Waiting period for delivery of car- No, thank you

Yes, this is what car buyers seem to be saying these days. Gone are the days when consumers in India would book a car and actually wait for its delivery. With so many options available and neck to neck competition among car manufacturers, buyers don’t approve of the waiting period and just opt for other cars.

Car booking is the basic requisite while buying a car. The large number of bookings show the demand of a car and also indicates its stand in the market. Now what car dealers have found out is that while this is beneficial for the manufacturer on the other hand, it can be detrimental as well.

The Honda Amaze, Ford EcoSport, Mercedes-Benz M-Class and A-Class have been seeing a waiting period despite the economic slowdown owing to an overall decrease in sales of cars in India. This clearly shows that a customer was willing to wait if the car was worth buying. But this trend seems to be shifting now with the availability of competitive cars.

Jnaneswar Sen, Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Honda Cars India, said, "Bookings don't give much business because you get money only when you actually sell the car. One reason why we don't feel thrilled about bookings is because if you hold on to them for a long time, people tend to lose patience and there is every possibility of them opting out. That's why we started the third shift in November to reduce the booking wait for the Amaze."