Buying a Used Car - Do's & Checks

Buying a used car in India can be daunting. I should know, all the cars I have bought till date have been used ones and if I were to be totally honest, I am not at all averse to the experience.

Now I do have friends who will only, and I mean only buy new cars. I have asked them often enough why they wouldn't consider a used one and they always say – they don’t want to take the risk. Of buying a lemon and then being stuck with expensive repairs.

Now this got me thinking, I have an equal number of friends who are totally OK with buying used cars. But at some point have also bought new cars. 

On further investigation, I found that it’s not just an economical reason (although that does have a major factor to play in the decision – most of the people who only bought new cars were the ones with deep pockets – where a used car was just down market and not something they would ever consider because of their social standing) but sometimes just lack of ability to buy a good used car and fear of being cheated (most people would rather pay sticker price where they are sure they are paying the same price as everyone else rather that have to negotiate where they have no idea what the real value of the car is) that deters people from the used car market.

Today, this seems to have changed. A lot more people have a good disposable income and are craving the good life – having a car is one of those things that equate you with the status of having arrived (or at least it used to).

Now how does one go about buying a used car without making the common mistakes that those used car salesman are just waiting for.

First of all, you need to research what car you are looking for or which car fits your needs.

There should be a check-list where you put down what you want in a car, and select different variables/parameters, that you are looking for and the algorithm churns out the best option to suit you.

Things to Consider:

• Price Range
• Brand, Model & Year of Make
• Purpose of the Purchase

For example, if you drive in the city during the week but  like to go out on long weekend drives  or have a vacation home outside the city then you should consider a mini SUV s as the roads outside the city can be quite bad for at least 6 months of the year (monsoons till about spring) but if you  are looking only at a second car which is for running around the city then a hatchback might be the right buy (you have the options of the premium hatchbacks as well as the non-premium hatchback) Now if you have a chauffeur and only cruise around the city – a used luxury sedan might be something you could consider.

Once you've short listed the type of car you are in the market for, you should research what it costs used. Reference prices are available freely on used car websites, but ensure to double check these prices with your local mechanic.

Now that you know the car that you are looking for and the approximate price you should pay, it’s time to look for your future car. 

And you don't need to look too far to find a car that fits your needs, with the number of websites that are online today, all that you could possibly need can be found. All you need to do is look around and find a website that can be trusted. Check out JaanCar, to find a car that suits your needs.

www.JaanCar.com

PART 1 of 3

Accessibility of Medicine

As a married woman, living with my husband away from my parents, I worry a lot about my parents who now live alone, and are in the age group of 65 above, my brother is settled in another country and I am settled in another city. So worry for my parents is a given.

Given their age, medicine for Thyroid, Diabetes & Blood Pressure is an everyday affair; sometimes the ailments include antibiotics, gastrointestinal medicines, and pretty much everything that comes with growing old.

A new problem my father has developed is joint pain, could eventually turn into arthritis, but for now, it’s just painful for him to walk too much and too far.

My parents living alone was easily fixable, I decided to hire stay at home help for my parents, to take care of the cooking, cleaning and everyday chores. One thing she is unable to do is drive, which unfortunately reduces the things she can do around the house in terms of purchasing things.

So her driving to pick up medicines for my parents is out of the question, and given their age, the consumption of medicines is only going to increase from this point forward.

As a solution what I have done, is signed them up for an app called Buzzpharma, which home delivers all the medicines they need at their doorstep.

The regular medication is delivered as per schedules of when it runs out, but what’s amazing is, in emergency situations, Buzzpharma delivers medicine within 30 minutes and all one has to do is give the prescription to the delivery boy.

Recently my mother had an episode, where her nerves spasmed and froze her leg leading to a lot of pain, and the only way to relieve her pain was to pop a pill called NeuroBion, unfortunately, she had run of and had none at home to help her at the time.

And all my dad did was call for the medicine through the app Buzzpharma, and the medicine was delivered home, my mom popped the medicine and all she needed was 30 minutes of waiting time, and a prescription for the medicine.

I know the ailment wasn't serious and that my parents could have found a way to get around if they really really had to, but the fact that they don’t need to and can get their medicine sent to them whenever the need arises, outs me at ease, even though I live far away, I know this is one thing I don’t have to worry about.

Medicine in the Internet Age

With the e-commerce boom in our country, and the rise of the “I need to have all options available while I shop in my pyjamas” demographic, almost everything you need is available online.  Need food, sure; groceries, check; clothes, of course; cars, shoes, furniture, basically you can order just about anything online.

It was just a matter of time, before the friendly neighbourhood chemist (as we refer to them in India) would move his bag of medicines online. And I use the term online loosely, websites have given way to apps, which reside in our phones, and know our choices, and in general make life easier.

So a friendly neighbourhood pharmacy app which is connected to the pharmacy network of your area, your entire city, and can give you, your medicine fix at the touch of a button. And it is a smart move in fast times like today. In a world where auto immune diseases, lifestyle diseases are on the rise, and mutant strains of drug resistant bacteria and viruses have made their way into our home and hearth, one must have a drug dealer on speed dial, I mean have a chemist available at their finger tips.

A lil digging and I unearthed an app called Buzzpharma, currently in its pilot phase in Bangalore and soon to be launched in Mumbai.

An app which delivers medicines home, is certainly a reason to rejoice, why you ask, currently I’m holed up in my house recovering from a terrible flu, unfortunately for me, an ailment which doesn’t require medication, needs me to take antibiotics for my throat, as prescribed by my on retainer ENT.

I desperately needed my meds and no one was home to get them for me. I made it through about 6 hours of trumpeting into a kerchief and finally mustered the strength to walk the 500 mts to the chemist.

This app would have most definitely helped me in my hour of need, alas I live in Mumbai. Will have to wait until it’s here, and I’m ill again.

It  got me thinking about all the possible reasons a person would use an app like this, and reasons ranging from I’m too sick to go to the chemist, to I’m too embarrassed to make this purchase in person, came to mind;  and it was the latter one that had my spidey senses tingling.

We’re all aware of a certain reality; experimenting with medications to have a good time that exists. And an app in the wrong hands could, have disastrous results. So I had to dig a lil deeper.

Turns out Buzzpharma, first requests a scan/ photograph of the prescription and then the medicine is dispatched from the nearest available pharmacy to your address in under 30 minutes. Which is a blessing for whether you have a strep throat and a raging fever or a severe attack of hyperacidity or simply need to pop your daily Blood Pressure Pill?

And the prescription in question is handed over to the delivery boy.

So essentially the misuse of this app is minimised, I’m sure there’s regulations and legalities in place to be able to run an app which provides medicines to your door step.

It would seem that the “I need to have all options available while I shop in my pyjamas” demographic is pretty influential, we don’t like to leave the comfort of our home and if you think about it, in a country abundant with people, where travelling from point A to point B is an enormous strain on the very limited, infinitely reset commodity called time, I’d rather not waste this resource to go out to pick up essentials and necessity items.

I pop my hard earned pill, sit in my pyjamas and go back to the information super highway, and login to purchase my groceries for the month.

  

You are NOT the car you drive. Hell yes! However, you WILL be judged by the car you drive.

Is buying used car the new smart choice!

So if you can afford an 18L used car which will allow you to carry the look of a 30L, as compared to brand new 18L car, what is the right choice? Go for the bigger one. Make the right judgement, because others DON’T.

If you are anything like me, you will pet your car, moon over your car, ensure no scratches on your car; basically be excited about your NEW car for 3 months to 6 months; before the girlfriend starts feeling like a wife.

And again if you are anything like me, you like that spark, that feeling of newness, that feeling of excitement, gives life a new spin.

But it’s NOT just that, Research shows that people who opt for a USED Luxury Car as compared to a NEW luxury car saves on an average save INR 5.08 Cr over a lifetime! ‘Itne mein to note se bani car aa jaye!’

An average person buys around 11 cars over a lifetime from the age of 25 to 75, every 5 years. A used car on an average is 40% cheaper as compared to a brand new virgin car, and the frequency of purchase shoots up to maybe a 4 years instead of 5 years, allowing you the NEW car feel that many more times.  A 30L new car vis-à-vis an 18L used car of the same quality saves 5Cr!

Dimaag ki batti jalao! Paisa Bachao!

Lastly, for me it actually goes beyond just the excitement and the money saved.

In today’s modern day and age, would any smart person reject a really adorable and sexy woman as your partner, just because she's had another man in her life before.  Why should it be different for a car!

If you love cars, then look for your true love, a pre owned car just might be it.

Check out JaanCar and look for your true love. 

Homesteads

I travel a fair bit in my chosen career, and a fair bit means living out of a suitcase up to 10 days at a stretch. Different companies I work with choose different types of hotels for me to stay in.

And as a single gal traveller I’ve seen them all, business hotels, eco hotels, luxury hotels, home stays, hotel rooms so tiny, you could jump from the door to bed located at the end of the room, and a luxurious shower head placed right above the pooper, for your comfort of course, don’t let the lack of space bother you.

Rooms so plush and comfortable, work is the last thing on your mind to homes which rent out rooms and give you the opportunity to mingle with a family in a different state, hotels that are so shady, I check out as soon as time permits.

And that’s just on work trips!

As a person who also likes to travel for pleasure, and do my own hotel bookings, I am enamoured with the act of tracing the right hotel online, reading reviews, looking at pics, google maps to see places close to the hotel, as am sure most of the interweb sleuthing variety do. We are arm chair detectives scouting for the best deal, flexing the most powerful of all muscle, the Internet, but I digress.

Looking for a unique, comfortable, bright airy, hotel room to spend your vacation, that one works very hard to get, isn’t so easy to get.

And that’s why off late I’ve been very intrigued with non hotels. And by non hotels I mean any place to stay whose original intent was not to be a hotel. Whether a fort converted into a luxurious palace hotel or a British Army Barrack restored to a quaint cottage in the mountains. Someone’s second home in the country rented out for a weekend or a rustic farm house shared with the charming family who runs a homestead.

Finding a place like this whether in India or outside adds another dimension to your vacation, instead of lodging in a room with minimal functional personality (business hotels, whatever happened to imagination) or rooms which are clones of themselves (really 135 guest suites which all look the same) you reside in an experience, which was never designed for you, and that is thrilling.

At a recent stay in a 150 year old distillery (defunct now sadly, but the family who lives there, do make some very interesting liquors), I had the chance to step into someone else’s everyday life in Southern France. A bedroom, with wooden flooring that creaked at night, to a pigeon house converted to a romantic bedroom with rose bushes all around. Gathering fruit from the many many trees to make jam, to a drive around the neighbourhood to collect jam jars for the said jam. I got the chance to live an experience and not feel like a tourist with my fanny pack and walking shoes (which I did in Paris). I came back from my holiday with a fine appreciation of those who live in large old houses which are a piece of history and a much finer appreciation of those who popped bubbly before the sun is down. But most of all I came back with a feeling that I had truly vacated my life away into someone else’s beautiful reality.

Meanwhile in India, the hills are alive with the sounds of homesteads, Himachal and Uttarakhand in my opinion and some experience are a haven for Homesteads, quaint cottages run by some of the nicest people you ever met, whether its chilling in a stream with their pet dogs or listening to stories around the fire with a granny as old as the hills. With simple but hearty home cooked fare and why don’t you explore the area pieces of wisdom, a bond is formed and what you thought was just a vacation, a getaway from work and life and traffic, is enhanced. And you would willingly trade your sophisticated urban, 3 am Chinese food kinda of life to experience the simplicity of country life, with its own rules and definitely its own wonders.

The idea of a wholesome vacation to me is this experience; it’s not the detached experience one has as a stranger in a strange land, but one of experiencing life in a strange land.

And I must recommend to every person who has ever been bitten by the bug of Wanderlust, definitely more potent than an arrow struck by cupid, chase your own experience, don’t just look for a vacation, look beyond. I guarantee it, you will find much more.

Health Care, Where?

We live in a world, where heath, healthcare, health problems are one giant Pandora’s Box or so I hear.

Now I’m not an expert of any sort on medicine, the practice, the perils, the facilities or lack thereof, my “expertise” is limited to vague dreams of a child to be a doctor when I grew up. But one trip to the hospital to meet my Dadi, after her 3^rd (I think) heart attack, she had a few of them in her time, cured me of my ailment to try and be a doctor. I saw a man in a neighbouring room, covered in plaster from head to toe, I am sure, hindsight makes me embellish, but there he was groaning in pain, and I burst into tears.  Doctor dream “hashtag” ended.

Back to present day, and my reason for writing this down, my conversations, in recent times, with people regarding their experiences with health problems of any kind, sound more like horror stories from the dark ages.

From prestigious hospitals, misdiagnosing a viral fever and admitting the patient into ICU, to an endoscopy leading to a broken jaw and a punctured lung and yes subsequent death of the patient (RIP Dada).

And as a Human Being, I believe we have the right to fair heath care practices, when one is ill, no matter what sort of illness, the drain, emotional, physical and monetary is a sad truth. The severity is directly proportional to the drain, and why, why but why would health care providers try to add to your woes? Aren’t they there to make them go away?

Not according to the buzz in every society, outside every hospital, every dinner table where, someone’s health problem is discussed, indignant at the horrors faced when getting treated.

We trust a doctor to prescribe the best possible medicine to make it go away as quickly as possible (or the time it takes, sometimes work schedules will have to suffer due to an illness, go figure).

But we don’t expect, to be prescribed with 1728 tests, 265 different medicines and 3 sachets of albumin, for the survival of a patient. We don’t expect to be harmed by the hands of those who are meant to heal. I know it’s called a medical practice; but it’s getting a bit ridiculous, no?

Of course, I have some faith, because not all stories out there are horror stories, some people do manage to escape not just unscathed, but healed and well recovered from the experience of recovering their health.

The burning question though, is who does one trust, where does one go when one is unwell, for general ailments we have our GP, a trusted guy, with a small practice, who is probably walking distance from home (what I’m the only one???), but what about when the going gets tough, and that’s not unheard of, in times where stress is the only thing you live with from the time you get admission into a good school; where 15 minutes of sleep is more important than a good breakfast at home, where fast cars, zip through streets with no consequence of who might be hurt. I could write a thousand and one reasons of why you could need someone more than a GP.

What do you do then?

Where and how do you go about finding which place to go to, where are the reviews of hospitals, I don’t trust a place just because its big and fancy, or made buy an industrialist family or acquired by one. Or conveniently use the one closest to home and fingers crossed, it’ll be a wise decision. 

I don’t want to make any sort of allegations, or slanderous statements, but my experience so far hasn’t endeared me to the idea of dealing with a harrowing hospital, where running from floor to floor to figure out who needs to proceed with the next medieval torture, masquerading as modern day medicine, designed to rob you of your sanity, money and faith in the human race.

The question remains, how you go about finding the best healthcare for what ails you?

For now technology seems like the answer, some sleuthing of the arm chair variety, some time on the Internet and websites like BuzzHospitals and apps like BuzzPharma, help you out to find out pertinent information that can be helpful in you hour of need.