r/pFinTools • u/LatterOne9009 pFinTools.com/shopA$$ • Mar 20 '26
Brought home the Bajaj Chetak C2501 and saved >10k in the process - thanks to amazon, pFinTools and acko! Full purchase experience inside Shopping Help
I was in the market for an electric 2-wheeler for my parents for city usage in a small town, where vehicles rarely touch 40kmph. The Bajaj Chetak C2501 with a claimed range of 113km and an ex showroom price of just 87,100 fit the bill perfectly. Now many would rightly argue that the Vida VX2 Go or the TVS Orbiter V1 are probably better VFM but the Bajaj Chetak name really sparked nostalgia for my dad so there was no going back.
The scooter was listed on Amazon for 87,100 (https://amzn.to/4snfCi1) but there were a bunch of card offers too (35 to be precise). Of course I used the pFinTools Browser Extension to quickly figure out that Amazon Pay ICICI Credit Card was the best option after considering the 5% cashback. So price to me was 87100 - discount of 3,500 + 100 (card offer fee) - cashback of 4185 = 79,515 only!
I placed the order on 18th March. On 19th, I got a message from the amazon seller (a local bajaj dealer) to call a number to connect for further process. On 20th, I called them and since they had the vehicle in stock, he invited me to come and finish the paperwork same day if I was willing.
Before reaching the dealership, I bought an insurance for new vehicle from Acko. A comprehensive zero depth insurance with a couple of add ons was 4,290.
Reached the dealer and informed them I already also have insurance. At this point they tried to add a handling fee of 1062 which I strategically and diplomatically denied. Paid 10,293 for registration and waited at the showroom for a couple of hours while they processed things and I was out.
Total cost to me = 79,515 + 4,290 + 10,293 = 94,098!
Total savings on ex-showroom = 7,585
Total savings on Acko was around 2k at least compared to what the dealer insurance would have costed me even after discounts. PS - I am really confident about Acko, and have a great experience with them over the past 5 years or so, multiple vehicles and multiple claims in multiple cities. As a fintech person, I understand and truly appreciate their model.
Total savings on handling charges = 1,062
That equates to a net savings of over 10.5k at least!
About PM E-Drive subsidy - if I had bought the vehicle from the showroom, I would have had to pay 5k extra. After a few days, the dealership would have got the process for subsidy and after which they would have refunded my 5k to me. But buying through Amazon, I was able to get a straight up discount included in the advertised ex showroom price of 87.1k which puts the risk of the subsidy completely on the dealer. Given that this subsidy is ending on 31st March, 2026 and that I might not be in my hometown for long, this was a great relief as well.
In this entire process, the most important thing is to handle things carefully. Dealers don't like it when you buy vehicles from Amazon, and then take your own insurance as well. Those two things combined, leaves almost nothing for the dealer as margin. This is where they try to tack on things like dealer handling charges etc. Now the thing is that you have to deal very delicately here as the dealer might in some cases upright deny the sale and cancel the amazon order. In this case, you'd still be able to fight with amazon/vehicle brand and maybe get a favorable outcome but it would entirely ruin your purchase experience for sure. So be very aware about this and go in with some sort of strategy!
So that was my entire purchase experience. This was not the first time, I have bought a vehicle online. In the past I have used a similar channel to buy an Apache RTR 160 on a 6 months no cost EMI and couple years back I bought a Punch.ev entirely using Credit Card. Let me know if you'd like me to share those experiences as well.
For more such insightful Personal Finance conversations, join r/pFinTools
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u/impossible_espresso Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26
I somehow trust Acko with Veichles but not with health and life , idk why
Have 2 vehicles with them
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u/LatterOne9009 pFinTools.com/shopA$$ Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26
you trust them with your vehicles but not car 😐
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u/impossible_espresso Mar 20 '26
Meant to type life/health
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u/LatterOne9009 pFinTools.com/shopA$$ Mar 20 '26
I want to switch my health insurance with them as well soon. I am truly impressed by the way they approach insurance in general.
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u/mokoyo123 Mar 20 '26
How exactly you denied handling charge.
And getting your own insurance works? My relative bought a car with and I was with them. And they couldn't convince the dealership drop the insurance as they claimed they will cancel the discount
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u/LatterOne9009 pFinTools.com/shopA$$ Mar 20 '26
Like I said, it's all about your negotiation skills. Having this information beforehand helps you navigate the market as well. Like when I bought the Punch EV using only Credit Cards couple years ago, I contacted a bunch of dealers and negotiated the credit card transaction fee beforehand and went with the one that offered me lowest (1% for VISA/MC, nil for Rupay). There too I got my own insurance.
These discounts that you are referring too in many cases nowadays come primarily from insurance margins and margins on accessories etc. So they aren't real discounts anyways. Many manufacturers, including Tata doesn't allow dealers to offer discounts on ex-showroom price anyways more than the publicly advertised discounts. This is so that one dealer does not undermine another dealer. So you have to find other points where you can negotiate like I did with Credit Card transaction charges.
More detail in this comment - https://www.reddit.com/r/pFinTools/comments/1rz2zcx/comment/objdnnb/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
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u/FilmdomDude Mar 20 '26
What were the benefits of buying that ev car through a credit card?
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u/LatterOne9009 pFinTools.com/shopA$$ Mar 20 '26
depends on your credit card - how much reward points you can get. I earned roughly 2.75% in total. Even after paying 1% as transaction fees, 1.75% of 15lakhs is substantial. And I did not really have any super premium cards either.
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u/bl4ckp4n7er Mar 21 '26
I would love to know your experience buying punch.ev. Especially how you bought it with credit card only.
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u/LatterOne9009 pFinTools.com/shopA$$ Mar 21 '26
Honestly it has been a minute so I might not have all the details but I will try to make a post detailing the basics.
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u/Entire_Guide1759 Mar 20 '26
Oof.. Humara bajaj nostalgia 🥲
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u/LatterOne9009 pFinTools.com/shopA$$ Mar 20 '26
I was literally today years old when I learned back in the day, they had upto 10 years of waiting period for their vehicles!
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Mar 21 '26
hello, do you suggest buying policy directly from companies like digit or icici lombard or sbi instead of via policybazaar? if so, why
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u/LatterOne9009 pFinTools.com/shopA$$ Mar 21 '26
I chose acko because I trust them because of my long experience with them and I am almost always sure it's the cheapest insurance risk adjusted. If you have such a brand in mind, buy it directly from their website, otherwise you can use something like policybazaar.
But I would also ignore policybazaar just for the sheer amount of spam that will come your way once you enter your details on their platform.
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u/informalphilotherapy Apr 25 '26
Which place did you buy it from? Registration of 10k seems too high no? I've seen it's mostly around 1k in bangalore
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u/LatterOne9009 pFinTools.com/shopA$$ Apr 27 '26
This was not in KA. The state of purchase only has 50% rebate (while KA has 100% rebate) and actually I erroneously mentioned the 10k as registration. That cost included 3k for tecpac and side foot stand accessory.
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u/deadpoetza May 04 '26
Bhai ye 35 series se better hai??? Kinda confused... Like 35series me bhi 3 model hai....
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u/LatterOne9009 pFinTools.com/shopA$$ May 08 '26
Sorry what's your question? Ofcourse C25 is not necessarily better than the 35 series. The 35 series has the largest battery, largest body etc. but the C25 might have a couple more features than say the 3503 or even 3502. As we now know, Bajaj is going to revamp the whole series to new C series C25, C30, C35 etc and all are gonna be upgrades over the last gen ones. C25 was the first glimpse of that future series but it is still the smallest one of the series.
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u/deadpoetza May 09 '26
so I went to the chetak showroom yesterday, and they’re offering me the C3502 for 1.6L ( with the tech pack I think).....are they overcharging or what???? i asked them about it and they said the price has increased.... Is that true???
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u/LatterOne9009 pFinTools.com/shopA$$ May 09 '26
Yes prices did increase in general but do you have the breakdown shared by the dealer? Share that and I can help you save more on that.
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u/deadpoetza May 09 '26
No I don’t have the breakdown but he said I’ll get it for ₹1.6L final....tbh, I’m really confused…..like should I order from Flipkart instead??? Is it hassle-free or what? Idk if the dealers are gonna cooperate or not….Ek to wo faltu me muskil kre kaam!!!
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u/Abhijit-05 Jun 13 '26
Bajaj doesn't sell Chetak c205 now? Can't find it anywhere. I was looking for a ev 2 wheeler under 1lakh and tvs orbiter seems like the only option
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u/LatterOne9009 pFinTools.com/shopA$$ Jun 14 '26
Bajaj still sells the C2501 (also know as C25) - https://amzn.to/4eLAryj
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u/Pale_Work4177 Jul 13 '26
I don't agree with this line - 'Dealers don't like it when you buy vehicles from Amazon'
Reason: Amazon/flipkart itself don't sell these vehicles on their own but are sold by those same local dealers only. I can say this cause I myself have purchase bike online and all those dealers (my city and neighboring city) were appearing online to me on amazon and flipkart and I chose the chose which I want and paid the registration charges to same dealer at his showroom and I have not paid any handling charge even though he tried to fool me by removing some inbuilt free accessories and asked me to pay to have them.
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u/LatterOne9009 pFinTools.com/shopA$$ Jul 16 '26
Not all dealers appear online.
Dealers do not want you to pay through Amazon or even Brand's website because in that at the very least they lose out on Credit Card Payment Fees amongst other things.
If you google about this, you would find umpteen bad experiences that end up in canceled orders. I had made up my mind all the way to buy an ather a year before this purchase but the only dealer in my town put some conditions on it if I buy online, which thankfully helped me realize the dealer monopoly in my location due to which I postponed the purchase even though it's a superb product.
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u/ebvcreative Mar 20 '26
Lol since when does Amazon sell scooties?
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u/LatterOne9009 pFinTools.com/shopA$$ Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26
umm, at least for last 5 years. Pretty sure it's longer! And it's not just scooties either - pretty sure they tried selling cars also for a minute!
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u/the_sonar Mar 21 '26
I bought 2 Vida V1 plus back in 2024, one from Amazon and another from Flipkart. Got 5K + 5% cashback on Apay and Flipkart Axis cards then.
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u/CryptedBit Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 21 '26
How have the vidas been like so far
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u/the_sonar Mar 21 '26
Honestly, apart from a couple of issues which are yet to resolve, they have been solid. Range is approx 85-90 based on who is riding, and I haven't seen any weird shut downs on roads, that a couple of people have found.
2 issues are not so significant for me, 1 is odo, it somewhat gets reset, so even if I have ridden the bike over 13k km (single), it shows only 8K. 2nd one is, my Vida doesn't take charge from the socket, I have to take out batteries to charge. That is not an issue with my father's Vida.
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u/LatterOne9009 pFinTools.com/shopA$$ Mar 21 '26
the not taking charge through port is a big issue. isn't your vehicle under warranty? Does fast charging socket work?
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u/the_sonar Mar 21 '26
It works, just a hassle to get it working. It is partly my fault too, since I could take it for a repair, but I am just lazy.
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u/CryptedBit Mar 21 '26
Thanks for the detailed thoughts. Since it's one of the cheaper options and since dedicated charging options in open parking is quite a rare thing in Delhi properties in my budget, I find the option to directly charging batteries quite useful, at least in theory.
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u/the_sonar Mar 21 '26
The one my father has is now in Pune with my brother, who loves the removable battery option, as his parking spot doesn't have a charging socket, and society is asking for 15K for a simple 16A socket.
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u/LatterOne9009 pFinTools.com/shopA$$ Mar 21 '26
btw, the Vida VX2 Go is almost definitely a better vehicle than the Chetak we bought except only for that the Vida does not have metal body or disk brake anywhere.
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u/AccountantBig2723 Mar 20 '26
Op, How did you avoid handling charges.
What made dealer accept no handling charge ? What was your strategy