Choosing my Car

Finally reduced the weight of my wallet considerably – bought a car. SANTRO XL.
How did I zero in on this choice? Ignorance (sometimes) is bliss. This time the ignorance was about automobiles. Further the spending cap on the car was not more than 400000 rupees (which I feel is very high). I could make my choice pretty fast.

The method of elimination went thus:

• No to Maruti 800; We have been seeing that car since the days I was on tricycle


• Well, let’s go Maruti Alto was a choice; On a second thought, if I invest 15% more than what Alto costs I will be able to own a Maruti Zen or Hyundai Santro


• Zen – had everything but the “wow!” factor; Zen stopped appealing to my eyes only because I have seen it on the roads for quite some years now


• Santro – the dealer promised a mp3 CD player, central locking among other small goodies; These would cost me close to 12000 rupees in the case of Maruti where none of these are provided for free


• There are two sets of people, one who adore the looks of Santro and the other who hate Santro for the same reason. I always liked the looks of Santro; an elite look.


• Santro will be delivered within 2 days of shelling out the price where as others took at least a fortnight

Buying a Car

I thought of giving myself an upgrade from a 2 wheeler to a 4 wheeler this month. For my standards this was a very big upgrade. I invited free suggestions from all and sundry. Some of them are very eager to drool out their suggestions and in the process proving their authority on automobiles.

I discovered the following:

- 90% of the people in India do not want to say "I do not know" and offer suggestion prejudiced by advertisements, looks etc

- Even if you specify a maximum limit of your budget, you will be suggested to "streach" to buy the next expensive car. If you oblige (for at least argument sake) the process repeats until the budget reaches Airbus A380

- The dealer with whom you do not do business will be termed as the better one

- One of the acquaintance’s cousin (up to even 6th degree cousin) managed to get washing machine, water purifier, vacuum cleaner along with the car for free

- You will be made to feel that you are a poor negotiator. The critic himself might have bought a car with no windsheeld

- You should have a very clear idea about the kind of car that you want to buy