Transporting my Hexa from Delhi to Bangalore: My unfiltered experience

The experiences shared by our BHPians only heightened my fear and I realized that I have to endure yet another onerous task and was hoping that I would find a good transporter.

BHPian krishbvmk recently shared this with other enthusiasts,

Someone said that ‘nothing ages your car as much as the sight of your neighbour’s new one’. While this certainly was one of the factors that made me go ahead with changing the car, the ageing Safari, the limited budget I had, and the aspiration of owning a MUV car that suits my purse and purpose, and with a belief that for the price I pay, I may derive a much greater value, with all my assumptions, I jumped the gun, as mentioned earlier, and went ahead with the buy from SD. I’ll detail here how I chose the transporter, and the issues and challenges faced therein. The transport sector in India seems to be a most disorganized sector where felonies, misdemeanors, and infractions happen in a united, organized and in a routine manner as a matter of their prerogative. The so called Agarwals, Agrawals, JPs, JMs, Mehtas, Gatis, Battis, so on so forth; all of them seem to be apparently good packers and movers. However, I needed to learn how to check if all of these big names are fleet owners, as well, the fact of which is impossible to know. Maybe, few of them do have their own trailers and container-trucks, and hence one can safely say that they are more reliable service providers than those who doesn’t have their own fleet and act as agents. The reviews for each of them were discouraging and giving away one’s car to them is a hundred times worse than a ladki’s bidai, just won’t know how the car would be treated by these guys. Even more dreadful are the stories by a few, who wrote that their cars were actually driven from Delhi to Bangalore, with the odometer being disconnected and fast-tags taped.

• Incident 1
• Incident 2

The experiences shared by our BHPians only heightened my fear and I realized that I have to endure yet another onerous task and was hoping that I would find a good transporter. We (me and my cousin) zeroed in on BCT, which has a number of good ratings and reviews. A call to them was answered by a confident gentleman who allayed all my fears and assured me that the car will be delivered in about a week’s time and asked me to visit their office, the next morning. Also, he assured me that their pricing would be fair and competitive. The buying task was messed up by me and I very well know that the task of getting the transmission issue solved is going to be a herculean task. Therefore, I very much wanted the second task of getting the Hexa moved to Bangalore to be a seamless transfer and hence I carefully did a in-depth research, planning, and communication with a few transporter, including BCT, for a smooth and stress-free car transfer experience. But, nay, I could not have been more wrong, yet again. It was anything but a stress-free experience.

The next morning, I started driving to the location which is about 8 kms from the golf course road, the Google location of BCT was shared by the gentleman, with whom I had spoken, the last night. Hexa seems to be running fine with no transmission issues, and gear changes happening flawlessly, putting me in to a state of quandary. I was wondering if I should drive to Bangalore or hand over to BCT. My state of vacillating between driving and handing over increased as soon as I saw their office, which is nothing but a small shabby green-walled room. The gentleman with whom I spoke called and said that his brother will be attending to me! This guy seemed to be a friendly chap and immediately proceeded with the paperwork and instructed his boys to inspect the car and take pictures. He appeared to be a man of fewer words and seemed a work-oriented guy, which made me ignore his shabby office. He told me that the main factors in determining the cost of shipping are the size of the vehicle, the distance, insurance, and the delivery terms. In the meantime, that phone guy called me and said that they pride themselves in rendering prompt service and that the vehicle will be delivered safely with a minimum of delay and added that this is how they’ve become a leading player in this sector and that they are specialized in moving cars for over 20 years. This nailed it! Thereupon, one of his assistants, a young boy, came to me and told me to park the car in an adjoining compound area of a huge bungalow, which was in a dilapidated state. Upon parking, I was surprised to see a Jaguar, 2 BMWs, 1 Audi A6 and a few other hatchbacks parked. Reading my mind, the boy told me that all the cars are waiting for moving to Bangalore, except for the Audi, which is for Nagpur. By then, I was more than convinced, as these guys are moving luxury cars, as evidenced in their Google reviews, and also due to the fact that the car owners are confident in handing over their lovely cars, to take their services for moving my car. I felt I shouldn’t further hesitate to go ahead and be done with this work. Anyways, I am sure I wouldn’t be driving to Bangalore, due to the seeded doubts in my mind about the condition of the vehicle, be it the transmission issue or any other unforeseen niggles or breakdowns. I was all the more convinced after I was told that they own more than 40 trailer-trucks, most of which are closed containers and that my Hexa will be moved in one of these closed containerized trucks, which are insured. Later, the same boy, who took pictures of Hexa, got tea from a nearby tuck-shop and served in a cup that looked like was manufactured in my grandfather’s era and was indelibly stained. But understanding the horror look on my face, he was kind enough to change the cup and served in a disposable cup. Now that the mehman ki khatirdari was done, I was convinced I should go ahead with them! Agree or not, a cup of tea is a cup of positivity, solves everything! I did not want to try other transporters or wanted to obtain multiple quotes as I’m sure that all are sharks and there aren’t any saints in this line of business. Even Pikkol, which is a start-up, has enough number of negative reviews and hence did not bother to waste my little time in Delhi, as none can give a smoother experience.

With all the inherent risks in long-haul car moves, I quickly completed the paperwork such as sharing aadhaar card copy, self-declaration, copies of RC and insurance and was issued a consignee carrier’s note. A word of caution here, in spite of repeatedly asking for transit insurance, the guy claimed that all transfers and transits are covered by insurance and that I will be charged premium, and that the exact amount will be informed in due course of time. He further claimed that inspection will be done by the surveyor at the yard where loading of cars happens and hence he is unable to issue cover note at the time of handing over the car. Much to my own chagrin and mounting frustrations, I gave the key to the guy and decided to leave the place. I thought, at that point in time, it won’t take a week or so to see the car at Bangalore and decided to undergo a week’s time of suspense and stress. The thought that these guys will only take a week to ten day’s time to deliver my vehicle at Bangalore was my another malignant assumption, yet again. Quite surprisingly, a sense of relief swept me. Maybe, the fact that I’m not driving to Bangalore, and need not face the perils of a highway driving in an unknown car that may have some yet-to-surface defects, apart from the known devil, gave me a sense of solace. However, I was still wishing that if only the Hexa becomes anthropomorphic and tells me the list of issues that need to be fixed, I very well could have done a road trip to Bangalore from Delhi, after attending to the repairs! After witnessing my car being further moved in the building compound area and parked next to the Jaguar from the only window of this dingy green room and with an assurance from the phone-guy and the guy who issued the consignor note, that the car would be moved only in a containerized truck, I left the place. So, to sum up the process of handing over the car for onward movement to Bangalore, I handed over the car along with the copies of requisite papers (they don’t mind whosoever is the consignor and the RC need not bear the name of the consignor and can be in someone else’s name), the car, along with the other cars, will be moved to their truck terminal, wherein the container truck fleet are awaiting the next batch of cars for shipping. I am given to understand that about 5 to 6 cars, depending on their size and dimensions, will be loaded in a truck for onward movement. Points to be pondered here are that the car will be driven multiple times by the multiple guys at a multiple locations, giving the consignor multitude levels of stress. When start itself is bad and nothing goes right, better go right, exactly I did this, after keeping the consignor note in my wallet, I took a right turn from the green-walled room, on to the main road and hailed a cab to my cousin’s place at the Golf-course road, which is blissfully away from this Neo-Nazi’s place, for a good noon’s sleep, with a belief that by evening I’ll be updated that my vehicle has been loaded and the onward journey to Bangalore has started.

Though l am not a logistics professional, from the lessons, learnings and the livid yet laborious conversations had with the forwarders, I felt that I should be summarizing here the process one need to follow for shipping the car through a transporter.

• Do your research and pick a reliable operator
• Wash Your Vehicle
• Take Pictures of exterior from various angles
• Take a few clear photos of the odometer
• Clean the Interiors of the vehicle
• Secure or remove the accessories
• Check radiator fluid levels, battery, and tyres, better to ensure the vehicle is highway worthy.
• Fuel should not be more than a 1/4 tank
• Disable alarms
• Deactivate or Remove fast-tags
• Handover only one key. Keep the spare key with you
• Ensure the carrier’s cargo insurance is valid and also take transit insurance cover
• Insurance of your vehicle should be in vogue
• Tell the guy to move in a closed container truck only
• Don’t forget to collect your copy of consignor note
• Check the delivery terms, whether it’s a door delivery or you’ve collect from the yard
• Make sure you understand all the terms mentioned in the note
• Highlight the condition of your car and tell them that the car is in ship-shape
• Have the car inspection done by both the parties together and have a consensus
• Know the cost before and check for any additional and hidden costs
• Take the Spoc number or the owner’s or the manager’s number for asking updates as they do not update proactively on the status and also tell them to share the truck number and loading pics
• And finally, there may be multiple truck yards in your city, check in which yard the car would be unloaded.
• Also, check if the same truck will proceed to your city and what are the multiple transit points of unloading and loading points before it reaches the destination.

Lastly, carry your spare key while going to pick the car in your city.

As a driver, you’ve always got to believe in your heart that you’ve got what it

takes to win it. You’ve always got to believe in yourself. You’ve always got to

arrive on the day and believe it can happen. You’ve always got to believe in the

positives. –Lewis Hamilton

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