Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   The Indian Car Scene (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/)

-   -   Car Classified Sites, now full of dealers?! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/260205-car-classified-sites-now-full-dealers-2.html)

Technology favours none, so it works both ways. Another point is that we do not have clear laws and regulations for secondary sales, anybody with money and who can find a vacant space starts a used car/bike shop in a jiffy.

These have put the old time newspaper classifieds on the back burner. Car and bike selling classifieds would form a major chunk of the old time classified columns apart from the matrimonial and real estate advertisements. These would appear on Sundays in major national dailies.

Of course, dealers and also wheeler dealers and conmen too used print media advertising earlier. They have to sustain themselves, so there's nothing wrong if they engage in transparent, equitable and non-fraudulent business. The fraudulent dealers are a real menace. Steps for curbing their activities need to be taken by the government and also e-platforms to identify them and ask them to get registered under provisions of the Information Technology and other applicable Acts. By registrations, at least a tab on their activities can be maintained. The fraudulent ones licence can be suspended and later cancelled if the fraud is proved by a gullible person.

No doubt, the e-platforms hosting classifieds have a huge transnational reach and quite many are genuine. Apart from the genuine ones, fraudsters have gained access either as sellers or even as buyers.

There are hundreds of cases where sellers have tried to drain bank accounts of buyers and on the other hand buyers posing as uniformed, forces servicemen duping sellers.

And the uploaded morphed images and misrepresenting images of the not real automobiles for sale. I was once about five years ago told about my Landmaster getting featured on the OLX platform by some unscrupulous seller. I messaged him and also to OLX to withdraw the images within 48 hours from the time of issue of the message, failing which I shall be compelled to sue the seller and the platform for misrepresentation, fraud and use of image with permission for commercial gains.

Hence there are many facets where we get either benefitted or duped/feel let down by the e-platforms. Whereas, the older print media advertisement had very few downsides, if any.

Conversely, I had my car driven less than 6K kms listed by me personally to which there were just 5% of direct buyers that contacted me. The rest were all dealers.

There used to be a filter in Carwale many moons back for Dealer or Personal car. They took it off because I am sure sellers were misrepresenting themselves.

I am not against dealers. Some of them are really passionate about cars and will be truthful. I personally know some of them well. But these days everyone has become a fly-by-night dealer. It is always a task to weed them out.

Absolutely spot on! I still prefer TBHP Classifieds over OLX, etc. any day, despite lesser reach - have an ad running there and I am sure I won't post on any other portal. Patience is the key, as you said, but it is a virtue which is on the verge of extinction in today's age :)

Figured some stuff out, and have now started reaching direct buyers on OLX and Quikr.

Thought it best to start a new thread

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ct-buyers.html

I was looking for a used car. Frankly the scene is very bad. Most cars are asking almost their original price. I think inflation and dealer's greed(due to high demand for used cars) might be the reason. Many like me are opting for used petrol cars until cheap electric cars come out.

Yes, we need to be very careful with the dealers. I was in the market for a used car and visited a reputed dealer next to a Toyota showroom in Bangalore. The cars were overpriced and most of them had visible signs of accidents - extra pipe welded to rear seats, different shades of paint, windshield with different year of manufacturing - all text book examples of repairs. The sales guy was giving some stories for each case. Funniest one was about the windshield. He said people change windshield of the car often like we changes spectacles!


TeamBHP classifieds and ads posted by owners - is the best way to find a genuine seller and a good car.

Really no patience to deal with the volume of calls, time-wasters, spam, test-drives anymore from direct sale. What I will do when it's time to sell a car:

1. List it on the Team-BHP Classifieds.

2. Have all the venture-funded startups evaluate the car at my residence.

3. Check what dealer is giving me the best trade-in value against my next car.

Whoever gives me the best price in 2 - 4 weeks wins :thumbs up.

That's what Team-BHP Classifieds are for. No need to start a new one.

https://classifieds.team-bhp.com


Its good to try all options which will give you a fair idea of the market value of your car / bike. As you said Patience is the key. Wish you good luck.

Personal experience - quite recent (Sep 2022):

One of my friends(neighbour also) was migrating to foreign land, plans to sell his VERY WELL maintained XUV500 W6 mid-2017 model, but lets me know just 3weeks before he plans to travel out. This was something I couldn't say no to! And both he & me have long distance travel plans till 1 week before his departure - meaning both our cars had to be with us till then.

So I was hard-pressed to sell my equally well-maintained Ecosport Titanium 2015Dec model hastily.

In a hurry, I didn't want to try olx etc., so just posted here on T-BHP classifieds, let my close friends know via whatsapp and tried Spinny/Cars24. No leads out of T-BHP/my circle, but both the resellers quoted the EXACT same price! Coincidence? No I don't think so. They must be colluding somehow.

Anyway, I had to sell the car to spinny for 1Lakh less than my expectation/what I should've rightfully got, had I sold to an individual :Shockked: Only plus, they spot-settled the agreed amount (minus 10K "hold" amount).

I was told by spinny that the car was resold within 7days of taking over from me, although they took 1month to give me the hold/final settlement amount(10K).

It is a brutally monopolistic reseller's market nowadays, I realised with much chagrin. One has to be really lucky or ready to wait for a longer time to land a price acceptable to them, be it buy or sell.

That's a really eye opening thread.
I faced a personal ordeal as well. Was in the market for a new car last year to replace my ageing Brio. The prices that the dealers quoted were atrocious citing reasons unheard of. There was a pending over speeding fine (the only ever fine) on the car which one dealer took to understand that the vehicle was driven rashly in its 6 years of ownership and lowered his already lowballing quote by another Rs 20k. rl:
I got a sweet deal directly in exchange from Nissan and was able to close the deal within a couple of days. A few days later, out of sheer curiosity, I checked OLX and lo and behold saw my car being classified by a dealer as barely used, accident free (which is not true) and with features I did not know existed e.g. fog lamps, android auto and climate control. :D
The dealer had quoted ~ 1lakh more from what I had received, initially, and the last I saw (about 6 months back) was ~40K more. Not sure what the status is now

I have been looking for a used automatic hatchback for my wife for a while now. A month ago I came across an ad in Carwale for a 2 year old Ignis. The dealer was based out of Ghaziabad. Went to inspect it.

Some opening lines by the salesman "Original paint, untouched car, etc.". A close inspection revealed that front bumper and fender had been repainted. When pointed out the entire team immediately said that there were scratches and hence these two panels were repainted. I then asked the salesman to start the engine. The engine was cold and I could hear tik tik sound coming from it. Their repaponse "engine is cold hence the noise". Even the stepny was missing and there was a deep cut in side wall of one of the tyres.

This was my first experience of visiting a used car dealer. The quantum of lies and the arguments given to cover those lies will put even our politicians to shame.

As someone who recently bought a used Honda City, I'd completely agree with the title!

I started looking for a car back in August 2021 (Also made this post in September.) and till November, I couldn't find one good car that was well maintained and justified its price since most cars were listed by dealers and were either too expensive or were in horrible condition.

Almost gave up on a used car in the favour of a new S-Cross but magically found a non-dealer 2016 City listed from my city on the same date (Listed and found on November 11) for just 6 lakhs and brought it home within a week for just 5.55 lakhs!

All this, when no dealer was quoting less than 7-7.5 lakhs for similar models. So yes, the market is full of unethical dealers and you have to be really patient to find a good deal!

Had another experience with a 2012 Alto K10 recently which even though had dents and scratches everywhere, the dealer had the audacity to quote it to us for 2.4 lakhs (For instance, we sold a 2012 Alto K10 in same variant back in 2015 for 2.8 lakhs!) :uncontrol

Points 2 and 3 are risks in terms of ownership transfer. Unless there is a personal relationship with the franchise contact or dealer, it is tough to enforce ownership transfer. That can get done in 1 month or 1 year based on luck and till that time, you are answerable for accidents caused by the car. Those affidavits that dealers give as them being responsible while the car is in their custody, does not mean anything legally.

I am a huge advocate of used cars and have been buying used cars from 2001.

There are few rules which I follow and never compromise -

1. Patience is the key while buying used cars. No keen jerk or kids in toy shop reactions.
2. Usually I have a target of 2-3 models. I keep aside somewhere between 6-8 months to buy the cars I am targeting.
3. Always try to buy directly from individual. Have never bought a car from the dealer, though I visit lot of dealer to know the market price they are quoting.
4. When I come across a car which I like, then move swiftly and close the deal. No dilly-dallying to see if another better car/offer will come across
5. I bought a Duster Diesel in 2017 and Honda BR-V Petrol in April 2022 directly from individual sellers for way less than the dealer price.

Though website like OLX is flooded with ads from dealer, but if you consistently check everyday then you will get to know the dealer cars and individual sellers.

Regards