My experience with Prerana Motors began when I decided to purchase a TATA Indica.
The first time I walked into their showroom, it was Ugadi, a festival day in Karnataka. As it was a holiday, I had gone in casuals and my appearance was not well groomed. I wanted to enquire about the prices and I was made to wait for about 20 minutes before someone could hand me over a pamplet and ask what I wanted. Maybe because they were short on staff that day.
After a wait, I got all the required information. I asked for a test drive and was asked to come some other day during off-peak hours so that it can be done. I wanted to test both Xeta and Turbo version. My test drive with Xeta had little to talk about as we could only go at a speed of 20 to 30 kmph in the city traffic. The sales person who accompanied me was not trusting that I would buy a car and was a little hesitant in explaining the features of the car. The moment I revealed that I had also taken a test drive of Wagon R and started comparing, he started showing signs of disengagement.
The test drive with Turbo required us to drive at greater than 60 kmph to feel the "turbo pull". Again due to city traffic limitations, I could never feel the pull and could not cross 45 kmph. But this time the other sales person was good enough to explain all the features of the turbo version. He was making some efforts to sell.!
Finally when I had decided to go for an Indica DLG Turbo, the finanical options provided were good. It was better than all private and foreign banks but slightly higher than nationalized banks. I wanted to try my luck with nationalized bank and went for an SBI loan. That was a grave mistake which I realized later. By the time my application was getting processed, the lending rates went up by 50 basis points. I was quoted the new interest rates which were higher than what TATA Motors Finance Corporation offered.! Well, it was an overall increase and hence TATA motors had also increased its lending rate by 50 basis points. The time taken by SBI for processing the loan was a good 25 days. We were asked to go to their Shivaji Nagar branch which is the only branch disbursing loans. A good wait of 4 hours was required to get the cheque. The person who dealt with us did not explain anything about the loan but got all required signatures. I chanced upon the lending rate which was 10.5% and the term which was 7 years. I had applied for 5 years loan which was at 10%.!
I immediately stopped and asked the person, well the reply was "don’t worry - you can manage.!" :-)
Well, I should say that!
After I handed over the cheque to Prerana Motors, the wait for the car began. It was almost a month and I had not even got my car. I was repeatedly calling the sales person to check the status and he gave good excuses for the delay. There were only 3 colors available in DLG turbo and the choice was limited. So, he said this particular color is taking time. He asked if we would like to go for red.! Then there was this supplier strike which I never happened to read about in any newspapers, but he told that only for DLG and DLX, the components required were delayed by the strike and it would take another month before delivery. He asked me if I would like to go for DLS turbo which was ready. I had lost my patience by that time. It was already 50 days after full payment.! I should admit that the sales person was honest once I said I would like to go in for DLS turbo. He compared it with DLG turbo and told what I would not get in DLS turbo. He also suggested what I can do to modify DLS and get features like power windows and LHS rear-view mirror, etc.
I finally settled for a DLS turbo and added some of the features of DLG. Well, instead of a cash discount which was available at that time, I went in for accessories. I got almost all fitted within one day and the car was delivered the same day of registration with even the number plate fitted.! I was happy with the deal.
The dealers then arranged for a customer get-together of all new car owners which was enjoyable.
The service after sales was average. The luxury car segment is treated on par with the taxi segment and you could feel that when you visit their service center. When I wanted to book my car for service, I was informed a slot was available after 2 to 3 days. On the day of service, when I was late by 10 minutes to present my car, I was just about to lose my booking for service.! When I was waiting for the service personnel, I could find a taxi guy just walk in, plead in a high pitched voice and demand the service on the same day without a booking. He got it done.! Well, I should try that method next time - just barge in and get it done.!
The service person explained what was done to my car when I took delivery. The one thing that I did not like was that I was asked to give a feedback on the water wash and cleanliness of the car before delivering the car back to me.! I did not fill that and insisted that the car be shown to me before getting this feedback. The service person did come back and collect the feedback but once I entered something average to negative, I could see the change in his expression. Well, feedback needs to be taken positively to improve the service.!
What I wonder even today is how on earth could there be registration numbers of DLG or DLX turbo of plus or minus 100 numbers to my car registration number with the same color as mine - if really there was a supplier strike at the time of delivery of my DLS turbo.! They were not from the same dealer but from Concorde and Manipal Motors, which would in all probability have been registered the same day as mine.!