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Enhancing the mileage of your vehicle is as important as taking external care of it. Here are some tips on how to enhance the mileage of your vehicle:

1. Keep the Engine in Good Health: One of the best ways to improve car mileage is to take care of your car. If you drive your car with dirty and clogged filters, it will consume more fuel. A dirty air filter will restrict airflow, which will lower oxygen in the mixture. Resultantly, the car engine will compensate for this and end up more than the required fuel as it would generate more power to cover the same as it could with a clean filter.

2. Reduce the Load Inside the Car: Leave extra or bulky items at your home, and you will be able to save on fuel. Do you know 45 kgs in a car can reduce fuel mileage by 1%. Smaller vehicles face these issues. Therefore, try not to put excess weight in your car and see how much you can save on fuel from now onwards.

3. Use Correct Engine Oil: Make sure you are using the correct engine oil grade as it directly relates to the mileage the engine offers. You will receive information regarding this in your vehicle manual.

4. Be Easy on Pedal: If your search is still on with ‘how to improve car fuel mileage’, try to go easy with the pedal. Speeding, then braking and hitting fast acceleration, end up wasting more fuel. Further, poor driving habits affect fuel economy by 15%-30%. Therefore, follow this method and see if it works.

5. Maintain the Right Air Pressure: Driving with the correct air pressure has a direct link with a car’s fuel efficiency. Decreased tyre pressure means the contact area between road and tyre is beyond the usual limit. As a result, friction between the rubber of the tire and the road increases, consuming more fuel. On the other hand, over-inflated tyres reduce fuel consumption, but the grip and aquaplaning resistance come down. That’s why make sure the air pressure in a tyre is at an optimal level.

6. Avoid Over-revving: Over-revving can affect mileage negatively. Hard acceleration consumes more fuel. Hence, if you are willing to improve car mileage and save fuel, try to accelerate slowly and gradually.

7. Use Gears Correctly: Changing gears correctly is essential to ensure high mileage. This applies to both manual and automatic transmission cars. Use gears at the correct speed, which will help save fuel.

8. Check Wheel Alignment: Misaligned cars can adversely affect car mileage and fuel economy. Incorrect alignment can reduce fuel efficiency by up to 10%. Also, it can affect tyres as it would wear prematurely. Symptoms like a vibration in the steering wheel can result in uneven tyres, further leading to reduced car mileage. Hence, look closely at your tyres or visit us at Alphation Auto to ensure the tyres are properly balanced and aligned.

9. Leave the Air-Conditioning Turned Off whenever possible: Unless it is a very high temperature outside, try to avoid using the Car A/C unless you are having allergies from dust and pollution. Excessive usage can put a lot of strain on the engine and consume more fuel (especially at low speed). This is applicable for heated windscreens, demisters, etc.

10. Maintain an Optimal Speed Limit: The list of tips to improve the mileage of a car includes maintaining an optimal speed limit as specified in the vehicle manual. As per research, driving at 100-120 kmph uses up to 25% more fuel than 70-80 kmph. Ofcourse keeping in mind the Indian roads and traffic scenarios, this can be something that you consider while on long road trips to enhance fuel mileage.

For understanding these in detail or for a live demo, visit our Service Center and our technical experts can train you on some of these tips.

Hydrostatic lock during rainy season

Driving through gushing water might seem like an adventure to some drivers, but not when they know what can go wrong, in this context, extremely wrong.

We are not talking about slight drizzling, but days when heavy rainfall causing floods, when enormous water makes its way on the road or stagnant water in your way, take a turn because driving your car through it can cost you heavily.

An experienced driver with a grasp on how an internal combustion engine works will try his best to stay away from it. Let us tell you that engine and water are never a great combination. It can only give you a fast track to the garage, or worse, the local scrapyard.

Have You Ever Experienced Hydrostatic Lock on Your Car?

If you made the mistake of driving through heavy water flow, chances are you have already experienced a hydrostatic lock on your car. When your car was in the water or just crossed a water-filled puddle, your car broke down because the engine stopped working. Familiar!!!

It was the hydrostatic lock that made the engine stop. The water filled the combustion chamber, resulting in engine seizure.

If it isn’t your lucky day, the engine might never start because of a catastrophic failure. And you have to go for a complete replacement of the engine.

Let us understand what a hydrostatic lock is and how it works.

What Is a Hydrostatic Lock?

The internal combustion engine looks like a form of an air pump, its internals are all designed to deal with the compression of air and fuel. When the air is replaced by a substantial volume of water, through the intake air pipe into the cylinder, the rotation of the crankshaft forces the piston upwards to try and compress the fluid. HERE

We know that water is virtually incompressible unless a huge amount of pressure is applied to it. The engine components get damaged in this push and pull, resulting in engine failure.

Now, we have understood the basics of hydro static locking and the possibility of a complete engine failure because of it. but how do some car engines only experience minor damage while others car engines are damaged beyond repair? Let us find out.

How Does a Hydrostatic Lock Damage Your Car Engine?

The severity of the engine damage highly depends on the engine’s speed. If the engine is of small capacity and doesn’t generate much force during reciprocation, the motor may simply seize up, grinding to a halt. It will only result in small fixable damage to the engine components.

But if it is a powerful engine with a decent capacity, rotating at any great speed, the reaction forces will most probably break the internal components.

The most common component that takes the hit most of the time is connecting rods. It can bend resulting in the need for replacement and an engine rebuild. Surprisingly, you might run your car for months with bent connecting rods without noticing any problem, but they will fully snap at a point in time, causing large shards of metal to bounce around the cylinders and down into the crankcase. In this case, the car will require an engine replacement.

Other than that, the engine failure can lead to crankcase damage, damaged bearings, piston, a fractured crank, head, or even blockage, or any combination of these.

Possible Causes of Hydrostatic Locking:

Water: As we have discussed earlier, driving through a large body of water can give a chance for water to fill the combustion chamber through the engine’s air intake manifold. With each revolution of the engine, the water starts filling in each cylinder until the pistons cannot compress upwards any longer. And this will result in mechanical failure of the car engine.

Signs of Hydro Locked Engine:

To keep you in a safe space, we have made a list of signs of a hydro locked motor so that you can take the necessary actions before the problem becomes worse.

·     The car won’t start: If there is a large volume of water in the cylinders, the car won’t start and trying to run the engine again and again will only make things worse for your engine.

·     Your engine will run noticeably rough: The water will affect the engine performance and various noises start to come like knocking & hammering.

·     Engine stalling: Like in the case of bent connecting rods, you will be able to drive your car but sometimes, it won’t start. The longer you will wait to take your car to the garage, the more the chances of engine stalling increases. In short, to avoid hydrostatic locking, keep an eye on your engine performance and avoid the flooded roads.

The conventional knowledge is that – a) Dealership workshops are the best b) Road side workshops with low overheads are the cheapest c) Online aggregators are quite affordable for car services d) Good Multi-brand service centres are not tried and tested. Let’s explore together the accuracy of this perception and check if these hold any firm ground.

A. Dealership Workshops

These service centres are commonly known as “Dealership Workshop” as they are approved by manufacturer for servicing that particular brand of vehicles. 

Advantages:

• They have well established processes to follow while handling vehicles
• The technicians are trained 
• Technical help from the manufacturer is available as and when required 
• Warranty works are entertained 

Disadvantages: 

• Undue advantages are taken in the name of authorized Service Center
• Mandatory replacement of spare parts in service, though all parts may not be required
• Mandatory Wheel Alignment and Balancing in every service. It begs the question as to how one can precisely tell that vehicle needs alignment and balancing without checking tyre visually or without going on a road test or by physically putting the vehicle on alignment machine or tyre balancer?
• Consumable amount is added in invoice, though periodic maintenance labour charge includes consumable charges as per manufacturer. 
• Over and above adding consumable amount in invoice, additional amount is charged in invoice for Parts & Lubes like – rust spray, grease, brake cleaning spray etc. whereas these charges are included in PMS labour charges as per OEM directives.
• Unwanted Value-Added Services promotion, though not recommended by manufacturer.
• Unwanted seasonal repair promotions (examples: A/C Overhauling in Summer, Heaters & Battery promotion in Winter, Wiper blades, Tyres, Defogger repairs etc in Rainy season)
• Washing charges are levied, though it’s included in the periodic maintenance charges as per manufacturer.

B. Unorganized Local Garages

The reality of most, but not all, of these road side garages, also known as unstructured multi-brand centers, is that it is run by individuals who enter into automobile field at a very early age as helpers and get some kind of practical training on mechanical or electrical work. They come together and collect some funds from near and dear ones and open barely equipped, bare-minimum makeshift car garages. Such places do not have any kind of certifications or license from any government body to operate a workshop and since the overheads are very less, they offer services at a very cheap rate but at the cost of quality and safety. 

Advantages: 

• Overheads are less, hence service rates are very less
• Mechanical and Electrical labour charges can be negotiated

Disadvantages:

• They lack the skill matrix and expertise to handle different jobs. If a vehicle is stuck up for diagnosing then N number of people are called in to check and diagnose. Trial and Error method is used to fix issues.
• Service by untrained technician may lead to breakdowns.
• Special tools being expensive, local methods are used to remove and re-install components in turn damaging the nuts and bolts.
• Lack of Ownership on repeat jobs.
• Financially not stable, hence if a major repeat job occurs then accountability is the issue.
• Almost all such centers do not have insurance for vehicles inside their premises.
• Quality, Safety and reliability of spare parts is debatable all the time.

C. Online Car Service Aggregators

These are app-based organisations with no brick and mortar of their own. They work on margin sharing module. These organizations are very strong on various platforms, promoting different services. The only way they attract customers is by advertising different services at throw-away prices. These aggregators have tie-ups with local garages & multi-brand service centres for services & repairs.

Advantages:

• Strong follow up with customers on work in progress status and with workshop on timely delivery.
• Accountability on repeat job.

Disadvantages:

• The vehicle will be sent to a workshop in your vicinity, irrespective of the kind of workshop – it can be a local workshop or a well-structured multi-brand service center.
• Costing – To lower the cost, different packages of periodic maintenance services are designed and rates are offered accordingly, whereas the fact is that a full periodic maintenance service has to be carried out once in a year or 10,000 kms whichever comes first.  Customers choosing lower periodic maintenance packages may be lower the performance of their vehicle in the long run.

D. Multi-brand Service Centres

These fall in-between the high-cost dealerships and unorganized local garages. They have better infrastructure than local garages with proper SOPs, providing services to customer at a price lower than dealerships.

Advantages:

• They are as good as dealership service centers.
• Trained Technicians are hired from dealership; hence quality of work is good.
• Affordable Rate- Much lesser than a dealership and marginally more than a road side workshops.
• Only required parts are replaced. The concept of mandatory replacement of spare part in service is not encouraged.
• Cashless Insurance Repair facility is available, similar to a dealership service center.
• Personal attention is given to each vehicle. Since they don’t sell new vehicles, there is no addition of new vehicles to their pool, hence their quality of work has to be good and customer satisfaction should be high to retain customers.
• Any Repeat jobs are taken care immediately with high accountability.
• Generally, workmanship warranty is for more months compared to other centers.

Disadvantages:

• Delays in procurement of Spare parts as dealers don’t want to sell the parts to bigger multi-brand service center to kill the competition and maintain their monopoly.
• At times, delay in delivery of vehicle as they have limited staff and if personnel are on leave without prior intimation, they don’t have replacement from other branches like dealers have.
• They cannot entertain warranty work. 

After analysing all the pros and cons, different surveys conducted and the dealership reports we can draw the following conclusion:

• Vehicle users are forced to stick to dealership service center for keeping their warranty alive and in turn paying exorbitant charges in the name of servicing.
• Once the warranty period is over, they prefer going to other service center as different surveys have shown that 60% of customer do not visit dealership workshop after warranty.
• The concept of well structed Multi-brand Service Center competing with Dealership service center is at the tipping point of taking off.
• It is little risky to get the work done at local garages due to lack of training, the impact is on quality.
• We leave it to your better judgment to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of approaching a certain car service provider, which suits best your needs.

Demand for pre-owned vehicles is constantly growing and the ratio of used cars compared to new cars is expected to double by FY25^1[source].

Owning a car in an Indian household is getting increasingly common especially with the rise in younger population and increase in middle-class & upper middle-class population. Studies show that in FY 2021, the pre-owned sector in India stood at 3.8 million units, making it 1.5 times bigger than the 2.6 million units new car market in the same year! 

During the pandemic, with the increased number of people preferring individual mobility and more finance options infused into the used car market, the market is set to grow considerably. With the sales and production of new vehicles hindered due to the pandemic, the immediate option for the buyers is the used car market.

There are several advantages of buying a pre-owned car besides it being a financially prudent decision and we will list them down here for you so that you can make an informed decision.

1. Affordability

One of the main advantages of buying pre-owned cars is the price. Depending on the kind of car you are looking to buy and your budget you can pick a car of your choice. This idea is especially helpful if you are looking to buy a luxury car. As per automobile dealers, the demand for used luxury cars has been growing at approximately 35% – 40% on a year-on-year basis, as owners of luxury cars usually sell off their vehicles after a year or two years. For instance, the price of a Mercedes-Benz SLK first hand starts at 80 lakhs, whereas you can get a second-hand model starting at 55 lakhs.

2. Good option for a second car for the house

These days, with greater mobility and different areas that the family members need to travel, using the same car is usually not the best option. In such cases, we find it increasingly common for most houses to own more than one car. Buying a pre-owned car is good option in such cases where you do not have to spend much for an additional car. 

As per studies, over 75% of used cars purchased are sedans and hatchbacks due to their practicality and low-maintenance costs.^2[source]

3. Rate of Depreciation 

Depreciation is the decrease in the value of a car over time, which means that if you were to sell your car you will get a price lower than that you spent on acquiring it. In case of pre-owned cars, the depreciation rate is low, because the bulk of it has already happened. The depreciation rate is highest in the first two years of buying a car.

4. Taxes

Besides paying for the vehicle, a person must also pay additional taxes like GST and road tax. These taxes are not applicable when buying a pre-used car.^3[source]

5. Loan & Cost of Insurance

The calculation is simple here, if the price of car is lower, you will take a small loan leading to you paying lower interest amount. Moreover, the cost of insurance for old cars are lower than that of new cars.

6. Warranty

Warranty for pre-owned cars is offered by most sellers, however, it is advisable to get the necessary checks to be done before purchasing a pre-owned car. These days whether you are purchasing a used car from platforms like Cars24, OLX, True Value, Spinny or any other Used- Car sellers from your city, most of them offer a guarantee for the car for 6-12 months. 

7. Greater Options  

With more options available within a particular budget bracket, the customers have a wider variety of cars to choose from.  

8. Try it Out

Owing and maintaining a car is not easy. It is to a great extend a life-changing decision given that it impacts your day-to-day movement. A used car helps you ‘test-drive’ a life as a car owner. Say for instance how confident are you of driving your own car? Can you afford a full-time driver? Are you ready for the additional sim-annual or annual expenditures which accompanies buying a car, etc. A used car will help you answer these questions without you making a huge financial commitment.

Not surprising, but the pre-owned car industry in India is expected to clock a growth rate of 15% in the coming year.^4[source] As per the study, smaller towns will fuel the demand for second-hand cars, with the share of non-metro cities in used car sales expected to rise from the current 55 percent to almost 70 percent, four years into the future.^5[source]

In a city like Bangalore where public transportation system is still developing, private cars become somewhat of an imperative. There is no dearth of pre-owned cars in Bangalore, and you can always avail Alphation Auto’s service to maintain your car in top condition. A thorough computer search can help you buy the best pre-owned hand cars in Bangalore. We believe this article would help you in making an informed decision.

Reference (Source) Links:

1. https://www.timesofindia.com/

2. https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/india-used-car-market

3. https://cleartax.in/s/gst-on-cars

4. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/auto/cars-uvs/indian-used-car-market-to-grow-12-14-in-next-few-years/articleshow/87335065.cms

5. https://www.autocarindia.com/car-news/used-car-market-to-be-twice-as-big-as-new-car-segment-by-fy2025-421140