My Travails and Tribulations of Buying a Hexa at Gurugram
The Dec 2021 Circular issued by Govt of NCT, New Delhi, finally decided to implement the Hon’ble NGT order issued in 2015 and laid down that “Further It may be noted that if any 10 years old deregistered Diesel Vehicle or 15 years old Petrol Vehicle if found plying on road on or after 01.01. 2022, it shall be impounded and sent to a scrapyard for scrapping”.
This order straightway sounded a death knell to the 10 year old diesel and 15-year-old petrol cars. The used car sites were almost flooded with sellers who wanted to get rid of the car, to recover whatever best they can from their cars, which they had lovingly taken care of for a decade’s time. Buying a used car often becomes a gamble, unless, due diligence has been done by the prospective buyer. What should have been a happy hunting exercise of finding our perfect ride can actually lead to disappointments of falling victim to a car fraud. Unfortunately, used car scams are not a new thing and with time and technological advancements, the scams have gotten bigger and sophisticated.
However, with a little bit of knowledge, awareness and technical awareness, one can actually mitigate this risk to a great extent. Acting in haste can be catastrophic and this is what happened to me, the incident or should I say the bad experience which I would like to share with my BHPian friends. The used car market attracts the prospective buyers with very affordable prices for a relatively well-maintained car, wherein attractive pictures are posted to grab the attention of the buyers. Knowing very well that buying a used car is fraught with a lot of risks and post-buying traumas, I, however, went ahead with this risk, since I thought I’m a smart guy who can’t be fooled by anyone. So, with this underlying assumption and also due to the fact that I have been driving various cars (all manual cars only and not auto transmissions, and this fact later turned out to be a crucial inadequacy which impacted the decision negatively) for more than 25 years, I went ahead with searching for good used car at NCR areas, feeling confident as ever!
Now that I have set the context, before you guys lose patience; let me come to the actual story. I’ve been driving a Tata Safari Dicor, the original beast, for about 12 years. It’s a 2011 silver-coloured one. I maintained it well and always the beast was ready for a long-distance drive. A pic is attached here to rekindle the nostalgic memories with the beast. The drives were long, picturesque, memorable and lovely. There had been numerous unforgettable drives and my friends and family members assumed that the Safari is inseparable from me. When every mortal has a use-by date, then machines, though a beast, has to eventually go some day. A trip to Horanadu and later to Ooty galvanized me to the action of selling the beast. Before the Ooty trip ended, I started getting enquiries and within a day of returning, I sold the Safari, a better sense prevailed and I sold to Spinny. How I wish, did the same while buying too. So the sale happened sooner than expected and given my impatience and urgency to buy a replacement car that is as capable as a Safari, if not more, made me zero in on Tata Hexa.
Though I knew, Tata has discontinued Hexa since 2020, the specs of the car, the ultra-high quality of materials (interiors), SUV kind of imposing stance, the availability of automatic variants, Tata’s service network, which is the second highest in the country, build quality aka German cars, relatively inexpensive service cost and the rugged ladder frame chassis were the points that made me to go for Hexa. I somehow came into the conclusion that Hexa is the best diesel behemoth with that lovely Varicor Engine, though not sure how good and reliable is the AT unit. (and this is what the article is about). If I have to say which is the clinching factor that made me go for a Hexa, then I would say that the interior quality finesse and the use of top-notch premium materials, high import content and last but not the least, the all-black interiors, like a BMW. Another plus is that I may safely assume that Hexa has benefitted from JLR’s tech and features which were earlier not accessible to Tata, more steering which is one rare area in which I abhorred my good old Safari Dicor. In fact, I can go on and on explaining why Hexa has been shortlisted, how let me not digress from the subject. Hey, holy moly, how could I miss the most important factor, which is the budget, other than Hexa, I could not find any other SUV/MUV under 12L. Yes, few Innovas are available but are more than 15 years old and also had traversed 3 to 5L kms and hence completely ruled-out as Hexas that are just 5 to 7 years old are available under 12L. I probably will go blah blah in an another article where I will capture Hexa.
Aditya’s – Team BHP Support
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...al-review.html (Tata Hexa : Official Review)
As a buyer, I knew I had to be extra careful when buying a used car from Delhi, however, what I did is exactly contrary to this. So did I get carried away by the pictures of the car shared by the dealer or did I assume, I am too intelligent or the glib talks of the seller made me believe the deal is thrillingly attractive, while I myself do not know I guess the combination of all these have made me go for it. Heart in heart, I felt a Hexa can’t be an automotive lemon, and hence finalized the deal in a jiffy. I did not take the time to inspect the car thoroughly, nor did I take a long test drive and only checked the documents. I also did not place much credence on why the seller has been pressurizing me to go ahead with the car. Everyone is a genius in hindsight. Now, if I look back, I realize what an idiotic nincompoop I am. In the end, the buy had become a nightmare. My foolhardiness and over-confidence made me take a bad decision, ignoring a few premonitions; I completed the buying process and then started my travails and travesty of the facts. Though apparently got a dream machine, in the process got ripped off!
The Buying Process
As I said earlier, Hexa was the only one fitting my size requirement and most importantly the budget and knowing the NGT dictum, I decided to hunt for a good one at NCR. Started with Cars24, Spinny and Olx and later saw a few aggressive dealers in Instagram (wish I could name a few). The ones in Insta accounts were continuously posting used cars, ranging from Mercs, Audis, Volvos, Safaris, Polo GTs, Skodas, etc, and the posts contain rather attractive pictures of the said cars, so attractive that it give rise to more doubts than credibility. How can a 8-year old Skoda Superb run only 40K kms or a 11 year Merc run only 55k kms!?.
A few Hexas I’ve seen (in Instagram) had run only 35k or 50K which is ludicrously unbelievable. I live in Bangalore and did a few calculations, factoring the registration and transfer cost at Bangalore and still after paying road tax here, I found that buying at Delhi works out better, provided I get a good car at a good price. The proviso is a dangerous proposition which I knew could be a high risk and same happened. As luck would have it, on Olx, I stumbled upon rather good looking and attractive Hexa, Urban Bronze coloured, XTA model, the pictures of which were posted by a dealer or should I say a middle man, whom I will henceforth refer as ‘SD’, giving an elaborate description of the vehicle in as much as referring it as in “pristine condition”, “well-maintained”, “mint”, etc, etc. Though I did not much place credence on these banal phrases, however the pictures posted by SD just swept me off from my feet. Posting a few pictures here to support my belief!
Aren't the pics captivating? I felt this is the car that I should buy and already started to have a sense of belonging with this car. Seriously, this car caught my fancy and I wish not part with it and lose it. I wanted to buy it ASAP and refused to get bogged with working on going into the specifics of knowing the condition of the vehicle. I completely ignored doing the required due diligence in trying to assess the car’s condition and went ahead and paid blocking amount of 10k to SD. The car is a Dec 2017 XTA Urban Bronze and I closed the deal for 8.40L. I was jubilant and thought the deal was a steal (later turned out to be a super deal for the seller). Though the car’s ODO was showing about 95K kilometers, I felt the car is depicting a genuine run and that SD is a honest guy. He had told me that he is an authorized guy from Cars24 and has taken it from them and selling as they authorized him to sell it on their behalf.
I never bothered to think why Cars24 wasn’t selling it as I was so much smitten by the pictures! After the payment of blocking amount, I couldn’t go to Delhi for almost 4 days as was caught with urgent assignments and meeting with bosses (I work for GoI), SD started following up with me as when I would be coming and taking the car for completing the sale transaction. He was rigorously following up with me and was insisting to come immediately, which made me think about the guy, whether he is genuine and if the car is really in good pristine condition as claimed by SD.
When I said the way he is following up, I’m beginning to get doubts on the car’s condition, he started getting defensive. As I said, SD is a glib talker and then started to explain about the car and that he would be doing the transaction from his residence where the car has been parked and that his wife works for corporate conglomerate, who studied at IIMB and also that he is keen to complete the transaction since I already liked the car and that it’s a good deal and I shouldn’t be losing such a good car, then he also shared Cars24 verification report, along with snapshots of confirmation on engine condition, chassis, suspension, electrical, interiors, etc. Quite rightly, I asked about transmission confirmation, and he replied that its part of the engine confirmation report.
Being almost satisfied with this and also I assumed that not many takers would be there for a Hexa which has covered 90k, I proceeded to Delhi, the very next day. Since my cousin resides at Gurgaon, I decided to go directly from the airport to SD’s residence to take the car. As a afterthought, wish I had taken my mechanic along with me to Delhi for checking the vehicle’s condition. In spite of knowing a good number mechanics and supervisors, both of FNGs and TASS, I chose to rely on my idiotic intelligence in finalizing the car. In fact, you will know, as your read, how I just took the car in a hurry, maybe within 30 minutes time, which includes test drive, transferring money online and signing of the transfer papers.
On reaching SD’s residence, which is an apartment complex, test drive was taken and quite quixotically I told him to drive out the car from the apartment parking area on to the road and later thought of driving myself. However, I was impressed with the car interiors and the smooth rolling of the car on the main road. Within 5 minutes we came back and parked the car and went to his flat for completion of formalities. One most critical point I need to mention and all prospective used-cars buyers need to be aware and beware is the seller will adopt multiple diversion tactics while you take a test drive of the car, even let be you yourself is driving the car.
In my case, I noticed he engaged sports mode to start moving the car instead of normal mode and before I asked he said sports mode will show the real smooth power transition and acceleration of the car and started explaining about the goodness of ICE and mood-lighting options. One more thing is that he told me that fuel is very less and let us go back to the apartment. So dear BHPians, multiple strategies can be adopted in diverting your attention, be it less fuel in the tank, or diverting your attention of something which is not critically important but can actually make you ignore some very critical issues. In my case, since I am doing the transaction at SD’s residence, I prima facie assumed the car is really in pristine condition and that small niggles can always be sorted and get attended by my FNG at Bangalore.
Honestly, I need to also mention that as assured the car looks great, no scratches, no tell-tale marks of being put to abuse, other than driver’s side foot-mat being worn-out. It looked like only passenger who’s in the driver seat used to predominantly used the car. The dashboard, facia, instrument cluster, switches and steering wheel seems to be as good as new, barring a few scratch marks on the steering wheel, at 10 min position, maybe the previous owner used to wear multiple rings on his right hand fingers. Even the upholstery seems to be as good as new and unused.
The urban-bronze coloured Hexa seems to be a perfect find for me and a sense of jubilation crept in me already. Well, did I ignore something, not referring to the usual test drive or verification by trusted professional from Tata or FNG, but I started sensing a kind of presentiment while completing the paper work. When the online fund transfer to SD’s account wasn’t getting through, I’ve got a hunch that I should not proceed further. But ignoring everything and wanting not be a superstitious, I proceeded and transferred the money to him after changing the minimum transfer amount in the bank account settings. My thought was sitting at home, why would anyone out rightly cheat, that too after introducing his Kannadiga wife, who prepared an aromatic tea and served biscuits. When I mentioned that her hubby articulates well and is loquacious, she immediately retorted “you too fell for his soft exterior and talks”! Later, he told me that theirs is a love marriage. I guess most of you are now thinking that I’m going verbose, well, the short point is be extremely circumspect and always respect your gut feeling, as it seldom goes wrong and always will alert you in time.
We tend to be nonchalant towards our inner feelings and completely ignore. After taking transfer papers, RC and insurance papers, I took two sets of the keys and went to the car with a victorious feeling, as if I won a big war. The car is 1st owner car and is registered at Gurgaon (HR23), and let us refer the 1st owner as SW. I insisted to speak with him but was told that he isn’t available. Anyways, after bidding farewell to SD and his family, I went to a nearby fuel station and filled diesel. My cousin’s residence is about 9 kms and started moving towards that direction with Google maps assistance. The initial drive of 5kms was uneventful and I started enjoying silky smooth drive and fantastic air-conditioning. As traffic was quite dense, couldn’t much concentrate on hearing the white noise of the engine, which actually is great of a diesel engine which shows that it is a very refined engine. Without exaggerating I can say that I was suddenly filled with a sense of foreboding.
Within minutes, the vehicle was moving laboriously and I could feel that transmission is stuck in either 2 or 3rd gearing ratios. I managed to move aside in the Delhi’s heavy evening traffic and then kept engine running and again started and was happy to see the gear shifting was happening. Mind you, I was always moving the car from stationary position using sports mode and then later was shifting to normal mode as was done by SD. Finally, when I crossed Ambience Mall, the peculiar feeling of presentiment I had earlier turned in to a reality. All of sudden, a warning light lit in the instrument cluster, nailing the coffin. I did not understand the warning light, a geared wheel symbol, when googled it, the world has turned upside down for me – it indicated that there is automatic gearbox failure. The vehicle, though, was moving; the warning light was on nonstop. I called SD and started blasting him for misleading me on the vehicle condition. The guy immediately went defensive and forwarded again all the inspection reports of Cars24 and told me move the car aside and switch off the engine and wait for a few minutes restart the engine. And bingo, the warning lamp disappeared, and the car started to move smoothly and faultlessly.
I was getting impatient, nervous and felt like a clown, cheated and thoroughly beaten, with such a feeling I reached my cousin’s apartment and he welcomed with a warm and said car looks nice. When I told him the issue I faced, he said it may not be a major issue and that I won’t get a used car that has no issues, and assuaged my miserable feelings, telling me that since it’s a Tata car, we can get all the issues fixed easily and without spending a bomb. Heart in heart, I prayed that his words turn prophetic and really come true. After all it isn’t a Benz or a BMW, for which spares are prohibitively expensive and the service costs.
Thereafter we went to DLF Cyber Hub and had a gala dinner at Farzi café, I then started googling the issues with the transmission systems, and what the alert means. The more I read, the more I was worried and realized what a fool I made of myself. I did not know that automatic cars should creep at about 8km speed once D-mode is engaged, which wasn’t the case with this car. I finally understood why SD was engaging sports mode to move the vehicle forward so that I neither notice the lag nor see how transmission unit is struggling to move the car forward. I finally forwarded the alert sign pics to a known guy at one of leading Tata service centre’s supervisor. In no time I got a call from him and he said I made a wrong buy and that there is nothing much he can do in repairing the unit and only option being to the change the transmission unit which would cost me a whopping 4.20L. What a figure, irony of life; I now have to endure all this myself for being reckless and foolhardy. He also forwarded some copies of invoices where a Hexa owner has changed the transmission assembly which had cost him about the same amount.
I blasted SD in the morning and threatened with a police complaint, making the 1st owner, Cars24 and SD as respondents. He panicked and offered to go along with me to a nearest Tata authorized service and centre and that transmission oil maybe need to be changed, after which I can drive the car all the way to Bangalore. Apart from giving some invalid reasons to substantiate that car was indeed in a good condition, he also said that automatics are like that only and that failures can happen all of a sudden. Anyways, I chose to solve the issue myself and not involve this unethical guy or deal with this guy anymore as it would waste my time further more. On a side note, what SD did is a pure business, though unethical, he has a family to support, adopted various ways to make a living, which maybe mix of ethical and unethical ways of making money.
Anyways, it isn’t that he is a Sukesh or a Kundra or a Telgi, who cheated scores of people for financing their indulgent and lavish lifestyle. So, I did not want to create any nuisance by continuing my futile argument with SD and given the fact that I had signed the document containing the clause “as is where is condition basis”, I, now, am very well aware that I had inherited this car with all its inherent legacy problems, at a significant cost and that I need to further spend a significant amount to make this car shipshape. I have to go through the whole rigmarole of making this car highway worthy as I have to drive it to Bangalore from Gurgaon and I knew it would be fraught with umpteen challenges as the car is unknown to me and already has seen transmission failure. Risk of stalling on the highway is very high possibility.
Dear BHPians,
I will put a prorogation to this article, which may be referred as part 1 of the series, as this covers the process of buying Hexa at Delhi. While thanking you for giving a patient reading, since its going lengthy, I will, in my next article, write about how I moved the car to Bangalore, whether I drove it or got it trucked, the amount of stress I had to endure on account of one wrong buy and will also write about the herculean tasks undertaken in figuring out how to get the transmission work again flawlessly and also what other issues and breakdowns I had faced, apart from the central issue of transmission failure.
Many thanks,
Murali
16th June 2024, 19:25
(146)
Thanks
