Pre-owned car discussion

I have been thinking of getting a second hand car for myself. This will be the first car that I own and I am a pretty green driver. So, I have some queries regarding this.

What to look for in a car when going to shop?
What make and models have good value in the current market for a budget of < 5L
Are dedicated brick-and-mortar resellers trustworthy? I hear some of them may try to sell flood damaged cars that won't be covered by insurance.
Are online resellers like spinny or cardekho trustworthy?
Are CNG/Petrol hybrid cars good? I see that if I get a pure CNG car it will be difficult to drive out of the city since there will be a lack of CNG pumps.
How much financing is feasible if I plan to keep the car for a short term? Technically I can afford to pay cash as well, but I am anxious since I have never blown that much amount at once before.

I don't really plan on keeping the car for too long, perhaps 1-2 years and then I'll probably sell it and get a brand new one.

IMO Second hand cars are very good. Teambhp might be of more help to you on this topic though. GL!

Welp. I thought there would be some car enthusiasts here who might help. Not very keen on registering for a new forum just for one query.

I'll look into making an account there later if I get no leads.

My old intern in pune got a Volkswagen polo with under 10k kms driven for ~2 lakhs. That was from olx. Try looking for deals such as this, you will find much better deals from individual sellers than brick and mortar shops. You should look for number of kms driven, typically under 20k is a great deal.

DONOT buy automatic, if you go to any second hand car seller, you will see huge number of automatic cars available for cheap, and many on repair with transmission broken. Indian roads aren't good for automatic cars, because we need to slow down a lot due to traffic.

If this is your first car, it's even more important to avoid automatic. And get a cheap car (hatchback). Get some practice for a few years then buy suv or sedan.

Nerevarine said:
My old intern in pune got a Volkswagen polo with under 10k kms driven for ~2 lakhs. That was from olx. Try looking for deals such as this, you will find much better deals from individual sellers than brick and mortar shops. You should look for number of kms driven, typically under 20k is a great deal.

DONOT buy automatic, if you go to any second hand car seller, you will see huge number of automatic cars available for cheap, and many on repair with transmission broken. Indian roads aren't good for automatic cars, because we need to slow down a lot due to traffic.

If this is your first car, it's even more important to avoid automatic. And get a cheap car (hatchback). Get some practice for a few years then buy suv or sedan.

Could you please explain more on the highlighted part?? I thought geared vehicles aren't good because they put too much strain on the leg used for clutch release. This kind of thing happens in severe traffic only, e.g. Bangalore, where traffic moves really really slow during peak times.

TheSloth said:
Could you please explain more on the highlighted part?? I thought geared vehicles aren't good because they put too much strain on the leg used for clutch release. This kind of thing happens in severe traffic only, e.g. Bangalore, where traffic moves really really slow during peak times.

According to my talk with the garage owner, he said 90 % of automatic cars that are in repair in his possession is because of broken transmission. It happens because we tend to keep brakes on, while slightly accelerating while waiting for traffic to signal green (and other similar scenarios).
Automatic is best for cruising on empty roads, but constantly stopping, and accelerating puts more pressure on automated transmission than manual.
You will see a lot of showrooms trying to sell you automatic versions more than manual because they know automatic do not sell well.

My own bro made that mistake, he bought automatic and im pretty sure the showroom guy lied about manual availability. Do not fall into this pressure.

Btw im not a car guy, but im just relaying what ive been told.

Its a Smart thing to buy and try second hand Car first.
You can also check Cars24. They are highly reputed as they come and inspect the Car (in case of Seller) and will only Sell tested Cars in their website. One of my office friend sold his Car in their website and the service was excellent.

Go for manual transmission as we should learn manual first and then can switch to Automatic.

Take precaution in OLX and only check for OLX certified ones as most of the other Sellers are Scams.

Desmond said:
Welp. I thought there would be some car enthusiasts here who might help. Not very keen on registering for a new forum just for one query.

I'll look into making an account there later if I get no leads.

Why don't you try true value or other manufacturers selling used cars? I think there you can get warranty while buying. Also, you can't just register in teambhp like any normal forums.

Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk

Nerevarine said:
My old intern in pune got a Volkswagen polo with under 10k kms driven for ~2 lakhs

How old was it? A Volkswagen for ~2L seems pretty sus.

Nerevarine said:
And get a cheap car (hatchback)

Yeah, that's the plan. I have been thinking of getting a i10 or WagonR.

jackal_79 said:
Why don't you try true value or other manufacturers selling used cars? I think there you can get warranty while buying.

Is it an official reseller of some brand or just a normal reseller?

jackal_79 said:
Also, you can't just register in teambhp like any normal forums.

As in?

true value is an official branch of maruti udyog limited that deals only in preowned cars-you can give it a try.Suzuki's vehicles are pretty robust and well built and last a fairly long time without requiring much servicing-you could get the newer revisions of wagon R,if you can find one at a decent price.

(ps-is anyone here who likes older cars like the ambassador?is there a market for such cars today?)

Desmond said:
How old was it? A Volkswagen for ~2L seems pretty sus.

Yeah, that's the plan. I have been thinking of getting a i10 or WagonR.

Is it an official reseller of some brand or just a normal reseller?

As in?

Most car manufacturers like maruti, Hyundai, Ford etc have their own shops now selling preowned cars.

Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk

Is it worth getting a discontinued model (circa 2012-2013 model) if I'm getting it cheap? Are there any maintenance implications? I think it will be hard to get spare parts but the cheap cost is hard to resist.

imo never go for used cars as you might dont know what can turn out to be bad in it The seller might not tell you that at the time of purchase and you may regret later.

Desmond said:
Is it worth getting a discontinued model (circa 2012-2013 model) if I'm getting it cheap? Are there any maintenance implications? I think it will be hard to get spare parts but the cheap cost is hard to resist.

Parts availability depends on the manufacturer. A relative had a Maruti Suzuki 800 model from the 80s and he used to get parts until few years ago. True Value has a good reputation when it comes to used cars market. I would suggest stick to manufacturer owned used car shops.

Desmond said:
Is it worth getting a discontinued model (circa 2012-2013 model) if I'm getting it cheap? Are there any maintenance implications? I think it will be hard to get spare parts but the cheap cost is hard to resist.

might be difficult to resell it later

Got a car. Hyundai Grand i10 2015 model. Got it from Spinny. Service was surprisingly quick.

Nice. How much for ?

4.22 lakhs.

Good thing is that Spinny they also give dealer warranty for 1 year and servicing. Also, they say that they have an assured buyback price if sold back to them in a given time frame.

Automatic or manual?

Manual. I think it's better to go manual for learning. I am a noob driver anyway.

Once I get used to this I can consider automatic for my next car.

I recently bought a car using Spinny Max in Delhi and was quite happy with their service. I did pay a little more than I would have got with the competitors but overall I noticed most of their cars were in better shape than the competition.
I also test drove a few cars through Cars24 and they too had some solid features backing them up.

Both Spinny and Cars24 will let you test drive at your place of convenience, offer a 1 week return period and give you insurance for 1 year. Needless to say they also take care of the RC transfer.

I would strongly suggest you try them out.

I did some old school searching too, going to different outlets and checking each car myself. To be honest this would have been cheaper but demands a great amount of effort, time and patience. Also have to go with intuition a lot to know if the car is right or not and get it checked by a mechanic yourself once before closing the deal. A good 3 month search on your own will get you a good car.

Yeah. They have a 5 day no-questions-asked full refund policy as well. Also they provide 12 months warranty and they provide a fixed buyback amount if you sell the car back to them within 6, 12 or 18 months of purchase.

Their benefits are surprisingly good.

I saw a lot of spinny trucks roaming around on roads in Hyderabad. I think lot of people are buying and selling on spinny

Desmond said:
4.22 lakhs.

Good thing is that Spinny they also give dealer warranty for 1 year and servicing. Also, they say that they have an assured buyback price if sold back to them in a given time frame.

Congratulation. Don't know how I missed this post. Glad you went with Spinny.

Any chance of us Digitians getting a ride soon? :clap2:

Sarath said:
Congratulation. Don't know how I missed this post. Glad you went with Spinny.

Any chance of us Digitians getting a ride soon?

Come to Pune.

Sarath said:
I recently bought a car using Spinny Max in Delhi and was quite happy with their service. I did pay a little more than I would have got with the competitors but overall I noticed most of their cars were in better shape than the competition.
I also test drove a few cars through Cars24 and they too had some solid features backing them up.

Both Spinny and Cars24 will let you test drive at your place of convenience, offer a 1 week return period and give you insurance for 1 year. Needless to say they also take care of the RC transfer.

I would strongly suggest you try them out.

I did some old school searching too, going to different outlets and checking each car myself. To be honest this would have been cheaper but demands a great amount of effort, time and patience. Also have to go with intuition a lot to know if the car is right or not and get it checked by a mechanic yourself once before closing the deal. A good 3 month search on your own will get you a good car.

which car you bought and for how much?

Found these articles on Team-BHP useful when buying or selling cars:

Buying: ARTICLE: How to buy a *USED* Car in India
Selling: ARTICLE: How to sell a *USED* car in India

pkkumarcool said:
which car you bought and for how much?

I got a 2016 BMW X1 and paid around 20L for it.

I know I paid a little more than I should for that. Some patience and good research would have fetched me a similar one for 18L easily and as low as 16L if I get really lucky. I was too tired having searched and test driven my initial choice of car Skoda Super L&K 2016 model but couldn't get it down to 15L which was my initial budget for the car. One day I get this call from Spinny Max about this car and I say book it. Then over a month I finalised the purchase without any headaches. I hope there are no more surprises.

Desmond said:
Come to Pune.

Is this statement the origins for a digit meetup :grin:

Sarath said:
I got a 2016 BMW X1 and paid around 20L for it.

I know I paid a little more than I should for that. Some patience and good research would have fetched me a similar one for 18L easily and as low as 16L if I get really lucky. I was too tired having searched and test driven my initial choice of car Skoda Super L&K 2016 model but couldn't get it down to 15L which was my initial budget for the car. One day I get this call from Spinny Max about this car and I say book it. Then over a month I finalised the purchase without any headaches. I hope there are no more surprises.

Is it worth buying such top of the line cars 2nd hand? As in how is spare part and servicing available?

Sarath said:
Is this statement the origins for a digit meetup

Lol. I wish.

Desmond said:
Is it worth buying such top of the line cars 2nd hand? As in how is spare part and servicing available?

Cars below 20L don't depreciate much making more sense to buy them new. That's why I went a segment higher because the depreciation was too much for used cars and it made sense at the time to just get something that you wanted and be done with it.
Spares and servicing will be done by third party providers. I know of many places in Delhi to get them done but have to search for a reliable one in Bangalore now. Spares can be found on boodmo.com

Time will tell if I have bitten more than I can chew.

---

On a seperate note I do own a 2009 Honda City (which I absolutely adore) and a 2010 Honda Jazz and both run beautifully even today. I was planning to get the Jazz replaced as my City was under threat and hence was looking at Hyundai Creta (which I later realised was a much better deal through a friend), then jumped to used Skoda Superb and finally landing on the X1 (due to the pandemic induced fear of missing out)

I will share similar advise that I was given and believe in, do not ever buy any luxury car if you can help it. It is simply not worth your time, even if it is worth your money.

I have heard of boodmo from a couple of friends. Is it really that reliable? And you can get any spare part for any vehicle? Also, are the spare parts official or from third party manufacturers?

M

Desmond said:
And you can get any spare part for any vehicle?

Availability of spare parts depends on the make and model of the car.

Desmond said:
Also, are the spare parts official or from third party manufacturers?

Official

What I would like to know is the reliability and pricing from those who have used Boodmo extensively.

How are they able to offer discounts if OEM sells at MRP?

Even I haven't used it personally. Will hopefully not have to use it anytime soon but if I do, I'll update accordingly.

In some news, I have sold the Grand i10 that I posted about earlier. Now I am looking to buy another one, perhaps an i20.

I found an Elite i20 on Spinny, 2017 model, 97k KMs for 5.84 lakhs. I test drove it and it feels good enough for a commuter car. Some shortcomings seem to be lack of rear disc brakes but otherwise feels okay.

Does this seem like a good deal or should I keep looking.

I tried a 2018 Honda Jazz V MT (52k KM, 6.14 lakhs) before this but I found it too uncomfortable to drive. Might fallback on this if I don't get any other options.

Desmond said:
In some news, I have sold the Grand i10 that I posted about earlier. Now I am looking to buy another one, perhaps an i20.

I found an Elite i20 on Spinny, 2017 model, 97k KMs for 5.84 lakhs. I test drove it and it feels good enough for a commuter car. Some shortcomings seem to be lack of rear disc brakes but otherwise feels okay.

Does this seem like a good deal or should I keep looking.

I tried a 2018 Honda Jazz V MT (52k KM, 6.14 lakhs) before this but I found it too uncomfortable to drive. Might fallback on this if I don't get any other options.

Sorry I dont know if the deal is good or not. Though I have a question, what was uncomfortable when you drove Jazz?

Steering is stiff and angle of sharp turns seems off. Driving control layout was a bit weird. I might be able to get used to it but am looking for other options for now.

I haven't posted here in a while, but I had bought an 2019 registered Elite i20 diesel variant about 2 months after the previous post.

This car feels pretty good to drive, smooth steering and pretty good highway performance. I even drove it from Pune to Nagpur and back over the Samruddhi expressway (appx 12-14 hours of driving) back in December.

Desmond said:
I haven't posted here in a while, but I had bought an 2019 registered Elite i20 diesel variant about 2 months after the previous post.

This car feels pretty good to drive, smooth steering and pretty good highway performance. I even drove it from Pune to Nagpur and back over the Samruddhi expressway (appx 12-14 hours of driving) back in December.

Nice for how much did you bought it??

Desmond said:
I haven't posted here in a while, but I had bought an 2019 registered Elite i20 diesel variant about 2 months after the previous post.

This car feels pretty good to drive, smooth steering and pretty good highway performance. I even drove it from Pune to Nagpur and back over the Samruddhi expressway (appx 12-14 hours of driving) back in December.

Me too, I bought a 2022 registered i20 asta optional for 8 lakhs. Its a showroom display model, under 10k driven. Mostly dad will use it and me, when im in homecity.

pkkumarcool said:
Nice for how much did you bought it??

Around 7.8L. Sportz variant.

Nerevarine said:
Me too, I bought a 2022 registered i20 asta optional for 8 lakhs. Its a showroom display model, under 10k driven. Mostly dad will use it and me, when im in homecity.

Nice.

Though I am thinking of getting an N-Line next. Test drove it and it really feels sporty. Lavish interiors and the performance bursts when you step on the gas, even with a 1 liter petrol engine. However, the dealer only had an automatic for the test drive and I wish they had a manual.

They were quoting 13L on-road and I am a bit too broke right now for getting a first hand. But I heard rumours of a 2024 facelift planned to be announced by Hyundai sometime mid-year, so waiting to see what they cook up. I might consider buying if I can save enough over a couple of more months.

@Desmond After spending nearly 8L, you will change your car again and spend 13L?
Why not buy new car as first car instead of used?

Used car has its benefits, if you are a new driver you should go used. Because there will be dents and scratches in early driving. Better do it on a used car than a brand new one.

Also what I saw, you can get absolutely good deals in the used car market which are nearly brand new. In my case, the car was a showroom display model with all seats and interiors covered in plastic. It was as new as it could get, and getting it for 8L along with warranty and insurance was a steal.

TheSloth said:
@Desmond After spending nearly 8L, you will change your car again and spend 13L?
Why not buy new car as first car instead of used?

I was talking about new car only. You won't get second hand N-line for 13L.

2nd hand cars are priced so high that I could add 3L more and buy new one.

TheSloth said:
2nd hand cars are priced so high that I could add 3L more and buy new one.

Just research well, you will get amazing deals. If you are a first time buyer, buy second hand only. Something cheap to get practice. Then buy the best car in your budget after a year or two.

I also suggest to try for display models in showrooms, negotiation would be extremely easy, for them getting rid of these models is just another job they want to get it over with asap, unlike private sellers who have an attachment to their cars who will not budge even 5k.

Don't know about other brands, but for Hyundai the display models are almost always automatic. So if you are looking for manual then you'll most likely be out of luck in that regard.

Desmond said:
Don't know about other brands, but for Hyundai the display models are almost always automatic. So if you are looking for manual then you'll most likely be out of luck in that regard.

Nope, they have a range of models, I have manual. i20 asta optional. Just go to their pre-owned section, they will have a list not only display models but people that exchanged their old cars.

In my case, there was a top model verna too, and that was REALLY REALLY tempting. But in my parents apartments, there isnt parking space for 2 big cars. So I opted for i20 asta opt.

Just wanted to add, that if you are working in a good company (probably MNC), and are tenured, checkout if your company have car policy. In such policies, you can get a car leased from company and on loan for 5 yrs. But since the EMI is paid by company it never reaches your salary, and you end up saving loads on tax, plus fuel reimbursements.
For those who are eligible, it's not worth getting 2nd hand car and straight away apply for car from company policy.