[Revmatch99]

Originally Posted by jeepster

Q- Why does a Chennai based businessman needs PY registered car?

You pay ridiculous amount of road tax in some states just to drive your cars on some of the most terrible pothole filled roads on earth. Makes sense to register your cars in Pondicherry if you have a property there.

[sanyog26]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

If these cars are legally registered in Pondicherry, then why not use them to save money. Not sure how you deduce it to be black money.

Having stayed for a little over a year in T. Nagar, Chennai during August 2017 till October 2018, this 3666 garage was a common sight for me since the owner stayed nearby in Nungambakkam and every weekend while I was on my morning jog, I used to see one of these exotic 3666 garage members zipping me past early morning with the bull-bar ladden Ford Endeavour trailing it.

[one-77]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

If these cars are legally registered in Pondicherry, then why not use them to save money.

Going by that logic, parking funds in tax havens via shell companies must also be a way of “saving money” if the tax haven’s rules permit it right?

[ecenandu]

Originally Posted by one-77

Going by that logic, parking funds in tax havens via shell companies must also be a way of “saving money” if the tax haven’s rules permit it, right?

LOL. Shell companies, the name imply what it is. Let us leave the slippery slope argument here itself; we are going off-topic.

[sanyog26]

Originally Posted by technicalytuned

If this is true, then after reading this thread on Team-BHP the owner might have started selling his car. Since too much attention can be risky sometimes.

Haha.. Well, the owner is too flashy and Tamilians in general don't flaunt their wealth. I have seen many affluent Tamilians during my 14 months stay in Chennai but this guy was an exception.
Unlike in North-India where Toyota Fortuner is common and considered a status symbol, Chennai has scores of Land Cruisers/Prados and the gentlemen travelling in those full-sized Toyota SUVs are simply dressed, visit normal restuarants and shop from road-side too. No air of their wealth at all.

I'm sure Chennai must be having more LCs/Prados than Fortuners in Delhi.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by sanyog26

Haha.. Well, the owner is too flashy and Tamilians in general don't flaunt their wealth.

Very true.

I have personally seen some very wealthy (not just rich) businessmen from tier 2 areas like Karur/Namakkal/Erode who use nothing more than an innova crysta.

In comparison, Chennai residents do strike as flashy to us.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by sanyog26

Unlike in North-India….
I'm sure Chennai must be having more LCs/Prados than Fortuners in Delhi.

OT: No, I don’t think so. Just the present CM and the his predecessor from Punjab will have a fleet of over 50 of LC200, officially and personal. In Delhi too, there was a time when LC were a in thing. Not any longer. Presently, you can find largest number of G wagons and perhaps Urus in Delhi- NCR.

On the subject, I think the law is clear, you need to get registered where you live for over an Year. If you do have a genuine office/ home in other states, it should be ok. I have seen many cars in NCR registered in Himachal due to lower taxes.

Regarding inhuman working conditions, it’s very bad thing. Sometimes I wonder, how people can actually do this to another human being especially who is serving you. Karma catches most, I guess.

[Lambydude]

No one has mentioned the owner's name. Is he Lord Voldemort? The one who shall not be named.

[RaghavEvoX]

Originally Posted by Lambydude

No one has mentioned the owner's name. Is he Lord Voldemort? The one who shall not be named.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saravana_Stores

He is the owner of this chain.

[zehhatter]

Originally Posted by Lambydude

No one has mentioned the owner's name. Is he Lord Voldemort? The one who shall not be named.

He looks plastic though, there were threads on him on reddit about his narcissistic personality and the number of times he has been under the knife, he is producing and acting in an action movie bankrolled by his money, he is been an active part of his store's commercials which you can find on YouTube.

[rubicon]

A much needed and deserving thread. The garage is simply awesome. For everyone outside Chennai/Tamilnadu, some background about this business house.

• Brothers who came from a village to Chennai, sold utensils in a bicycle.
• Around 1970's - 80's, started the first store in T.Nagar (one of the prime retail business hub) and the rest is history.
• Low cost was their mantra and even today, the customer gets a sense of value for their money irrespective of what they buy (from safety pin - grocery - veggies - clothing - home furnishing - foot wear - mobiles - home appliances - furniture - sporting goods - jewellery - food court, ... and I have missed a lot of categories).
• Everyone is a customer - street vendors, middle class and then the car parking is full too.
• A fire accident at one of their stores brought in a lot of issues.
• Donates a lott to the chief minister relief fund during natural calamities and covid.
• Had a lot of run-ins with the Income Tax Dept and their stores used to be closed for multiple days due to raids.
• In the last few years, the owner used to act in the TV ads for his stores with multiple leading heroines (the top ones) which caused a meme fest.
• Hence he decided to go on and try his luck as a hero/producer in a mega budget tamil movie that is in the works.

Originally Posted by sanyog26

since the owner stayed nearby in Nungambakkam and every weekend while I was on my morning jog, I used to see one of these exotic 3666 garage members

Not just Nungambakkam, the owner has multiple bungalow's including few in T.Nagar and the cars are spread out.

The family tree is a little tough to decipher and hence difficult to pin-point who owns which of these.

Almost every car is white (Urus, XC90, Countryman, i8 etc).

One of the pics in the OP shows an S-class right across the store with the owner on the hoarding

[autotranny]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

OT: No, I don’t think so. Just the present CM and the his predecessor from Punjab will have a fleet of over 50 of LC200, officially and personal. In Delhi too, there was a time when LC were a in thing. Not any longer. Presently, you can find largest number of G wagons and perhaps Urus in Delhi- NCR.

You are right. Delhi has a lot more flashy cars than any other city; but, i believe, the inference that the person was trying to make is that Chennai has lot more wealth that is difficult to gauge since they are not flashy. There might be few LCs and Prados tucked away in this city that wont make it to any headlines or page 3s.

Further like someone else mentioned, Chennai has become more cosmopolitan in the last decade and with it comes more flashiness. The rest of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh will still have multi millionaires who will still be using an Innova as their primary luxury vehicle.

[clementw]

Thanks for sharing. Was curious about the owner till I saw the details in the thread. The extended family seems to have run into financial troubles and some properties were auctioned by the bank. From the looks of the garage at least this branch is doing well. The big question is how do they decide which car to take on a particular day? And considering that on an average cars spend a large part of their life times being parked, some may never be used at all

[Seahawk]

There's also a sister 3777 garage that has some exotics, most notably the new generation 911 turboS with the aero kit in white (obviously) and the BMW i8. The exotics from this garage here are almost always accompanied by a white Urus. A massive upgrade from the Endeavor .

[Crazy_Bean]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

There's also a sister 3777 garage ]

I see the very limited Mini JCW GP inspired in the background. Very rare, very beautiful.