News

Why I bought a used Tata Hexa XTA as my second car

1st February 2022, 15:58 by Rahul Nagaraj

We also have a 2013 Maruti Swift diesel at home, along with 3 motorcycles and 2 bicycles.

BHPian Prashant1286 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Prelude:

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word ‘Serendipity’ as luck that takes the form of finding valuable or pleasant things that are not looked for. Similar is the case of me buying a Pre-owned Tata Hexa XTA. I was not in the market to buy this car. It just happened and it happened fast. It was akin to all the holes of the Swiss-cheese model aligning to make the inevitable happen. But before we dwell on how it happened, here’s a brief prelude: -

Did I NEED another car? Maybe No.

We are a family of three- self, wife and a four-year-old kid. We have a 2013 Swift ZDi that has done about 5,7000 km, a 2010 Yamaha Fazer with about 21,000 on the odometer- the first bike bought from my own salary, a 2015 Honda Activa-i used by the missus for miscellaneous chores that has clocked a meagre 5000 clicks, a 2017 KTM Duke 390 which is my getaway and has seen about 7000 km till date. And to top it all, my place of work is about 2-4 km away from my place of residence. Did I tell you that we also have two bicycles and sometimes I prefer to pedal to work? So, buying another vehicle did not make sense for us, until we replace the swift. But that is not an option as the lady is super-comfortable in driving it.

Did I WANT another car? Hell, yes!

While our Swift is in perfect condition, the impulse to buy something new has been knocking in my mind for a few years. Till now, I had been holding this impulse primarily because I didn’t NEED one. While I could afford a new car, this expenditure didn’t make sense, especially when my usage was minimal. Team-BHP thread on retaining cars for longer duration and the restrictions due to the Covid pandemic further reinforced this decision. Time went by and I kept following every new development in the Indian car scene. I even invested in automotive shares after reading the brilliant thread by SmartCat (just don’t ask me how this investment was fructified)! However, that impulse for buying a new car didn’t die down. It only grew stronger like a suppressed urge. By end of 2021, I knew I had to do something to satiate this longing.

Reinforcement for the decision to buy a new car.

One doubt that I always had in mind was would the boss of the household approve my spending on a new car? Well, I was not sure. Usually, I am the spendthrift and she’s the one who makes me hold my horses. So, one fine Sunday morning, while sipping a cup of coffee on our balcony, I candidly asked her – should we buy a new car? I was prepared for a no, but to my surprise, she said yes, we should! That was one of the best Sundays in my recent memory!

Hence, I started narrowing down the options. Our budget was flexible between Rs 15-50 Lacs (Rs 15-20 Lacs without loan extendable to Rs 20-50 Lacs with a loan). The common requirement was to buy something big, spacious and comfortable. While I would prefer an RWD/AWD or a 4x4 with decent power and torque, the missus was interested in road presence and creature comforts. The kiddo just wanted an orange car with a sunroof (don’t ask me why)!

The cars considered were:

Toyota Fortuner – Massive road presence but overpriced for what it offers. Ride comfort is not the best. Was on edge about this one.
Toyota Innova Crysta – Comfortable but slightly overpriced. Was one of the shortlisted vehicles.
Tata Safari – Looks great. Acceptable performance. Decent build and quality. Was another one of the shortlisted vehicles.
Tata Harrier – Looks great. Sportier than her bigger sibling. But Safari was considered a better option amongst the two.
Maruti Suzuki XL6 – Comfortable. VFM. Could have bought it without breaking the bank. The performance was mediocre though. Briefly considered it but then rejected it due to a perceived lack of safety.
Hyundai Tucson – A good car but not spacious. Rejected it due to lack of space.
Jeep Compass – A driver’s car. Dynamics are great. Space in the cabin is seriously limited though. Rejected.
Mahindra XUV 500 – Outgoing model was available for good discounts. Briefly considered but then rejected as it was too old a model.
Mahindra XUV 700 – This car was just launched. It seemed to tick all the boxes. 5-star safety ratings. The long waiting period was a bummer though. Seriously considered booking one and waiting for eternity to get the AX7 Luxury Pack Automatic AWD.

So how did the Hexa come into the picture?

I was about to sign on the dotted line for XUV 700 when this conversation with the missus happened:

Me: So how do you like the XUV 700?
She: Hmm, it’s okay. (I don’t know why her first replies are always unenthusiastic. Hmm, it’s okay).
Me: Don’t you like the car?
She: It looks a bit weird (read overdone) from the front.
Me: Any other car that you like?
She: Yes. Hexa! (With an enthusiastic smile).

I was surprised. I didn’t expect this answer. After all, you barely see any Hexas on-road and she’s not a car person (or maybe, I didn’t consider her one!).

Nonetheless, I told her that the car is discontinued and we won’t be able to buy it new. There was the second surprise of the day. She said we can buy a pre-owned one, but we have to get a well-kept example!

Now, I had always had a soft corner for Hexa. I believe that Tata made this car just to prove a point and was disheartened when she was discontinued. If it were on sale, I would have definitely considered buying one. However, buying a pre-owned car was not my forte. All the vehicles I had bought so far were new. Hence, I had zero experience in the pre-owned car market. The only weapon that I had in my arsenal was that sometime in my life, I had read the Team-BHP thread on buying pre-worshipped cars.

Two more good surprises happened over the next few days.

The first was that the following day, while casually browsing on OLX, I found an advertisement for a 2019 Tata Hexa XTA posted on that very day.

This claimed to be a retired officer’s car and had done about 32000 Kms. The asking price was 13.5 Lacs. I contacted the gentleman and fetched a few more details about the car. She was regularly serviced at TASS, had an extended warranty till 2024 and had no accidental history. The fly in the ointment was that she had only a third-party insurance cover and had a few minor scratches. Nonetheless, the challenge was that this car was in Chandigarh while I was temporarily located in Coonoor, TN!

The next pleasant surprise was that my membership for Team-BHP got approved. I have been an avid reader of this plethora of automotive knowledge since circa 2009. However, I never made an effort to become a member of this forum. This time I had a reason, I applied and got approval. Sincere gratitude to the moderators for the timely approval!

I posted a few queries on the threads for used car prices and buying pre-owned Hexa. Initially, the queries were not answered so I reposted them on these threads and on the official Team-BHP Hexa review thread as well. This time I got valuable pieces of advice from the helpful members of this forum.

Armed with knowledge and confidence, I settled the deal to buy the Hexa XTA at 12.15 Lacs with the caveat that I shall pick the car up in December end. I paid the token amount of Rs 1 Lac to the owner without even seeing the car in flesh and just over a video call! (I don’t advise anyone for doing this though. It’s just that somehow, I knew I could trust that elderly gentleman). I also did not negotiate much as I felt the owner’s request for 12.15 Lacs was fair and maybe, in his hay years, he could use the 25-50 k that I might have further negotiated better. I still have years ahead to earn money!

Background about this particular car.

The car was bought in March 2019 by the previous owner, a 71-year-old gentleman, as a replacement for his 2007 Scorpio. It had been single hand driven by him. As per him, he bought this car with the hope that he will put it to good use when his grandchildren visit him. That, unfortunately, didn’t happen due to the pandemic. With the pandemic subsiding, he was planning to go abroad and visit all his children and grandchildren one by one. Since that would entail one-and-a-half to two years of non-usage for the car, he was letting her go. He told me that the car was absolutely reliable and he had no troubles in the brief period of ownership except for a change of battery. The only parts replaced were LH window glass (cracked from flying debris shot by a grass cutter), ORVMs (not working properly and replaced under warranty) and a fog lamp (broken by TASS during servicing, replaced free of cost).

Buying the car.

Every buying experience brings to the table its own comedy of errors. The same was with buying this car.

On the pre-decided date, I took my leaves from the office and flew down with a family. The next morning, I met the elderly couple and had the first glimpse of the car. I was heartbroken to see the dent on the LH rear door.

Apparently, the car had met with a minor accident about three days back resulting in a dent and a few scratches on the door.

The owner was forthright and had intimated to me the day it happened. He had offered to get it repaired from his FNG but I had given him a stern no. On meeting, he again offered to take me to his FNG and get the door repaired. I insisted that I would get the repair done at TASS at my own convenience and he would have to bear the damages. He agreed to it.

After that, we took the car to RTO to submit the file for transfer of ownership. On reaching the RTO, we realised that our file could not be accepted as the insurance details were not updated on the Vahan portal! We had the printout of the original policy bought from the dealership at the time of purchase of the vehicle but that was not acceptable. We were advised to contact the dealership to get the insurance details updated on the Vahan portal and then resubmit the file. A word about Chandigarh RTO. The entire process is digitised and I found it extremely rational requiring no middlemen.

So, we went to the Tata dealership in Chandigarh. The lady dealing with insurance told us that it would take 4-5 days for the insurance to be updated on the Vahan portal. While at TASS, the owner asked them to service the car as the 50k service was getting due in a few days (actual odo was about 34k) and I had to drive it down. I also requested TASS for an inspection of the car before I put down my money (TASS has a 40-point inspection that they perform on cars). The service and inspection took almost 6 hours and the bill came out to be Rs 3660. I offered to pay for the service and inspection but the elderly gentleman denied saying it was still his car so he ought to pay for it. The parts replaced were the oil filter (the one fitted had a minor leak from the rubber gasket), air filter and rear wiper. Since the car was under AMC for the first two years, brake pads and front wipers were replaced in April 2021. TASS privately gave me a thumbs up saying that the vehicle does not have any issue or any accidental history.

A word about TASS now.

It was my first experience at TASS and I found it to be better than what I see at Maruti Suzuki Service Centres (I own a Swift, hence the comparison). The SA, Amandeep, was straightforward in his dealings and the service manager, Mr Chandesh, was extremely helpful and assuring. However, there were a few laggards as well, like the lady dealing with insurance who was unapologetic that the insurance details were not updated on the portal and had excuses or the person dealing with bodywork who did not give a clear estimate for the door repair and told it would cost ‘about’ ten thousand. Also, despite being a relatively big service centre, TASS Chandigarh was completely loaded with cars. Overall, still, it was much better than what I have experienced at a few Maruti Suzuki Service Centres.

Taking the car home.

The next morning, he handed me over the car and took the documents along with the authority letter for transfer of ownership. Therefore, I started my long way journey, covering almost the entire length of the country. The route taken was:

Chandigarh> Ghaziabad> Gwalior> Indore> Ujjain (unplanned detour)> Nashik> Ellora Caves (unplanned detour)> Pune> Goa> Mysore> Coonor.

The total distance covered was approx. 3,750 km over a fortnight with a two-night halt at Indore and Pune respectively and a five-night halt at Goa. The companions were my wife and kiddo. Overall, it was an extensive trip cum family vacation cum detour. I shall pen down a detailed travelogue later. However, here is a summary along with a few pics attached for viewing pleasure.

The beast is sleeping after a long days' run.