Today will be exactly one year since I bought my car Hyundai Getz GLS. More than 6000km run till date and it is going simply superb. There are some memories to share about why I decided to go for Getz and the whole process involved in buying the CAR.
It was a DREAM...
Being born and brought up in middle class family in moderate city, I never imagined that I would own a car in 25 and half years. The only car I saw in the road almost 20 years back was Ambassador. Maruti cars were seen only in movies those days. The first time when I went in car is almost at the age of 11 years and that was in 1992 during one of the RICH relative marriage ceremony. Luckily I got a chance to travel in car for about 6-7km. It was a moment of happiness to enjoy the luxury of Ambassador. After that I don’t remember any occasion where I got chance to travel in CAR.
After I shifted to Bangalore for my profession, seeing car became very common. Around 25% of the traffic population was occupied by Cars. Car was not at all affordable with the kind of pay package I had during my initial. After I bough VICTOR in August 2003, I started enjoying the bike ride in Bangalore roads. Going to different part of Bangalore victoriously in victor was nice. Especially parking was very easy in all the places. After almost 2 years of ride on Victor, I started thinking on some small budget car. By this time two of my friends have already bought the car. One of my friends Abhi going for BIG Ford fusion (7.1lacks) in September 2005 was an inspiration. We friends started enjoying the drive in FF (Ford fusion) with couple of long drives out side Karnataka. So every time I went for the drive, I wanted to buy one but always the budget was a constraint with the other heavy investments here and there.
Shaping the DREAM
Then came year 2006 and on September 18th 2006, I was completing 25 the year. I wanted to gift some thing big myself. Car was really cool stuff to gift myself. So really started hunting for the good deal. I had lot of options ranging from Maruti Alto, Zen, WagonR,Swift, Hyundai Santro, Getzs. Alto was costing around 3.4lacks, Zen was 4.3 lacks, Santro was 4 lacks, and Getz was 5.2 lacks. Other cars were way above my affordability. The only car looked more promising compared with my budget was Santro. With all these, some how I could not gift my self on my 25the birthday because of some other personal commitments.
I continued my hunting on the car. At some point of time, I thought I should go for second hand car with one lack budget. One of my friends Venu who is in Maruti helped me to get some deals. When I went to "Maruti true value" most of the cars were more than lack and half. Only that I could get for a lack was 1997 models and it was almost 10 years old car. After seeing couple of old cars I really removed second hand car from my head. So I again started short listing the car.
These few are my priorities. Not more that 4.5lacks, good space for family to sit in the back, low maintenance and preferable low running cost. As said earlier Santro was the first choice but some how I had a feeling NOT buy Santro. It was because of number of Santro on the Bangalore road. WagonR was a good Car but I though it is little over priced. During early 2007, there was WagonR Dual which was new model . This had the LPG fitted cylinders. So the running cost would have been very low. I got interested in this model and enquired the model. It was costing 4.6lacks without music system. In the same time, Chevrolet had launched U-VA model in India. This was in somewhere January 2007. During that time I had actually completed my car driving and learnt the driving. So I went for taking the test drive. It was good car but brand new in India. I would have been one of the first one to buy it. As usual I did not want to take the risk. This was costing 5lcks for the high end. Swift was good car but the inside space was not worth the money. Interiors and Engineering of swift was amazing but some how I kept swift out of my mind. One of colleague had Getz. Whenever we went for the team dinner I used to sit in his car. Every time I sat in his Getz, I felt this is the most comfortable car in that segment. Of course it was coasting lack and a half more compared to the mid segment but it was worth for its inside comforts. So with all these finally I short listed Getzs and UVA. When I compared these two cars engineering specs and the money, UVA sounded good. But since this was new, I decided for the Getz.
Realizing the DREAM
This was in February 2007.Finally I was all set to go for the Getz. I started looking for the good deals. I went to Hyundai web site to see more about the specification. Actually when I was buying Getz,Hyundai was trying to bring the new model of Getz called as Getz Prime with 1.1lts and 1.3 lts. But I was not ready to wait for it. I had waited enough to buy the car.
There were total four variants GLE, GVS, GLS and GLX. Below were the on road prices for each of the segment. .
GLE 4,92,160
GVS 5,28,156
GLS 5,53,636
GLX 5,98,676
As you all know there are only 2 Hyundai show rooms in Bangalore. Advaita and Trident. I went to Advaita MG road for the test drive. But some how, I was not convinced with the dealer. He was not offering me much. So I again contacted Trident for the better deal. The dealer Pratap(9945655666) actually came to my office for making the deal. By this time I had decide on the Getz GVS. This had the features like all four doors power windows, Power drive, AC. What it did not had compared to GLS was Defogger, Rear spoiler, Rear wiper, Digital clock, Seat back pocket, Body colored door handles, Body colored mirror, front fog lamps.
It was coasting me 5,28,156. Pratep agreed to give me total on 29k cash discount along with the remote locking. So finally car was costing near to 5,00,000. This was really stretch for me. I didn’t had much of liquid cash for the down payment. But still I took the decision to go ahead. So I finalized the deal. But after some one week when I visited the specification again, I felt if I pay 25k more I can get more features. Not all features were really required but I think it was worth 25k. So I called up Pratap and asked hime to change my model from GVS to GLS. There were only two things missing in my Car compared to GLX which was the highest end. It was Alloy wheels and ABS. These two were costing 35k more. So I though it is not worth going for GLX. So finally Getz GLS was my choice. This costed me 523000 after 29k discounts. This deal did not include the music system. Getz doe not come with the in built music system.
Mean while during the period I went to US for my business travel. So I decide to buy the music player(also called a Dash player) from US. Sony has been always my favorite brand. I never had any gadget from Sony in my electronic gadget library. So this time I wanted to go only for the Sony. These were my requirement.s Good display, preferable direct USB connectivity, Auxiliary cable connectivity for my iPod, MP3 player is must and DVD was optional. The best one suited for me was Sony CDX-GT510 and it was costing me Rs 6800. So I bought this. Please visit http://www.xplodsony.com/xplod/headunits/CDX-GT510 for more technical specification. Also for all the Sony models visit http://sm.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Group/ProductMenu.aspx?g=300&tp=5685.
The Finance Aspect:
After returning from US, I started looking for the better loan rates. I was buying in the time when interest rates were very high. It was around 12%. I wanted the maximum possible loan. Most banks were giving 90% Ex show room or 80% on road price. This was again subjected to your salary and the other loans you have. I went for the loan amount of around 4.45 lacks. For a loan for 4.45lacks with 12% and 5 years tenure EMI was coming to Rs 9899. This was little high for my monthly budget. So I started looking for 7 years loan. Only SBI was offering 7 years that time So I contacted them. So My EMI came to Rs 7855. This was around 2000 less than the previous one and it was well within my monthly finance planning. Only problem with the SBI was slow loan processing. So it took almost 20 days to process my loan. If I had gone with ICICI loan it would have been over in just 5 days. But my wait was worth waiting because of my EMI calculations.
On 28th Feb 2007 I visited Trident for the final down payment. Car speaker decision was still pending. I wanted to put the good one. Getzs car have slots for both front and back speakers near the door. Usually all the cars come with front speaker slot in the door. But my dealer advised me to go for the back oval speakers rather than round speakers for the better effect. These speakers would sit on backside on back seat. I agreed for it. I went for the JBL speakers. JBL speakers are known for the car speakers compared to Sony. It coasted me more than 10k. But I just thought I should spend for the better comfort. So my CAR coasted me total of 5,40,000 after discount and music system. I made the down payment of 88k and Pratap agreed to deliver on March 3rd 2007.
Dream comes true:
The day 3rd March 2007 came finally. Actually my parents told me to post pone the day as it was Not so auspicious day. Since I do not believe too much in those things, I decide to take on the same day. It was more of convenience rather that a GOOD day. Since I was not master in the driving I took 3 of my friends along with my sister. I reached the show room at 10am. As promised CAR was ready for the delivery. I made the final formality by signing some papers. Pratap GOT the key along with his General Manager. One of Trident colleague performed formal pooja. General Manager handed over the key to me. It was all simply superbly arranged. I was on top of the world to see my Silver colored Getz GLS. I took few tips from my friends who were already experts in driving. I took the CAR to Hebbal to meet one of my friend. I was driving with tensed mood. There were many tips from the friends while driving. After having the lunch I announced to sponsor the most Romantic Kannada Movie “Mungaru Male” to all my friends. So we drove all the way back to Banashankari Kamakya theatre. I even went to my other friend home Rajarajeswari to show my car to aunty. After watching the movie I was with my sister. I was little tensed to drive back home but took it very easy and drove back home safely.
It was a DREAM...
Being born and brought up in middle class family in moderate city, I never imagined that I would own a car in 25 and half years. The only car I saw in the road almost 20 years back was Ambassador. Maruti cars were seen only in movies those days. The first time when I went in car is almost at the age of 11 years and that was in 1992 during one of the RICH relative marriage ceremony. Luckily I got a chance to travel in car for about 6-7km. It was a moment of happiness to enjoy the luxury of Ambassador. After that I don’t remember any occasion where I got chance to travel in CAR.
After I shifted to Bangalore for my profession, seeing car became very common. Around 25% of the traffic population was occupied by Cars. Car was not at all affordable with the kind of pay package I had during my initial. After I bough VICTOR in August 2003, I started enjoying the bike ride in Bangalore roads. Going to different part of Bangalore victoriously in victor was nice. Especially parking was very easy in all the places. After almost 2 years of ride on Victor, I started thinking on some small budget car. By this time two of my friends have already bought the car. One of my friends Abhi going for BIG Ford fusion (7.1lacks) in September 2005 was an inspiration. We friends started enjoying the drive in FF (Ford fusion) with couple of long drives out side Karnataka. So every time I went for the drive, I wanted to buy one but always the budget was a constraint with the other heavy investments here and there.
Shaping the DREAM
Then came year 2006 and on September 18th 2006, I was completing 25 the year. I wanted to gift some thing big myself. Car was really cool stuff to gift myself. So really started hunting for the good deal. I had lot of options ranging from Maruti Alto, Zen, WagonR,Swift, Hyundai Santro, Getzs. Alto was costing around 3.4lacks, Zen was 4.3 lacks, Santro was 4 lacks, and Getz was 5.2 lacks. Other cars were way above my affordability. The only car looked more promising compared with my budget was Santro. With all these, some how I could not gift my self on my 25the birthday because of some other personal commitments.
I continued my hunting on the car. At some point of time, I thought I should go for second hand car with one lack budget. One of my friends Venu who is in Maruti helped me to get some deals. When I went to "Maruti true value" most of the cars were more than lack and half. Only that I could get for a lack was 1997 models and it was almost 10 years old car. After seeing couple of old cars I really removed second hand car from my head. So I again started short listing the car.
These few are my priorities. Not more that 4.5lacks, good space for family to sit in the back, low maintenance and preferable low running cost. As said earlier Santro was the first choice but some how I had a feeling NOT buy Santro. It was because of number of Santro on the Bangalore road. WagonR was a good Car but I though it is little over priced. During early 2007, there was WagonR Dual which was new model . This had the LPG fitted cylinders. So the running cost would have been very low. I got interested in this model and enquired the model. It was costing 4.6lacks without music system. In the same time, Chevrolet had launched U-VA model in India. This was in somewhere January 2007. During that time I had actually completed my car driving and learnt the driving. So I went for taking the test drive. It was good car but brand new in India. I would have been one of the first one to buy it. As usual I did not want to take the risk. This was costing 5lcks for the high end. Swift was good car but the inside space was not worth the money. Interiors and Engineering of swift was amazing but some how I kept swift out of my mind. One of colleague had Getz. Whenever we went for the team dinner I used to sit in his car. Every time I sat in his Getz, I felt this is the most comfortable car in that segment. Of course it was coasting lack and a half more compared to the mid segment but it was worth for its inside comforts. So with all these finally I short listed Getzs and UVA. When I compared these two cars engineering specs and the money, UVA sounded good. But since this was new, I decided for the Getz.
Realizing the DREAM
This was in February 2007.Finally I was all set to go for the Getz. I started looking for the good deals. I went to Hyundai web site to see more about the specification. Actually when I was buying Getz,Hyundai was trying to bring the new model of Getz called as Getz Prime with 1.1lts and 1.3 lts. But I was not ready to wait for it. I had waited enough to buy the car.
There were total four variants GLE, GVS, GLS and GLX. Below were the on road prices for each of the segment. .
GLE 4,92,160
GVS 5,28,156
GLS 5,53,636
GLX 5,98,676
As you all know there are only 2 Hyundai show rooms in Bangalore. Advaita and Trident. I went to Advaita MG road for the test drive. But some how, I was not convinced with the dealer. He was not offering me much. So I again contacted Trident for the better deal. The dealer Pratap(9945655666) actually came to my office for making the deal. By this time I had decide on the Getz GVS. This had the features like all four doors power windows, Power drive, AC. What it did not had compared to GLS was Defogger, Rear spoiler, Rear wiper, Digital clock, Seat back pocket, Body colored door handles, Body colored mirror, front fog lamps.
It was coasting me 5,28,156. Pratep agreed to give me total on 29k cash discount along with the remote locking. So finally car was costing near to 5,00,000. This was really stretch for me. I didn’t had much of liquid cash for the down payment. But still I took the decision to go ahead. So I finalized the deal. But after some one week when I visited the specification again, I felt if I pay 25k more I can get more features. Not all features were really required but I think it was worth 25k. So I called up Pratap and asked hime to change my model from GVS to GLS. There were only two things missing in my Car compared to GLX which was the highest end. It was Alloy wheels and ABS. These two were costing 35k more. So I though it is not worth going for GLX. So finally Getz GLS was my choice. This costed me 523000 after 29k discounts. This deal did not include the music system. Getz doe not come with the in built music system.
Mean while during the period I went to US for my business travel. So I decide to buy the music player(also called a Dash player) from US. Sony has been always my favorite brand. I never had any gadget from Sony in my electronic gadget library. So this time I wanted to go only for the Sony. These were my requirement.s Good display, preferable direct USB connectivity, Auxiliary cable connectivity for my iPod, MP3 player is must and DVD was optional. The best one suited for me was Sony CDX-GT510 and it was costing me Rs 6800. So I bought this. Please visit http://www.xplodsony.com/xplod/headunits/CDX-GT510 for more technical specification. Also for all the Sony models visit http://sm.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Group/ProductMenu.aspx?g=300&tp=5685.
The Finance Aspect:
After returning from US, I started looking for the better loan rates. I was buying in the time when interest rates were very high. It was around 12%. I wanted the maximum possible loan. Most banks were giving 90% Ex show room or 80% on road price. This was again subjected to your salary and the other loans you have. I went for the loan amount of around 4.45 lacks. For a loan for 4.45lacks with 12% and 5 years tenure EMI was coming to Rs 9899. This was little high for my monthly budget. So I started looking for 7 years loan. Only SBI was offering 7 years that time So I contacted them. So My EMI came to Rs 7855. This was around 2000 less than the previous one and it was well within my monthly finance planning. Only problem with the SBI was slow loan processing. So it took almost 20 days to process my loan. If I had gone with ICICI loan it would have been over in just 5 days. But my wait was worth waiting because of my EMI calculations.
On 28th Feb 2007 I visited Trident for the final down payment. Car speaker decision was still pending. I wanted to put the good one. Getzs car have slots for both front and back speakers near the door. Usually all the cars come with front speaker slot in the door. But my dealer advised me to go for the back oval speakers rather than round speakers for the better effect. These speakers would sit on backside on back seat. I agreed for it. I went for the JBL speakers. JBL speakers are known for the car speakers compared to Sony. It coasted me more than 10k. But I just thought I should spend for the better comfort. So my CAR coasted me total of 5,40,000 after discount and music system. I made the down payment of 88k and Pratap agreed to deliver on March 3rd 2007.
Dream comes true:
The day 3rd March 2007 came finally. Actually my parents told me to post pone the day as it was Not so auspicious day. Since I do not believe too much in those things, I decide to take on the same day. It was more of convenience rather that a GOOD day. Since I was not master in the driving I took 3 of my friends along with my sister. I reached the show room at 10am. As promised CAR was ready for the delivery. I made the final formality by signing some papers. Pratap GOT the key along with his General Manager. One of Trident colleague performed formal pooja. General Manager handed over the key to me. It was all simply superbly arranged. I was on top of the world to see my Silver colored Getz GLS. I took few tips from my friends who were already experts in driving. I took the CAR to Hebbal to meet one of my friend. I was driving with tensed mood. There were many tips from the friends while driving. After having the lunch I announced to sponsor the most Romantic Kannada Movie “Mungaru Male” to all my friends. So we drove all the way back to Banashankari Kamakya theatre. I even went to my other friend home Rajarajeswari to show my car to aunty. After watching the movie I was with my sister. I was little tensed to drive back home but took it very easy and drove back home safely.
A leaving Note on Dream
The March 3rd 2007 became the most memorable day of my life. This was a day where I realized a guy from middle class can buy a CAR at the age of 25 and half, it was a day to realize my unimagined dream in my child hood. It was a day to remember my parents for their support and care. It was a day to celebrate and enjoy. Now it is one year and till that sense of achievement and celebration still remains in MY HEART.
IF YOU ARE...
If you are buying your first car and you want any expert advice/openion, I am more that happy to help you out.
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