Autoport's Journey: From a Kurla Start to 20,000+ Customers in Dombivli East

Quick answer: Autoport's story begins in Kurla; its workshop now stands at Plot 140/1, Desai Naka, opposite Croma (SK Plaza) on Kalyan-Shilphata Road, Dombivli East. Founder Sunil Kumar Soni worked at Carnation before opening Autoport, and he runs the workshop today. More than 20,000 customers later, the workshop still works the same way: inspect, estimate in writing, your approval — then the work.

This is the story of a garage, told the way a driver would want it: no slogans, just the route it took. From a start in Kurla to a workshop on Kalyan-Shilphata Road; from one founder's experience at Carnation to a team that now looks after cars, bikes and EVs across Dombivli East, Palava, Kalyan and Thane. The sections below cover the founder, the 20,000+ number, the workshop as it stands today, the checkup and the offer, and the practical part — how to reach Desai Naka and how to book. If you only want the address and the phone number, they are in the quick answer above.

From Kurla to Desai Naka: the Autoport story in brief

Two facts hold the whole story. Autoport started in Kurla. Today its workshop is at Plot 140/1, Desai Naka, opposite Croma (SK Plaza), on Kalyan-Shilphata Road in Dombivli East. Everything between those facts is growth: more drivers, more kinds of vehicles, a bigger workshop — and a count that now stands past 20,000 customers. What connects the two facts is a way of working that never changed: look at the car first, put the estimate in writing, and start no work without the owner's approval. A driver who understands that order understands the workshop, whether they first heard of it in Kurla or found it last week on Kalyan-Shilphata Road.

The founder's Carnation years — and what they changed

Before Autoport, Sunil Kumar Soni worked at Carnation, one of India's early organised car-service names. Carnation was a business built on process — the same inspection, the same estimate, the same paperwork for every car — rather than on one mechanic's memory. Autoport runs on that same fixed order today: inspect, estimate in writing, approval, then work. The founder's time there is not a decoration on this page; it is the reason the workshop has a method at all, and the method is what a customer actually experiences. Kiran Soni co-founded Autoport, Raj Soni is the CFO, and Shivam Kumar — the author of this page — is the CTO. Titles aside, the point is simple: the person who started this business still runs it, and the workshop answers for its work to him. What the Carnation years could not give a workshop is local knowledge — which roads wear a car fastest, which societies the drivers come from, where the waterlogging hits first in a monsoon. That part came from the years since, in Dombivli itself.

20,000+ customers: what the number does and does not prove

A number this big deserves a careful reading. What it proves is that 20,000-plus drivers have trusted Autoport with a vehicle — car, bike or EV — when it needed service or repair. It does not prove that each of them left happy, and no honest page would claim that; there are no invented testimonials or star ratings here to dress it up. What the number does prove is range. A workshop that has served 20,000 customers has seen the usual Indian-road list many times over: clutches worn by stop-go traffic, ACs that quit in summer, batteries that fail on cold mornings, dents from tight basement ramps. It has also seen every kind of driver — the daily commuter, the family with a single car, the rider whose scooter is their livelihood — and every kind of vehicle, hatchback to SUV, petrol, diesel, CNG and electric. The number also hides a quieter figure: how many of those 20,000 came back. This page does not claim a repeat rate, because there is none to publish. But a workshop's second visit is its real test — the first visit can be an advertisement or a referral, the second is a choice the driver makes on their own. The 20,000 count is best read as 20,000 chances for the workshop to earn a second visit, and the workshop's job is to keep earning them one car at a time.

Inside the Desai Naka workshop today

Walk into the Desai Naka workshop today and the work on offer is: routine service, repair, car AC work, denting and painting, car spa and detailing, doorstep service for jobs that suit it, and breakdown help — for cars, bikes and EVs, across brands. The three packages anchor the service side: Basic, Standard and Premium, starting at ₹1,859, ₹2,589 and ₹4,869 in the booking catalog. Repairs are priced differently, because a repair cannot be priced before it is seen — the estimate comes after inspection, and nothing starts without your approval. Every visit carries a FREE 25-point checkup, the same check for a wash as for a warning light. The three packages are the starting point, not the whole bill: Basic, Standard and Premium cover routine service, and the checkup runs with all three. What each package covers in detail is in the guide to Basic vs Standard vs Premium, which compares them by car, kilometres and budget. Model-specific prices are in the booking catalog — 184 models — and the estimate on the day still follows the inspection, because no two cars of the same model are in the same condition.

A service visit, step by step

Here is the visit as it happens, in order. 1. Inspection. The car is looked over and the problem is found, not guessed at. 2. Estimate. You get it in writing — what is wrong, what it costs, what can wait. 3. Approval. Nothing starts until you agree; and if the job throws up something unexpected, work pauses while the team phones you with a new estimate. 4. The work. Old parts are shown to you on request when something is replaced. 5. Collection. You collect the car and pay at the workshop. The same five steps apply to a routine service and to a repair, to a first-time customer and to the 20,000th. If you want to know how this compares with an authorised centre, the guide to multi-brand garages versus authorised service centres lays out when each makes sense.

One roof for car, bike and EV

One roof, three kinds of vehicles. A household with a car and a scooter uses one garage instead of two, and an EV owner does not have to search for a workshop willing to look at an electric car. For EVs, Autoport does the work a general workshop can honestly do — inspection, tyres, brakes, AC, suspension, the 12V battery, charging-port checks, warning-light diagnosis — and sends high-voltage battery and drive-unit work to the brand's authorised network, without pretending otherwise. Bike jobs are priced the same way — after the team has seen the bike. The practical gain is a single address and a single number — Plot 140/1, Desai Naka, and +91 72080 15250 — for everything the household drives. For a family with two vehicles the gain is not just one address. The checkup covers both, the bookings are made in one call, and the team knows the household's cars together — the scooter that needs new tyres and the car that needs an AC gas top-up can be handled in the same visit where it makes sense.

The FREE 25-point checkup, explained

The checkup is free with every booking, and it is a real inspection, not a glance. It runs through 25 points: oil level and quality, the suspension and steering, cabin and AC filters, a battery test, brakes, tyres, lights and fluid levels, and the rest. The point of doing it on every visit is that small problems are cheap and big problems are not: a worn bush caught today is a small bill, and the same bush ignored for six months is a suspension job. The checkup costs you nothing extra, it takes place while the car is already in for service, and the findings are told to you plainly — what needs doing now, what can wait, and what is fine. No part is changed on the strength of the checkup alone; that still needs your approval and a written estimate.

Labour up to 16% OFF: how the offer actually works

The labour offer is simple once it is written out. Every booking gets 5% off labour. A prepaid booking gets 8% off labour, flat. A referral code from a new customer adds a further 8% off. The maximum is 16% off labour in total — the percentages do not stack past it. The code rules are strict: a single code on a booking, a single use of each code per person, and no referring yourself; the person who referred you gets 5% extra off their own next service. Any spare parts are billed at their actual cost. The FREE 25-point checkup sits alongside the offer, not inside it — it is free on every visit either way. That is the whole offer; there is no code to remember for the checkup, and no discount beyond the 16% maximum on labour.

When the car breaks down at night

Open 24x7 means the phone is answered at 2 a.m., and the first thing the team will ask is what happened and where the car is. Describe the problem in your own words — the sound, the smell, the warning light — and the team will tell you whether it is safe to drive in, whether a jump start will do, or whether the car should not be moved at all. Autoport owns no tow trucks; when a tow is needed it is arranged through a local provider, and the team says that plainly. Some jobs can be done where the car stands — ask about doorstep service when you call. The 24-hour mechanic guide walks through the night-time call in more detail.

Reaching Desai Naka from Palava, Thane and Kalyan

The workshop is opposite Croma at SK Plaza, and that is the landmark to navigate by. From Palava it is about 8–15 minutes via Palava Chowk and Kalyan-Shilphata Road; from the Dombivli station area, about 10–15 minutes. From Kalyan, follow Kalyan-Shilphata Road towards Desai Naka. From Thane, take the Eastern Express Highway and the Mumbra bypass to Shil Phata, then Kalyan-Shilphata Road. The address to save is Plot 140/1, Desai Naka, Kalyan-Shilphata Road, Dombivli East 421204. Unsure of the way? Call or WhatsApp +91 72080 15250 before you set out — the team will guide you in — and book a slot first at book.autoport.co.in so someone is expecting your car. Arrive with the booking reference if you booked online, and your car's registration number if you are calling for the first time — it saves a round of questions at the counter. If you are dropping the car and leaving, say so at booking so the team knows when to expect you back. And if the car is coming in for a warning light, note the colour of the light and when it first appeared; that is the first thing the technician will want to know.

Booking your slot: what to keep ready

Three things make a booking quick: your vehicle, its model and year, and the issue in your own words. Once you have those three things, ring or WhatsApp +91 72080 15250, or go to book.autoport.co.in and pick the car, the service, the date and a time slot — nothing is paid online. If the car cannot be driven in, say so when you book. If you want doorstep service, ask whether the job is eligible. Then come to Desai Naka, opposite Croma (SK Plaza) on Kalyan-Shilphata Road. Evening drop-offs after work are welcome — the doors are open around the clock — though a quick call ahead means someone is waiting for your car. One call, one estimate, your approval, and the work: that is the visit, from Kurla to Desai Naka.

FAQs

Written by Shivam Kumar (@visionquantech) for Autoport India Pvt Ltd. Published 15 Nov 2026. General guidance only — your car's owner's manual and an in-person inspection come first.