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lot of people buy new Cars during the months of January to March every
year for various practical reasons. Including those who have owned a Car
before, they feel quite at a loss when trying to select one to ‘upgrade’
- as one has plenty to choose from today. They by and large go by the
word of mouth advice from their ‘know-all’ friends, or their
Garage Owners - who have vested interests.
If one is endowed with reasonable common sense – though quite so
uncommon as they say – even without being a Car-Geek - one can go
about choosing a new Car in a fairly systematic manner to suit ones own
needs.
Here’s how I’d go about it, if I were in a similar situation……
Do
your own Home Work First!
1)
Set yourself a ‘Budget’ that you can afford – either
out of your own Resources or a ‘Borrowing’.
2) On borrowing, you have 2-choices; either to go to
a professional Car Financing outfit or to your own Nationalised Bank
for a ‘Personal’ Loan.
3) The drawbacks of the former, having learnt bitterly
from my own experience with an MNC outfit, is that they are Shylocks
of the highest order in Portia’s garb. If ever you are in a position
to ‘fore-close’ the Loan before the agreed Tenure –
they’ll slap you with a Penalty of no less than Rs 10,000 (+)
– regardless of the ‘Principal Outstanding’ –
under some pretext or the other.
4) It doesn’t end here. To get their ‘Hypothecation’
mark removed from your RC, before you wish to sell it or keep it legally
and peacefully for some more times to come, the concerned RTO will take
your life out all over again – demanding all kinds of Documents
relating to your present ‘proof of residence’. God alone
can bail you out if you’ve had a change in residence in the meantime.
No such hassles with a Personal Loan from your Banker and probably at
cheaper rates of Interest too.
5) Having so decided on your budget/means of financing,
the next/crux of the matter is ‘which one’ ! The following
may help –
i) Decide whether Petrol or Diesel. With WTO norms gathering momentum,
it’s a matter of another couple of years or so that diesel in
India will cost almost 90% of Petrol. And I have yet to come across
a ‘totally’ satisfied owner of a diesel Car made in India
– from Indica to Opel-Astra – once they’ve crossed
50,000 kms. In other words, in my humble opinion, diesel is by and large
only for commercial/rattle-trap vehicles in this country – given
their initial quality, traffic conditions and attitudes towards ‘preventive
maintenance’.
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