[gkveda]

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[VKumar]

See buddy, nobody is comparing the Tata and BMW buying experience here. I, for one, am talking about the ones like Mahindra, Ford, Honda, Maruti/Nexa, and Hyundai. Since most of the people in my circle have high running, we fell in the category of frequent purchasers. Now the Ecosport or XUV 3OO (Manual) will be bought, Nexon went out of the window even before the TD. Mahindra guy keeps on following up, they pro actively keep your sales guy ready even when you are parking your car in the dealership lot. Ford guy has been fabulous throughout.

Just to make things comparable, you see; I haven't brought even Toyota, VW and Skoda into the picture as I see them offering a better experience than the ones mentioned above.

What's special even in after sales man? Today I rate Toyota above everyone else, followed by Mahindra and Ford. I have kept the Tata 'flagship' products in past, I have kept Mahindra too (And what's called going out of the way to serve the customer; is what I have seen with Mahindra and Toyota), today it's VW, Ford and Toyota garage. I haven't been given a single reason by either of them to sit and complaint, be it in terms of sales experience or after sales service (Note, VW is also there in the list).

Not everyone wants it cheap, some people want to have a hassle free experience too. Take my money, but don't make me call again and at least don't ask me to visit the service station again with my car!

Originally Posted by DaptChatterjee

The dealership is Arya Motors, Gurgaon

These guys and the ones at Hartron are the hard working people, I have experienced 2 Hexa sales from one of them each; and it was a nice journey overall. In fact, the guys at Arya went all out by offering immediate TD once, a long TD second time and even visited around 50 kms away for showing the car to parents and collect the booking. Hexa is still premium, from Arya motors only, my friend bought the Bolt too from them, and even that was also a nice buying experience back then.

[dearchichi]

Originally Posted by GTO

The Tata dealer experience can be S-A-D, but it doesn't matter to me. If you really love the car, buy it irrespective of the sales experience...

Can you expand on this? The less-than-ideal experience at the dealers could be due to a generally lax attitude that spills over to other departments. I have a 13 year old Tata Safari that I have enjoyed driving and has been totally reliable. I am in the market for another 7+ seater, but I balk at putting in money towards another Tata product considering the uneven experiences I have had at Tata service centers. I just do not want to go through them again for another decade.

I'm leaning towards the Totoya Innova, even though I don't seem to warm up to it at all, due to the reputation of their cars and service centers. Owing to the general reliability of their cars, I expect to send them in only for routine maintenance and not for issues that may to unique to my copy in the manner I had to for the Safari.

[veyron_head]

A few years ago I test drove the Zest (and I went there for the Tiago which wasn't available), gave my phone number/email and asked them to send me a quote. They never sent the quote but kept calling me regularly to know my decision. Like a broken record, I would tell them to send the quote first for me to take a call. And they would call again next week. After a couple of months, I told them I bought the i20 (i didn't) just to stop them from calling. I never received the quote till the end!

But my experience with them last year was far better. I could get the AMT Nexon for a test drive quickly on a weekend. The sales person was professional and knowledgeable. They seem to be improving but still a long way from a Maruti or Hyundai.

No answer. Call 4 - I get an sms back saying "Cant talk to you right now, will call back"

This is GOLD!

[JojyKerala]

I owned a TATA Indica Xeta for 10+ years and one major issue was the AC not working thanks to some rats chewing the wires. For years, the service team did a shoddy job repairing the AC. Each time the AC would malfunction within a few days. Fed up, I learnt to live without the AC even in Kerala's persistent rains.

I sold the car and moved on. With the launch of cars like Tiago, Nexon and Harrier, I thought TATA had turned a new leaf though I stayed away from the brand. Going by the comments on this thread, its clear that the brand has been let down by an egoistic set of salespeople with no concern for customers or the brand. Looks like nothing has changed.

[RK79]

When I bought my Zest in 2014, I was expecting some not so good experience from Tata, but that was the time they introduced Horizon next programme. I got a good experience from the sales team, but that showroom closed after two years. But service remains a sore point all these years. 'Some body's car,why should I bother' kind of attitude persist among the service staff. Recently a mail related to service inquiry was twice replied with some one will contact you soon but no one called. At last one tweet on their official handle woke them up from sleep.

[ps_abhijith]

Hi All,

Apologies for the delay in posting an update to this. Have been busy moving out of Kochi to our parents, owing to the increased Covid spread in our area. Coming to purchase of the car, we have not proceeded with the decision of buying a new car as of now.

We have put the money as an FD in the name of our son for his future needs, and will continue using the nano till we move abroad. TBH, we have not felt the need for a bigger car in the past two months owing to the increased covid cases in Kerala, and the increased number of Containment zones. Not many places to travel to as of now.

As a consolation for the entire event, my better half did gift me a new road cycle, which i had always wanted. I have been doing 50+ kms rides already on the hybrid cycle I had. With the new road cycle, I have already started to go out n explore more places than I used to. Suits well for Covid situation as I am mostly riding solo for now.

Mods : Please close this thread, but kindly keep this thread as long as the sales experience for Tata cars remains true to the incidents in the thread.

[NowNew7]

Seems that buying a Tata Tiago remains a challenge an year later!

Was looking for a small footprint automatic hatch for my FIL, since he's been driving an old manual which does not even have a power steering, and it's pretty strenuous to manage the city runs with busy traffic in the vehicle for anyone, far less senior citizens.

On the high from our own Nexon purchase and having considered Tiago during my evaluations, it is a front runner and was almost finalized.

We accordingly reached out to the nearest showroom, being Goldrush Motors on Faizabad Road, Lucknow. Despite having a few more showrooms accessible, the reason to opt for them is due to the fact that they have a nearby service centre that my FIL can avail. I have serviced my Nexon for a couple of free services here and while the experience has not been great, the proximity to my FIL's residence is a key factor.

However, it seems that Goldrush Motors is not interested in selling Tata Tiago for some reason. I initially called them up 2 weeks back, gave my complete details and told them we were looking for details on delivery times and exchange value of the current vehicle, and did not require TD as we'd done that a few months back already. The lady manning the board number took down the details and committed to a prompt call back, and then it was radio silence for 2 weeks...

Finally, I called them last Friday and asked what had happened, as I never got a call back, and this is especially weird as my only requirement was to get the best offer and exchange vehicle evaluation to close. The lady on the phone expressed surprise and committed for a quick revert again, possibly the next day as it was already late on Friday.

Yet again no revert throughout Saturday and Sunday, so just to rule out alternatives we visited the nearby Hyundai showroom and locked on the new Santro as a good alternative candidate.

So from getting an assured deal with very little effort, Goldrush have definitely lost out as we may end up opting for a Santro, or even if we decide to go with Tiago, we may get it through one of the other vendors, despite their distance, as it's a one time transaction.

What could be the reason here? Are Tata delivery issues so significant that the sales people are not interested in closing on Tiago deals, or is the commission too low on the model and Safaris, Harriers, Nexons and Altroz are getting all the attention? Was the sales team not interest in interacting with me as the deals was a given and there is no "thrill of the chase"? Is the demand generally for Tata vehicles is too high now (more than what they can cater) and therefore they are not interested to follow up on a lowly Tiago? Or this is just an issue specific to the sales team at Goldrush Faizabad Road, Lucknow? Shall try to update on the last as I intend to reach out to a couple of other Tata Motor dealers now.

Anyway, I have never in my more 2 decades of being in the 4 wheeler market ever seen such lack of interest

[RavSam]

Originally Posted by NowNew7

Seems that buying a Tata Tiago remains a challenge an year later!....
Anyway, I have never in my more 2 decades of being in the 4 wheeler market ever seen such lack of interest

How Honda dealer had trained us:
1. Customer walking into showroom: warm customer
2. Customer taking TD: hot customer
3. Customer spending 1hr+ time: hot customer
4. Customer calling only once: Cold customer
5. Customer calling multiple times and asking more details: warm customer
6. Same as number 5 but giving shortlist: hot customer

The SAs usually don't touch cold customer and only touch warm customer when hot ones are done with since it affects the enquiry to conversion ratio.

If this also applies in other dealership barring very few then you know what to do and what not to do.

[Kosfactor]

Not heard of backlog for Tata motors as such , at least not for Tiago. Purchase the car from the dealer who is trying hard for a sale, service the car afterwards wherever you feel they do the job well. Try not to rule out alternatives before trying them out, our priorities may differ from the actual user of the vehicle.

[bharanidharang]

Originally Posted by RavSam

How Honda dealer had trained us:
1. Customer walking into showroom: warm customer
2. Customer taking TD: hot customer
3. Customer spending 1hr+ time: hot customer
4. Customer calling only once: Cold customer
5. Customer calling multiple times and asking more details: warm customer
6. Same as number 5 but giving shortlist: hot customer

The SAs usually don't touch cold customer and only touch warm customer when hot ones are done with since it affects the enquiry to conversion ratio.

If this also applies in other dealership barring very few then you know what to do and what not to do.

Good insight RavSam. How do negotiation tactics happen with Customer. How does a dealer decide what to provide and what is the final walk away price ?

[RavSam]

Originally Posted by bharanidharang

Good insight RavSam. How do negotiation tactics happen with Customer. How does a dealer decide what to provide and what is the final walk away price ?

Car available in stockyard: Sell Immediately

Car available in showroom: Instant sell

Demo car, black color car, variant that's not selling well: SA's get lot more incentives, bragging rights and all.

Customer taking insurance, RSA, EW and loan in-house: SA's will run behind you.

Customer opting for rare color A but open to color B or C which is readily available: Immediate sell.

Sometimes the discounts are predecided. 30k discount margin. If you sell it at 20k discount then SA's get additional bonus like even 5k from the saved 10k

Customer trading in his old car also means more incentives.

We had SA's who used to buy accessories from their own pockets and give it free to the customer just to get sales when showroom wouldn't give even free mats to a hot selling car like the Honda City (in 2014).

I knew all these before buying my own car. But I chose inhouse insurance and loan because the SA's are paid pittance for selling cars and their life is already difficult unless he's pro at talking the customer into buying additional stuff that he doesn't require.


In short if you buy inhouse Insurance, Loan, Accessories, RSA, EW, etc then you are just short of being showered with flowers when you enter and exit.

This may not apply to Toyota and Kia who already have a fat margin.


P.S. Interested in waiting 1 month plus for your choice. Nobody cares even if you put 1 lakh as down payment / booking. I want to see that +1 in my sales chart board right now, today, this month.

[dr_TJ]

I had a very disappointing experience with Tata Dealership, and now having another disappointing experience with Mahindra.

In my family, our first car was a Hyundai Grand i10 back in 2015. Didn't even visit any other Dealership, Hyundai booking and Delivery experience was awesome.
After a few years, we decided to go for a Maruti Suzuki Celerio, although not as proactive as Hyundai, Maruti Suzuki Dealership experience was pretty good, specially I liked them for not calling me every now and then for booking amount or for Loan related matters.

Now coming to Tata Dealership, Last year, I decided to get myself a new car, my First car, so decided upon the Facelifted Tata Tigor and so I made a call to the nearest Tata Dealership. I selected the Tigor for its safety rating mostly and also being employed under a company related to Tata Group, I wanted to own a Tata Car. The Dealership did send a pre-facelifted Tigor to my residence for Test drive. Even the Dealership Manager and a Sales Rep came along that day.
But then, the bad experience kicked in. The Dealership guys wanted me to get myself the pre-facelifted Tigor manual BS4 But I wanted the Facelifted Tigor AMT BS6. They tried a lot to change my decision but I finally decided to book a Facelifted Nexon Petrol AMT BS6 instead cause it turned out to be a better choice for me and my family.

After a month of inactivity, just a few days before the Lockdown announcement, Sales rep called me to inform, I have to make a full Downpayment before they transport Nexon AMT. I was confused at this policy, I rejected this. Then came the Lockdown, which went by, and when unlock started, I re-discussed on this matter but they were adamant on full payment before shipment, so I decided to cancel the booking all together.

After a month, called in Ford for Ecosport AT, they told that they won't take a booking if they can't confirm it from the higher ups regarding the availability. But they did manage to get me the car within a month. Experience was very good.

Now, compatriot, Mahindra is making a mess of my Booking experience.

Indian Brands like Tata and Mahindra should provide better Sales and service experience. Period.

[luvDriving]

Well I bought my first car 8 years ago - a tata Vista D90 and it has served me very well till date.

My entire experience from booking till delivery was very good. The salesman patiently answered all our queries, showed us the Safari also along with the Vista and he received our calls anytime we had any query.

At delivery time all the features were explained to us and given sufficient time along with a 5-litre diesel coupon. This was Pandit automotive which was located at Tilak road. My after sales service was good till the short time I was with them. After the free services were over, I shifted to my friend's garage and the Vista has been with him since. So all in all I had a good experience with tata. Now that I am again in the market and I am looking at a 7-seater, this includes the new Safari too. But I will wait for the XUV-700.

[NowNew7]

Originally Posted by NowNew7

Seems that buying a Tata Tiago remains a challenge an year later!

However, it seems that Goldrush Motors is not interested in selling Tata Tiago for some reason.

Update: Seems the issue may be with the specific dealer/outlet.

We got a call back within minutes from another dealer in the city after approaching via the Tata Motors Helpline.

Visit, test drives and evaluation of exchange vehicle were promptly arranged, and after a few rounds of negotiation, a deal palatable to us was worked out, with very responsive follow up, even though our initial salesperson left the dealer for a competitor mid-discussion.

We made the booking, and after being shared the VIN no. of the allotted vehicle have made the payment as well since there is no finance involved.

The commitment is now for delivery on the auspicious day of Janmashthami. Keeping our fingers crossed for an on time delivery now!

Oh and finally we got a call from the previous dealer today, asking about our interest in buying a Tiago...