Pimp My Ride

As I mentioned in a previous message I went looking for a car to buy yesterday. My day started off earlier than predicted. I had asked Selvam (the autorick driver who was going to take me shopping) to pick me up at 9.30 a.m. however at 5 to 9 (having only just that minute got out of bed), the doorbell rang and Selvam was here to pick me up! I asked him to wait while I quickly got showered and dressed ... no time for breakfast!

We set off at 9.15 and drove across the city to a car showroom. We arrived there at 10.30 (ish). I had a look at all the cars they had to offer ... when I say 'all' - there were only about 20 in total. They had a variety of cars (mostly Indian made) such as Maruti, Tata Indicar, Ford Icon etc. While I was waiting for the salesman (who was going to help me) to arrive at work (they don't work the same hours as the UK - everyone is much more laid back here); a car arrived in the showroom. It had just come on the market and was a Hyundai Santro 2000 model. Selvam was telling me he thought I was very lucky to have first pick at a car that hadn't even gone on to the shop floor. So, he told me to sit in the front, which I did, and the salesman arrived to take us for a test drive. We drove for about 15 minutes before ... wait for it ... the car broke down. Well, that's what we thought until the guy realised it had no petrol in it! We were on a main road so they just pushed it to the side and he called for someone from the showroom to come and pick us up. It was really hot so we opened all the windows. The next minute, this huge green and white bus drove past us and all the fumes from his exhaust pipe filled our car! It was so bad that I couldn't actually see Selvam and the salesman, so I had to get out of the car. After about 20 minutes, another car arrived to take us back to the showroom. Funnily enough, Selvam said to me 'this car, no good ma'am'- I think I'd figured that one out for myself! It would probably be alright with a tank of fuel but I didn't have the time or the inclination to find out. Anyway, Selvam was telling me that the Hyundai Santro is a good make of car which is cost effective and it's easy to replace parts so I had a look at another one on the shop floor. It was nearly twice the price of the first one and an older model, so I told him it cost too much. Out of all the other cars I looked at, they were either overpriced or in bad condition. Then the salesman made a phone call and two more Hyundai Santros turned up. A metallic blue-green one, which looked good and a white one, which had definitely seen a couple of minor accidents! So, we took the blue-green one for a test drive.

The drive was nice and the engine sounded good, the interior was ok and in good condition and the a/c was good (which is a must in this country). So I called Penri to see if he wanted to check out the car. He agreed so we decided to drive the Santro over to Kottivakkam to our house to pick him up.

We got to the house and Penri came out and took the car for a test drive along the beach. He complained that the car was much smaller than he thought and he wasn't too keen on it. I tried to explain to him that it really was the best I'd seen within our price range, but he wasn't sold on the idea. So, when we got back to the house, I suggested he come back to the showroom with us.

The four of us got in the car and drove back across the city to the showroom. We had a look around all the other cars and Penri said there was nothing there he liked within our price range. The problem with car showrooms in India (and well, actually most places in India), there are no prices on things, so when we were asking how much is this car, how much is that car? It was like the woman was coming up with numbers off the top of her head. The thing that really put us off was Penri asked how much one of the Tata Indicars was and when she told him the price, it was 1 lakh (about £1000) more than the salesman had told me that morning. Penri lost his temper then and told Selvam to take us to other car showrooms and we left.

We drove around looking for another showroom but before we found any, we had to go to fix Selvam's autorick as there was problem with it. After an hour and a half of driving around in the rick we still hadn't found another car showroom. So, Selvam stopped and asked someone who directed us back to T.Nagar (the area the first showroom was in). We drove back there and looked at 3 or 4 other showrooms, who were even worse than the first one! They were completely trying to rip us off. Selvam spoke to us and said the first showroom was probably our best bet as the sales people see a white face and automatically double the prices (Selvam's words). So, we agreed and went back to the first showroom.

We had a look at a couple of other cars and then Penri negotiated the price on the blue-green Hyundai Santro that I had found that morning and brought home to show him. We spent a couple of hours sorting out all the paperwork and payments etc before we managed to leave the showroom. By now it was 6 p.m.

The back two tyres on the car were worn right down so the first thing we had to do was go and get new tyres (which we did, with Selvam in the car to help us go to the right place and get the right price). From there we went and had black film put on the windows (as many people do in India). It makes the a/c more efficient and it stops people staring at you. This was the most hilarious part of the day. We had pulled over so that Selvam could go and check whether we were in the right place to get the film done and this traffic policeman (not sure what to call him) knocked on Penri's window and told him to pull in, otherwise a car or bus might hit him. The man was kind enough to move two motorbikes out the way so we could park. So, he helped direct us into the parking space and then walked round to Penri's side of the car and knocked on the window. He then proceeded to pull a ticket book out of his pocket and ask us for 5 rupees for parking. Penri and I could not stop laughing! We thought he was just helping us when all along he just wanted some money off us. It was perfect timing as we both really benefit from laughing after such a stressful day!

While the film was being done (as it took about an hour), Penri bought some hubcaps to put on the tyres. It reminded me so much of the programme on TV 'Pimp my Ride' where they take a car and add all these things to it to improve it. An hour and a half later, our car was finished.

We drove down the road from the car place and turned a corner where we were pulled over by the police. I couldn't believe it! They wanted to see Penri's license and explained that he had gone through a red light (which he didn't realise). Anyway, when they saw his license and he paid a fine, we were good to go.

We dropped Selvam off so he could get his autorick and we went to Penri's office (as he had a meeting at 8.30 p.m). It was at this point I realised I hadn't eaten a thing ALL day and all I'd had to drink was a small bottle of Pepsi. After Penri's meeting (at 10 p.m.) we drove to Kebab Court for a celebratory meal. It is SO nice to have our own car and our freedom! And do you want to hear the funny thing? When we were driving to the restaurant I said to Penri 'I thought you didn't like this car?' to which he replied 'It's not so bad once you get used to it; even the interior is growing on me'. I commented that this was the car I had brought to him in the morning and he had moaned and complained about it, and he said 'well that was before I saw the rest; this was definitely the best of the lot' ... so all I can say with regards to the car hunting is ... MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!