By March we decided to buy the Tigor AMT as a replacement for my parents and had the Ecosport evaluated by the Tata dealer.
BHPian Shanksta recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Final update – Skylar Sold !
Odometer reading : 35470.4 kms at the time of sale.
As mentioned in my other ownership review, in Aug 2022 I bought a sedan for myself while handing over the EcoSport to my parents for their use. By end 2022 we realised that the usage was really less not justifying holding onto a diesel workhorse like the EcoSport. Adding to this was the recurring DPF clogging every 3000kms due to pure city usage.
Took a decision to sell the EcoSport in Jan 2023 and listed the car on Team-BHP Classifieds, which was surprisingly ineffective. I received a total of 3 enquires over a span of 3 months, with only one person actually visiting me to see the car in person. Decided to try my luck with used car platforms.
By March we decided to buy the Tigor AMT as a replacement for my parents and I had the car evaluated by Tata. They made an offer that was lesser than my expectation by almost a lakh. Tried Cars24 and they lowballed me big time.
Finally took a call to sell the car myself and ended up listing the car around end of March in OLX and received a flurry of private messages which were interesting to say the least. Filtered all the experts and shared my contact with only 5 people that I thought were genuinely interested without any of the “what is the final price?” or “Your Expectation is too much ! Ford left India !” retorts before seeing the car.
Finally on 28th April 2023, I received another enquiry on OLX and it seemed genuine, hence shared my number. Received a call immediately and while conversing we both understood we had a common friend that was pretty close to us. Showed the car to the buyer in the next 1 hour and received an advance by afternoon.
After the long weekend, the buyer sent me the balance payment and ended up with a nice learning experience of selling the car. I closed the loan with my bank on a Wednesday, went to the loan branch on Thursday and collected the closure letter, NOC, etc., Immediately booked an appointment online through VAHAN for hypothecation removal before I left the bank. Visited the RTO on my way back and submitted all the documents(Payment receipt, original RC, PUC, Insurance copy, bank NOC, Form 35-2copies and email intimation by bank) the same day. By evening the VAHAN portal was updated and the hypothecation was removed. I handed over the car to the buyer in between after taking all due signatures on delivery note and form for ownership transfer since the full payment was made. I collected the new RC the following week on Tuesday.
Applied for transfer of ownership in VAHAN the same day and emailed all the documents to the buyer, he took a printout of everything and signed where necessary. Then sent all the documents back to my office using a delivery app. I signed everything and gave it back to him the same day on my way home. He submitted the docs the next day at his RTO and after a bit of making him run around they collected everything and within a week the ownership change was completed and also the new physical RC was received by the buyer. Post this initiated the insurance transfer to the new owner via Policy Bazaar, was completed in around 2 weeks and the buyer had to pay the NCB discount I got for the 3rd year insurance renewal.
Overall, by choosing to sell the car myself I managed to get an additional 70k over the highest offer I received, which was the Tata used car division. Also learnt that thanks to VAHAN the RTOs are highly approachable and very very efficient. Spent a total of 750 rupees for hypothecation removal and transfer of ownership. Additionally got the DPF force regen done by Ford using their software to ensure the buyer does not face any issue.
I am extremely content that my EcoSport went to a fellow enthusiast that knew the value of the vehicle and would care for it like I did. Also made another friend in the process.
Special Note to FORD Service: This has definitely been the most pleasant brand experience for me, making my ownership very sweet. Dhruvan FORD service team were always cordial and punctual with their work. The service advisors were always ready to help and kept up their promises. The FORD service costs have been extremely reasonable with the maintenance cost working out to roughly ~48 paise/km.
After a glorious 2 years, 1 month & 18 days and 35470.4 kms of roaming around the country, I parted with Skylar on May 7 2023 at 6:00PM. The EcoSport is a machine that will always have a special place in my heart. To sum up it is a car that can do everything without breaking a sweat.
Fuel cost and efficiency stats:
The parting odometer reading:
A place I cherished the most:
The last picture of my baby being driven away by the new owner:
Keyword: Sold my beloved Ford Ecosport diesel after just 2 years & 35000 kms