Till date this blog has been one of my favourites and it remains for a reason. Our customer at Autogenius Mr. Bharat Awate came searching for AutoGenius all the way from Kolhapur so that he could buy a car tested by us.
Here’s our blog story:
(Flashback to April)
I was testing Harshal’s Sx4 and a person approached me, asking what exactly am I doing with the car. Eagerly I told him everything what me and my company does with testing used cars to perfection. Customers are smart, they remember each and every word you say carefully. To this man it made logic in our company services. It was just a 2 min conversation as I was already into testing the sx4. He said he will think about it and call us back whenever he finalizes on a car to check it. I gave him my card and completely forgot to take his no. Later once I was done with our 238 pint check on the Sx4 I started to think on how I forgot to take his no. It had been months and I thought we had already lost this customer. So we moved on to all our usual customers.
Our Motive at AutoGenius these days is to save as many customers as possible from being cheated on a vehicle’s price, its performance and the overall condition.
A few days ago, early morning I wake up with 3 missed calls on my phone. An hour later I received a call saying “this is Bharat Awate, remember we had met at a dealer’s place we tried doing everything to search you. We came all the way from Kolhapur, we had lost your card, didn’t remember your name. Remember you own a company by the name Auto something that tests cars. We searched for your no. with multiple dealers, now we came back to the dealer where we had first met and the dealer gave us your no”. Though I had absolute no clue of whom I was speaking with, I still said yes, absolutely. Wondering in my mind when did this happen. Which customer is this?
The conversation further went on, asking if I was available today to test a car of their choice. They had shortlisted one. They are just waiting for me to say yes, they will purchase the car if I recommend and go back to Kolhapur. I checked my schedule and I already had 2 appointments scheduled for the day but at the same time I was extremely curious to know the person who came searching for me all the way from Kolhapur. And I owed it to someone who did so much mehnat in searching AutoGenius.
I just had to meet this person and see who it was, tried hard recollecting but we have been through similar situations when I have forgotten taking nos. and I was just not able to remember the face.
To those who know me in person also know me for watching movies attentively. These are the times when the brain starts talking Action movie dialogues like “Desperate times Desperate measures”. Just noticing how wonderfully they suit our everyday life. Well this one’s from Mission Impossible. You remember Tom Cruise saying this don’t you?
I left home on a stopwatch, counting every minute to make it up to all the three appointments. Neither could I skip one coz I had given these appointments last week and it would had been unfair for my customers to wait any longer. Managed testing the Tata Indica diesel for its faults and was running 15 minute late on my schedule to my next appointment wherein I had to visit Phursungi for a meet with a customer as he wanted us to search test and deliver a car of his needs. Meanwhile, I got a call asking to visit now if possible for testing the Nissan Micra with our 238 point check, Yes it was Bharat Sir. I rushed and reached Fatima Nagar nearly 15 kms from Wagholi. Reached at the dealers place and saw Mr. Bharat Awate and Omkar. Memory flashed in and I finally knew whom I was speaking with for all this time. The car wasn’t ready though. So we thought of completing our appointment and then coming back to check the Nissan Micra.
With the appointment for a used car selection and testing done at Phursungi. I was back at the dealer’s place for Mr. Awate and started testing the car with our 238 point checks. I was surprised to see how good the car is. Though a few niggles but nothing major. The engine is still in shape, performed well to my tests with a very acceptable drop on my 2.5k rpm test. I moved on to test the clutch plates and they seemed extremely well. The Gearbox did shift gear properly without any gudder or gear clashes. There’s been a known issue with the gear lever play for the Nissan Micra and it is prevalent even now. No surprises here. Checking the overall body and the structural frame was easy, with No accidental damage the car actually came in all clean. The Left mirror movement was a bit obstructive and slow. A couple of screws were missing from the cover at the trunk and the left side roof strip that covered the welds was slightly broken.
Checked the car overall and my key findings were the car was serviced approx. 5000 kms ago, 5000 kms more on it and it would require a service and oil change. Had its brake pads on the verge of dying in 4000 Kms, However these were very minor things. The tyres were fairly new, had done about 3000 Kms on them and the Bridgestone would last 35k more. With my testing almost done everyone at the dealers place including my customers surrounded me and were eager to know my final answer. I said yes.
The next question I was asked was, how much would it cost to get the car completely perfect to my 238 point?
Well I calculated the cost to repair every part, gave them a break up and it was well below the 5k mark. This was a car searched by Bharat Sir and Omkar themselves. Hats off to them for searching such a wonderful car. Though it was Mumbai passing car, it had spent majority of its time here in pune and that was clearly seen as the car wasn’t rusted as the usual Mumbai cars are. I am happy that I was the chosen one to test it to its perfection. Bharat Sir and Omkar together had seen more than 100’s of cars until they found this one. With negotiations at the dealers the car costed just perfect and we booked it.
Next Morning i visited the Nissan showroom to check the complete detailed service history. We always check what parts and service the car has gone through in its every service. It was all good and genuine. No odometer tampering, no accidental or insurance claims and the last service was exactly done 5000 kms ago. Bharat Sir was super happy checking all the records and how accurately our testing was with the car. They purchased the car immediately.
Here are the pix:
