[Blow Horn Ok]

If someone does not feel confident enough, One must ask for a driver from the showroom to get the car delivered at home safely. I have seen many people doing this.

Have taken two car deliveries for ourselves since 2010 and in both cases, tha ramp from the showroom ended up in a busy street. Also, traffic in my city is much thinner (which I am used to) but the showrooms were in Dhanbad and Ranchi respectively which have notorious and dense traffic. Taking a new car out in that situation was truly a difficult task atleast for initial few minutes when you are not familiar either with the car or the roads and I felt every two wheeler was trying to deliberately scratch my new car

Also, in both cases it took a while for me to understand the high and low beam controls while returning and my uncle yelliing at me for not asking for someone in the showroom. In the showroom I felt overconfident and overlooked the demo part. I feel one must ask for a demo of basic controls and tyre changing procedure etc.

[roy_libran]

Perhaps better that these cars crashed during delivery at the dealership yard, than ran over that child crossing the road a few meters ahead!

[Nav-i-gator]

Reminds me of the day i was taking the delivery of my new car - 5th Gen City CVT 2 months back. I am not a newbie, have been driving for about 10 years. But this was a relatively new experience with Automatic. Plus I was very very conscious about ground clearance.

The showroom has a steep ramp down to the road. I am unfamiliar with the car, the seating position is low, Downward slopes are harder to judge than upward ones.

The showroom guys had to wait like 10 minutes to see me off! I drove down so slowly

[avira_tk]

A problem with most showrooms is that the delivery area is in an odd place, mostly an L shaped exit. The new owners in most cases are quite nervous, or there is the issue of muscle memory, throttle input in a small engine hatch/2 wheeler is quite different from a reasonably powerful car. I have to be careful when taking delivery of my new automatic (whenever Kia delivers), I've ten years driving experience with my Punto, but a diesel manual behaves very differently, automatics are on/off, the problem with a manual is get it going, for an automatic it's getting it to stop.

Experience doesn't count for much here, muscle memory trumps your knowledge and you have to be careful. I managed to stamp the non existent clutch pedal really hard, when I stopped the automatic test drive car to prevent stalling. Experienced sales staff would know if a customer can handle the delivery, usually they will stop the celebrations/crowding before the car is ready to go and place it where its easier to get on the road.

[Raghu M]

Great thread. When I was taking the delivery of my car, I looked at how they had parked the car, I could pull it out but did not do it. I knew the glass walls and windows were too fragile and one wrong move and there could be considerable damage. I politely asked the SA to bring the car out to the delivery space.

A little off topic but I was wondering if we invoiced the car and the paper work is done and then the SA or someone from the showroom crash our new car, who would be responsible for it? I know the insurance would have been done by then but what is the best way to deal with it? There will be footage of the incident but will the showroom take responsibility and fix the damages?

[VKumar]

Originally Posted by Raghu M

I knew the glass walls and windows were too fragile and one wrong move and there could be considerable damage. I politely asked the SA to bring the car out to the delivery space.

Sailing in the same boat here. I have never driven my car out of dealership delivery area myself. If the key handover is done inside the premises, like a few dealers have the glass surrounded delivery area in the corner, I simply get the picture clicked, and then happily ask the sales guy to get someone to drive my car out of the congested area.

Two reasons:

• I may damage my car
• I may damage their property

It's a new vehicle, and it takes a kilometer or two, to properly get your brain rewired to the dimensions of the car. Most of the dealers have a congested delivery area, so I play safe in their premises!

[slicvic]

I'm guilty of doing something similar on 2 wheels when I was 18

Had learnt how to ride on a 2 stroke Yamaha, or least I thought I had learnt how to

Booked a 4 stroke Hero Honda Splendor, took delivery - somebody else drove the bike from the showroom for 2 Kms, after which we switched and I sat in front

Little did I know that the throttle clutch dynamics of each vehicle is different. Popped a wheelie and fell down. Not much damage to the bike though. Major damage to my ego.

[gkveda]

The root cause for these incidents is, after getting DL Card in their hands, people start thinking that they have become masters in driving.

Believe me, driving is not science where one can get trained and by logic, can become master. It is an art. Hence, it requires a lot of practice and any amount of practice can not make you MASTER.

If we have this in mind while driving, our focus won't reduce and hence we would drive voluntarily.(by involving brain fully and not driving with just practice)

When we drive involuntarily(without involving brain, only through practice), chances of accidents are very high as compared to driving by involving brain attentively.

[asingh1977]

Originally Posted by laluks

When I took the delivery of my Civic some 15 years ago, I asked the dealership to get the car out of their premises to the road. Reason being, My Civic was parked inside the showroom display area, with many new cars stacked around, moreover I felt the exit via the glass door was too narrow for my comfort. They understood and obliged. Why take a chance ?

Yes, that is what makes sense. When I took my Creta (DeeEmm Vatika, Gurgaon) the car was inside the showroom. And had to be taken out from a narrow door. I asked the handing over agent to do so. And once, out on the service road, took over. Prior to this I had only driven an i20, and was not sure of the scale change for a Creta. Once out on the road, I took it easy with low gears to get a feel and adjust to the new metal! Specially tested the brake bite, and how much the car "turns", when the steering is changed. Luckily, when parking at home (basement), I had ample space, so practiced 3-4 times just to be sure.

It is not even about ruining a car, it is more about causing an accident or literally taking a life. Cars are dangerous tools if not used properly.

[ariesonu]

Been there, but didn't do it.

In April 2005, we were taking delivery of M800 in Chandigarh, but just before that I had spent about 5 odd years in Antwerp & U.S.

As I sat in driver seat of M800 & turned on ignition, I developed cold feet & realised two things immediately; It was right hand drive car & way smaller & frugal against the cars I had driven in U.S.

Now we had two choices, either ask the friendly showroom staff to drive us home or chose to take quick driving lesson & drive home myself. I chose second one & we did about 8-10 rounds of industrial area where the showroom was located and then drove home. The traffic in 2005 was way better than it is today in Chandigarh & we reached home safe & sound.

I spent next one week reclaiming my driving skills in afternoons.

Rgds.

[HappyWheels]

I was the spare driver who helped my friend drive his newly purchased Maruti 800 from the showroom to his house. For some reason I was not worried about it being both a new car (also the first 4 wheel purchase in their family) and my driving experience being no where near that of what I should be allowed to drive any car! Fortunately, we made it home safe.


With regard to getting someone experienced to drive the vehicle, do make sure the person knows how to drive the vehicle. With the recent introduction of vehicles that are different from the usual gear-clutch combo, you need to make sure you have the person with the right skill.

Case in point - bought a Celerio AMT. Neither me, nor brother were in town to take delivery and wife was not confident. So, took help from our regular taxi driver, an old gentleman who has been driving all his life; he ended up lugging the gear due to his lack of experience in driving an AMT and causing it to overheat. Fortunately this happened within 2kms from showroom, so they went back to the showroom and requested a SA to drive the vehicle home.

[clevermax]

Some of the accidents shared in this thread happened because people drove an AT for the first time. I still remember my wife driving the AT for the first time, she mistook the A pedal for the brake just for a split second and we almost hit a wall. Luckily she corrected herself soon enough and there was no accident.

I am clueless as to what went through their brains' driving command center - that made them press the A pedal for braking!

[R2D2]

Interesting thread and some sensible advice here for new or inexperienced drivers. A childhood friend bought her first car, a Zen back in end 1999 some months after my brother bought his very own "jelly bean". She didn't trust herself to bring it back from Sai Service on Pune's overcrowded roads and told me to help her out. It was the sensible thing to do and I was happy to oblige. MT or AT if you're a noob get someone with more driving experience to bring your car from the dealership. It'll cause you less angst.

On another note, friend buys a new Premier Padmini bucket seat version called a Deluxe BU (remember them?) back in Jan 1986. We were relatively inexperienced drivers those days, still in college and in an era where cars were not common like they are today. Buying a car was a pretty big deal. Anyways, the poor bloke brought it back home scratch free but scraped it when parking in their stilt parking. He is/was a good driver but could not exercise proper judgement. So off the car went to Ram Agency on Tilak Rd for a touch up. Oh well, live and learn. But nothing as horrific as the ones on this thread.

And yeah that caution about EVs is absolutely true, not only is there no engine sound but should you touch or God forbid floor that pedal the torque in those drive motors will launch that vehicle before you can react. Best to have an experienced driver do the needful.

[Akshay6988]

Interestingly I asked my SA to drive my creta home after delivery. Me being a noob, and with long bonnet, wide proportions of creta didn't really inspire confidence in me. I didn't feel any shame, rather I was happily sitting in the passenger seat clicking selfies Even after getting her home I didn't take her in city traffic for a month, afraid of crashing. I drove usually on less crowded roads, practiced well and got used to the car's proportions.
I would urge all new drivers to do this as you would rather have another person drive your new car home safely, than crashing it on the very first day of buying !

[CEF_Beasts]

Remember the Russian Vlogger who had burnt his Mercedes-Benz AMG GT 63 S

https://youtu.be/AN3QR7uaeD8

This is him this time crashing a Porsche Taycan at a dealership!

https://youtu.be/UMBbxllXySo