Jan 12, 2009 11:22 PM
7554 Views
I was not an Internet savvy at all until I had to buy a computer for my eight year old son. My wife insisted and we got Internet subscription at home. Internet has changed my life altogether. I purposely surf for almost two hours daily. I don't buy a single thing without reading user reviews on it.:-)
I was about to buy a new car last year. I desperately hunted for a website for useful information. Read all MS reviews but didn't find them enough. Arush, my son liked i10 look wise but there were enough reviews on i10 but the information was minimal. In one of the MS reviews I came across this site called carwale.com and visited it.'Oh my god' was my reaction. I browsed the site for as long as four hours at a stretch and still felt like going on but had to shut down the computer as my kid and wife were waiting for dinner.
Since I was new to carwale, I wandered a little for user reviews, found them. More than 100 reviews on every small car I had considered. I was already determined but carwale reviews gave me confidence of finalizing the i10. I went on to check the prices on the site and found the information more than useful. I not only got the complete on the road price information but also discount going on in Hyderabad. But I hated the long price quote form. I didn't believe the discount then(it was 35, 000). The next morning I got a call from carwale. The person, Johnson told me that carwale can not only get me the best deal on my new i10 but also can help me in entire purchase. He confirmed the discount and the price again. He was so confident that he gave me two Hyderabad Hyundai dealers' contact numbers and told me that I can talk to them and get back to me only if carwale has better deal for me. I did call the dealers, and I was surprised to know that I was offered 3, 000 more discount from carwale. Came home, searched internet for carwale credentials to know that the website is doing really good. Even some reviews on MS did help me in making up my mind. Consulted with my wife and finally called carwale asking how to go ahead. Carwale got me test drive(one day later than they promised. Car availability issue), gave me finance quotes of three banks ICICI, HDFC and Tata Capital. Helped me decide ICICI(they are my banker also) and got me loan approval, disbursement etc.
Overall a fantastic car buying experience. Great site for new car research and purchase. There are a few short comings also. 1. The site isn't self-explanatory, you need to know meaning of several terms. I never knew I am going to find forum in community, for example. 2. There are quite a few ads on the site. When my Internet is slow, I have to wait for it to load. No problem in office though. 3. Marketing team isn't doing justice to the portal. People hardly know about it.
