[iashishi]

On pointing it out, Krishna quickly accepted the issue and promised to replace the glass at his own cost. After this I enquired about all the issues I had sent and he confidently said everythign except the camera and the audio and center console screen is fixed. I specifically asked about the indicator and battery draining issue and he confirmed they are all fixed. I took a small test drive and everything seemed in order.

I drove back home and on the way I could hear some rattles. While driving, I was trying to find the source of the rattle and finally found the culprit. The glove box wasnt fixed properly


I took the family out on a drive at night and this time the car started without any issues and it really felt like the car was on the mend with only minor electrical issues to resolve.

However, I was wrong...after driving for short distances to school and back, the car was not used for next few days. On 22nd Feb 2025, when I tried to start the car, again it failed to do so. I was back to square one.

I got the car jump started and investigated the car thoroughly. This brough up so many issues that I feel Krishna doesnt have competent people and he himself is not competent enough to mange and do a final inspection before delivering the car for the second time.

Here are the list of issues I found -
1) Camera and Center console screen not working( Known issue)
2) Battery still draining...so not fixed in 2 months
3) Pilot light only one working in front

4) High beam only one working in the front

5) fog lamps both front and rear not working

6) Sun roof cover( moon roof?) not opening fully by hand. If you open sun roof, it opens fully

7) roof liner not fixed properly in couple of places.

[iashishi]

I informed krishna and he promised to personally come home and fix them for me. I waited for 2 days and finally took the car to my local mechanic and he fixed everything in a day. For those who are interested, it is MotoVise on Harlur road.
He made the following fixes -
1) The glovebox - some piece to hold it together is missing. Has made a temporary fix.
2) Lights - 3 bulbs were replaced. Fog lamps were never connected
3) Center console screen is not working...not fixed. Disconnected now to prevent any electrical leaks


Krishna still hasn’t bothered to reply or inform me why he hasn't come to fix my car, or replace the scratched windows. I didn't think he would be able to source the windows anyway. Its been a week now and that's why I have decided to post the entire story here on team-bhp.

After 5.5 months, it is back together with its twin, the CR-V and hopefully I get to keep both of them till the government decides to scrap 'old vehicles'


My car looks great (except for the scratched windows), but now it feels like I have bought a second hand car again. I dont trust it enough to take on highways. I need to test the car again for another 3-4 months and hopefully, no other issues crop up.

My recommendation to people here is to not leave your cars at Krithi Car Care. You can go, for minor stuff where the car is fixed/coated right in front of your eyes. Leaving the car at this place is a huge risk.

[funkykar]

@iashishi Extremely sad to know the horrific experience you underwent. Good you shared here in interest of other members. This is the worst thing that can happen to an enthusiast, in fact anyone. One goes there to beautify and enhance the car paying a good sum and car comes back with so many issues. Definitely unacceptable. Not being responsive, likely on purpose is also very bad. To an extent, it may have been good that you discarded them and visited locally. You may have just saved your car from misery of being further messed up.

Actually have seen many local garages which dont even have a roof do better job and mainly they own up issues or at least competent enough to check and fix.

[techn0l0gist]

Originally Posted by iashishi

My car looks great (except for the scratched windows), but now it feels like I have bought a second hand car again. I dont trust it enough to take on highways. I need to test the car again for another 3-4 months and hopefully, no other issues crop up.

My recommendation to people here is to not leave your cars at Krithi Car Care. You can go, for minor stuff where the car is fixed/coated right in front of your eyes. Leaving the car at this place is a huge risk.

My 2 cents on this - your car looks fab.

Usually during a repaint when things are taken apart and refitted you will usually end up with niggles/issues especially when a car is being worked on at a third party service center, more so if its a not so common model and the folks are not used to taking the particular model apart on a regular basis .

A simple fix would be to call someone who works on Accords on a regular basis and get them to guide and help redo and refit all the electrics correctly, with a bit of patience you will get it sorted out !

For example my neighborhood paint shop does tell you in advance that these niggles would be there and would take another person/garage to fix if you ask them for a full paint job that involves interior disassembly !

[saishivaj]

I had exactly the same experience with Krithi Car Care working on my beloved Maruti 800.
I will be documenting everything in the coming weeks but this definitely boils my blood to see the promises made by Krishna Prasad as against what he delivered.
He ruined my perfectly running car and charged 2x of his initial quotation!

Posting a quick reply only to show the agony I can share with you on this note!

[saishivaj]

This is the car that my sister and I were born in, in Delhi – our beloved 1995 Maruti 800 STD. To call it beloved is an understatement, it is one of the more integral parts of my family.

We have religiously maintained it mechanically till date with every genuine Maruti part it needed and that we could source. The car itself has been ultra reliable, fun and mechanically sorted all its life. Before this ordeal, even in 2024, the car could do full meter runs on the speedo.

Just because service managers and mechanics in Mandovi, Vijayanagar, Bangalore lost passion to service older cars, I started travelling almost 35 km in Bangalore traffic to have it serviced in the opposite end based on some TeamBHP reviews (At Swastika TServ). More cars and motorcycles kept getting added to our garage but the love for the 800 always remained.

All was well with the car but it had some battle scars from its stint in Delhi and Hyderabad, in the early years, that I wanted gone.

In hindsight, I should have let it be or even just gone with a surface denting and painting. The OCD person that I am, went with a full blown restoration and started researching for garages to do this when I came across Krithi Car Care from TBHP again.

After some to and fro with Krishna Prasad (owner of Krithi Car Care) on 24th February 2024, I decided to pull the trigger and meet him with my car. The intention behind meeting him was for him to check the car and tell me the time and a rough estimate for the work that needs to be done.

My requirement was clear, I wanted my 800 to look factory fresh including all the stickers and decals.

So, on 24th Feb 2024, I drove to Krithi in my 800 with the assumption that Krishna will check my car and we will discuss the work. Upon reaching there, Krishna decided to keep the car and I took a cab home. I should have seen the greed here but I was blinded by the promises and discussion we had at his garage. I am blaming my lack of street smart here for falling to such talk. That evening, I left there in excitement of soon seeing a factory fresh car given my car was solid mechanically.

After a few days on 4th March 2024, Krishna sent me an estimate that honestly shocked me – Rs. 1,16,407 for all the work being carried out including the parts that needed replacement. But being the blind enthusiast that I am, I transferred Rs. 73,927 to him without a question.
By then I left to the US and I was coordinating with him in IST.

The initial promise made by Krishna was to give me the car in 3-4 weeks. He even said it could be earlier than that since it is a small car to which I told him that I am in no hurry to have the car but I definitely want a thorough work to be done on it. I insisted on quality over time. Several times!

On 16th March 2024 – remember this is almost 17 days after I dropped the car, when I asked him for progress, he messaged me that parts are ordered and panels will be removed the following Monday.

On 25th March, upon again asking for an update, he finally shared pictures of some minor rust being present.

Remember my requirement? I wanted all the factory decals so I kept asking him to share picture of my engine bay with pictures of warning labels and decals so I can source them. After some followup, he shared an online picture of another car. It was from an article which I already found. I could see the lack of transparency starting in this communication at this stage.


Luckily for me, during those months, due to work, I visited India almost every 45 days. And in the time that I was in the US, I used to keep sourcing parts that I think may be needed including parts like bumpers, door pads, mudflaps, and many more. Remember, these parts were supposed to be sourced by Krishna according to the price estimate. In any case, I was happy to source them for the love of my own car.

2nd April 2024, Krishna said denting work should have been completed by the next day. And on 8th April, he sent me these pictures.

25th April 2024 the primer and sanding work was completed.

6th May 2024 I came into the workshop to choose the colour. Although I communicated long before that I wanted the factory colour, he wanted me to drop by to choose the colour. I happily obliged given that I am there. I also used that time to drop off the door pads that I ordered. These doors pads were never fit to my car by the way – he just said they were too thin and I believed – I honestly have no choice but to believe at this point.

27th May 2024, upon repeated requests, he sent me a few pictures of the parts after the paint was completed.

5th June 2024, he messaged me saying my clutch plates have a lot of oil residue and they need replacement. When I dropped the car with him in Feb, the car was mechanically solid and I had no recollection of a failing clutch – but I gave him the benefit of doubt and asked him to proceed. I just wanted him to confirm that it is an MGP part to which he only confirmed on message.

24th June 2024, again upon requesting an update, he said engine will be fired up and he will be sending the car for polishing.

4th July 2024, I told him I received the bumpers and I will be dropping it with him and he said there was one bolt he was unable to source. I kept asking him what that part was and he was not willing to share it clearly. I even made a Whatsapp group between him, me and my parts source where Krishna said he was able to arrange the part.

He kept shuffling his story between arranging the part and lathe shop despite asking him for pictures, he kept saying the car will be ready the next week and so on.

Here is a list of parts I gave from my end:

1. Maruti Suzuki emblems

2. Ashtray

3. Front and Rear SB bumpers

4. Door pads

5. Mudflaps

6. Wheel well liners

7. Tail lights

As one can see, from my end, I was not leaving any stone unturned to have my car look factory fresh. I was sourcing parts from Instagram, Boodmo, and friends and like Santa Claus, every visit to the workshop had me dropping off parts.

At the end of August, since I was not in India, I put Krishna and Meena in touch with my parents to hand over the car since they said it was almost ready. Again, I was in no hurry but I just wanted to know the progress of my car. July, August, September and October somehow passed filled with some creative reasons!

I hope you all understand the anxiety I was going through while being in the US and getting work done on my beloved car in India. Every 4-5 days, I would message KP asking for update on the progress and here is the list of reasons he would come up with over the 9 months that he had the car:

1. Workshop Holiday

2. Training at Toyota for an entire week

3. Video guy is away and need downloads from him

4. Co-worker (Meena) not around

5. Traveling with family for 3 days

6. Getting kid ready for school

7. Bank work

8. Cousin’s 60th birthday

9. Viral fever

10. Bronchial infection

11. Mechanic is down is dengue

12. Video call with overseas vendor

13. Festival

There were more personal reasons which I do not wish to state here to keep his privacy intact. It is not like I bothered him everyday, all I was asking him and his co-worker were for pictures of the progress which they failed to share because there was no progress.

Finally after lot of to and fro, on 5th November they delivered the car to my dad. After this Krishna/Meena sent me an invoice for Rs. 1,63,071!! For a car that was mechanically solid and needed only a denting and painting.

Another anecdote is, without any bargaining, I asked Krishna for a few days time to transfer the funds since I was amidst closing a house here in Dallas. To that request, to my utter surprise, Krishna said he cannot wait another day – this is after having made me wait for 9 months! In any case, I closed the invoice within a week to the entire amount they quoted.

The main reason behind this post is not the money I spent ( I know I spent a lot) or the time Krithi Car Care took but the experience post delivery.

Firstly, Krishna did not meet my parents stating he had some meeting upstairs – this is after my dad called him and went to the garage. Meena handed the car to my father and they left.

The call I had with my father and mother as they were driving the car back home could only be described as tragic!! All three of us had tears in our eyes hearing the car drive!!!

My father insisted the clutch was not set right and that there was a grinding noise every time he shifted gears. The speedometer was not working. The whole car was rattling. And upon reaching home, the coolant was leaking. These may seem small, but read on to find out how catastrophic these noises could have turned out and the overall workmanship was!

My parents were only glad that we had the car back. They just parked the car aside and I was glad they made it back home safely!

Upon sharing the feedback of the drive back, Meena said she would send a mechanic and that only happened weeks later. The mechanic also came for namesake and did some surface checks to confirm that there was some noise.

After that, my parents visited me here in Dallas for my house warming. Then in late Jan I was visiting India. The first thing I did on landing in Bangalore was to take the car for a drive and I couldn’t hold my tears back – my car felt horrible! I felt cheated and deceived. The drive was horrible, there were stray noises all over!

Krishna once told me that he will need atleast a week for testing the car. After driving my car, I can vouch he has not even sat in my car!

I left the car with Krishna because of his passion for cars! That day in Jan, after driving my car, I realized how they were only words and there was absolutely no passion! There was only greed!

Here are a list of issues I found:

1. The engine was not mounted to the subframe itself!!! The grinding noise was because of the engine shaking away to glory!! Upon opening the hood, it was resting on the brake reservoir!

2. Absolutely shoddy paint work – forget orange peel, the coating has dripped and dried to disgust in a lot of places!!

3. Door locks were jammed

4. Roof beading was broken

5. A/C vent was broken

6. Interior light was not working and I can assure this was working – it is just shoddy work done during refitting!

7. Sun visor clip is broken

8. Wrong size bolt was used to re-install the speedo console and this damaged the console!! There is a crack on the console and I am unable to source the console now.

9. Inner roof trim beading is missing and inside door handles were forcefully fit - they were flipped left to right!

10. Coolant was leaking

11. Lots of missing trim pieces like door locks

12. Random rattles from the dashboard which were not present before

13. Emblems which I gave them were not fit

14. Door pads which I gave were not fit – they claimed the door pads to be substandard.

15. Speedometer/Odometer was not working

16. Rear number plate light was not working

17. RH Front indicator light not working

18. Hood rubber adjusters and dampers were missing

I don't know how many more items are missing - this was only based of my initial drive!

After this, I was disgusted to even talk to them and completely lost my trust on Krishna and Meena. I left them a message about the issues with pictures to which they replied they will fix it but I just got it fixed at United Motors, Vijayanagar. This costed me another Rs. 10,400.

The total damage to my wallet because of Krishna is:

Rs. 1,63,071 – Krithi Car Care

Rs. 10,400 – United Motors

Rs. 10xxx – misc. parts from SS Auto on Instagram

Rs. 5,000 – Boodmo
_____________________________________________
Total: ~Rs. 1,87,000/- for a Maruti 800 that needed denting and painting. And this took them 9 months!

My strong recommendation to anyone wanting to try Krithi Car Care is to stay away!!

The price, the time, peace of mind, nothing is worth it!

I do understand small issues will persist in a full blown restoration. But after having charged such premium for what is a shoddy paint, an absolute mechanical mess and the delay, this was a total nightmare! I am just glad my car is back. Now the car is running much better but still has a lot of issues in the form of rattling and parts missing! I will definitely source them all one by one, piece by piece and make my car whole again.

In my opinion, I was very reasonable and patient throughout the process and they definitely took me for a ride.

To anyone who has doubts on my vehicle's upkeep and if I gave Krishna a bad car in the first place, please take a look at my garage - my family loves our vehicles! The car was rock solid and I did many trips to Coimbatore, Hyderbad, Chennai, Mysore and more despite having other options in my garage!

Note to Mod: if this deserves a separate thread, or merged else where for better visibility, please do the needful.

[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by saishivaj

This is the car that my sister and I were born in, in Delhi – our beloved 1995 Maruti 800 STD. To call it beloved is an understatement, it is one of the more integral parts of my family.

Your post and the one previous to yours (Black Accord) reminded me of my learnings from my Beloved Jeep rebuild not far from Bangalore.

You can see my summary here (1990 M&M Cj340).

One thing you would have learnt by now is no single garage is equipped to rebuild a car, I mean take apart a assembly line car and paint it ground up, and put it back together to the condition it was earlier.

Your car may look tired and battle scarred earlier, but hey It was made by Japs and running fine. But any mechanic who takes it apart, It needs skill to put it back together.

To me, this place comes across best as a fender bender repaint shop, wash & polish place and may be some minor mechanical work like brakes, oil, clutch and may be a AC top up.

Ground up restoration is not everyone's cup of tea - and 2 Lemon Soda stories back to back should serve enough warning for future customers to this place.

[gaurav_3000ad]

Second such ordeal in a span of one week. And probably what we are seeing is just the tip of the iceberg. There would be so many more customers who would not have aired their grievances and/or swallowed the bitter medicine.

Thanks for sharing this for the benefit of other bhpians. Better to stay away from this place with a barge pole.

Are there any grounds for filing a case in consumer court regarding this?

[funkykar]

@saishivaj sorry to hear your ordeal. 1.9L to repaint a Maruti 800 is outrageous even if it a well done job. That's a different thing.

If any restorer wants his work to be a piece of cake, they will wish it should be an 800. Its so simple , easy to work on, easy to source parts, easy to familiarize and what not. To screw up an 800 requires REAL TALENT!

[SKannan]

Any reason for not going with MASS? I am sure they would have done a good job at a reasonable price. You can also be assured that the parts used are genuine and come with a bill and warranty (where applicable).

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by saishivaj

This is the car that my sister and I were born in, in Delhi – our beloved 1995 Maruti 800 STD. To call it beloved is an understatement, it is one of the more integral parts of my family.

Sad to read this Shiva, having known your interest and passion towards automobiles, this is definitely what a person like you shouldnt expect to happen especially when you are paying as much as the cost for the actual car a couple of years ago. IMO when paying such a price, the expectation is also equally high. A roadside garage would have done this for a lesser price, but again with compromises on various areas including fit and finish etc. But with an organised setup like this, the expectation must also be higher.

Originally Posted by svsantosh

Ground up restoration is not everyone's cup of tea - and 2 Lemon Soda stories back to back should serve enough warning for future customers to this place.

Exactly, the workshop owners should know what they are getting into. Just giving excuses, prolonging delivery and yet having unresolved issues doesnt really keep anyone not frustrated. At least one thing should be done right, deliver in a hurry and have some misses which can be fixed during a follow up, or after a prolonged delay get everything right. In both these stories it follows the same pattern where the customer waits and waits, and yet the final results are not up to expectations. I can understand that doing a full strip down and rebuild is not an easy job, but thats something the workshop should clearly set in terms of expectations. As auto enthusiasts, our expectations are higher than the average walk in customer. The same thing should be reflected by the workshop also when they take pride in their passion fuelled venture. Otherwise, they should stick to the low hanging fruits only.

[that_sedate_guy]

Originally Posted by saishivaj

The price, the time, peace of mind, nothing is worth it!

I do a lot of servicing at home on my own vehicles and I'm also doing a complete restoration of an R15 V2 motorcycle for my friend and with confidence I can tell you,
Servicing and restoration are universes apart!
Even a top notch service and maintenance mechanic can botch up a restoration so bad because restorations are not, can not and should never be done for the money.
Assembling a car or bike is not about putting everything together and tightening a few nuts and bolts. Everything has a specific order in which they should be put back and there are many checks to be done at each step to make sure that the previous step is a success.
This is possible only for someone with a passion for the job and not for the paycheck. Very few people are able to pull it off and fewer people are able to translate that into a business because legit restoration businesses are 80% passion, 19.9% client relations and maybe trace amounts of business hunger. Yes, such businesses will be extremely expensive but the work will speak for itself.
In my opinion, a mechanically good car or bike should never be gutted fully even if it is for cosmetic restoration. Do whatever is possible and leave the tech intact, especially if it's a foreign-engineered product.
Hope your car now runs better now though! Quite a stressful nine months it must've been for you. Good luck going forward!

[buzzy_boy]

Kirthi built its reputation on detailing, PPFs, etc. I got my XUV PPF'd at Kirthi in April 2022 and was happy with the results. IIRC, they started their restoration and servicing businesses around that time.

That said, it's sad to see their reputation decline due to shoddy workmanship. To me, this seems like a case of business overreach.

[OffTheLine]

Originally Posted by buzzy_boy

Kirthi built its reputation on detailing, PPFs, etc. I got my XUV PPF'd at Kirthi in April 2022 and was happy with the results. IIRC, they started their restoration and servicing businesses around that time.

That said, it's sad to see their reputation decline due to shoddy workmanship. To me, this seems like a case of business overreach.

I agree my family got ppf for our Scorpio-N from them and we thought they did a great job. Reading this is quite surprising

We found out about them through team-bhp itself and decided to go there.

I am very sorry that this happened to your lovely car and I highly suggest other people who might have faced similar issues to share their woes. A company should not be allowed to get away with anything just because they have a seemingly stellar reputation.

[Nayra]

Originally Posted by saishivaj

I left the car with Krishna because of his passion for cars! That day in Jan, after driving my car, I realized how they were only words and there was absolutely no passion! There was only greed!

This post really hit home for me. The Indian restoration scene, especially in Bangalore, is alarmingly shoddy and filled with many such grifters.

We made the exact same mistake when "restoring" our beloved Zen and RX135.

The Zen was supposed to undergo a straightforward repaint, but the folks at Bimal pushed for a semi-complete mechanical restoration. Fast-forward four months, and they delivered the car with pathetic paint quality and in worse mechanical condition than when we had handed it over.

The RX135 experience was even worse. The so-called 'mechanic' (read: fraudster) spun elaborate tales about his ability to source original parts for even the most recherché vehicles. We entrusted the RX to him, only to get it back a year and a half later. While it looked good cosmetically for the most part, within a week, we realized that 80% of the original parts had been replaced with subpar fakes, leaving the bike mechanically ruined. The fury we felt is hard to describe.

We ultimately sold the Zen after its so-called 'restoration' because it constantly reminded us of what the car no longer was. Meanwhile, we have been restoring the RX135 properly on our own.

The lesson we’ve learned? If you want to restore your beloved vehicle, don't. Especially if it's mechanically sound. The small scratches and dents accumulated over the years are what make those vehicles truly "ours."

A good restoration is not just a testament to the service center handling the job but also to the owner’s involvement, how much time they can dedicate to ensuring the work meets their standards. Our biggest mistake both times was trusting these places blindly and hoping they wouldn't screw it up.

A colleague spent almost three years restoring his W123, and while it looks absolutely incredible, what people don’t realize is the effort he put in. He spent a couple of hours at the service center almost every day and even had to change shops three times because they failed to meet his expectations.