[StarScream]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

First of all this car is overpriced by about 4 lacs. To top it Renault decide to adopt french cuisine pricing for the spares. Cost of plastic bumpers is 7k!!! That too unpainted or body in white kinds. Ridiculous

Originally Posted by gemi_kk

The front Bumper costs 7100 with out painting.
The rear bumper costs 4000 with out painting. Please note that these bumpers are only half painted.

Even the Skoda prices for bumpers and painting them is much cheap.

The other parts seem ok ok. No comments.
Air filter + Oil Filter again are expensive. Aren't they? This aint no Jetta/Passat.

Please note that, this is an entry level SUV which costs 6.8L. Thanks to our taxing system which pushes the prices to 10L on the road. :

Why are we confusing the issue? What the car costs or what taxes are in India is immaterial to the cost of spares. Question is, are they more or less than industry average? And if we limit ourselves to that, they don't seem over the top.

A Honda City rear bumper is about Rs. 4500. I don't remember the cost of the front but I do recall it being more. A Skoda Laura front bumper is 9k, rear is 12k.

[shankar.balan]

There are some really angered posts here about screaming and thrashing the SA. Sad and in rather poor taste in my opinion considering that the SA is less privileged than the rest of us. My grand dad used to tell me many years ago that if the person serving us had had the opportunities we have had, who knows where he or she may have reached!

Personally I find politeness solves problems far better than the typical Indian 'danda' approach adopted by many towards those whom they perceive as 'lesser mortals'.

This behaviour goes all along the chain right from the top echelons of 'above the law' politicos down to generally well off folks and the way that 'service people' are treated at hotels, restaurants, car service stations etc. frankly would we raise our voices at someone who is perceived as equal to or higher than us? Methinks not!

Signs of an impatient, intolerant, bullying,immature society where might is right and little else matters?

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

There are some really angered posts here about screaming and thrashing the SA. Sad and in rather poor taste in my opinion considering that the SA is less privileged than the rest of us. My grand dad used to tell me many years ago that if the person serving us had had the opportunities we have had, who knows where he or she may have reached!

Personally I find politeness solves problems far better than the typical Indian 'danda' approach adopted by many towards those whom they perceive as 'lesser mortals'.
Signs of an impatient, intolerant, bullying,immature society where might is right and little else matters?

People seem to have forgotten saam, daam dandh, bedh philosophy. Now its only the dandh (punishment) philosophy which is widely practiced to try and get one's work done.

That apart, Indian society was always an intolerant one, tending to look down and abuse the have not and one's juniors. This would not go away so easily in 2 -3 generations, requires a total mind shift to reach western standards of equality among classes and worship of work.

Polite talk always helps and people do tend to go out of one's way and try cater to a politely made request, versus grudgingly doing the work they were forced or ordered to

Originally Posted by StarScream

Why are we confusing the issue? What the car costs or what taxes are in India is immaterial to the cost of spares. Question is, are they more or less than industry average? And if we limit ourselves to that, they don't seem over the top.

A Honda City rear bumper is about Rs. 4500. I don't remember the cost of the front but I do recall it being more. A Skoda Laura front bumper is 9k, rear is 12k.

Honda city price is more than what Duster costs. So is the price. Also Honda is a premium brand in india where as the dacia duster is the cheapest SUV in the world. Isn't it?

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

There are some really angered posts here about screaming and thrashing the SA. Sad and in rather poor taste in my opinion considering that the SA is less privileged than the rest of us. My grand dad used to tell me many years ago that if the person serving us had had the opportunities we have had, who knows where he or she may have reached!

Personally I find politeness solves problems far better than the typical Indian 'danda' approach adopted by many towards those whom they perceive as 'lesser mortals'.

This behaviour goes all along the chain right from the top echelons of 'above the law' politicos down to generally well off folks and the way that 'service people' are treated at hotels, restaurants, car service stations etc. frankly would we raise our voices at someone who is perceived as equal to or higher than us? Methinks not!

Signs of an impatient, intolerant, bullying,immature society where might is right and little else matters?

I think, every one is getting the person wrong. No one mentions in detail what sort of negotiations were done by the owner. Every one is interested in the climax, so is the owner. I think, we shouldn't judge a person based on what he has written in a public forum. This aint no final Exam right? so no one would be very serious on what they write.

Shankar sir, i would request you to come with me to TASS when i go for servicing. I promise to keep my mouth shut. I am sure that you will loose your patience. You will shout. You will shout on SA like anything. You will shout on their GM too.

Having patience and giving respect, Baato me Chini dalke baatkarna, etc should be limited. they are like priviliges. Once the quota is over, Start the game. P.S. This is not intended to hurt/blame anyone. This is what i have learned. 1st time, be sweet, 2nd time, friendly, 3rd time, request please or blah blah, 4th time a tremor, 5th time go to manager, 6th time, shout on the persons training or working style with their managers, next would be take on their managers. what else can i do?

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by gemi_kk

Shankar sir, i would request you to come with me to TASS when i go for servicing. I promise to keep my mouth shut. I am sure that you will loose your patience. You will shout. You will shout on SA like anything. You will shout on their GM too.

r, 6th time, shout on the persons training or working style with their managers, next would be take on their managers. what else can i do?

No Gemi.
I learned a long time ago that politeness and logic wins battles rather than the Don Quixote approach....

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by gemi_kk

...Honda city price is more than what Duster costs. So is the price. Also Honda is a premium brand in india where as the dacia duster is the cheapest SUV in the world. Isn't it?...

My counter question will be whether the Duster parts have City like quality? From numerous threads, I make out that quality of parts in city is a big positive. At the same time, atleat 70-80% people feel duster has low quality plastics for the segment it is placed in!

To me, Renault is a company or Duster as a product is something which someone should stay away from. I feel they are as unethical as a company can get.

Reasons:

1. Discontinuing low margin base variants without proper intimations to the public or booked customers.
2. Not delivering petrol variants at all
3. Producing more high end varriants and forcing customers to choose a higher variant than booked.
4. The price hike of 5% when rest of the manufacturers raised 2% at the max (citing higher raw material prices) - case of making hay while sun shines!
5. Unreasonable spare costs.

It's appaling that inspite of charging a premium with price & spares, they fail to provide premium pre-sales, customer care or product experience!

[StarScream]

Originally Posted by gemi_kk

Honda city price is more than what Duster costs. So is the price. Also Honda is a premium brand in india where as the dacia duster is the cheapest SUV in the world. Isn't it?

Actually, I'm comparing prices for my car, which is the previous gen City and cost me 7.2 lakhs on road, cheaper than the Duster.
Also let's not compare apples with oranges - Duster's global positioning with Honda's Indian positioning. The City is a car that Honda doesn't sell in any developed market. It was their cheapest car prior to the Brio (Jazz costs more in developed markets with a 1.5l and CVT than the City in India).
Today the City costs 10 lakhs and the Duster costs 10 lakhs in India. And spares of the Duster aren't out of whack as we've established. I fail to see your point.

[rkparur]

Dear Engrohit,
Tiara Alloy shown by looks good. If possible, search for a five spoke alloy which will increase the appeal of your DUSTER.

[noelravin]

I agree with Shankar. Most of these SAs are very underprivileged and normally the works-manager would be more knowledgeable about technical problems. The SA is more tuned to just deliver advice and feedback between his company and the customer. No point shouting at the guy!

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

There are some really angered posts here about screaming and thrashing the SA. Sad and in rather poor taste in my opinion considering that the SA is less privileged than the rest of us. My grand dad used to tell me many years ago that if the person serving us had had the opportunities we have had, who knows where he or she may have reached!

Personally I find politeness solves problems far better than the typical Indian 'danda' approach adopted by many towards those whom they perceive as 'lesser mortals'.

This behaviour goes all along the chain right from the top echelons of 'above the law' politicos down to generally well off folks and the way that 'service people' are treated at hotels, restaurants, car service stations etc. frankly would we raise our voices at someone who is perceived as equal to or higher than us? Methinks not!

Signs of an impatient, intolerant, bullying,immature society where might is right and little else matters?

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by StarScream

Why are we confusing the issue? What the car costs or what taxes are in India is immaterial to the cost of spares. Question is, are they more or less than industry average? And if we limit ourselves to that, they don't seem over the top.

A Honda City rear bumper is about Rs. 4500. I don't remember the cost of the front but I do recall it being more. A Skoda Laura front bumper is 9k, rear is 12k.

We are not confusing the issue at all. If Renault chooses to overprice its car, its spare parts, under deliver in terms of quality, and basically hike prices in India, then there is an issue. The problem is treating the Duster like a premium offering where as all aspects of the car suggest it nothing more than an economy offering. As far as I know, across the Arabian Sea the Duster costs 40% less (of Indian ex showroom price mind it), and with an automatic gear box in the 4x2 option, 4x4 option available within the cheapest Indian 4x2 option ex showroom prices. That too when the car is manufactured in Chennai!!!

Originally Posted by StarScream

Why are we confusing the issue? What the car costs or what taxes are in India is immaterial to the cost of spares. Question is, are they more or less than industry average? And if we limit ourselves to that, they don't seem over the top.

A Honda City rear bumper is about Rs. 4500. I don't remember the cost of the front but I do recall it being more. A Skoda Laura front bumper is 9k, rear is 12k.

Hello StarScream. Good morning. There is a relationship between the spares of a car and the car price. If you try integrating the car by purchasing all the spares from the company, the cost of car shouldn't exceed 140% or something. There is an equation, which would be submitted by all the companies to the government also they have to submit an agreement stating that, the manufacturer is responsible to supply all the spares required for a span of 15 years from the date of sale. Why? the government demans a life tax for 15 years, so the manufacturer should supply all the spares for this duratiion.

Now you can corelate why some manufacturers launch some models by sharing spares with some other models?

I am not trying to defend my point. I just said, some of the spares are expensive. Nothing else. and i am fine with it. because from the past 6 years, i never had to purchase either front or rear bumper. Thank you God.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

No Gemi.
I learned a long time ago that politeness and logic wins battles rather than the Don Quixote approach....

Sunil sir, may be this is the time, i have to come with you when you go for your car service. How could being poilte work 100% of the time. It never works with me. I see that *** people always try to change some spares, sometimes by telling me, sometimes with out telling me.

Sometimes they say, the problem is fixed without working on the problem. I am not a very big expert when it comes to cars and how all the internal components work. I know that a turbo has two turbines but i cannot say whether the blades are in the correct shape or not. I cannot argue over this with SA and say that they are correct. They will take me for a ride in such a case. How do i handle it, get the blown up turbo with others and get back to ***.
I believe that, going to service is like going to temple. Some would be very lucky. best example would be some fiat customers. and some wouldnt be lucky and an example would be people like harish who is fighting with skoda.
May be you are lucky. I think, you have a magic wand in your right hand.

[StarScream]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

We are not confusing the issue at all. If Renault chooses to overprice its car, its spare parts, under deliver in terms of quality, and basically hike prices in India, then there is an issue. The problem is treating the Duster like a premium offering where as all aspects of the car suggest it nothing more than an economy offering. As far as I know, across the Arabian Sea the Duster costs 40% less (of Indian ex showroom price mind it), and with an automatic gear box in the 4x2 option, 4x4 option available within the cheapest Indian 4x2 option ex showroom prices. That too when the car is manufactured in Chennai!!!

AH-64 (shorter than the long form and refers to the same thing ), whether Renault has overpriced the car, whether its value for money, whether it offers comparable quality to other cars in the same price range - are all valid but separate questions.

My limited point is that in the milieu of 10-lakh cars, the spares don't seem to be priced that high.

Incidentally, I also think the car is overpriced for what it offers and I don't like the fact that the version offered here is stripped of features such as ESP (which the UK version, made in Chennai, has.) But then the market has a way of teaching companies a lesson and making them change strategy - just look at Honda.

[woodcrawler]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

My counter question will be whether the Duster parts have City like quality? From numerous threads, I make out that quality of parts in city is a big positive. At the same time, atleat 70-80% people feel duster has low quality plastics for the segment it is placed in!

To me, Renault is a company or Duster as a product is something which someone should stay away from. I feel they are as unethical as a company can get.

Reasons:

1. Discontinuing low margin base variants without proper intimations to the public or booked customers.
2. Not delivering petrol variants at all
3. Producing more high end varriants and forcing customers to choose a higher variant than booked.
4. The price hike of 5% when rest of the manufacturers raised 2% at the max (citing higher raw material prices) - case of making hay while sun shines!
5. Unreasonable spare costs.

It's appaling that inspite of charging a premium with price & spares, they fail to provide premium pre-sales, customer care or product experience!

I'm not sure why we are nitpicking here. Renault is a relatively new entrant into the Indian market (if you exclude the Logan fiasco). I'm sure they will improve over the next few months or years. I'm sure no company can set up a networks of 200 dealers & service center's over night.

I'm a doctor by profession and own a 5 year old Chevrolet Optra Royale and a 3 year old Fiat Punto Emotion pack that I use for my daily office & home use. I went for the Duster because I found that my other cars couldn't take me to certain places I wanted to go to, because of the ground clearance issue. The Mahindra Thar was an option that I considered but gave up after the Duster was announced. The reason. Duster is a better family car than the Thar in terms of comfort (for older members of my family) and security (hard top).

I DO NOT compare it with other cars I own because they are different as chalk & cheese. The so called 'defects' of the Duster crop up only when they are compared to other vehicles in the price range or to other SUV's. I think that the Duster is a unique product with a niche of it's own, at least till the Ford Ecosport is launched.

I took it for a drive through Anamudi Shola National Park where, in the seven kilometer stretch within the park, there is only a rough cobbled jungle track. To it's credit, the Duster came out with flying colours. THe Dacia Duster is a rugged outdoor car and that what was what I wanted from the Renault Duster too & it proved itself where it had to. The wheels did spin in two places where there were gravel but that I'll admit, is because a novice was at the wheels.


I'm sure the suspension is better than the sedan & hatchback I own because three senior citizens on the back row had no complaints whatsoever . I'm not worried about the plastics in the Duster because it is better than what is available on the Thar anyway!!

I'll post a detailed report in the "Initial Ownnership" section of forums shortly.

Originally Posted by gemi_kk

I went to dealer regarding when they could deliver my car, for which the reply was. Renault is not manufacturing RXE's You may expect the car by next year April/June. could some one help me with this waiting period?

Hi all, i havent got any response for one of my earlier query. Could someone help me with the highlighted question.

[suchit23]

Originally Posted by StarScream

Also let's not compare apples with oranges - Duster's global positioning with Honda's Indian positioning. The City is a car that Honda doesn't sell in any developed market. It was their cheapest car prior to the Brio (Jazz costs more in developed markets with a 1.5l and CVT than the City in India).

Cant agree more. Another prominent example, the Civic is merely an entry level sedan in developed countries and it used to command a premium in India and people used to buy it until petrol became costlier than gold.

Not related: latest update on the Duster BT issue. The chief technician at Bangalore informed me that Renault engineers came up with a firmware patch 2 days back which resolved 70% of the problem. They are working on "patch to the patch" as we speak which will be available in 2 weeks time.