How my Crysta service visit ended up in me upgrading to a Hycross

I like Fortuner, its sturdiness and stance. But did not want to buy it for a few reasons.

BHPian bangarchand recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Buying experience of Innova Hycross VX(O)

I visited our Toyota showroom at Puttur in April to service my Crysta. The salespeople there asked me why I should not graduate to Fortuner. I like Fortuner, its sturdiness and stance. But did not want to buy it for a few reasons. One was that it was way too expensive for the features it gives. Second is that it is diesel and I am not sure what it would be like to own a diesel after one or two years from now. Thirdly, as I follow car portals and news related to that, I have been given to understand and new Fortuner (not updated) on a new platform and that too with the hybrid engine is shortly coming. So I did not want to end up buying one when it is at the fag end of its life cycle.

It was then that they asked me WHY NOT HYCROSS..? As I said earlier, I had gone for the service of Crysta which was only 4 years old then and was in ship shape.(will write a review later). But was fairly impressed by Hycross for a few reasons. Firstly its long waiting period of one year suited me because I felt it would come when I really would be wanting to sell my Crysta. Secondly, it is new and the shape is still fresh. Thirdly because it is, at 36 lac much cheaper than a fortuner and fourthly because it is hybrid and somewhat state of art.

I immediately paid 50k for the booking and told them not to hurry the issue before 2025. But around this independence day, they called and told me that my Hycross is coming and asked me if I was ready. When I asked further, they told me that my booked vehicle is being shipped on 23rd aug. and would reach in 2-3 days. I reluctantly told them to go ahead and asked for an exchange for which they were ready. It is another matter that their price did not match my expectations.

Hycross had reached their Mangalore office in time and they asked me to make the full payments so that they could bring the car from the yard and do the PDI. In the meantime, I had sold the Crysta (details later) and made the full payment through RTGS. I told them that I would buy the insurance outside as the rates are cheaper and would opt for them only if they can match the rate of my Tata AIG rate. And as it turned out, they couldn't.

They had told me that the car would reach Puttur (50kms from their main dealership shop) by Friday. And the vehicle reached my place on Monday. And I had to make a few calls to them to hurry things at this juncture. They always bring the car with their platform truck.

In the meantime, I bought insurance from TATA AIG for 70k with zero dep. Toyota people also had brought down their rate to 80k. However, they did not show any displeasure for this outside insurance. I was dilly-dallying with an extended warranty also and in the end, I did not buy it as till now I have sold my cars at 4 to 5 years of age.

Toyota people were very functional and followed the rule book. They asked me about accessories, E.Warranty, insurance etc. but did not pressurise me to buy. At the same time, they were not lenient also on any count. They did not give a single penny discount nor did they give any accessories like bare minimum, perfume, idols etc. Of course, they were within their rights to do that on a vehicle which is presently in high demand. That was the reason why I also did everything on my own terms without offending them and also did not beg for any accessories or discount barring initial enquiry.

As usual, they were very polite and systematic in the delivery process and I was given no reason to be angry or unhappy. The formal delivery procedure of taking the cover off, cake cutting etc. was done very diligently and we were pretty happy about the process. The service person briefly explained some of the functions of the new vehicle. Surprisingly the car had lots of petrol in the tank unlike earlier when we had to rush to the pump, once we take delivery of a vehicle.

Over all, I am satisfied with their practical and ‘no-nonsense’ approach through the whole process. I do not like undue politeness from salespeople anywhere. Because for me it is always very simple economics of my money being equal to their car and nothing more nor less.

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