Car buying in India for NRIs
Information on buying - gifting cars in India by non residents
NRIs - Buying - Gifting a car in India
How does Maruti Suzuki Gift a program for NRIs work?
As I visit India quite often and require transportation during my visit, I decided to purchase a car for my use. I decided to buy a Maruti Swift as I had heard great reviews about this car. I decided to try and get the vehicle using the NRI car purchase program called ‘DIL SE' that is advertised by Maruti.
To keep this article brief here are the highlights.
Since I did not want to wait for several weeks for
the car I decided to call Maruti head office in Delhi to confirm that a
car would be available within a few days. I did not want to pay for the
car and not be able to use it before returning to USA.
Mr. Sachin Bargoa from Wonder Cars Pune.
On October 14, 2007 I called Mr. Pratul Kumar Jain who is the Project Manager for the ‘Dil Se’ program in Delhi. His contact number is 30480492. Mr. Jain confirmed that there would be no extended waiting period.
The NRI Maruti car purchase program requires that the car be ordered via their website (http://www.marutinri.com/index.html)
DIL SE Program Timeline
1. On October 15, 2007 I logged on to the Maruti
website and placed an order
for a Maruti Swift car. I made the payments using my
Master Card. The
total cost of the Maruti Swift VXI car came to Rs 4,
34,111.00. RTO costs are
extra and are paid in India by recipient of car.
2. Four days later on October 19, 2007 I received a
call from a representative
of a local car dealership requesting an appointment to come
and collect the
money required for registration of the car I was purchasing
with the RTO
office.
3. On October 22, 2007 a representative of Maruti
dealership Wonder Cars in
Pune visited me at my residence. We discussed the additional
options for the
car I was purchasing and the money required to be paid for
the road tax and
registration of the vehicle. I was asked to make the payment
for the road
tax and registration and pay for the selected options after
the car was
delivered. Amount paid for RTO was Rs 33,363.00.
4. On October 31, 2007 the car was delivered to my
residence by Mr. Sachin
Bargoa of Wonder cars Pune. The car was delivered with
ribbons and
balloons. The dealership also sent the traditional coconut
and limes etc used
by many Indians when taking delivery of new vehicles.
While it took 16 days to get delivery of the car, I
would like to point out that the Maruti Swift is manufactured near
Delhi. Since I had ordered the car for delivery in Pune, the travel time
from Delhi to Pune by road is approximately six days.
So how is the Maruti Swift? I really like the car. It is indeed a pleasure to drive.
When comparing prices of cars in India, don’t get mislead by advertised discounts on cars. Unless the discounts are directly offered by the manufacturer of the vehicle, I found there were no real discounts offered by car dealerships.
Discounts advertised by dealers only come into play when you finance the vehicle. The finance company makes up the discount it initially offers you to buy the vehicle by charging a hefty interest rate on your car loan.
If you are an NRI thinking of gifting a car or purchasing one for yourself check out the Maruti gift a car program. You can save some money buying with this program. I saved a total of Rupees 12,000 on my car purchase when compared to local dealer prices that I was quoted.
The process is simple and takes only a few minutes after logging on to the Maruti website.
1. Sign up with your email ID to create an account number.
2. Select Car of your Choice.
3. Generate a quote for the car.
4. Enter name of the person you would like to give
the car to. (In my case I put
my own name.)
5. Select a payment method. (I used my credit card.)
6. Car is delivered to your designated address by local Maruti dealer.
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