Automobile showrooms closed on Gudi Padwa, cars to be home delivered

PUNE With fresh restrictions in place in Maharashtra, automobile showrooms will keep their doors shut on Gudhi Padwa, however, those who booked their four-wheeler in advance will receive home delivery of their car on Tuesday

PUNE With fresh restrictions in place in Maharashtra, automobile showrooms will keep their doors shut on Gudhi Padwa, however, those who booked their four-wheeler in advance will receive home delivery of their car on Tuesday.

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Since non-essential businesses have been closed by the administration, dealers have been accepting online and phone bookings.

Dealers of two-wheelers say that it won’t be possible for them to provide home delivery since the quantity is higher than cars.

“Many want to bring home a new car on Gudhi Padwa. We will be delivering almost 50-60 cars at the doorstep on Gudhi Padwa. We had kept the phone booking option open and in the last week got the formalities from the Regional Transport Office (RTO) completed. Many four-wheeler dealers are going to do the same thing,” said Vinod Kale, vice-president (sales) Wonder Cars.

Gudhi Padwa is considered an auspicious day to buy new things. So usually, the sale of automobiles goes up during this period. Dealers of two-wheelers say that though they have been accepting the bookings on phone, closed showrooms are still an issue.

Akshay Shelar, a dealer of two-wheelers said, “Booking and payment can be done online but other formalities take time. We had accepted the bookings but passing of those vehicles from the RTO office could not be done. Also, if the showroom is going to be closed on Padwa, then how does the customer take it home?”

“We can’t do home delivery of two-wheelers as it is not feasible for us. In comparison, four-wheelers have selective customers. So those dealers can do that but we don’t have any other option but to keep our showroom closed,” said an official from Pashankar auto.

Last year on Gudhi Padwa, all the showrooms were closed due to the lockdown.

“Overall purchase of vehicles has dropped last year. This year prior to Gudhi Padwa, there were only 50-60 percent bookings in comparison to the pre Covid years. Gudhi Padwa is the main day, now we are hoping that things will ease out by Akshay Tritiya,” said Shelar

“The number of booking have reduced. We had still adopted the policy of facilitating the passing of those vehicles that were already purchased. RTO office has been currently functioning with 25 per cent capacity,” said Sanjeev Bhor, deputy regional transport officer, Pune RTO.