, throw the money in their face and get it over with. The guy i was dealing with told me the car was billed on 26th, the manager told it was 28th. I said you could have taken the whole of the amount before 27th, he says your car was not even billed, so it was not possible. Now whose mistake was it that my car was not billed even 12 days after i actually made the booking?
Anyway, the car arrived, finally. They don't do any PDI(Pre Delivery Inspection), just hang a card saying PDI done, even that they didn't do with my car. When i did the PDI myself i found that that even when that car was off, not even the key inside, the rpm meter was on 1000, naturally i asked the dealer, his answer: SIR AUTOMATIC CARS HAVE DIFFERENT PROBLEMS THIS IS BECAUSE ITS AUTOMATIC DON'T WORRY CAR IS FINE EVERYTHING IS ALL RIGHT.
Trust me, this is just one of the million excuses this guy gave me that were absurd like anything. I asked him what is the L mode in automatic transmission, he said its for long distance driving. I asked him what is the O/D mode for, he said its for overtaking. He was like a school kid, who just blurts out anything that first comes to his mouth and thinks he is right, always making silly excuses.
So the delivery, my family came along and we were ready for the delivery. Even when i had told them i would be there first thing in the morning, still when i arrive and ask then the car is taken for washing and fitting. Paperwork is done, they make us pay even 39 rupees with this excuse from my beloved dealer: SIR ITNA MARGIN NAHIN HOTA ISMEIN. For god's sake! he wanted me to believe that in selling a car worth 5 lac the dealership didn't make more than 39 rupees?
So, we take the car out, there is no ceremony, nothing at all i mean, we take the keys and head out, just like that, like it was some car park.
I have not even scratched the surface of what i had to face, but then i don't want to sound all weeping and dejected.
On 14th May i brought my car for service at Ultimate only, because there seemed to be some problem in the steering and i thought it would be better if the selling dealer saw to it. Here again, the government office did its job. They had made such a mess of cars on the entry of the service area that i would have to sit in my car on the road for atleast an hour before it could go inside, then again how long it would take god knows.
I finally made a good decision, reversed, sped away straight to KLG, got it serviced within an hour and went home satisfied.

VERDICT: DON'T GO TO ULTIMATE HYUNDAI IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A BUYING EXPERIENCE. HELL DON'T GO TO ULTIMATE AT ALL UNLESS YOUR ONLY AIM IS TO BE HAPPY SAVING 4000 OVER 5 LACS, WHICH AGAIN ULTIMATELY, YOU MAY END UP LOOSING OR PAYING 6000 EXTRA INSTEAD.

2. JOSHI HYUNDAI
Because i live in mohali, joshi hyundai was closest, i went there a few times for inquiries. I cant be as comprehensive about any other dealer as i have been about ultimate because of the obvious fact that i bought the car from there, but here is what i experienced at joshi.
They have nice infrastructure, good dealers and overall good vibes. The first point that drew me away from them was that they were asking for the highest price, along with KLG hyundai, which didn't seem much justified to me. The second reason that made me swear never to buy nothing from joshi hyundai:
I HAD TO MAKE 3 APPEARANCES TO FINALLY GET A TEST RIDE, 9 AM IN THE MORNING. THEIR TEAM LEADER IS GOING WITH ME. FIRST OF ALL, UNLIKE ALL OTHER DEALERS TILL DATE THAT I HAVE HAD TEST DRIVES WITH, HE ASKS ME TO WAIT AND REVERSES AND GETS THE CAR OUT HIMSELF, LIKE I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DRIVE. WHEN HE CROSSES THE GATE, HE ASKS ME TO DRIVE. I GET ON THE SEAT, MAKE MYSELF COMFORTABLE, PUT ON THE SEAT BELT, PUSH THE STARTER AND WHAT I SEE? THE GUY SITTING NEXT TO ME, THE SO CALLED TEAM LEADER IS SITTING WITH HIS RIGHT HAND FIRMLY ON THE HAND BRAKE. NOW EITHER THAT GUY HAD EXTREME FEAR OF BEING DRIVEN BY SOMEONE ELSE, OR HE THOUGHT I NEEDED HELP WITH BREAKING, BUT ANYWAY I DROVE THAT CAR AS DANGEROUSLY AS I COULD WITH TOTAL RAGE.
That guy treated me like a kid. like i was there just for fun and won't be buying anything. When i asked him for a quote he just started speaking this much amount, we will give you this this and that, not even sitting down to discuss anything.

VERDICT: NOT A BAD PLACE AT ALL, IF THEY CAN BE A BIT SENSITIVE AND FIRE THAT TEAM LEADER RIGHT AWAY.

3. CHARISMA HYUNDAI
Right about the time i was planning for my vehicle, charisma was in the limelight because some person had won a case against it in the consumer forum. Apparently, charisma had said it will give the exchange bonus but did not in the end. So you can understand i wasn't much enthusiastic about buying from there from the start. The place isn't bad, the staff is a bit careless, its not a big deal if you keep standing for a few minutes waiting to be noticed.
Then i got my dealer, someone who will make you remember that fat girl from comedy circus. I asked her, just for information, if i could buy i10 automatic through CSD? She said in the most certain tone that its completely impossible, that their owner is a retired army officer and the maximum number of CSD sales are made through them in chandigarh, all this when i had just returned from KLG hyundai after being told there would be no problem with an i10 automatic.
Anyhow, i went there for a qoute, their price was in the middle, and they were giving some cheap seat covers. When i asked if i could convert them into cash as i didn't want to put on those cheap things and it would be of no use to me then, she refused. That put the final nail in the coffin.

VERDICT: NOT A BAD PLACE, NOT A GOOD ONE EITHER, THE LEAST REMARKABLE DEALER HERE.

4. KLG HYUNDAI
This is where you will get an actual buying experience, something that you will want to tell others about and recommend them to buy from. The dealer, Ms Shobhita, very straightforward and cool. Got my first test drive here, which actually was not very nice, not in the sense of the drive, which in itself was perfect because she didn't interfere at all, let me do anything i wanted with the car, take it anywhere and come back when i preferred, but in the sense that the car was not an actual test drive vehicle, it was just a new car.
Now this can be taken both negatively and positively, she tried her best to get me the test drive and got it by any means possible, but what about the poor guy to whom the car belonged? We all know how test drive vehicles are driven. Saying that they are driven would be an understatement, they are properly abused.
Barring that, it was a pleasure dealing with them.
As i have already told i got the first service done from KLG only, which was a very very pleasant experience and i swear my allegiance to KLG for the rest of my life!

VERDICT: THE BEST PLACE TO BUY A HYUNDAI IN CHANDIGARH. DON'T GO FOR DISCOUNTS, THEY COUNT FOR NOTHING IN THE END.




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