Santha says: Care to buy a car?

August 28, 2014 07:41 pm | Updated 07:41 pm IST

Santha John

Santha John

And you thought you can just go and buy a new car? Ha ha! In olden days, the very rich bought foreign cars through the State Trading Corporation. Cars that looked like they had been used in B grade Bollywood movies. The rest of us bought Ambassadors and Fiats and you waited many years for a Fiat. Whereas for a Bajaj Scooter the waiting period was 10 years preventing many a bridegroom from getting married.

Now the first problem is the choice. Brands and variations are mind boggling and amount to about 89. And just as you have decided on a brand, your oh so smart brother-in-law (why is it always an in-law) sneers and tells you that you really don’t know what is good for you and for Indian roads. Then of course you have to counter your own son whose friend’s father has just bought some other brand and so the chukkaer begins.. Precious time is wasted since all along neither the dealer nor the car manufacturer has any idea of selling anything for the next three months even what is being regularly advertised.

Sales have gone down and so car manufacturers have actually stopped manufacturing fully finished cars. The cars are finished only with pucca orders meaning advance payment. And hence the delay.

The same brother-in-law also advises you never ever buy a car with your own finances, always take a car loan. Another chukkaer is about to begin.

Naturally with car finance, no one is going in for a cheap car any longer: we are talking now of lakhs in two digits.

Every car loan agent is now vying to give you a loan. The interest is too high, the loan amount sanctioned is too low. You now learn that getting an SMS saying your loan is approved merely means the papers are being processed. The whole process then takes on a shroud of mystery when no one knows how much you have to shell out and how much the monthly EMI is going to be. And meanwhile the elusive car seems to have appeared but naturally cannot be handed over till every paisa is in the dealer’s hand. This probably means that said car may have left the factory or is about to get shipped or something and everyone except you is happy.

The real stress is about to begin. You are told that in 10 minutes the financier is going to get back and after 2 days he does get back. Similarly you are told in a high decibel that, hey presto! everything is cleared and you can take delivery of car and you set out with all the important members of the family including Junior who is waiting to pop all the balloons in the brand new car. That is when you realise it’s like being told you are discharged from the hospital but it takes another 6 hours to actually get the discharge papers and the hale and hearty ex-patient is finally wheeled out in a wheel chair ( did you know ex-patients don’t leave the hospital on their own now very capable feet?)

Because the car has now finished being driven in from Pune or Gurgaon or wherever and needs to be washed and cleaned and polished to look like new while all the while you are fuming and fretting in their visitors room impatient lest the pujari at Staff College has left.

Santha John is founder, director CoachLife.

Mail: santha.john@coachlife.asia

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.