[GTO]

Even as gearheads, we can sometimes veer off the intended path due to a multitude of reasons. We have several gold-standard threads on Team-BHP with advice on purchasing cars, yet as an enthusiast, I have to sheepishly admit that I have broken the rules sometimes.



Pre-Owned Honda Civic: Bought it without a test-drive . The showroom was in the far suburbs (1.5-2 hours one way from my office) and I had an experienced petrolhead team member check it out in detail. But the real reason I was okay with not TD'ing it is, I pinged my contact at Honda Cars India. They did a detailed PDI & test-drive and gave me the all clear. Honda's team & engineers surely know more about cars than I do, so I was satisfied.



BMW 530d: Didn't bargain, ended up paying the asking price! Truth be told, negotiating on price is like pulling teeth for me. I love fixed-price stores. Had already lost on a few 530d deals because they were a hot moving item so I had to move fast. In the long run frankly, that supposed extra 1-2 lakhs I paid doesn't matter at all. I absolutely loved the car and was fine with paying a small premium to close it. Time is money. Plus, the car is now in its 11th year and I am still in l-o-v-e with it. I would do it again since, with used cars, you anyway save so much money that a lakh or two here and there doesn't matter for the right car.



Skoda Superb: Bought a car with a known failure point (DSG) and suspect long-term reliability. But we'd fallen head over heels for the Superb L&K as an all-round package, got a great deal (33-lakhs OTR) and are prepared for some maintenance headaches in the longer run. Skoda now offers long 8-year warranties (was 6 years at the time of my purchase), while I have access to great independent garages for the later out-of-warranty years. Am fine with 10 days of downtime in a year as long as the other 355 days bring me driving pleasure. In general now, my preferences are more aligned with European cars over the more-reliable Japanese.



Nissan Sunny: As a rule, we always buy the fully-loaded trim. Didn't buy the top variant Sunny as it was the beater car of the house. In the ensuing years, I did regret it. The top-variant's price premium was worth it for the keyless entry & go, alloy wheels, foglamps, nicer instrument cluster etc . Never again - only top variants for us. This was a rare detour.



Mercedes C180: Family bought the wretched C180 in the year 2003 over obviously superior cars like the Camry, purely due to the badge. Was eventually replaced with a spectacular C220 6-speed MT that we enjoyed for 9 years & 1+ lakh km.

[AYP]

Bought my first and only car in 2017. Didn't do the PDI.

Related thread-

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/buyin...heck-list.html (ARTICLE: Pre-delivery Inspection (PDI) & Check List)

[SidTheChamp]

Back in 2014, I bought my then second year a Swift Dzire primarily to occupy the parking space allocated to me.

It was a mad rush as I already communicated to housing society that my car is coming so don't allocate the space to anyone else.
With very less time went for safe option Maruti. The showroom where I had initially booked Red Swift later backed out and said that stock is not available.
Thankfully there are multiple Maruti Suzuki dealers in Thane and another dealer promised to deliver White Swift Dzire.

No test drive, no PDI. Just went, paid and took delivery of the car. Thankfully it turned out reliable like a Maruti car.

[Keeleri_Achu]

Oh boy, here we go

No test drive was done for any of the three cars we ever purchased - M800, Ritz or the Ignis. While I could be excused for the decision on M800 as I was too young, Ritz and Ignis are on me.

Ritz was bought 6 months after it was launched. There was no research done on the car. One of my father's customer who ran a driving school recommended Ritz when he was told we were upgrading the 800. We visited the dealership, just checked the car out and made the booking. No negotiations, no visit to other dealerships. Nothing. Heck, we didn't go for the full option just because the dealer said VXi was a better value. The dealer didn't even have a stockyard in town and the car was driven 100 km before delivery. No PDI was done and it was driven home by our driver at the time. The car turned out to be fantastic and served us well for 7 years.



Ritz was replaced only because I was going to US and my parents asked for something smaller with an automatic transmission. This time I did put some effort and made a shortlist of cars - Ignis which was scheduled to be launched in a month, Baleno and Grand i10. Grand i10 was ruled out for it's thirsty nature and Baleno was ruled out for it's size. Ignis was booked as soon as the website went live. Again, one dealership, no negotiations. I did go to the showroom to check it in person once the display car reached the showroom. I was not available on delivery day and the car was picked up by my father and his friend. No PDI done. The car is at 40k KM now and I absolutely love it.



The cherry on top though is my 2013 CBR 150R It was not even in the list of bikes under consideration. The bike in my mind was FZ-S. I did some math in my head and showed my mother an R15 V2 which, as expected, was rejected. What I expected was the budget to be reduced and eventually settle on the FZ. Before I showed her the same though, I simply scrolled and showed her the CBR. And she said "Okay". Well, that was it. I was at the Honda showroom and made the booking. And as you would have guessed by now, No test drive, No negotiations, No PDI. The bike is at 75k KM now and still a joy to ride.






But safe to say, since then, all my recommendations to friends/family were well thought out and done after test drives. Although I could never convince them on PDIs.

[thomahawk]

I bought a Tiago EV without doing the detailed Team-BHP PDI. I was afraid I would never buy a Tata after doing a proper PDI. I was far too excited about owning an EV and I only checked for serious flaws and ignored issues I knew were common in model.

I realized my mistake once I took the car home and started using it. The horn pad on the left side of the steering and 12V socket on dashboard were dead, the driver side mirror couldn't unfold properly every time, there was a dead cricket inside the cabin light dome and there was no fluid in windscreen washer tank. I don't understand how the car ended up with a PDI OK sticker from factory.

A lesson learned the hard way.

[Shreyans_Jain]

My 2012 Jazz was bought without PDI. Honestly, at 22, I was too naive to bother. The excitement of buying my first car was too much. I still remember the first time I saw the car, bright ‘Ferrari’ red, decked up in ribbons. Still can’t fathom how a green kid like me got a loan in his name, and by god’s grace I was able to pay it off without a hitch.

My 2014 diesel City was bought without test drive and PDI. After the fantastic Jazz experience, I had full trust in brand Honda. Back then, Honda was HONDA. And City was CITY. It was the car of that time. And since there was so much rush to get the diesel City, just getting the car was a big deal.

I have been more sensible and less emotional with all further car purchases. Maturing with age, perhaps!

[Knightrider]

Nice thread

1. Ertiga:

Booked as soon as it was launched back in 2012. Took a risk of buying a newly launched car, that too in the first lot assuming not much can go wrong in a Maruti. And indeed it was a fuss free ownership of 10 years.

2. Carens:

Same story repeats. Booked soon after the launch. But did not do any PDI. Luckily no issues were seen after taking delivery.

3. Wagon-R AMT:

Bought without any test-drive and PDI last month. Fingers crossed.

[Maky]

Originally Posted by GTO

Even as gearheads, we can sometimes veer off the intended path due to a multitude of reasons.

Thank you for sharing this. I no longer have to feel guilty about not following one of the 'cardinal' rules of T-BHP as you say.

For me it was missing out on thoroughly doing the PDI process for my new Tiguan a few months ago.




Thankfully all turned out well. I realised VW have their own internal PDI process which was done by a man who had gone by the time I came, although it still would have been ideal to have it done before me in person alongside T-BHP PDI list.








Though the pre-delivery trip was not fully wasted. I got a good look at their service center and came back throughly impressed by the space and facilities.






Hopefully the actual service will be up to par as well : )

[sreerknair]

Bought a TATA, and that too within a year of its launch without even seeing it in person and test driving it. Just called the dealership, asked if they have the variant I am looking for, and transferred the cash online. Didn't do PDI and didn't even take the delivery myself. My cousin went to showroom and drove the car home.

The model was not a sales success and got discontinued 5 years after I bought it. But it was with me for 11 years and 1L + KMs; on a hindsight I should have bought a Fiat Linea or Honda City then.

The day I got it -



The day I sold it -



The quality of Paint on the car was way way superior than anything we get these days. Had it not been for the pathetic TATA after sales, I would not have regretted the decision a bit.

[shankar.balan]

I am a ripe candidate for this thread.

Because I buy things mostly with my Heart. I am driven simply by a combination of function, aesthetics, passion and fantasy.

I saw the New 2020 Thar and bought it. Just because I loved its looks and go anywhere ability.



I came across a person selling his Gypsy and bought it.
Because I just LOVE Gypsys. And this was my all time fantasy - Dark Green. Bone Stock. Soft Top.



I live in Bangalore and not on a farm. And while our roads can be classified as off road tracks, they still really don’t warrant a 4X4. But in my fantasy world Im a cowboy and hence I need to have a Jeepy thing or two.

I saw a Red Cooper for sale and made a bid for it. Luckily I was able to wrest it from the Doc who owned it then. I have always loved Mini Coopers and always wanted one- from the age of 4 or so. Yes it is a superb car for the city and highways too and its growl is addictive. But here also, in my fantasy world I’m the red car driver in the Italian Job.

Did I do a thorough PDI and investigation prior to buying? Nope I did not, because a clean Civilian Gypsy is a very rare bird in these days and an R56 Mini Cooper remains a relatively rare object of desire.

However, in the case of my Thar I did do a cursory check - cursory because I had already invested time and trouble in cultivating a relationship with the Showroom guys and Service guys from the day I booked it, and therefore took them mostly on trust.

[arunphilip]

My first car was a pre-owned 2006 Hyundai Getz that I bought from Hyundai's pre-owned division in 2011.

Breaking the Rules

I didn't do any preparation for it. And I mean any.

• Didn't read any threads on pre-owned cars, PDI, etc.
• Didn't do any pricing research either.
• Didn't discuss it with friends or family either (being a bachelor helped!)

I'd kept toying with the idea of getting a car, for reasons of safety (no more two-wheeler commutes), comfort (out of the sun and rain), and convenience (shopping, travel, etc.)

One day I decided I was done dithering, and that the time had come to actually do it (added motivation was I had a long holiday and I wanted to go see my parents, but couldn't get tickets, so hey, why not surprise them by driving?)

The Selection Process

A quick Google search to find a nearby Hyundai dealer with pre-owned cars, and I went there. Look through their stockyard, and find a lot of high-mileage Santros with pretty steep asking prices.

Then out of the corner of my eye, I spied a familiar and beloved shape - a Getz. I'm not optimistic, because, hey, the Getz is a segment above the Santro, so it would be more expensive, right?

I turned to the sales advisor and ask him about the Getz, and he quotes a price lower than the Santros. That's when I came to realize the valuation of pre-owned cars is influenced heavily by the success of a model.

I used all my self-control to keep a poker face and start asking him about it. I needn't have bothered, however, because the SA became visibly excited at having found a dud to whom he could sell this dud model.

To cut a long story short, that was the only Getz he had, the colour was something I liked (I think Hyundai called it Electric Blue), the variant was not ideal (the base GLE model, without power windows). But my heart was set, and I closed the deal.

The Happy Ending

The Gods looked down favourably on me that day, because it turned out to be a good buy: a car I enjoyed when I owned it, and a car I missed ever since I sold it.

The EcoSport came after that, and is a much better car in many respects, but my heart still has a Getz-shaped hole in it to this very day.

[Divya Sharan]

Karizma ZMR 2011 - no TD/rentals. Bought directly - no regrets. 130k km and still running awesome.
Fiat Punto Evo 1.4 2015 - no TD/rentals. Bought directly - no regrets. 90k km and is amazing. No complaints.
Kawasaki Ninja 650 2019 - no TD/rentals. Bought directly - no regrets. ~20k km and is always ready for a sprint.

All 3 were desired for a while and I have been a happy customer.

[iliketurtles]

Let’s be honest. We all slip up every now and then. Not everyone follows the rules on here like it’s the holy (insert scripture of your choice here).

Here’s my two cents, in keeping with the thread. When I picked up my 328i back in 2018, I knowingly overpaid by a lakh or so versus prevalent market prices because I was smitten by the car.

What’s worse, I was a newbie when it came to buying used cars, and I went purely by gut feel, so I didn’t even get the car checked at BMW as I now tell everyone to do! I went purely on instinct, and luckily I was right. That whole purchase could very easily have gone sideways. Luckily, it didn’t.

[Thilak29]

1. Brio - Bought car without TD and PDC / No regrets
2. Figo TDCI 2nd gen - Bought car without PDC / No regrets
3. Compass - Took delivery without PDC and TD was done in a car with different spec / No regrets
4. Tiago EV- Bought without PDC / No regrets

[condor]

Buying a car at a high price without checking it out either personally or through a mechanic.

Sorry, no more details. That's the level of sin I feel I have committed. Needless to say, sold at a loss after about a year and after spending on it's repairs.