[vamship]

Hello BHPians,

Hope all of you are doing well.

This is my first post on TeamBHP and I have been reading this forum from last 4 years. I will try to cover my decision making process and buying experience.
Love with Tata Nexon:

The first time I have heard about Nexon was when it became the first vehicle with 5 star GNCAP ratings. From that point, I always thought this would be my first car and was waiting to buy it until I get a better paying Job.

I have read the Nexon Official Review thread and all the comments couple of times and watched umpteen videos related to Nexon build quality and ownership experiences.

Although I saw many negative experiences related to dealership experience, but never thought It would happen with me.


3rd May 2022:

I reached out to nearest dealer and the reception put me in contact with a Sales advisor. I went to the showroom for test drive of Nexon on 3rd March, and it was very busy and bustling with customers. SA had advised me that Nexon is not available and provided the Altroz test drive. He did promise me to get Nexon to my office for a long test drive in the next two days.

As the waiting period was massive, I have made my booking in Nexon XZ+ Petrol Royal Blue color. After some days SA informed me that the Royal Blue was not available in XZ+, and I will have to with XZ+HS or XZ+P for the color. I didn't require the extra features, and changed the booking to White.

5th May

As promised, SA brought Nexon to my office for test drive at the agreed time. I have stalled the car a lot of times in traffic, and it took a couple of tries to get the car moving ahead. The test drive vehicle was very neatly maintained and the ODO was at around 12k and I was very happy with test drive.

Just to not consider other options, I took a test drive of Sonet IMT GTX+ on the same day. I liked the frontal visibility, as Nexon blocks a lot of it and IMT was a hoot to drive. I have informed SA about my decision of going with Nexon, and she thanked me and left.


6th June

I have received an email with allocation details, and I was overjoyed about getting my dream car much earlier than expected. I decoded the VIN using TeamBHP, and it was manufactured in May 2022.

I along with my colleague who is much more experience with cars went to PDI the next day, and this is where my disappointing experience starts

The moment that SA brought the vehicle out, I saw a huge gash near the rear-left tire. ( In real it looked much bigger and I think angle of pic makes it look smaller)


Another minor scratch near rear wheel


I still went ahead with PDI just to go ahead with the process. My colleague caught this minor paint discrepancy near front bumper.


After close inspection, he found the whole front bumper too has been re-painted. You can see the layers of thick paint clearly visible in this PIC.



And the final Nail in the coffin, this looks like multiple places near bonnet too got repainted. Look at the two circled parts in the pic, that looks like paint overspray.



My whole excitement got crushed, and I rejected the vehicle. The SA and his manager came up with whole host of reasons, which were conflicting with each others.

• We did not repaint the bumper.
• The car came in goods train and It may have got damaged during that
• This is very minor, we will fix them
• Vehicle warranty starts from manufacturing date, this will be loss for us.
• SA had informed me earlier that the car reached yard 3 days back, but manager now calls and says it reached us just yesterday. Go figure.

Their intentions clearly showed malice and they came up with reasons like your waiting period will start again from now, still I stood my ground and rejected the vehicle.

[GTO]

Never rejected a car in the PDI because I have generally been allotted clean cars. Guess when the dealership knows you are a petrol-head and will do a detailed pre-delivery inspection, they will allocate a good car to you. Plus, when I'm buying a car, the OEM generally gets involved in some way or the other, and that does ensure a smooth experience.

I think 1 in 100 cars might be rejected in PDIs, but that effort is well worth it. If I'm going to live with a car for 10 years, I sure as hell don't want to bring a damaged piece home. That 2 - 3 hours of work pays rich dividends.

No new car without PDI & no used car without PPI. That's the golden rule.

[Jeroen]

Here in Europe people dont really do a PDI. You would probably walk around the car a bit, the sales rep will be there and walk you through the various options/features in the car. It is very rare for anything to be wrong with a brand new car.

However, I once, many years ago, rejected a car straight off the bat! Somehow they managed to mess up the colour I had ordered. It was a company car, which involved me filling in a company form, that form is then submitted to the lease company and the lease company submits the order to a dealer. We could follow the paper trail very easily. The dealer had ordered the wrong colour!

So I rejected the car, the dealer offered a discount. But this is a lease car, discounts are not for me. More importantly I would have to live with the wrong colour for 2-3 years. So I declined and told them to order the correct colour.

Jeroen

[Porcupine]

Wow those are some pretty nasty rashes on the car. Makes you wonder how many times they actually get away with it - must be quite a bit if they're doing it so confidently.

[adi.mariner]

Originally Posted by Porcupine

Wow those are some pretty nasty rashes on the car. Makes you wonder how many times they actually get away with it - must be quite a bit if they're doing it so confidently.

Next time the dealership should all discuss before hand the story to be told to the customer so that they are not caught with their pants down.
Kudos to the OP for rejecting the car based on doing the detailed PDI. This just shows the importance of doing a detailed PDI and not do blindly based on what the dealership says.

[Sahil]

How does one really reject a car at PDI and get a refund out easily?
By the time PDI happens; all formalities such as full payment or loan disbursement, insurance and even RTO is already done.

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by Sahil

How does one really reject a car at PDI and get a refund out easily?
By the time PDI happens; all formalities such as full payment or loan disbursement, insurance and even RTO is already done.

Refund will depend on dealer but will happen at some point in time, may be some deductions. However in many case, after rejection, dealer would arrange for another car.

[arvind71181]

Originally Posted by Sahil

How does one really reject a car at PDI and get a refund out easily?
By the time PDI happens; all formalities such as full payment or loan disbursement, insurance and even RTO is already done.

In the cars that I have bought or have been involved in, the PDI happens first at the yard post which only we make the full payment/ loan disbursement. Only the booking amount is paid till that point.

If payment is done, then it becomes tougher, agreed. There are some dealers who do not want PDI to be done, which I find unacceptable. I try out 1000Rs shirts/shoes before I buy and I am supposed to buy a 15+ Lakh vehicle without doing any check and just trusting them!!

[vamship]

Originally Posted by Sahil

How does one really reject a car at PDI and get a refund out easily?
By the time PDI happens; all formalities such as full payment or loan disbursement, insurance and even RTO is already done.

The only amount I paid until that point of time was Initial Booking amount. If a dealer is forcing you to pay additional amount before PDI, drop them and look for more reputed ones.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by Sahil

How does one really reject a car at PDI and get a refund out easily?
By the time PDI happens; all formalities such as full payment or loan disbursement, insurance and even RTO is already done.

Not in my case (and those whom I helped purchase). Over a decade ago, I made the loan payout (+ remaining component) only after I did the PDI of my Vento. So was the case when I helped a colleague to finalize on his Jazz - we had to travel quite a decent amount to check the car in a yard the dealership had outside the city. After that only was the payment done - both case the payout happened on the same day of the PDI (or next day morning at most).

[RedTerrano]

Wow!
After seeing the pics I cannot help but wonder if they have installed refurbished parts. Good call walking away from it.

And a brave one too. I can imagine what it must have taken to say no, after you had your heart set on it.

Did you manage to get the booking amount back? Did the dealer give you any grief over it?

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by vamship

The only amount I paid until that point of time was Initial Booking amount. If a dealer is forcing you to pay additional amount before PDI, drop them and look for more reputed ones.

That is the right thing to do. Never pay without seeing your vehicle. In between, which dealer is this? Please name them so that others can be careful.

[Bibendum90949]

It paid rich dividends for the time and effort you have put in on PDI. What narks me even more other than their malicious intent is the fact that this car is still going to some unsuspecting poor soul.

I've always done extensive PDI for all cars i've bought. I even go to the extend of putting them on lift to inspect the underbelly. Call me paranoid, I make them do it on the day of delivery too . I still remember how I kept on rejecting multiple cars in the yard while picking a Ford Fiesta back in 2006. The panel gaps were uneven on the tail gate. Once I've walked past all the cars of my colour choice, soon I realised it was a case of picking the better from the worst since most cars there had more or less same issue.

When I was buying my first bike, I turned up at the showroom with a reputed bike mechanic in town, to do the right pick from the array of bikes parked on showroom floor. I vividly remember the amused look on the sales guy's face. He was wondering what's there to choose since all the bikes are brand new anyways.

[itsmeparvathy9]

Originally Posted by vamship

Their intentions clearly showed malice and they came up with reasons like your waiting period will start again from now, still I stood my ground and rejected the vehicle.

Just wanted to know, did you get your Sonet, and what do you feel are the positives and negatives with the Kia, I am about to get my new car, Kia dealer says they have one in stock, and I am about to do my PDI soon.

[SoupRaw]

Did something similar when i did a PDI of XUV300 and eventually ended up buying Sonet Diesel AT.

Nexon was my first choice and they didn't even bother bringing a TD vehicle despite multiple requests. But once I drove the Diesel Automatic and everyone at home raved about the looks and interior of the Sonet, there was no looking back. Great choice vamship!

Originally Posted by Sahil

How does one really reject a car at PDI and get a refund out easily?
By the time PDI happens; all formalities such as full payment or loan disbursement, insurance and even RTO is already done.

With Mahindra, I only paid initial booking amount and told them I'd be making any kind of further payments once PDI is complete. When i cancelled, I had no problem getting a refund.

With Kia I had made another token amount of payment, but the vehicle didn't have any issues so i proceeded with the down payment and loan.