Horrible accident while test driving SX4 (Mob/dealer beat up the driver)

[akroy]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Oh god, what a horrible experience. I can believe mob behaving like that, but the dealer beating you up, now that is too much. I think Bimal has taken the law into it's hands, I hope they will pay for this moronic act.

I agree!! Take stringent action against Bimal, he cannot touch/abuse you and force you to sign papers...

Thats very unfortunate but on a positive note, Pls dont try this in inner ring road. You should have chosen ORR in an odd hour. IRR is never empty.

As Samurai says, talk to a good lawyer and then proceed.

Abhi

[sandeepmdas]

Originally Posted by Technocrat

damn this is really scary. Please get a good lawyer & act as he advices.

The only good thing is that you are alive & safe after the Mob's Fury, God bless the noble soul who helped you.

Wishing you all the luck

Totally agree.
Hire a good lawyer and (IMHO) lodge a complaint with the police anyway. That can nullify the effect -of the papers that you were forced to sign- to a great amount.

[aaggoswami]

You had a very bad experience. You have just surived the accident and then they beat you up. And now we know that those men living around us in the city are all bad.
This is a big bad world. Get out of this trouble with the help of a lawyer.
If possible spend your hard earned cash to pay 2.something lakhs to be safe.

I am not in positon to write more. I am shocked just reading how much there can be bad people in our country.

[sandeepmdas]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

I am not in positon to write more. I am shocked just reading how much there can be bad people in our country.

There's still hope. A hero emerged from that mad mob and saved him.

[sharad_agl]

A shocking incident for me. Makes me feel a little afraid of driving my car on Indian roads.

I suggest u should hire a lawyer and ask him to send legal notices to Bimal/Maruti for offering u a test drive in a faulty vehicle(say Brake failure ...) and hence risking ur life. Demand compensation. Your lawyer shall guide u more. I know this is wrong, but unless u do something like this, you will be facing legal action from their side. Don't be afraid of Bimal. Worst is over and u will soon come over this incident. Best of luck

[rks]

What a terrible experience! Are these human beings or wild animals? All I can say is that I am very glad to have left Bangalore in 2005, after spending about 16 years there. Looks like I left at exactly the right time.

I would seriously like some equally violent characters to stage-manage an accident and then when these goons appear, shoot them all dead, with the same mercilessness that they displayed towards a helpless individual. Where was the police? I am ashamed to even call myself an Indian under these circumstances.

It is obvious that the dealer sized up the situation and took advantage of it. People might have guessed that Sunson is an NRI and to add to that, he apparently had an IT company badge. That is the green signal for the locals to turn up the harassment.

[svsantosh]

Sunson,

1) You booked the car in Bimal - (got that), Was the TD from Bimal also? You have not mentioned that. (was it from the 80Ft-10Ft junction in Indira Nagar?)
2) What speeds were you at? Are you sure you were doing the right thing at the right time, the Inner ring Road in no longer THAT(I-RR), Its one of the most Traffic porne roads at any given point of time. What time of the day/what day was it?
3) My 10 years of driving on bangalore roads(7 bikes/1car later) I have witnessed quite a lot of accidents, small dents, scratches, TOTAL'eds, Private Vs Autos, Pvt Vs BMTC's, Auto's Vs BMTC's Etc. Been involved in a few myself. - Point is Have seen anything from BAD MOUTHING, Crowd Gathering, Police Interfering, TO BASHING. Each propotionate to the Stupidity and Avoidability of the incident by the 'parties' involved.

I may sound like a harsh critic, but please think as a person outside to the incident, say like the Auto Guy Itself.

If you were doing the right thing, then I can empathise with you, but the IRR is no place to test the EPS of Even a A8, S- Class or a 730!!!

So please recollect your thoughts and share with us more about the 5-10 Seconds of what really happened and the environment around you at that time.

---

Next point on the 'whoever' dealer. TOTALLY ILLEGAL - Take him for a RIDE of his life, tBHP will stand by you. You MUST have displayed you Driving License to him (making you a LEGAL driver), and the car MUST have all the Necessary Documents and INSURANCE before hitting the ROAD. Its TOTALLY Unprofessional of him to even touch a test driver like that. I sincerly hope MARUTI PAYS YOU for the 'xyz's' behaviour.

--

Eagerly awaiting your detailed report on the 'exact' 10seconds and please accept my sincere regret this all happened ever in the first place.

[ggkg]

I find it hard to digest that the goons threatened /blackmailed you inside the police station! How did the police react? Just sit and watch?

Sad as your case is, it is the unfortunate side-result of our legal system taking decades and centuries to punish criminals and that too only 0.001% of them. Look at rich guys/their kids in BMWs mowing down people by the dozen and cooly walking off without even a slap on wrist. So the system has slowly evolved into 'jiski lathi unki bains' and people taking law into their own hands. Dont know which one to fix and who will do that.

Thank your stars there is no long term damage from the mob-fury.

Wonder why the steering over-reacted. If you are used to driving good cars (and not trucks with manual steering) and a decent driving record in India, you have a good case in case you want to take it up legally. If you have lawyer relations/friends, you might want to sue the dealer for emotional distress / torture etc., etc. and pursue the case.

[bharatbs]

Man I can understand your plight... Surviving the accident but then getting beaten up by auto drivers.

Coming to the accident: People who are used to a hydraulic power steering (HPS) will find the electronic power steering (EPS) very light. In all probability you might have turned the steering with the same force that you used on HPS and at high speeds this might have made you loose control. In fact even when I test drove the swift I had a hard time not to oversteer.

About Bimal, Did you say that that they also beat you up?... I have picked up my Swift from Bimal and I thought they were pretty proffesional.

My suggestion is that you immediately call Maruti and raise your voice.
Maruti has a toll free number where you can register you complaints (Toll Free-1800 1800 180). How dare they act like that (sign blank cheque, beating, threatening).

Since you have already booked your SX4 they might act smart on refunding your amount if you cancel it. The toll free number is very effective, please do call Maruti

Morale: Make sure you get all the details about car accidental insurance before test driving a car and drive as safetly as possible since you dont know the car dynamics as yet.

Lastly just take this as a learning, everyone goes through one problem or another. Start focussing on the legal battle.

All the best

[sajands]

Sunson,

Thank god nothing serious happened to you. you being clam all the time came in handy.

You should make a complain to Maruti regarding the behavior of the dealer. they are keen on passing the accident cost to you and the dealer (and Maruti) is morally responsible for the aftermath as if they were really serious, they should have got your signature before the test drive itself. These dealers now-a-days tend to take us for a ride.

I, myself am trying to complain to huyndai against Advaith on their behavior when i went to book the verna crdi+abs and had to yell and scream at them in order to get my cheque back.

Take some time off and take care of yourself buddy. Hope you get well soon.

Regards,
Sajan

[shankar.balan]

talk to a lawyer immediately. all test drive cars are insured.if not, it is illegal.
you are under no serious fault if the eps was actually defective
and if you havent harmed anyone or hurt anyone seriously you dont have a problem
you should immedtly get a lawyer in full possession of the facts to file a case in court against BIMAL citing rough behaviour, manhandling and extortion etc immedtly
dont waste time on this but do this immdtly.
next I hope you can provide evidence - such as a couple of photos etc. also plse file and FIR immdtly

this is the best I can advise

[Sankar]

A very bad incident.

Did this happen at the Koramangala - Domlur IRR? Did the car fly over the divider and hit the fence on the other lane? Or did you hit the fence to your left?

Do you have a picture of the damaged car?

[rks]

Originally Posted by sunson

I'm on intermediate ring road off domlur at about 2:00 PM now, on the middle lane. There is a slow vehicle ahead so, its time to get to the right-most lane. Look at ORVM; Turn on Indicator; Look at ORVM again; Do the same maneuver that I've done a billion times while I was in the US on the Pontiac G6 - slightly twist the steering.

Zoom! The damn car took an oblique turn and hit the Divider!
[...]
I now had the chance to see what had happened. A Big traffic jam, tyre skid marks that left fractal spirals that I could trace all the way to the horizon starting off from near the divider!

Looks like your car oversteered. This could have happened because you were not familiar with the handling of the SX4, as compared to the Pontiac G6 that you were used to. Looks like you were at a fairly high speed too. In any case your foot should not have been on the pedal when your car did crash; the moment your car oversteered, your instinct should have been to lift your foot off the pedal.

Personally, I never trust these test drive cars and would not push them unless they have been thoroughly checked, and when I am fully confident of their handling. E.g were proper tyre pressures maintained? What was the state of the tyres? Car could oversteer if rear tyres are worn out/overinflated as compared to the front ones. Maybe the EPS did have a problem as you suggest. In normal circumstances, a FWD like SX4 should not oversteer unless it is either pushed beyond its limits or else something is wrong with the car.

Anyway, I hope you are able to get some legal redress for the suffering that you have endured.

[ramzsys]

OT:
i dont know why the 'mob' community is so obsessed with the IT tag.

Anyway i think you did right(during the scene). But what matters is how are you going to deal the aftermath when the situation is under your control.

[zenopio]

very sorry dude...can feel how you are feeling with this write up

But why the hell did the dealer beat you man..and why were you so silent ...you could have reacted na......????come on budddy