6.    Beware of Automartindia
By: qumar | Aug 23, 2005 12:39 PM

I agree whole-heartedly with all the others who have recounted their experience with this sleazy used-car lot run jointly by the Mahindras, Sah & Sanghi and HDFC. Messrs Deepak Parekh, Anand Mahindra and Vinay Sanghi ought to be ashamed of being associated with this fly-by-night operation called Automartindia.

Insolent, uncaring and out to take you for a ride - that’s what Automartindia stands for. Their warranty is complete rubbish, going by what a lot of customers they’ve conned earlier say.

We got conned into buying a car from them, but I decided not to use the ’free’ service.
Our experience was quite terrible - first they tried to push us into buying their in-house finance from ICICI and also the insurance (!). It was amazing to know that the car had been on the lot for more than 2 months without insurance.

We opted for Citi Finance (that’s another review that I promise to write soon, but meanwhile steer clear of Citi too!), which seemed to have miffed the automartindia guys no end. Apart from the fact that I didn’t buy their insurance either!



So they stalled the papers and refused to hand over the car unless Citi gave them a demand draft! This was the first time I’ve heard of any dealer asking for a DD from a bank! They returned the cheque issued by the bank saying it wasn’t good enough.

We finally got the car after a delay of 2 weeks. Meanwhile, they’d managed to dent the roof. Also, there was some noise in the front suspension. So, although it doesn’t seem to a lemon, their claim to offer refurbished vehicles is a pile of horseshit.

Gautam (of their Koramangala branch in Bangalore) had assured me that the suspension strut and some other parts had been changed. Well, no surprises here: it was a complete lie.

Kailash, the other manager there, was extremely rude and offensive. These people seem to have no clue that they are in the service industry. Please spread the word around asking all your friends and acquaintances to never even think of automartindia for used car purchases.

The best way is to look through ads and take a trusted mechanic along with you if you’re thinking of picking up a used car.