I have recently purchased a pre loved Honda civic through cars24, sharing my experience for everyone's reference.
I got interested in buying used cars after the advent of cars24 and spinny.
I always wanted a rare car, a sedan, something that was underappreciated while it was sold. I wanted to buy a used Skoda Octavia but I just couldn't bring myself to pay the premium amounts that are to be expected owning a German car, and wanted something reliable that also depreciated quite a lot.
Naturally as with everyone else, i shifted my focus to Honda , and wanted to get an accord.
But I realized cars 24 at the maximum will sell a car that is 12 to 13 years old and nothing older than that.
I also lived the last few years abroad and missed out on the car news from India, so imagine my surprise when I learnt that the civic had made a short lived comeback in one of its most sporty aggressive avatars ever albeit in a CVT and that it was discontinued with only 5000 or so units sold across the country.
Then began my hunt which ultimately led me travelling from pune to Mumbai in search of a 1 owner Honda Civic. I had found one that was driven surprisingly low , 30000 kms, no accident history.
Although the details looked good on paper, the car was absolutely terribly owned. The paint was heavily oxidised, the scratches were horrific and on every panel, the front bumper was broken, the seats had aftermarket seat covers attached to it which meant the original beautiful OEM leather had holes put into it.
However after one drive i realized that the cosmetic issues are all fixable, as long as it drives well and has no rattling , a Honda car will always be something I can trust.
And so I made the decision and bought the car for 11 lakhs on road. The overall process was smooth, the second key battery had to be replaced which cars24 did promptly.
The car is surprisingly precise, handles very well however CVT gearbox is such a downer. I have gotten past that and as long as you don't push your pedal to the floor, and drive it in an unhurried way it still feels pretty quick and fun to drive. It has features that almost 70% of cars even today don't have like remote engine start which i use all the time in summers.
Over the last few days I've travelled very less and mostly within the city as I had wanted the car to go through extensive paint repair, front bumper replacement and so on.
This meant 10-12 days in the brotomotiv HQ workshop for ceramic coating, 4 panels denting and repainting, sun film.
During this period when brotomotiv had inspected, despite cars24 claiming a non accidental history and no repaint, they checked paint thickness on panels and confirmed that the rear quarter panel had been repainted and showed abnormally high paint thickness when compared to the rest of the panels. So FYI to all potential cars24 future buyers, not everything on the report is factual.
I am also going to replace the existing after-market beige seat covers and go with an black leather with red stitching. The OEM leather seat covers are no longer usable as the previous owner and lost his mind and drilled holes into it.
I love the way the car looks, the way it drives and its rarity, and will keep it as long as the government doesn't ruin it by introducing a new cheaper fuel that renders it useless.