Thread Starter
#1
Hi All
Being a newbie to the forum, I'm elated to post the ownership of my beloved (p)ride - Chevy Optra 1.8 LT Automatic! It was a long pending dream to own a car (everyone's as well). I've been fascinated by cars always and I could spend any time admiring cars
Having owned a Honda Activa as a 2 wheeler I'd always loved Honda as a reliable auto manufacturer - trust me I'm owning 2 Activa's and both are gem of a machines!
Having bitten by the bug of owning a car since my childhood, I've been waiting for the right opportunity to snatch it! It became a long waited dream, since my professional reward (read salary) didn't give me a chance to make the dream the reality.
So what am I looking for in my car?
Come 2012 - moving on to a better organization from the previous one, meant better financial stability and the bug that was dormant inside me slowly started waking up - then personal commitments of buying a own house in Chennai forced me to push the bug back to sleep (for a while though)
2013 - May - the bug woke up inside me without a warning and my head started spinning looking (read drooling) at all the cars on the road! It had bitten me so strong that I started troubling my Home minister (WIFEY) on a hourly basis!
Jun - Home minister finally gave into me, on one condition - NO NEW CAR at this stage! It's either a good second hand car or nothing!
My dreams of adding another member to the already existing Honda family was getting a little troublesome - tried different ways of getting approval (getting jewels etc.,), but the home minister wasn't ready to oblige to any forms of bribery!
So started my search for a used car - budget was 2 Lacs (not a penny more, not a penny less)![[frustration]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Frustration.gif "Frustration [frustration]")
Very few cars seemed to match my criteria! Among them, most were hatchbacks, which I somehow felt not matching my interests
The search went on for the next 3 - 4 weeks - nothing seem to materialize! The fort of dreams seem to shatter in front of me! I even decided to put the bug back to dormancy!
One evening, was killing time searching for used cars in carwale.com! Many cars were listed down (mostly hatchbacks) felt like a doom to my dream.... refreshed the page ...WAIT - there was something which showed up in black, looked like a Sedan too![[clap]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Clap.gif "Clap [clap]")
.I was suddenly having a ![[evil]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Evil.gif "Evil [evil]")
smile! Called my home minister - showed her the car!
It was a 2004 Chevrolet Optra 1.8 LT Automatic posted some 10 mins earlier by the dealer on the site! Quoted price was 2.5 L! Was skeptical about the resale value of the car! Hell - Why would I sell a car which meets all my requirements (sedan, top end model with Sunroof,excellent rear seating, all disc brakes,AUTOMATIC)
Decided to check out the car - call up the dealer in OMR fix the appointment on Sun!
Now - called up my friends to accompany me for the evaluation of the car (I might miss out a lot due to the excitement)! The 3 musketeers reach the dealership by 9.30 - the dealer hands over the key to us for a test drive.I ask my friend to drive the car while I sit inside with my senses sharpened for any issues - used cars are meant to have issues!
Any issues - AC not working - pulled up the car to the dealer, told him that the AC is not working! He agrees to fix it!
Other than that neither of us felt anything gone wrong! Hardly any scratches on the body, seats look good!Tyres look OK!
Will need to go for a Service post purchase!
Now the pre final phase - negotiation! We asked for 1.8 L (based on the model 1.8 LT), dealer not ready to budge! We say we book the car right away if we get a good deal - 30 min of hard negotiation and finally agreed upon 2L as the final price, including the dealer's commission.Phew!
Informed home about the purchase, ALL IS WELL!
Transferred the amount online to the dealer by Mon! Sleepless nights until Fri (D-day) auspicious reasons!
Friday morning - left to the dealer by 9.00 AM. There was my ride all washed, polished and gleaming awaiting me!
Checked the AC - was working fine!
Did a quick PDI to ensure nothing was left out by me!
Took the vehicle before the auspicious time was over and straight to a temple on the GST road! Did a customary pooja and came back home and parked it!
Being a newbie to the forum, I'm elated to post the ownership of my beloved (p)ride - Chevy Optra 1.8 LT Automatic! It was a long pending dream to own a car (everyone's as well). I've been fascinated by cars always and I could spend any time admiring cars
Having owned a Honda Activa as a 2 wheeler I'd always loved Honda as a reliable auto manufacturer - trust me I'm owning 2 Activa's and both are gem of a machines!
Having bitten by the bug of owning a car since my childhood, I've been waiting for the right opportunity to snatch it! It became a long waited dream, since my professional reward (read salary) didn't give me a chance to make the dream the reality.
So what am I looking for in my car?
Come 2012 - moving on to a better organization from the previous one, meant better financial stability and the bug that was dormant inside me slowly started waking up - then personal commitments of buying a own house in Chennai forced me to push the bug back to sleep (for a while though)
2013 - May - the bug woke up inside me without a warning and my head started spinning looking (read drooling) at all the cars on the road! It had bitten me so strong that I started troubling my Home minister (WIFEY) on a hourly basis!
Jun - Home minister finally gave into me, on one condition - NO NEW CAR at this stage! It's either a good second hand car or nothing!
My dreams of adding another member to the already existing Honda family was getting a little troublesome - tried different ways of getting approval (getting jewels etc.,), but the home minister wasn't ready to oblige to any forms of bribery!
So started my search for a used car - budget was 2 Lacs (not a penny more, not a penny less)
Very few cars seemed to match my criteria! Among them, most were hatchbacks, which I somehow felt not matching my interests
The search went on for the next 3 - 4 weeks - nothing seem to materialize! The fort of dreams seem to shatter in front of me! I even decided to put the bug back to dormancy!
One evening, was killing time searching for used cars in carwale.com! Many cars were listed down (mostly hatchbacks) felt like a doom to my dream.... refreshed the page ...WAIT - there was something which showed up in black, looked like a Sedan too
.I was suddenly having a smile! Called my home minister - showed her the car!It was a 2004 Chevrolet Optra 1.8 LT Automatic posted some 10 mins earlier by the dealer on the site! Quoted price was 2.5 L! Was skeptical about the resale value of the car! Hell - Why would I sell a car which meets all my requirements (sedan, top end model with Sunroof,excellent rear seating, all disc brakes,AUTOMATIC)
Decided to check out the car - call up the dealer in OMR fix the appointment on Sun!
Now - called up my friends to accompany me for the evaluation of the car (I might miss out a lot due to the excitement)! The 3 musketeers reach the dealership by 9.30 - the dealer hands over the key to us for a test drive.I ask my friend to drive the car while I sit inside with my senses sharpened for any issues - used cars are meant to have issues!
Any issues - AC not working - pulled up the car to the dealer, told him that the AC is not working! He agrees to fix it!
Other than that neither of us felt anything gone wrong! Hardly any scratches on the body, seats look good!Tyres look OK!
Will need to go for a Service post purchase!
Now the pre final phase - negotiation! We asked for 1.8 L (based on the model 1.8 LT), dealer not ready to budge! We say we book the car right away if we get a good deal - 30 min of hard negotiation and finally agreed upon 2L as the final price, including the dealer's commission.Phew!
Informed home about the purchase, ALL IS WELL!
Transferred the amount online to the dealer by Mon! Sleepless nights until Fri (D-day) auspicious reasons!
Friday morning - left to the dealer by 9.00 AM. There was my ride all washed, polished and gleaming awaiting me!
Checked the AC - was working fine!
Did a quick PDI to ensure nothing was left out by me!
Took the vehicle before the auspicious time was over and straight to a temple on the GST road! Did a customary pooja and came back home and parked it!
![[:)]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Smile.gif "Smile [:)]")
![[lol]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Laugh.gif "Laugh [lol]")
- the ride has improved drastically after the service! The cost of service was much cheaper than that of the authorized dealer, as they quoted 98K excluding the labour cost for the same ![[anger]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Anger.gif "Anger [anger]")
... Expect some more pics of my pride, after the long trip this weekend!