The Shining Silver Knight Sx4 that saved Harshal & his Family.

Harshal Bhawsar our customer at Autogenius was searching for a car that would suit his 19 point checklist, he searched a plenty cars didn’t find the right choice, ultimately visited us and was saved by the Knight in the shining silver armour.

Here’s his story:

There are cars that make you travel from Point A to Point B and there are cars to make you feel in love with travelling. The Sx4 we found for Harshal is just one of them. Harshal called in on a Wednesday afternoon inquiring about our service of Automotive Testing for a used car, he had seen his friends SX4 and wanted to know if it is a worth buy. I agreed to test the car for him immediately. At first sight it was a fairly decent car, with large tyres and vinyl and blaupunkt audio being its prominent features.

Have a look at some pictures of this customized beauty:

So from plain sight the car looked promising but is it perfect?

Is this the car that Harshal always dreamed of having ever since he was a little boy?

Let’s find out from an Autogenius perspective ….

The car has minor scratches on the right fender & dents on the bonnet are disappointing but not a deal breaker, that part comes ahead. The car leaked oil from its steering rack, one that needed immediate attention. It’s tyres although larger from the stock and with PLATI Rims, the tyres were completely worn out and had little to no threads at all. On driving the car it was evident that its clutch has been used to the point where it needed to be replaced (Tip: once the clutch has been used completely the car would produce less torque thus you would require more effort in getting the car up and running from a stand still position also going up slope becomes a daunting task ideally a new clutch would last 40k-50k kms with proper use although if you experience the above mentioned symptoms then it means that you need to change the clutch plates). Apart from this the car also had a loose alternator belt, a third party insurance and improper wheel alignment.

The Car’s second owner is an advocate a sly negotiator the initial price of the car as quoted was Rs.2.75 lakh after mentioning these faults he had come down to his final offer i.e. Rs.2.50 lakh but Harshal would have had to spend another 50-60k on that car to get it to its pristine state.
So we turned down the offer and simply walked away.

Disenchanted by the Sx4 as we moved away, an opportunity for finding the perfect car was given to yours truly. Thus began the search for our knight in Shining Silver Armour. As I hustled across the streets of Pune, I came across many Honda City’s, some Ford Fiesta’s Maruti Suzuki Sx4’s & Fiat Linea’s too but none of them matched the standards set by AutoGenius. It has to be a car that qualified my 238 checkpoint’s and additional 19 requirements mentioned by my client. The search stopped when I stumbled upon a Shining Silver Sx4, upon first instance the car seemed in pristine condition had run only 58,000 kms modeled in 2010 this Knight in silver had no scars the interior smelled fresh and clean, not an ounce of rust was to be found all over the body panels. Came with all the features needed such as the Airbags, ABS, Auto-Climate Control AC, parking sensors, an excellent music system, fog lamps, complete service history, comprehensive insurance, single owner, a newer battery, all stock with no customization’s and Auto-door Locking .

Here are some pictures for you:

Took it for a spin and oh Boy it was just the one I had been looking for. Checked the car with our 238 points and found it just fab. After all this, I really didn’t want to make anyone wait even a bit longer, Called up Harshal with joy telling him, I found the car that I can Happily recommend. It’s a Sunday afternoon and dealership was to be closed an hour ago, but they just extended for me to check the car. Requested Harshal to be at the dealership by 10 am Monday Morning. As happy as he is, sure won’t get a peaceful sleep that night in the excitement of getting a car home, same is the situation with me. Just to keep him happy sent him a few pictures on whatsapp and called it a day.

The Day:
Good cars sell faster, great cars sell within a blink of an eye.

Woke up early than usual, with all the super excitement rushing to get ready and meet Harshal and test the car once again. With thoughts in my mind of wanting to reach the dealership first and get the SX4 for Harshal and his family. Alarm rings, its 9.30am and just 30 mins left, packed my bag and left from home to the place I and Harshal decided to meet. The dealership had just opened its shop, and the Sx4 overnight had been a lil dirty, requested them to get a wash done quickly while me, Harshal and his wife were glaring at the car and checking it inside out. With the car wash done quickly, we finally entered the car.

What a sigh of relief it is. Feeling Super Happy coz its time for a test drive once again and I know I am gonna put a smile on everyone’s face, I crank the motor and its superbly smooth with its engine, no unnecessary sounds, new tyres, completely clean without a scratch, no accidental history or breakdown & a Comprehensive Insurance too. As a matter of fact even wheel alignment is in place. Started checking the details of the car as per my 238 point checklist and noticed everything to be just perfect. It was quite unbelievable for Harshal to see a car faring so well to my stringent checklist, the only flaw I could find was that the brake pads would wear off in about 10k Kms approx. 6 months. Which meant no immediate attention required.

Trust me when I say this, It’s a pain bargaining for the price with the dealerships for such cars. The dealer quoted a 3 lakh 40 thousand as the cost and was ready to negotiate till 3.20 as the final cost and was too adamant about it, well we are AutoGenius for a reason, called in the owner’s brother, the head of all their dealerships, a friend by now and requested him to deliver the car in 3 lakh with transfer charges. It’s quite difficult for anybody to deny us coz of the relationships we have maintained. The good news.. “He agreed”, spoke to his brother and handed over the keys in 3 Lakhs.

Harshal is new into driving so the lucky me gets the opportunity to drive the SX4 to his place and deliver the car. I was accompanied with my colleague Shubham, the brand ambassador of AutoGenius Pvt Ltd. While Harshal moved a bit ahead on his bike, we sneaked in to get a pretty cake for him and his family. After reaching Harshal’s place parking was to be tested. The Sx4 is a huge lengthy car with broad shoulders and parking it was too tight but we managed and moved on to worshiping the pre worshiped.

The pictures are as follows:

Autogenius.in