[GTO]

Seller's market. I'd make the full payment while the vehicle is in transit, but I would NOT sign on the registration papers until I do the PDI. You aren't the owner of the car until it is registered in your name, and can walk away if it fails the PDI.

This request is basically the dealer asking for an advance for his working capital.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by webofunni

As far as I understood it is not a norm to pay the full amount in advance for a vehicle in transit. Is there anybody who faced the same situation?

I don't think that it is necessary for any consumer to allow themselves to be dictated to by any dealer or service provider in this manner. Irrespective of supply and demand and sellers market vs buyers market etc.

Ultimately it depends on your own urgency. If you’re ok to wait a bit then you can call the dealer’s bluff and wait to see who blinks first. An additional bonus is that this will make you into a good poker player.

On a practical note, I suggest you pay ‘almost’ the entire sum. Say around 90%. And keep the rest pending until you complete the PDI to your satisfaction.

State the remainder shall only be paid after you pronounce yourself satisfied with the PDI and have taken a photographic record of the PDI. And put all this on record via email and whatsapp. Keep a record of all communication and make sure the dealer sales executive and the GM of the dealership are aware of this.

[rahulk86]

I have never paid the full amount for a car before doing a PDI. In most cases, a car purchase is the most expensive purchase one has after a house. I would definitely like to see the product before i spend money on it.

I think you should refuse to pay anything more than a booking amount till you do a PDI. It is, after all, your hard earned money. While this may delay you getting a car allotted, when you do get the car, you can be assured that the product is perfect.

Just my view !

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by webofunni

As far as I understood it is not a norm to pay the full amount in advance for a vehicle in transit. Is there anybody who faced the same situation?

I did, for the Crysta last month.

The waiting period for it is about two-three months at the moment, more for non-fast moving colours (such as garnet red). Because I was ready to pay the full amount up front, the SA tried to get me a quicker delivery. In return, he asked for full payment even before the car was manufactured, let alone dispatched.

In the four vehicles I have bought in the past few years, I have never made full payment (rather, anything more than the booking amount) until I did PDI on the allotted vehicle. But these are different times, and you either play ball, or wait longer.

Paying in full does not mean you're stuck with the car. You're free to reject a car, until registration is done. I'd recommend doing the payment, but insisting on PDI. The worse that'll happen is, you'll have to wait longer (until the next dispatch) in the unlikely event that you reject the car that is currently allotted to you.

PS: I got a LOT of grief from friends for this, but it ensured I did not get impacted from the recent price hike (~ 1.3 lakhs) which was in force when I took the delivery.

[Goandiaries]

Originally Posted by webofunni

Hi,

Want advice from experienced BHPians. I've booked a 5th gen honda city top model which costs around 18lakhs on road. The dealer provided a sales agreement when I booked the car and as per that the vehicle will be delivered in 45 days. Its been more than 30 days and as per them, the vehicle is in transit. Yesterday sales executive called me and asked to pay the full amount so that they can allocate the vehicle, otherwise, there are other bookings in the dealer network and the vehicle might go to them.

My loan which is around 40% of vehicle value is also sanctioned and I am worried I have to pay a considerable amount in fees if I cancel the vehicle booking and thus the loan sanctioned.

As far as I understood it is not a norm to pay the full amount in advance for a vehicle in transit. Is there anybody who faced the same situation?

You can pay the ex-showroom amount and even the insurance if they are adamant. And after you complete your PDI, you can immediately pay the amount for the registration. That's how I dealt with the Mahindra dealership and they were fine with it.

[Col Mehta]

We paid 1lac over the 25k booking amount to have the car "allocated" to us. Not ideal really and this was the first time when we did that. The booking amount earlier was enough to get your car, but in today's seller's market, the dealers do demand full/partial payment before the car reaches the showroom. Our dealer asked for the full amount while the car was in transit which we politely refused and agreed to pay 1lac to keep them interested. Only after a satisfactory PDI, we paid the full amount. The car in question - the mighty Creta with waiting period running in months...

As other dear members suggested, do not pay the full amount before PDI. Get the VIN, decode it and then pay X amount to indicate your interest in buying the car. You shouldn't succumb to dealer's pressure and their dirty tactics.

[TheVegabond]

I was able to find a middle ground when I got my new car earlier this year. I had to wait for more than 3 months after the booking to get the car. I also got a similar call from the dealer asking for payment stating that the car is in transit. I asked the banker to disburse the loan amount which was approax 50% of the total cost of the car. The remaining amount was paid post the PDI.

This was despite long waiting period due to chip shortage and high demand. The dealer on his part did not push me to make full payment before the PDI.

[midazolam]

I see no harm in transferring the full amount to dealer. Just make sure they don’t do the registration before you do the complete PDI. As long as registration is not done, you are free to reject/accept any car. It’s a seller market these days, it’s kind of Play the game or go home!

[BrakeDancer]

Originally Posted by webofunni

Hi,

Want advice from experienced BHPians. I've booked a 5th gen honda city top model which costs around 18lakhs on road. The dealer provided a sales agreement when I booked the car and as per that the vehicle will be delivered in 45 days. Its been more than 30 days and as per them, the vehicle is in transit. Yesterday sales executive called me and asked to pay the full amount so that they can allocate the vehicle, otherwise, there are other bookings in the dealer network and the vehicle might go to them.

My loan which is around 40% of vehicle value is also sanctioned and I am worried I have to pay a considerable amount in fees if I cancel the vehicle booking and thus the loan sanctioned.

As far as I understood it is not a norm to pay the full amount in advance for a vehicle in transit. Is there anybody who faced the same situation?

Hi. I bought the same top end model around 7-8 months back Just one advise- don't pay the full amount before you have a chance to do a full PDI. I was adamant that the registration for my car would not happen unless I personally did the PDI, and it wasn't as if they had a choice because they need your relevant documents for registration. Once my PDI was done and I was satisfied, I paid around 15 percent of the total cost so that they could go ahead with the process of registering the vehicle in my name and carry out the associated RTO related processes. The final amount was released by me the morning of the delivery day.

Do not pay the full amount if you haven't seen the car and inspected it yourself. You're in a precarious situation once the money has changed hands. Waiting for a few days more is fine and you don't have to rush into anything just because the dealership wants you to. A delay of a few days is more acceptable than the trouble and anguish you'll go through if something goes wrong later.

[webofunni]

Thanks all for your generous contribution to the subject.

I've decided to pay my down payment in advance after receiving a written confirmation about when the vehicle will reach their yard, the date of delivery, and the vehicle's VIN. Told them that I will release the remaining amount which is the loan after inspecting the vehicle.

Thanks again :-)

[audioholic]

Never in our case so far. Of all the cars we have brought in the last 10 years, we have paid in full only after seeing the car in person. This includes the Crysta which had high demand and we had paid only the 1L booking amount. Only when the dealer had the car in stockyard, he arranged it to be brought to the dealership, sent a vehicle home to pick us up, finish PDI and then the rest of the money was transferred. That was an excellent experience with Toyota. When we got the Celerio, it was made to order since the color was rare and at that time we had opted for the Option pack, and even then we paid in full only after we saw the car.

If that was with Maruti and Toyota which are considered to offer good customer experience, even when I brought my Slavia home recently, the 1.5DSG variant had an indefinite waiting period and was tough to get. My word with the dealer was I would pay 50% when I get a written confirmation of vehicle allotment and the balance after seeing that car in person. But since the vehicle got alloted at the last moment, the dealer told I could do a PDI and then go ahead. Of course there was no pick up and drop offered unlike Toyota, but I saw the car in the yard and after that handed over the cheque to the dealer. Next day I gave go ahead for loan disbursement on the confirmation that the car would be registered the following day.

I guess it boils down to negotiation skills. Every dealer will try to avoid these things by stating some random policies. But end of the day, if it is at the cost of losing a customer, they would definitely not want to break the deal due to such reasons especially when the job of convincing the customer to finalize that car has already been made. And neither are we speaking about cars with a huge demand where someone else would be waiting to pick it up. Even then, some talking will definitely work out especially if the dealer sees a cheque in your hand.

[khanmaj]

Many senior BHPians have already shared valuable suggestions in the post. Here is what I would do.
1- Insist PDI before making the payment.
2- If they don’t agree, get written agreement that full refund would be done in case something is found unsatisfactory after the PDI.
3- Don’t sign any papers related to the vehicle registration or Insurance etc. until fully satisfied with PDI.

Go get 'em !!

[IP_Man]

After reading so many horror stories on TBHP, I strongly advice take it in writing that registration will be done only after satisfactory PDI and option of full refund (with interest) if something goes wrong. As dealer said there are many customers waiting in the line so it should not be problem for him to give it in writing.

Also, if possible, insist on taking small test drive during PDI, may be in the dealers premises but do take it.

[pogo0120]

Small reading on my experience!
When I purchased my Celerio AMT, long time ago, it was first vehicle out for delivery for entire showroom just after launch of the product, I paid full amount. I did not do pdi as I was busy with work. I even asked the sales guy to bring the car to my office. Kind of stupid, when I think of it now. But anyways, the car was good, no dents, worked out very well for me. I drove over 1,25,000kms over 4 years! yes, 4 years and sold back to Maruti for around 2.5 akhs. Even at the time of selling, it was giving around 22kmpl on highway trip. By the way, after first three free services, I never went to show room to change oil. All service was done next door mechanic , Rs 200 per oil change. Only time I had to go for show room was for changing plugs as our mechanic didnot have plug box for celerio! A very good product from Maruti, except for safety.

That was luck for me.
One of my employee got a car, Hyundai i10. He did PDI and then made payment. Car was on Mysore road, Bangalroe Hyundai depot, open air, big field where hundreds of cars are just parked in sun. The tires were MRF. By the time, he got the car from Mysore road to show room, washed and cleaned and handed over to him in the evening, Boom, Boom.. Magic. Car tyres had changed to CEAT.

Buying a car in India is always a pain, There is no honesty regardless of any company. I bought my Activa Honda at Silicon Honda Bangalore. Everyone from reception, sales man to mechanic, Watchman, another watchman, security, etc etc were demanding tips. Sir, New vehicle, Enadru Kodi! These people demand tips openly in front of everyone, in front of owner of showroom. Even show room owner does not care. Two three watchman just stand opposite to your vehicle, surround you and you have to yell at them.. Illappa, Illappa.. Meanwhile, sales girl will be trying her best to sell un necessary extra accessories which I don't buy with a terrible sad face...Sir, please buy accessory!

I have purchased over dozen bikes for my firm which I ran for few years, Maruti Cars, My employees, Maruti, Hyundai... Experience is same. Sometimes, we have to keep our eyes closed on things and console our souls, and tell them. Don't think about it.

I wish Telsa type online buying comes and we don't have to interact with people while buying.

[dust-n-bones]

Originally Posted by webofunni

Hi,

My loan which is around 40% of vehicle value is also sanctioned and I am worried I have to pay a considerable amount in fees if I cancel the vehicle booking and thus the loan sanctioned.

Do you need the vehicle in a hurry - urgent enough so that you can risk holding up your money with the dealer?
Once the money is transferred, you are more or less at the mercy of the dealer, especially if there's a problem with the PDI, or even if the in-transit car is re-allocated.

Given that you will start incurring the EMIs in this case with no promised date of delivery, the only reasonable course of action I can advise is to negotiate. Negotiate for some part payment and show that you have lined up your finances, ready for disbursal once the car is shown to you.