6 Hassles Of Owning A Discontinued Car In India

A car is the second biggest investment in a person’s life after a house. For some people, especially car guys, this mere investment becomes more of a family member. This means the owner ends up owning the car for longer than usual. So, sometimes the result is either you are owning a vehicle that is already discontinued or is on the verge of discontinuing. Now if you own such a vehicle, there are fair shares of hassles you may have to face.

And today, we’ll look at some problems that an owner might face when owning a vehicle that is already discontinued.

Before moving forward, to make things less complicated let’s divide the problems into 7 parts. In this feature we’ll cover from service to emission and also all the issues, so let’s dive straight in.

1. Service and Repairs
   

   

   To begin with, the first problem that pops up in our heads is its maintenance. And over here by maintenance we mean is service and the repair work. Talking about service there can be two situations.

   • One, where the company exists but the car doesn’t and the another where both neither the company nor the car exists in the country.
   • Where it is a little easy to maintain the vehicle with the company still doing its business, it can be fairly tough to get the vehicle serviced in the other situation.
   • If you were not aware, there is a law where the company has to supply spares for the car for about 15 years after it is discontinued.
   • On the other hand, it is the are the international or online market where an original part is to be imported if the company doesn’t exist.

2. Unexpected Breakdowns
   

   

   Well, be it an old vehicle new vehicle or a discontinued vehicle, it’s a machine and anything can go wrong at any time.

   • It’s just the probability of something going south in an old vehicle is a little higher. And hence it is kind of related to the availability of the spare parts or any accessories.
   • Also, the only option then is a tow truck. Where you either have to bring the car to your home or to the nearest service station.
   • But then you have to have a mechanic that can repair the discontinued vehicle.
   • Moving on, it’s highly likely that broken part has to be imported meaning, your car has to sit at the mechanic garage for a really long time

3. Resale Value

   

   The aspect that can vary for numerous reasons apart from simply vehicle getting discontinued is the resale value.

   • The cars that are currently in production obviously possess more value than the one that is discontinued. Hence, buying a discontinued car should be strategically calculated.
   • This includes the car, the price and the depreciation value. Okay! to explain a little further, let’s take a live example.
   • Say we are in the market to buy a used hatchback. And in the market, we have Ford Figo and Chevrolet Beat.
   • Well, the Chevrolet Beat will cost considerably less than Figo even if the Chevy and Ford are from the same year.
     

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4. Safety Concerns
   

   

   With the advancing time, it’s not just the features that are improved. Over the period of time, the cars in the market gain feature, power and torque figures and most importantly safety.

   • Naturally, cars that are old or are discontinued may have fewer safety features.
   • For example, until the implementation of the BNVSAP norms, ABD and  EBD were offered as an option, but now they are mandatory.
   • So cars prior to the implementation did have some safety concerns.
   • Moving on, sometimes due to the unavailability of original spare parts, the customer has to compromise on the local part. This drastically reduces the reliability of the vehicle.

5. Health Certificate/RC
   

   

   Everything from living beings to a vehicle everything has an expiry date. But in the vehicle’s case, they do have an option to still run the vehicle but after it is inspected. This is where the health certificate comes into play. The Health certificate is a must if the vehicle is older than 15 years. Additionally, if you live in and around Delhi NCR, be aware, you cannot drive a diesel vehicle that is older than 10 years and a petrol vehicle that is older than 15 years.

6. Emission Concerns
   

   

   One thing comes to our mind when we talk about discontinued cars, i.e old cars. But not all discontinued cars are old. So, the cars that have been discontinued for a long do have emission concerns. Why do we say this? Well, these cars belong to a different Bharat Stage Emission norm standard.

   For example, Chevrolet Cruze that was discontinued not so long ago was BS4 compliant. Which is the thing of the past. And for definite reasons, BS6 diesel vehicles will emit less harmful emissions than BS4 vehicles. Moreover, if it is a BS3 compliant vehicle, it’ll be even more pollution.

Also Read: 6 Cars That Carried Forward The Name Of Old Cars

Related: 5 Cars Discontinued Within 5 Years Of Their Launch