Maruti penalised for selling defective car

[gallardo-spyder]

New Delhi, Dec 21 : For a much-harried Maruti customer it was sweet justice finally when Maruti Udyog Limited was directed by a consumer court to pay him back for a defective car it had sold and the dealer told to pay Rs.50,000 for causing harassment and mental agony.


The District Consumer Forum told Maruti Udyog to compensate Manoj Kapur for the defective Alto he had bought June 19, 2005.

A day after purchasing the car, Kumar noticed sluggishness and loss of pick up during shifting gears and a cranking sound towards the left side of the engine.

He called the Maruti helpline, which attended to the problem, but within days it cropped up again.

Despite several complaints to the car dealer and the company, the problem persisted. The dealer sent a mechanic over, but he could not fix it properly.

He took the car to the Maruti workshop on June 25 where he learnt that other vehicle owners, who had purchased cars belonging to the same lot as his, were facing problems too. The complainant then asked the company for a replacement, which was refused. He approached the consumer court, which ruled in his favour.

"When a person buys a new car he has sentiments and emotions attached and all such emotions are shattered immediately when the car shows up defects while driving the car from the place of delivery to the house of the complainant," said Justice K.K. Chopra, president District Consumer Forum, New Delhi.

Maruti has been asked to pay Rs.314,000, the price of the car immediately, and the car dealer, Competent Automobiles, told to pay compensation of Rs.50,000 to Kumar for harassment and mental agony.

"I am happy that my fight has finally bought some result. I think we all should fight for justice," Kapur told IANS Friday.

He said that consumers should fight for their rights till they get justice