Part - 3
Transporting a car by a truck from Gurgaon to Bangalore
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(This is the 3rd part of the posting and continues to the following two articles)
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...-gurugram.html (My travails and tribulations of buying a used Tata Hexa at Gurugram) https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...ml#post5797600 (Whats the Best way to transport a car or bike?)
(I request this article to be posted under the above url. Thanks)
Communication is key. One has to communicate clearly to avoid misunderstandings that may cause hurt, anger, resentment or confusion. Keeping the lines of communication open is very important. If one is not transparent in his dealings, he’ll not communicate diligently. In the service industry, open communication is the spine that holds up the customer and they’ll be loyal. Any hint of a delay or issues, the transporter needs to proactively inform the customer about what's happening and how it’s going to be sorted out. In short, the customer knows very well that the truckers are tackling the vagaries and bumps in the roads head-on; keeping the customer in the loop ensures heartaches and heartburns are avoided. If we assume that the trip from Gurgaon to Bangalore will be smooth and fast, then we’re living in a utopian world. The way things are with the transporter, for sure, it’s next to impossible.
Every human being makes a mistake now and then, I made a few, such as buying the Hexa from SD. The trucks are going to be forever driven by human beings, It doesn’t seems to be reality that we will get something like Auroro driverless trucks in India too, and humans are prone for errors and mistakes do happen and more over the logistics, the lumpers and the drivers are managed by unprofessional individuals. So the inhumane managers, human errors of drivers and lumpers always add up to the already existing and inherent delays. The communication lines either go dead or calls remain unanswered. These guys aren’t even available on Whatsapp. We obviously know the pesky external factors that can throw a wrench and time-delays are inevitable but what bothers and hurts is the fact that the customer is completely kept in the dark.
On 17th Aug, I handed over the vehicle to BCT, with a strong certitude that by the same day evening I’ll be receiving an update that my vehicle had been loaded and the onward journey to Bangalore had begun. I felt a sense of relief and liberation. Belief is often the death of reasoning. As the evening dawned, the incoming call’s ringtone was never as mellifluous as it was on that evening, though the ringtone had been the same over the years! However, all the calls were either from someone else or spam calls. I, almost obsessively, continued checking my phone, hoping for a WA message from BCT. But no such luck. The next day I left for Bangalore and was hopeful that by the time I switched on the phone, I’d see a plethora of messages informing me the shipping status of my car. On the contrary, I had only messages for renewing membership or subscription from Bajaj Finance and Disney Hotstar and yes, another two cute messages, one from Airfreight informing me that my courier has been impounded by the Customs and that I have to pay fine and penalties, and the other one informing that I had won 1Cr lottery and that I have to share my bank details. Poor fellows, they don’t know that they’ve reached a guy whose luck has run out years ago.
All sorts of doubts started creeping in, what if BCT has engaged a driver to drive the car all the way to Bangalore or if the car is still lying at a truck yard, unattended and dumped along with a few other cars or if the car is being used for some errands at Gurgaon, any which way, being as helpless as a beached whale, I also had this weird feeling that they are having a whale of time with my car, parked at the yard, seated in captain seats, sipping country liquor and listening to songs from the highly impressive JBL system – the listener’s joy and the owners envy. Being a hypertension patient, I was futilely trying to look and think no further than my old Safari Dicor’s headlights can see during the night driving. With a mind full of bad thoughts, trying to remain positive and take the events as they unfurl, and also trying at the same time to calm down, by silently chanting “Sohum” whilst remembering the soothing voice of venerable Sri Sri Ravishankar, kept messaging BCT for an update. Only dates changed with no updates.
Finally, after three days, BCT called me and informed that the car has been loaded in a closed container truck and the onward journey had started and that I can expect the car in about 3 to 5 day’s time. He apologized the delay and assured me that I’ll henceforth be updated periodically. After this update, quite irritatingly, there was a 5-day break in communication. Those five days were longest days in my life, remember reading in my schooling that the summer solstice day, 21st Jun, is the longest day in a year, but I had five long days in Aug’23! The author Dan Brown had written in one of his books -“There’s a lot of stress… but once you get in the car, all that goes out the window.” I was hoping for the same and that I will do this very soon. But this seemed a far cry. I just wanted an update that the truck is safe and is moving, as long as it is safe and moving, it doesn’t matter how slow it’s moving.
Early morning of 25th Aug, BCT seems a morning-only guy, I got an update that the trailer truck had stalled due to a technical fault near Jhansi and that it appeared to be some kind of an electrical fault as complete electrical are shut-off. He also informed that the truck being a new one is in the warranty period, and that they cannot get it repaired from any roadside garage and that only Tata’s authorized service centre’s deputed personnel can attend for carrying out the repair works, else the warranty will become void. The guy gave a laundry list of excuses as to why another truck could not be sent to replace the defective one and even if he managed to send a help-truck, the container door, being an electrically operable door, couldn’t be opened. The shared pics are attached here. After listening to his lame excuses, I finally realized that all his initial assurances and talks over the phone were all hat and no cattle talks.
If the truck breakdown is true, I was wondering at the wonder as to how a transmission-failed-car did a direct transmission of a fault, albeit of a different kind, to its carrier! Tata breeds Tata! My exact feeling about myself at that point in time was that what an airhead I am for trusting these unprofessional guys and for committing mistake after mistake and only hoping that this wouldn’t cascade to something worse. Initially when I handed over the car, even though the BCT guy told me it would take about 7 days time, I expected it would take about another 3 days more, provisioning and factoring some unforeseen delays due to traffic conditions, or weather and driver’s side-hustles. Coming to the point, those five summer solstice days, I started reading daily horoscope and followed few advices given, viz., wearing the lucky coloured shirt, asking updates only during gulikaal and amritkaal hours.
Finally on 9th day of handing over the vehicle, I got an update that the truck has reached Nagpur city outskirts and is about 25 kms away from the city, without mentioning about when it started from Jhansi. However, he added that the some other technical snag recurred and that again the driver is waiting for Tata guys to attend.
While apologizing for the delay and for not updating in a timely manner, the BCT guy was quick to alert me on an obscure fact that Tata service centre was overloaded and that many trucks are lined up and were waiting for their turn for repairs / service and that his truck was in the queue. When asked “apka number kab ayega”, he just said don’t know. While I knew that he was just telling a big bluff story, I just cringed as to what I did and why I had given to these guys. It’s been a rollercoaster days, unpredictable and stressful. I became increasingly suspicious as to what these guys were up to. Was the car really in transit or was it still lying at Gurgaon. No photographs were shared, except that of a closed container lying beside a highway that did not show the truck’s registration number. He was careful in not showing the truck number in the first photograph in which the car was in a container.
The farce continued for five more days. And by then I got used to this rigmarole. I almost forgot that I bought a Hexa at Gurgaon and I feel kind of resigned to the fact that it was useless to protest because nothing would change as these guys are per se faulty, fallible, and unreliable. There are some things that are so unforgivable that they make other things easily forgivable, with this predicament, I am willing to listen all the silly excuses that were been given to me, with a fervent hope that the car is safe and that I would someday finally see it in one piece with no scratches and dents. Trying to gain a sense of positivity, all I can do is pray and let the spirit of faith guide me towards peace and tranquility. I lost the count; I don’t even remember when I handed over the car to BCT.
After a few days, got a call from them informing that though the technical snag continued, the truck has reached Hyderabad where it will be attended by the Tata service guys on a priority. I started contemplating if I can go to Hyderabad which is just about 530 kms from Bangalore and take the delivery there and drive down to my place. However there is a big lurking risk of transmission failure and a few more unknown technical snags that may happen as the car was still an unknown entity to me. I stopped dwelling on this point anymore though the prospect of driving to Bangalore seemed an attractive proposition. In two minds, when I asked if I can take the delivery, he was kind enough that he will arrange for it at Hyderabad. However, I was still in two minds, whether to drive or continue the snag hit car to travel in the snag-ridden truck till its final destination, which is Bangalore. Driving in this car to Bangalore would be a non sequitur fallacy and is fraught with a definite risk of breakdown in the middle of nowhere.
Though my 19 year old son was excited at the prospect of driving the Hexa to Bangalore, a better sense prevailed in both of us as our thinking became a null hypothesis by a rational analysis done by my wife on the pro and cons of driving the Hexa. And therefore, by default, we decided not to drive and the agonizing wait continued yet again. Hope is the thing with feathers, someone said this, don’t know who. Maintaining my rollercoaster emotions intact, I understood it is of no avail making calls repeatedly for updates and it would be only a beating a dead horse. Taking a break from my wild mash up of sensory impressions, I sought solace by interacting more with toddlers at my wife’s preschool and meeting a close friend, Mr Gururaj, multiple times, who happens to reside nearby and having more filter coffees at “The Rameswaram Café”. Trust me, having a good filter coffee with a friend heals a lot and does wonders to you. The caffeine enriched coffees boosts anyone’s morale and this is a simple lovely life-hack.
Finally, in the late hours of the night on 11th Sep, I got an update from BCT that the truck had reached Bangalore and was parked at Dabaspet which is about 55 kms from Bangalore city. He, however, hastened to add that the truck had an OTL and the lock would be opened in the morning only and asked me to go after 11AM to collect the car, putting rest to my thoughts that I should rush to take the car at midnight itself. He also said symphony-like words that the car was absolutely safe and that his team had taken great care during the transit period. Notwithstanding the assurances given, that night was long and restless. I had been tossing and turning in my bed, unable to sleep and frequently got up either to have water or to go to the loo, and in the process, I ensured that my family members remained awake too. Thereupon, somehow I passed the morning time, got into green-line metro, and reached Nagasandra metro station, from where I took an auto to reach the yard.
In the meantime, whilst travelling by auto, I got a call from BCT, which I answered with much anxiousness as was thinking about what else I needed to hear and endure. However, mitigating my fear, he told me that I should allow another one hour’s time so that he arranges for a thorough car-wash. He sounded as if I had approved a full 25-day transit time. Anyways, I took the address of the car-washing place and googled it to locate it on Google Maps. I started the walk and soon my walk galloped into a speed-walk, then into a light jog as I sped to that place as if to catch an international flight. While jogging, a thought occurred to me that maybe out of remorse he arranged the car-wash for compensating the inordinate delay and also for getting a 5-star rating in his Google business page.
And finally and finally, much before reaching the location, as being shown by Google Maps, I saw a shining Urban-Bronze Hexa, after a gap of 25 days, parked on the service road of Bangalore-Pune highway. I virtually jumped off the auto after spotting the number plate, and identifying it as my car. Quite amusingly, for me, it wasn’t easy recognizing the car since I had seen it only a couple of times in the last one month's time! As informed, the car was washed, though the interiors had a small amount of red soil dust accumulation, especially on the dashboard, aircon vents and also on the seats. I slowly inspected the exteriors and as assured, the car had no additional scratches or any tell-tale marks. With a sense of relief and freedom that I cannot even explain, I just took the key from the car-washing guy and sat in the driver’s seat as if to start a meditation session.
Looking around, I fiddled with ICE, tried putting on the best FM station that would play fast songs, started the ignition and moved away onto the highway. I noticed the initial sluggishness due to faulty transmission, but once the RPM was nearing the 1,000 mark, turbo engine was pulling the car effortlessly and within no time, I was almost doing 90 km/h. I reached my place in about an hour’s time and the entire drive was smooth, pleasant and uneventful. What happened thereafter and how I started working doggedly, trying to find a solution that would be a permanent fix to the transmission problem and what other failures and ordeals I had faced will be written in detail in my next write-up in part-4.
Based on my multiple interactions with BCT guys, and also based on a few occasional Freudian slips, I can safely conclude that this is how a car-transport and logistics work:
My Key Takeaways
1. Between Delhi and Bangalore there are multiple collection, loading, unloading and consolidation points or yards.
2. One truck or the same truck does not take our car to the designated destination.
3. Our car will be loaded, unloaded, consolidated with other cars, and multiple layovers happen before reaching Bangalore.
4. Jhansi, Nagpur, Hyderabad are prominent cities where trucks are shuffled and permutations are worked out to reach various destinations in the south, west and east, with maximum possible cars in one truck. They must be more efficient than our Mumbai’s dabbawalas to do this at a much faster pace.
5. The drivers usually drive just about 350 kilometers a day at an average speed of 60 only.
6. The cheaper way isn’t a safest way to ship a car while safest way may not be expensive carrier.
7. Most of the guys we reach to are actually brokers and agents and not fleet owners.
8. Like cargo, cars too are consolidated for their onward movement.
9. It generally takes about not less than 5 days just to find a carrier truck.
10. The highest-paying loads first, and then comes the lower-paying loads; this is how the loaders are instructed.
11. Unless they have FTL, the trucks won’t begin the onward journey.
12. The cars are arranged akin to that good old Nokia phone’s Tetris game. Max number of vehicles in one truck.
13. Carriers want to make as much as they can per vehicle; the brokers are trying to find carriers at the lowest possible price, hence the obvious time delays. What is charged to us by the brokers isn’t invariably paid in full to the truckers.
14. The committed transit time is just a wild estimation.
15. Transport companies often deliver multiple vehicles in one trip to a multiple destinations which is a cause for delay.
16. Terminal-to-terminal shipping offers carriers an easier way to transport your vehicle. Delivering cars to a central location within a city will further delay the delivery.
17. We can no way speed up or slow down the shipping process once the car has been given away.
18. Sadly, none can ever guarantee a specific date of pick up or delivery. Any company that offers. I would advise you to run away from it.
19. The car transport industry heavily relies and operates through brokers, middle-men and transport carrier owners.
20. Lastly, there isn’t a single efficient and reliable car transporter in our country who’ll commit and adhere to the given timelines.
Dear BHPians, In my earnest to convey my feelings, experiences and heart-burns, I had no choice but to be verbose in all the stories. Brevity is a special talent which very few possess.
End of Part 3 of 4 in series
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4th November 2022, 14:11
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