[warrioraks]

Interesting thread. I will second to what SS-Traveller said - Cars24 has got a reputation which is nothing to be proud of.

I have come across both buyers and sellers who feel cheated by the way these guys operate. To the extent that in one case, the person got involved in a legal matter and had to appear in court just because Cars24 allowed someone else to use his car without doing the name transfer. This MRL facility might solve some of the issues within their supply chain, but the customer experience is what matters and they need to overhaul a lot of other stuff by tightening their processes. Hope someone on Cars24 executive team is listening.

[nik0502]

I bought a 2020 Ford Ecosport from Cars24 in February. As lot of bhpians have commented about the engine oil used I will tell you what I found and that in itself is a proof that all they are doing is fruitless. I gave my car for service at ford service centre for service. The service advisor informed me that the car had a Maruti brand oil filter. Also I had asked for a test drive of the car twice. The car was at a yard which was 65 KMs away from my place. When the car turned up at my doorstep it showed 0 Kms distance to empty and the fuel gauge was down to minimum. I questioned the SA and he said the car has enough fuel. The second time I called the car for test drive I took the car for inspection at Ford Service Center. Again there was no fuel in the car. Distance to empty showed 0. I kept requesting the guy to get the fuel but he kept telling me the car has enough fuel and 5 kms from home the car shut down due to no fuel. I had to call my wife with a can. I took the driver in my car to the petrol pump got the fuel dropped him back to the car and the only explanation service advisor had “ Sir the last pump we got the fuel from might have cheated us”. Also I was promised 2 keys by service advisor and later he completely refused saying there’s no second key.

[Dry Ice]

Was TBHP invited for this facility tour?

Some of the cars being repaired have extensive damage. Is Cars24 transparent about the work done on a particular car? I mean do they disclose to the potential customer that we have repainted boot, doors, roof etc?

[searacer932]

I don't have good opinion on Cars24 just like other BHPians. The org/franchises are a bit shady. This has been my experience in Chennai .

Their app/website might show a price and when you go to the actual site you will end up getting a different price.

In their Chennai branch one chap quoted a price without even looking at the car

[gatsby_great]

Like it has been mentioned by Dry Ice above, if these companies provide proper log of all the works done on the car and all the parts used, it would be really helpful. Without that transparency such holistic repair job raises even more suspicion. I have received several calls in past two years to enquire if I wish to sell my car and I believe these companies are in a hurry to expand their turnover to get good valuation. Seller could be at an advantage but not sure about the buyer.

[kingofmyworld]

So far, My experience with Cars24 has been pathetic. Tried selling my car to them on 2 occasions and they disappointed me both times. Be it their ways of test driving cars during evaluation where they deliberately drive your car unrealistically hard on bad roads to show that the car suspension has issues or the price they give you. plus the payment schedule they offer just shows how keen they are on squeezing every penny out of the customer. A difference of few thousands in the valuation between cars24 and their competitors is fine but a 60k difference is a LOT! Sold both the cars with at least 60k difference to their competitors. The price they show on their website and what they give you when you step in to their outlet is a joke. Try it sometime. Pay a casual visit to their store in your city and experience the hilarious act.

Going by their experience there, I have no hopes or expectations from this venture of theirs. They will be overpriced and the work will be subpar. This is the beginning of this venture and everything looks neat and shiny. Give it an year and see how its gonna be.

[jithin23]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Experiences of Team-BHP members selling their cars to Cars24 have been a lot less than optimal (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ars24-com.html (Experience: Selling my car to Cars24.com)), and of the 2 reports of members buying from Cars24 (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ar-cars24.html (Review: Buying a used car from Cars24) and https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ar-cars24.html (Review: Buying a used car from Cars24)), the experiences have not been excellent either.

I have recently been looking for a sub-2L INR car for someone, and the only vehicle that Cars24 has is a DL-reg 2009 A-Star at Rs.1.75L - which is a stupendous price to pay for a vehicle that would be de-registered in another 2 years. Even a 2009 Zen Estilo is priced at Rs.2.03L (with 44,6xx km on odo, which is unbelievable for a 13-year-old car).

Attachment 2298586

I don't understand what kind of value additions Cars24 is doing in its MRLs, but it's a price that I personally do not want to pay. If the difference between their buying and selling prices is to the tune of 75-100% (buying at Rs.1L and selling at Rs.2L, for example), and the faults and blemishes are glossed over using cheap after-market parts (or dealer finish in local parlance), it is not worth getting such a car at such a high price.

OTOH, these used car aggregators (Cars24, Spinny, TrueValue, Droom, OLX Autos, CarTrade, FirstChoice and others) have infiltrated the used car market so deeply that there is no direct seller to be found (at least in my city), and the chances of procuring a good used car, which has not been glossed over or clocked, seem to be pretty bleak. There's hardly any car on these aggregators' sites that seems to have run over 50-60k km.

I concur with your views and I've had a couple of experiences before I could get my EcoSport home.

With all these aggregators, they do not have the basic knowledge of variant distribution and market a base variant as top variant. Sadly, 95% of the prospective buyers are not aware of this and these folks are these these gullible people for a ride.

Example 1: In one of the aggregators websites, my friend had driven and shortlisted the S-cross diesel and he believed that the car had ESP but as far as I know, no Maruti till 2020 came with ESP!

When I confronted this with the aggregators, they replied in an arrogant tone that if you want to buy the car, buy sir else please leave. We can't change the feature or variant spread.

The same car was bought by my friend and the very next week , there were glow plug issues in the car and fortunately the aggregator sorted it out.

Example 2:

This picture says it all!


In which angle does this look like S TDCi?? The S variant can distinguished easily due to different visual elements like black roof rail+roof, black headlights and 17" or 16" grey alloys and the interior and safety pack has a significant difference. Ambient has no ESP, S has.

They need to check the brochure of the car years as Ford was very notorious for removing features almost every month!

When such situations arise, some people perceive that they have bought the top end, but that actually isn't.

Plus charging close to new car price for the work they do is outrageous. Heck, an RC transfer cost is in between 3-6k depending on the city you live in and Insurance transfer is about 1k, give or take, provided the owner has insured the vehicle prior.

The efforts they're putting in is fine but we'll need to do our due diligence before purchasing a used vehicle.

[satnan]

Thank you Omkar for the very detailed and informative thread. I am happy to see that efforts taken by Cars24 and IF it gives customers another option to buy reliable pre-owned cars, albeit at a slight premium.

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Experiences of Team-BHP members selling their cars to Cars24 have been a lot less than optimal (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ars24-com.html (Experience: Selling my car to Cars24.com)), and of the 2 reports of members buying from Cars24 (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ar-cars24.html (Review: Buying a used car from Cars24) and https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ar-cars24.html (Review: Buying a used car from Cars24)), the experiences have not been excellent either.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ar-cars24.html (Review: Buying a used car from Cars24) was in fact started by me and I actually had a pretty pleasant experience buying from Cars24. Couple of minor issues I reported were not deal breakers at all. The car is doing great and very happy with my purchase even today (3000+ kms done after my purchase)

[Omkar]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Was TBHP invited for this facility tour?

Some of the cars being repaired have extensive damage. Is Cars24 transparent about the work done on a particular car? I mean do they disclose to the potential customer that we have repainted boot, doors, roof etc?

Yes, prior permissions were taken for the visit.

Could you highlight which cars that you thought had extensive damage?

I don't think they disclose which panels were repainted. You will have to look for colour mismatch or feel the panels to see which were repainted (newly painted panels should feel smoother).

[chandrda]

I was looking for used car for last 4 months and checked quite a few cars from Spinny, Cars24 and other Dealers.

Most of the cars from Spinny/Cars24 were repainted extensively. The repaint work was not up to mark. Especially the inside areas of doors were rough and looked like paint had been just sprayed over.

None of them had engine or gearbox issues at-least while test drive.

I got really fed up with these and finally picked a Honda BRV from a know source who was willing to provide all the information without hesitation.

I really appreciate this from Cars24, but still request the buyers to exercise extreme caution while buying from these companies

On the side note - I think the Aam Junta is falling in love with this new concept of buying the car online, immediate availability, easy finance, fun fare delivery. Somehow people are over looking the product defects they are buying

Regards

[SnS_12]

This system looks good and reassuring to a layman potential customer, but like other members have pointed out are they treating/servicing each car as per factory spec/recommendations? When I was with a Toyota dealership in Mumbai back in 2006 they used to advertise asking customers to service vehicles at the dealership as Toyota back then never used to sell parts over the counter and third party garages would only use non OEM parts.

They not declaring to customers that a car is repainted is not a big deal as getting a car with no scratches on dent in the used market means it has been repainted. But major accident damages is something a customer should be made aware off, but I don't think such cars make it at this facility as the OP has mentioned. But, how does one justify the costs involved as margins on these smaller cheaper cars are not that huge in the used car market and especially that Hyundai Eon which was getting a full respray done, which would easily cost 10%+ of the resale value of the car?

[sleepyhead148]

Originally Posted by Omkar

Yes, prior permissions were taken for the visit.

Hey Omkar, the first header post should reflect this. Subpar and suboptimal experience with Cars24 on just this forum exist so would appreciate if that's reflected.

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by Omkar

Yes, prior permissions were taken for the visit.

Could you highlight which cars that you thought had extensive damage?

I don't think they disclose which panels were repainted. You will have to look for colour mismatch or feel the panels to see which were repainted (newly painted panels should feel smoother).

Thank you for clarifying. I guess they want to “improve” their image trying to show off we do all this before selling a car.

To me, Eon (red) and i20 don’t look like cars any used car buyer would want to touch. The latter seems to be getting a full body paint while the former has damages across its body and right up-to its roof.

[TJ02]

I have tried selling 3 of my cars with Cars24. My experience has been pathetic. The valuation they give is almost 60k to 1 lac cheaper. For my grand i10 AT they quoted 1.3 lacs less than what a used car dealer finally offered me.

Recently have been trying to buy a used car for my wife and shortlisted a Kwid on Cars24. When I took the car for checkup at Renault the advisor said he is charging a lac extra for this car. Also the SC listed many problems which Cars24 blindly refused. When I confronted Cars24 city head he said Sir it has passed through MRL, SC is just bringing points unnecessarily. Finally dropped the plan of purchasing anything from Cars24 when basics like brake pads, low ac cooling, worn out tires cannot be inspected by them properly.

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Thank you for clarifying. I guess they want to “improve” their image trying to show off we do all this before selling a car...
.

I think the CMO, Gajendra Jangid, is a very savvy social media marketing expert. Plenty of marketing material on all the digital channels. This is one area in which all Indian companies shine. I am guessing this infopost is another marketing thrust at an influential group. There's hope yet for Cars24 if he and his team listen to the honest feedback here.

And who can be nasty to him after an opening Tweet like this: