re: The "NEW" Car Price Check Thread - Track Price Changes, Discounts, Offers & Deals Quote:
Originally Posted by mkh What is "clear coat'?? Clear Coat is the paint on top of the base coat, how can you get another clear coat on top!!! |
My understanding is that you can get a second layer of clear coat on top of the existing one.
For instance, this FAQ briefly mentions a clear coat with UV restriction that can be applied on top of a pre-existing clear coat. Quote:
Originally Posted by mkh As for "Teflon Coat" - its a complete hogwash and waste of money. Even if offered free all they do is put a glaze paste worth 100 rs or at best 3M Show car paste it wax. That said the process inflicts more damage than benefit as most likely they will inflict buffer swirls due to improper pad and technique. At best- completely avoided and not to be counted as worth anything |
Exactly. "True" Teflon like the ones on cooking pans can never be applied to cars from what I understand. It's just regular car wax/polish that's passed off as "Teflon".
I begged, pleaded, threatened Pride Honda not to put Teflon on my Civic. At one point I even offered them to pocket the full INR 8000 (handling charges) but just to leave the car alone. They were adamant and quoted "standard procedure" and mucked up the car with their so-called "Teflon" coat. On delivery day it just broke me to see so many swirl marks on an otherwise shiny new car. I couldn't do anything as the Form 20 etc. happens before they do their "handling" nonsense :(. Quote:
Originally Posted by mdsaab What you need to do is pit the dealers against each other. What you do is mention to dealer A that dealer B is giving you a better offer and vice versa. Make them work hard for your business. And make it absolutely clear that you are fine with walking away.
You first start with the normal sales rep, and get the best possible deal.
Then you tell him to speak to his senior and get a better deal as you are serious and ready to make a booking. After the deal gets upgraded, you say that you are still not satisfied. So you ask to meet the senior personally. Now this senior chap is going to come down and meet you, explaining that he has already worked out the best deal for you. You act like you are still not happy, and then moments later whip out that cheque book. And then explain how serious you are and have even brought your cheque book to pay the booking amount. Now this really gets the manager going as he knows how serious you really are. so he adds a few things here and there making it the sweetest deal you have ever got. |
I followed this process to the 'T' except for the bit in bold. As in, I should've made it clear that I was OK with ditching Honda and going in for a Cruze or something else. I didn't do that, and despite pitting the dealers against each other and delaying the purchase process by 3 months to get the best out of each, I ended up getting nothing more than the standard insurance + corporate discount (from both dealers) :(.
In fact, Pride cheated a bit. They said the corporate discount was 7.5k to Sundaram's 5k. So I went with Pride. Sundaram called me up and requested my permission to allow them to lodge an anti-competitive practices complaint on Pride to Honda SIEL. Before I could say "go ahead", Pride called me saying there was a mistake and that the discount was 5k only. This was after the cheque was given, loan was disbursed, car was booked and Form 20 done! I protested but I was shown an email from Honda HQ that talked about the reduced discount and this email was dated *after* my booking date. I still protested, asking them if they would've let me know if Honda had increased the discount instead. Of course they said "Yes Sir, we would've passed it on to you".
Just what can one do in such cases?
So to prospective car buyers, please ask your salesperson to double/triple/quadruple check the prices before making a quote. In any case, the quote will have legalese like "prices are subject to change between today and date of invoicing" so it's not like they are acting illegally and you can fight them in court, but there is this ethical bit of doing business which dealers tend to ignore.
Regards,
spadix |