Car Shopping in India

So ... due to a number of factors, we have decided that we're going to buy a car and hire a driver.  Stewart seems to think that he'll drive as well .... we'll see.  Having a driver would make our lives much more convenient.  New Delhi isn't like New York City or Washington, DC where you can easily manage without a car.  New Delhi makes this difficult.  You only get taxis from taxi stands so when you call one, you're basically paying for the whole time you're gone from your house.  Some of the rates can be negotiated but that usually helps if you have a male with you.  Stewart and I aren't going to the embassy at the same time everyday because I still haven't started work so that's an added cost of an extra taxi plus it looks like he'll have days where he will be able to get off of work earlier than I ... so another taxi ride.  And packages.  Oh fun.  Our mail goes to the embassy and gets delivered to Stewart's office.  We've been ordering things off of Amazon and our first three packages arrived yesterday - almost three weeks after having been ordered.  I had gone by the commissary for groceries and picked up two of the packages to bring home with me leaving the largest and bulkiest (our toilet paper!) for Stewart to manage.  The sight of me juggling the boxes and bags as I walked to the gate for a taxi and then struggled to take everything out of the taxi was amusing.

So.  We went and looked at cars last Friday.  Stewart had spoken with someone at the embassy who bought a new car the previous week and gave him the name of the contact at the dealership.  We thought we'd take a look at the new cars because the used cars we've seen advertised are selling for the same amount as a new car!  We gave our taxi driver the address and headed off.  I had mentioned to Stewart previously that I had no idea where a dealership could be because everything seemed to be crowded and built right up on each other.  He assured me they existed.

And then we arrived at a house.

Nope, I'm not kidding.  We got out of the taxi and walked around to the front of the building.  The ground floor's front wall had been replaced with glass and there were three vehicles on display inside.  Outside, they were doing a "make ready" on a new vehicle which turned out to be for the guy that Stewart had been speaking with at the embassy.  Turns out that they just have display cars for you to check out and then they let you know if they have it in stock and will "make ready" and deliver it to you!  And they serve refreshments as well.  It was all very nice.  The salespeople aren't pushy at all like American dealerships.

We met with the salesperson who showed us two vehicles.  We went there thinking that we really liked the Scorpio and thought that's what we would end up with ....

The funny paint job is on all the white ones.

It looks awesome, right?  More importantly - it sits up high (great for monsoons), has air conditioning, and has seatbelts!

There was another vehicle there that we had no interest in initially.  After taking a look at the Xylo, we realized that making a decision wasn't going to be easy.

 

I mean, for one thing, it's ugly and looks like a minivan.  Ha.  This one seems to be a more comfortable ride than the Scorpio.  It has all the same features ... well, it has AC all the way to the back row instead of the first two - very helpful in 120+ heat!  The back row of seats seems to be more comfortable - facing forward instead of each other.  We're now thinking we like this one.  

We're still in the looking process and will continue to check out the used cars in our weekly newsletter.  Only downside is that monsoon season is predicted to start June 29th!  We do know that we'll need a bigger vehicle/SUV.  A small car won't work here because we'll have a driver so we'll automatically fill up our car.  We plan on taking several trips and having lots of guests.  It just makes things a lot easier when you don't have to worry about where everyone will sit!  Plus, small cars don't do well with the monsoons here and you could end up stranded in a flood.  Another reason to get a car and not rely on the taxis - they get stranded all the time!  No, thank you!