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-   -   Car Transport Scam! Customer vehicle being used as an Intercity Taxi (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/278956-car-transport-scam-customer-vehicle-being-used-intercity-taxi-4.html)

I got my car transported from Noida to Pune last year so I can try answering your questions. Transporters do not even care about ensuring the same fuel level, rather they asked me to keep at least 25 litres of petrol as the car would be driven from Noida to Gurgaon where it would be loaded onto a truck (they shared pics of car being loaded onto the trailer) and once it reaches their warehouse on the outskirts of Pune, it would again need to be driven to the delivery address. Obviously I received the car with almost 90 kms added to the odo and almost dry fuel tank.

Any legit transporter would not take your car unless you pay for the insurance. This is not the car insurance but an additional insurance for transportation, although any damages may already be covered in the insurance we already have an additional insurance is a must from the transporter’s point of view. They said that if something happens to the car during transportation, you will file a claim with your insurance but the insurance company will sue the transporter for money. Insurance is usually 2% of the vehicle IDV.

Fortunately, no accident happened when the transporter drove my car for 90 odd kms so can’t comment on that. However, they got my car really dirty. Driver side window was kept half open as the keys were always in the cars and this allowed a lot of dust to accumulate and there some noise from the suspension as well. When I took delivery of the car outside of the apartments, I did not bother going back home seeing the car so dirty, took it directly to a fuelling station got a full tank, from there to a car washing place and got it deep cleaned and while waiting scheduled a service with BU Bhandari and got the suspension checked. There was some rubber mounting/bushes which were damaged and it was promptly replaced.

Note that transporter promised to deliver the car within a week but took more than 15 days. I made a lot of calls to him, to driver and also to the third party vendor he used as car transporter. For a few days, I actually thought I may not see the car again and was wondering if I don’t then what could I do?

My baby was only about an year old that time so couldn’t drive but never transporting car again. Always going to drive. Also, if you include insurance then driving your car will be much cheaper than getting it transported.

Flabbergasts me that people on a car forum would let shady entities even touch the interiors of their car, let alone drive them. Legit reasons to not drive the car yourself are understandable but ALWAYS choose to drive your own car, although inter-city driving could be daunting for most used to city driving.

I am really lucky that I didn’t use any transport services for my cars. In 2017 i had to transport my car from chandigarh to varanasi, enquired few movers but was very skeptical about genuine service. I hired a driver and transported my car over 24 hours, it worked out faster and cheaper also. In 2020 transported same car from Varanasi to Bengaluru by same way, no harm done to the car. Just we have to make sure that driver is good and loyal.

I had a similar experience, though not as bad

Shocking to see the tyres swap.

Adding my solitary experience of transporting a car cross country - this was in mid-2018. While I was wary of the risks involved with transporting the car, I had no choice as I had to move to a new job with no time at hand. However, I was going to receive the car in GJ and had enough folks there to rectify any issues - mechanical, electrical or body related, should they arise as a result of bad handling. The following was done

1. Car was taken to the transporters' yard around the Hyundai factory in Sriprerumbudur, handed over to the transporter who filled in a checklist similar to the one at a service center. They also checked the jack and tool kit and noted that all down
2. Car was then out of our sight with just one or two updates on the whereabouts until delivery at my doorstep on the night of Day 9

The condition of the car at delivery

1. Handed over at a little less than 1/2 tank, almost zero fuel at delivery- I've never ever kept the fuel so low, and even after filling 3 grand of fuel at the then 67 bucks a liter, there was room for much more
2. Engine was making a strange noise, which wasn't noticed after the fill up
3. Car was laden with fine dust on the outside
4. Stereo had gone to the demo mode screen meaning the battery was used to jumpstart some other car
5. Odo showed about 60 odd km usage from the time it was handed over at Sripreumbudur to when i received the car in GJ. This means the car was offloaded at Mumbai outer, driven, and reloaded in another car carrier to GJ. Distance from Golden Chowkdi to where I received the car must have been about 5km.
6. No body damage at all, no electrical issues, no pilfering of stuff

That is why when it was time to transport the car back down south, I drove the distance.

Car at delivery - the Azure Grey pearl shade masks dust very well and therefore the car doesn't look as dusty as actually was


Car next morning after a good wash

I had the experience of transporting my household goods three times. Mumbai to Cochin, Cochin to Chennai and Chennai to Mumbai. I was allways afraid of this scam and rather any damage that may happen during transportation. Moreover I also don't like any one else using my vehicle( even at dealership I allways ensure they use my vehilcle in a smooth way, not in a rash way).

Hence all the three times I drove all along with my family for which my employer reimbursed me.

I had this fundamental question when transporting cars through a flatbed/ truck.
What happens to the toll? While the truck passes the toll counters, will the car's fastag also be deducted, since it is RFID based and automatically charged on passing?

As far as I know, toll agents can halt the deduction from the car's FASTag if the truck driver informs them that he is towing a car. A few months ago, when I was on the highway, a police officer asked me to drop off at a different place to assist, and I agreed. While crossing the toll, he instructed me not to pay, showing his ID card as authorization for a free passage. I mentioned that nowadays it's through FASTag, so even if he shows his ID, it might still be automatically debited once we cross. However, he persisted, showing the ID, and they allowed us to pass without any charge. This happened at around five toll gates on the highway. Therefore, it's possible for toll agents to halt the deduction if the truck driver informs them that he is towing a car on the same truck, eliminating the need for debiting. Alternatively, we can also ensure that the FASTag balance is kept low, possibly at zero.

This is just a retrospective post on this thread.

Having read through the downright atrocious and agonising experiences of people on the TeamBHP community (and outside), an unsettling reality that emerges is the complete disintegration of ethics and values for (most) Indian businessmen and their being unwilling/incapable of running the business on the straight and narrow. (Not trying to oversimplify and/or generalise but isn’t this the ugly truth in every walk of our daily lives?).

Now one can blame the ‘system’ all they want that’s led to perpetuating corruption at all levels (incl. how people do business), however, individual businesses cannot be allowed to defraud and cheat clients/customers for a contract signed on mutual terms. One can argue that the costs of services may go up, and that’s okay to bear for fair trade practices, than having to live with a constant worry of getting scr**d over for paid services from providers.

As an Indian (proud no more), it really pains me no end as to how much dishonesty, malice and apathy has been ingrained in our society, and mostly having to live through everyday without faster remedies and/or recourse (and yes, our lame /archaic consumer protection combined with ineffective legislative/judicial systems, notwithstanding) even for routine events/activities. People get away with such malpractices due to a lack of fear of consequences/repercussions.

Is it really that hard to run an honest business and is there no longer any hope for our communities and society at large to get better? Why can’t we do good by people (mend the broken moral compass)?
😡

I hope the Army official got his car back !! Though he wouldn't have received it in best of the shape.:unhappy

This thread reminds me of two articles, which I read long ago. In both the cases, brand new car was missing while being transported to other cities.

1. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/93960236.cms

2.https://bangaloremirror-indiatimes-c...2F76081752.cms

Isn't it possible to use Indian railways to transport our car. I've personally availed Indian railways parcel services for 2 wheelers multiple times, the vehicles had damage but they couldn't have driven them anywhere. For a car, wouldn't the parcel service make more sense?

I know that if you put your palm behind the tag, it doesn’t get read.

We had this experience on one of the trips.

If you have a VAG (Volkswagen, Skoda ,Audi) car and needs to be transported, you can get transport mode enabled.
This will restrict car from going above ~10 Km/h and accessories like stereo will be blocked.

You can get it enabled by aftermarket coding shops. Else, do it by yourself if you have VCDS or OBDEleven.

We will be heading to Goa from Kolkata in a few days. My wife is in army and we will be shifting to Goa. I am trying to convince her for driving all the way to Goa but she is adamant to send the car through transport only.
Actually, our baby is too small and it will be too problematic for him. Reading this entire forum I am now in dilemma, whether to send the car through transport or drive it all the way to Goa from Kolkata.
The transporter told us the same old story, that the car will take a week to reach Goa. We need to leave petrol equivalent to 80 km. The car will be picked from our place and then send to a garage. Will be sent by flatbed to Pune and then from Pune it will be driven by a driver to Goa. We need to keep enough money in the fastag account.
Now I am in a confused state. Whether to go with the transporter or drive the car myself.

You can always request your wife to travel by plane with the kid. In that case you can start a few days earlier, drive all the way down with a few stops in between to reach Goa by the time your family will be arriving at the airport.

This would be the deciding factor for me. No way I would let some unknown person drive my car between cities.

Yep, this is what I would do too. Send the family by flight. Then Day 1: Kolkata to Visakhapatnam. Day 2: Visakhapatnam to Hyderabad. Day 3: Hyderabad to your destination city in Goa.

Get a friend to accompany you, split the driving and it will be a breeze.