Pre-Launch Car Bookings – Yes or No?

['venom']

Re: Pre-Launch Car Bookings – Are Indian Buyers Being Taken For a Ride?

Hi, every company doesnt fully returns your money. they charge cancellation charges for it !

 

[freakdude]

Re: Pre-Launch Car Bookings – Are Indian Buyers Being Taken For a Ride?

Hi, every company doesnt fully returns your money. they charge cancellation charges for it !

I know of only Maruti which deducts anything. Moreover if you dont wish to book it is totally upto you. We spend a lot in deciding the car, roaming to showrooms burning petrol and spending on magazines. even if company deducts some amount from booking amount what cant that be taken as an investment towards booking your fav. car if after launch it lives upto our expectations.


freakdude.

 

[dodge_v1per]

Re: Pre-Launch Car Bookings – Are Indian Buyers Being Taken For a Ride?

dude tata and skoda also has cancellation fee!! its better to wait for month than throwing away money for free!!

 

[freakdude]

Re: Pre-Launch Car Bookings – Are Indian Buyers Being Taken For a Ride?

dude tata and skoda also has cancellation fee!! its better to wait for month than throwing away money for free!!

TATA and Skoda don't deduct anything from booking amount.


freakdude.

 

[nickandre]

Re: Pre-Launch Car Bookings – Are Indian Buyers Being Taken For a Ride?

id preferably say its better to td the car before you book if you dont wana be the first 1 in the area to have that car. Or else if you dont mind cancellation charges, book it and then test drive. Reviews at times can be biased or tested under different circumstances than how a buyer would drive his car the ultimate decision if after you personally td it Every car manufacturer is bound to have some flaws or the other. Regarding toyota etios i have sat in one of my neighbors car and it does seem noisy and the door gaskets which is very important isnt put also better sound insulation and from vibration to is needed these are highly important. even the interiors arent something to praise the plastic is pretty cheap but yes the cabin has got space. After all even if your buying a nano its your hard earned money took a lot of time to collect.
as per hyundai i see alot of hyundais along with marutis on indian roads. the verna being famous for its diesel engine the i20 for having the best safety in that segment. the santros were a favorite of many.

 

[myetios Munish]

Re: Pre-Launch Car Bookings – Are Indian Buyers Being Taken For a Ride?

If a car has a quality badge like Toyota, VW, Honda, BMW, Merc etc then you don't need a TD but you should take TD for Chevrolet, Maruti, Tata etc and must take two or three TDs if it is a Hyundai.
Best example is the 'Getz Prime'. Getz is a nice comfortable car but it's engine is a total waste as it seems like a condemned one. Even ten TDs cannot save us if this is the case with.
So always try to stick with quality badges if you can afford one.

I would differ here and after trusting Toyota in case of ETIOS and only having poor experience of product Quality and the customer support.
I would firstly not agree with you. Secondly if I agree with you my summation would be to exclude Toyota from the elite group of trusted vehicles because of poor Quality of ETIOS and poor Engineering.To conclude I agree that brand name alone does not gaurantee performance.

In SALES there is a saying that " A person is as good as his current months sales performance" the same implies on Toyota brand or any brand.
The performance of an existing successful product does not guarantee the performance of all new products. If this happens there would have been only one company which produced a successful product many years back somewhere around the invention of the CAR.

My claims are well supported by auto companies also as always the car name is in a bigger logo than the brand name logo and the same imlies with the marketing of that car also. A car company also voluntarily keeps all the cars as different brands to safeguard their image. Just Imagine.......

If Toyota have made a product and it has performed well and now if they have to make any changes in that product it will be only ornamental and Engine and other performance related components can even change the final product behaviour either ways.
This is the only reason that automobile companies only prefer to do cosmetic facelifting.

Also the cars which are launched multinational are good cars.

I would also like to share my article-

"Evaluate Toyota Etios on its performance not brand name"

TOYOTA was always there in mind at the time of booking and buying Etios.
But I have learned the hard fact that the brand name alone can not guarantee performance. The product must be good enough to perform. But this experience has cost me whooping INR 7.5L

I have driven WagonR for 11 years and till date it performs better than Etios in terms of driving pleasure and comfort.

Trust me do not go with the Brand name Toyota alone, take multiple test rides and compare different brand vehicles before investing your hard earned money in to any vehicle.

Do not trust the misleading reviews on Internet and Television as these reports on based on short term driving experience.

At the time of buying Etios I was not told of the Noise and Vibrations that it will generate. Before selling this vehicle to me, I was shown all the positive features of the Etios and never guided that I will experience excessive vibrations than my existing vehicle.
But after buying all the sale persons of Toyota dealers and Toyota company customer support people started saying that "What can you expect at this price?" It is more shameful to say than hear this kind of statement.

 

[freakdude]

Re: Pre-Launch Car Bookings – Are Indian Buyers Being Taken For a Ride?

At the time of buying Etios I was not told of the Noise and Vibrations that it will generate. Before selling this vehicle to me, I was shown all the positive features of the Etios and never guided that I will experience excessive vibrations than my existing vehicle.
But after buying all the sale persons of Toyota dealers and Toyota company customer support people started saying that "What can you expect at this price?" It is more shameful to say than hear this kind of statement.

I guess it's your fault than not to see all perspectives of a vehicle. It's the customer who should be evaluating all pros and cons before the purchase. It means that you didn't evaluated the car prior to buying and nor are discontent with it. You can't reallt blame the SE for not telling about the NVH. Moreover you would have seen that WEATHER GASKET is missing then why did you do for the vehicle?

I am not defending TOYOTA or ETIOS here but only pointing that you have not seen all aspects of the car prior to purchase and now simply bashing the product.


freakdude.

 

[mitulpomal]

Re: Pre-Launch Car Bookings – Are Indian Buyers Being Taken For a Ride?

Investing hard earned money that too without any test drive.

A BIG NO from me.

After launch we should wait for approx 6 months to get the realistic views on that vehicle.

 

[raj_5004]

Re: Pre-Launch Car Bookings – Are Indian Buyers Being Taken For a Ride?

there have been umpteen cases where people have bought a car before its launch & even before seeing it in some cases. classic examples are etios & swift. people just blindly trust the brand name & repent later.

I would say that if the product does not match the customer's requirements or expectations, in such cases, it is wholly n solely the mistake of the buyer/owner. who asked him to buy the car without test driving it?

Yes, if the product has reliability problems, then thats a different issue altogether. but from what i have read in etios' cases, people complain of engine noise, vibrations, lack of door rubber beading, etc. Toyota has designed the car like that & lets face it. Who asked that individual to buy the car before test driving it? Did toyota compel you to book the car pre-launch?

So if you have taken that risk & the product quality did not match, live with it... you cant blame the manufacturer.

 

[Nofate]

Re: Pre-Launch Car Bookings – Are Indian Buyers Being Taken For a Ride?

I'm a Indian and I think like a Indian, touch and feel before purchasing anything. With out Test drive its difficult to choose a vehicle irrespective of models/brand.

 

[myetios Munish]

Re: Pre-Launch Car Bookings – Are Indian Buyers Being Taken For a Ride?

I guess it's your fault than not to see all perspectives of a vehicle. It's the customer who should be evaluating all pros and cons before the purchase. It means that you didn't evaluated the car prior to buying and nor are discontent with it. You can't reallt blame the SE for not telling about the NVH. Moreover you would have seen that WEATHER GASKET is missing then why did you do for the vehicle?

I am not defending TOYOTA or ETIOS here but only pointing that you have not seen all aspects of the car prior to purchase and now simply bashing the product.


freakdude.

Buddy, I agree to you that I should have seen all the demerits of Toyota ETIOS before taking delivery during the Test Drive.
But as you will also be aware that a Test Drive is usually for 10 minutes and that too for 2 kilometers and in a city like Delhi where already the traffic noise is more than your vehicles noise, it is difficult for me or any individual to evaluate the demerits or faults in Toyota ETIOS. And normally during TD you are accompanied with the family and they create more noise than the car.

But Toyota engineers took 5 years to design ETIOS, Mr.Yoshinori Noritake discussed during the ETIOS launch speech that he visited India regularly for 5 years and met the different socio-economical families in India and then concluded the design of ETIOS.
As Toyota ETIOS is a new design platform, Toyota engineers might have missed the weather gaskets.This problem is not there in other Toyota cars like Qualis, Innova, Corolla, Camery etc because they are the repeat production of old designs.
The ETIOS design is very similar to an already existing Sedan which has elongated doors to cover the gaps and prevent water, dust,dirt etc. I will respect the original design for its creativity.A classic case of CUT,COPY,PASTE.
I did not expect this from Toyota.

Also there is something called FTP-Fair Trade Practices which is the draft which guides and binds all the establishments to do ethical business in India. Supplying a inferior Quality and faulty ETIOS is a classic example of cheating and unfair trade practices.Indian Laws can be used but I prefer Toyota to acknowledge the issues and help me and many people like me.I honestly respect the brand and hope that they will resolve the issues.I am in no hurry as till then I am enjoying my drive in my Wagon R

 

[myetios Munish]

Re: Pre-Launch Car Bookings – Are Indian Buyers Being Taken For a Ride?

there have been umpteen cases where people have bought a car before its launch & even before seeing it in some cases. classic examples are etios & swift. people just blindly trust the brand name & repent later.

I would say that if the product does not match the customer's requirements or expectations, in such cases, it is wholly n solely the mistake of the buyer/owner. who asked him to buy the car without test driving it?

Yes, if the product has reliability problems, then thats a different issue altogether. but from what i have read in etios' cases, people complain of engine noise, vibrations, lack of door rubber beading, etc. Toyota has designed the car like that & lets face it. Who asked that individual to buy the car before test driving it? Did toyota compel you to book the car pre-launch?

So if you have taken that risk & the product quality did not match, live with it... you cant blame the manufacturer.

Test Drive is usually for 10 minutes and that too for 2 kilometers and in a city like Delhi where already the traffic noise is more than your vehicles noise, it is difficult for me or any individual to evaluate the demerits or faults in Toyota ETIOS. And normally during TD you are accompanied with the family and they create more noise than the car.

But Toyota engineers took 5 years to design ETIOS, Mr.Yoshinori Noritake discussed during the ETIOS launch speech that he visited India regularly for 5 years and met the different socio-economical families in India and then concluded the design of ETIOS.
As Toyota ETIOS is a new design platform, Toyota engineers might have missed the weather gaskets.This problem is not there in other Toyota cars like Qualis, Innova, Corolla, Camery etc because they are the repeat production of old designs.
Also there is something called FTP-Fair Trade Practices which is the draft which guides and binds all the establishments to do ethical business in India. Supplying a inferior Quality and faulty ETIOS is a classic example of cheating and unfair trade practices.

 

[mukeshus]

Re: Pre-Launch Car Bookings – Are Indian Buyers Being Taken For a Ride?

Who said you can drive only for 10 minutes,I had driven the TD vehicle of Scorpio from different dalerships.

When testing the vehicle one must tell the Salesman to shutup and end his blah-blah, and lower the volume of music ,and i drove the vehicle with windows closed and rolled up.
I was happy with the NVH levels in the car.
For more than 1hour, upto 50 kms.
From different dealers.

 

[freakdude]

Re: Pre-Launch Car Bookings – Are Indian Buyers Being Taken For a Ride?

Test Drive is usually for 10 minutes and that too for 2 kilometers and in a city like Delhi where already the traffic noise is more than your vehicles noise, it is difficult for me or any individual to evaluate the demerits or faults in Toyota ETIOS. And normally during TD you are accompanied with the family and they create more noise than the car.

But Toyota engineers took 5 years to design ETIOS, Mr.Yoshinori Noritake discussed during the ETIOS launch speech that he visited India regularly for 5 years and met the different socio-economical families in India and then concluded the design of ETIOS.
As Toyota ETIOS is a new design platform, Toyota engineers might have missed the weather gaskets.This problem is not there in other Toyota cars like Qualis, Innova, Corolla, Camery etc because they are the repeat production of old designs.
Also there is something called FTP-Fair Trade Practices which is the draft which guides and binds all the establishments to do ethical business in India. Supplying a inferior Quality and faulty ETIOS is a classic example of cheating and unfair trade practices.

You can have an elaborated test drive if you insist on it. Moreover, we have multiple dealers in the city so even if one dealer is offering a small test drive we can always approach the other dealer or test drive. It's just that simple.
I again insist that I am nowhere defending Toyota/Etios and it really hurts to see a fello etios owner in pain. If possible we should meet and compare our cars to see if your's hase more NVH issues than mine.


freakdude.

 

[raj_5004]

Re: Pre-Launch Car Bookings – Are Indian Buyers Being Taken For a Ride?

Test Drive is usually for 10 minutes and that too for 2 kilometers and in a city like Delhi where already the traffic noise is more than your vehicles noise, it is difficult for me or any individual to evaluate the demerits or faults in Toyota ETIOS. And normally during TD you are accompanied with the family and they create more noise than the car.

Hi munish, here i was talking about people who have not even taken a TD & booked the car.

But in your case, you have taken a TD & then booked. If you were not satisfied with the TD, you could have asked for a longer one till you have satisfied.

When you book a car after TD, it means you are satisfied with it. So then how can you blame toyota? Its not that they had a better car for TD & gave you an inferior piece. Its also not that the car is having reliability issues.

Sorry buddy, I dont intend to hurt you here, but I think toyota is not to be blamed much over here.