Sep 15, 2010 12:55 PM
13276 Views
(Updated Sep 15, 2010 02:49 PM)
This is a review about the car (less) and the dealer (more).
I am pretty satisfied with the car, except the head room in the front seats (I have not sat at the back). I always wanted to buy Honda City. Hence, no test-drive of other cars.
I had heard some negative feedback about Deccan Honda and that is the reason I went to this dealer, even though it is very far away from my home. The sales process was smooth, the sales person explained quite a lot. Anyway, that did not matter much as I had decided to buy the car.
My troubles started after I booked the car. I talked to HDFC Bank to get preferential rates for the loan. Once this was finalized, the finance person from Crystal Honda came into the picture and took my papers to submit to HDFC Bank. I had to face uncomfortable questions from the people at HDFC Bank who claimed to have got those rates for me. The loan approval was taken for Rs. 6 lakhs. Later I asked for a loan of Rs. 4.2 lakhs. However, the banks being as inefficient as they are, disbursed Rs. 6 lakhs. I was to take the delivery of car on a Sunday and I was told of this on the Friday, 2 days before delivery. I was told that the dealer would give a refund of the excess money.
I told categorically that I do not want a refund rather the loan amount should be reduced. This saga went on for over 2 months (during which HDFC Bank took EMI for loan of 6 lakhs). I was left to deal with the thugs of HDFC Bank on my own. The finance person at Crystal Honda pocketed his commission and disappeared, without bothering to check on my problems, even after reminders.
I was told to go for insurance form Royal Sundaram with roadside assistance. The insurance for the first year is about 25, 000. I did not think much about roadside assistance, actually it is not require for a car like Honda City. Earlier, I had used Maruti Zen for 5 years and never needed one. Later while talking to my regular motor insurance agent, I came to know that there is no depreciation for the car when roadside assistance is added in the insurance. Hence, I will end up paying almost the entire 25, 000 as insurance premium for the next year.
My insurance agent helped me with no-claim-bonus (NCB) of my earlier policy. I was told to send the letter to Crystal Honda. The NCB cheque got ready in about a month's time and I got a call from Crystal Honda that they would be sending this cheque. However, I did not receive it for about 2 weeks! When I called up I was told that they had not sent the cheque!
My problems with Crystal Honda came up again during services. First and second gears are hard and I complained about this during 3 services and this has not been corrected.
The process of sending the car for servicing is terribly painful with Crystal Honda. They call up and ask for address and landmark at each service! The driver never comes on time and the car is never delivered on time. I ended up wasting the entire day on all 3 occasions. They don not send the driver and the car on the time they commit, always late by many hours. They ask for feedback about servicing but don't bother about it.
The car is very good, however, if you need peace of mind, avoid Crystal Honda.
