longjohn

Thank you for your comments. Since the shop people denied any knowledge of damage to wiring he was apprehensive to go back. If the people displayed empathy towards his complaint he would have gone back definitely. Some jump to take the side of the shop and judge that customer is always trying to harm business people. Is this one reason that we get poor customer service? Otherwise you have to take your car only to a known shop. Priyanka. He was not aware of any previous issues about this shop and this is the first time my friend went. He dies not have many cars but bought an old car recently. The post was done to make people be careful when handing over vehicles with burglar systems and risks with untrained staff. He knows that bosses have to defend the business and it's reputation. I think the Watchman should have seen brute forces amply displayed all around Sri Lanka. The work involved re-cushioning an old vehicle of 1997 vintage. It took 3 working days and this is a question to be posed to the shop people. We stand by the story and we are not against anyone going to this shop. But insist on a written receipt about condition on your burglar alarm / lock wiring !!!

One of my friends handed over his car to Gunawardana Cushion House at Navinna last Saturday (31 August). He got his car back on Tuesday (3rd Sept) evening. He drove back home and tried to lock the door using the remote. It didn't work. So he immediately rang back Gunawardana's and spoke to the guy who handed over the car to him, That person strongly denied any knowledge about a problem with the remote lock. Finally he asked my friend to bring the vehicle next morning since it was closing time. Anyway my friend decided not to take the risk of going back, fearing he might get assaulted if there would be an exchange of words. So he took the car to DN Motors Boralesgamuwa next morning to check the problem. Someone had cut off wires of control unit which resulted in a short-circuit that damaged control unit, What happened was clear and my friend immediately called the owner of Gunawardana's. Finally he admitted that he was aware of cutting off the wires of a remote control unit of "a car" and offered to fix a new unit. My friend decided he should not go back to them. He could not rely further on their untrained, nasty staff who do not seem to care about the vehicles handed over to them in trust by customers. I write this to the forum to help others to avoid such places giving shoddy and careless service.

We use a 1997 Starlet NP90 Diesel Automatic which does 12 kmpl in Colombo running

Your selection is somewhat confusing to me, since Alto's fuel economy cannot be compared with Swift. Anyway you might have good reasons to put them in one basket. As I know one's ability to raise a loan would depend on credit worthiness; salary, employment status, age, and also ability to get guarantors etc. You might have a bank account either saving or current and it is best to talk to your bank manager.

Why not try a Deawoo. The car is with most options similar to Japanese cars & with a better body. You could get it maintained by Chandana at Armour St who was formerly with the agents, IWS or at Juki at Pepiliyana. Almost all the spares are available but they are from China. If you are not much concerned with fuel economy it's a good one to consider. Hope you could negotiate and get at a good price.