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

[jaysmokesleaves]

Originally Posted by 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.

Sir the condition is pretty much the same all across the country. There are wild animals everywhere, in human disguise. Its just a matter of time place and circumstance. Why do you think people flee the spot in case of an accident anywhere in India, because mob fury has no brains. Unfortunately Samson couldnt run or escape because of his circumstances. If you are ashamed to call yourself an Indian, i guess, unfortunately, you are left with only 2 options. Either you will remain so(ashamed as an Indian) all your life or change your opinion considering that we also have good samaritans like the man who whisked samson out of the mob fury. Nothing is going to change in this country atleast in our lifetime. We will just have more educated and uncultured people.

Samson, I fully sympathize wth you. Your fault or not, its bad to be lynched by a mobbed. I feel that you are left with only 2 options.
First, if you think you can go the distance with the legal process, with the dealer using outside pressure, etc, then go for it. If you do decide upon this course of action then you may also consider using the media(press/tv). Sham the dealer in public(if you can handle the backlash too). No dealer will want bad press.. and he may agree to an out of court settlement. Again, there is no guarantee that he wont get back at you after the dust settles. For that you too must have good contacts to broker a good deal. Or you may end up going the legal way whole hog... but it will haunt you for years. I again state that nothing will compensate for your grief or pain or suffering but please see through this leaving your emotions aside.

The second option, an out of court settlement with the dealer.
The problem is, if you do this, you still face police charges(possibly of), rash & negligent driving, causing harm and injury due to rash & negligent driving, causing property damage due to rash & negligent driving, etc....
Also, if you do an out of court settlement with the dealer, it will weaken your case against the state, since the dealer will get a clean chit that his vehicle was in good condition(by paying his way through the system). I guess there is nothing much left of it anyways, so im not sure how they will ascertain vehicle fault or not. Make no mistake that if it becomes a matter of reputation, then the dealer will go to any length to save his.
Im not a legal expert, but ive seen a lot of such cases and have pretty much seen how the law turns.

Lastly, do make sure that your lawyer is really good with the advice he gives you and that he can really investigate this case to the hilt and doesnt miss a thing. During my case i had a real dumb@$$ lawyer, but somehow I won it. Fortunately it wasnt as serious as yours.

Good luck buddy and hope you shine through this, if you are right to start with!

[ram_hyundai]

Thank god that you are safe along with others.
Any thing could be done in a bad way and a good way.The attitude of the dealer is not good at all.He could have done this in a more diplomatic way after all.
Even if the dealer goes for the insurance claim there would be a difference amount which should be a huge amount.Your post itself could turn out against you buddie as you have admitted that its your fault and this could lead to reckless driving charges.And if its proved then you would end up paying it.
Anyways keep us posted and best of luck.
ram

[jaysmokesleaves]

HELLO T- BHPIANS:
We do not know if it was Samson's fault or not. MIstakes happen,**** happens.
Regardless, there was no need for him to be lynched by a mob and worse then get threatened by the dealer & his goons.
I request:
Times like this are really harrowing for those involved. If anybody has good contacts in Bangalore(there are lotsa bangaloreans on this forum), do try to mediate and help Samson out. Im sure your gesture will certainly earn you a lot of good wishes and prayers, if nothing else.

Thanks everyone,
JAYSMOKESLEAVES

[HappyWheels]

Very sad to hear what happened. Unfortunate that people want to bash up a person who has just walked out of a accident vehicle! Mob fury is alway a bad thing to face.

As advised by other - do not take this *^*& from Bimal. I am surprised that some one from the showroom also came down and hit you and you accepted it!

And when in such a situation, why did you not call someone from you office? Why only your wife and father?

Anyway, whatever happened, you came out without any major injuries. Thanks God for that. And thank Ali, also, for that. Atleast there are some humans left in this world!

[spadival]

Thank god you are safe from the accident (thanks to SX4) and from the mob (thanks to the good samaritan).

If you have the patience and the means to pursue this matter, go ahead and do it. Looks like Bimal is running their TD car on the road without insurance just to save a few bucks !! According to the law, every vehicle on the road should have atleast 3rd party insurance. So you have a strong legal case against Bimal, since they have themselves admitted that the car is uninsured. Make sure the auto driver is on your side and get an out of court settlement with him. These Bimal guys may try to bribe him into registering false cases against you.

Last but not the least, I dont know how many prospective buyers will buy their vehicle from Bimal if the news about them beating up people gets out.

[flyingspur]

Sunson that was really messed up. What BS that they used force! You still ought to go the legal way man, and go official with Maruti. An incident like this should NOT go unnoticed. And the rickshaw guys! Every mod will ban me for life if I start expressing my views on them in the most eloquent of words and tones.

[phamilyman]

Umm, I feel for you man. One nightmare of a day.

Couple of things.

Firstly, the noble soul was prolly a dealer man who wanted you alive to take compensation money out of you. altruism is REALLY in short supply these days.

Secondly, mishaps happen with TD cars ALL the time. ask anyone in the industry - TD cars are carjacked often - have heard stories of TD cars being used to bump off people, with dealer having to foot the bill. So I'd say its part of the business.

Heck, they otherwise can set up a dyno like BAL probiking does!

[iTNerd]

Thank god you are safe from the accident (thanks to SX4) and from the mob (thanks to the good samaritan).

Not deviating from the nightmares you had been through (for which I sympathize with you btw), that incident DID reconfirm that the airbags on SX4 do deploy.. Always have this mentality, that being a Maruti (read, cheap), it might not work at all.

[wanderernomad]

Man get yourself a good lawyer and first thing is make a stop cheque call on that balnk cheque. File an FIR against unknown persone and the dealer ASAP. Later on this can be used as leverage in case they try any nasty trick again.Accidents happen and till the court or the police investigations pin the fault on you you are under no obligation to pay. So dont get unduly alarmed. I feel bad and sorry on what you underwent.

[aaggoswami]

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

I talked with my father and in turn got the mobile number of the person who was the sales guy who sold us the Baleno. He confirmed that the test or popularly called Demo cars do not have any insurance and when there was Octroi in Gujarat ( Octroi is no longer there in Gujarat ) the dealer men always adviced not to cross the limits of the Chowki( basically an office called Jakatnaku in Gujarati where you are caught if not payed Octroi or do not have liscence or insurance, etc.) or rather not to go near the Chowki.
Mostly the dealer person in the demo car would not allow you to go even near that place. And mostly the Odo is disconnected along with Speedo. So you just have tachometer working. IN case there is no tacho meter, no dial willl work( except fuel and temperature gauge)!

This confirms that the test car was not insured in your case, atleast the dealer behaviour confirms this. While asking for test drives hardly anyone will check your liscence at any brand ( Toyota here is the exception ) as they are busy telling you that their car can eat any other car of its class.

My father told that against the advice of his, his co worker went to Hyundai to select the Company owned car. He had a minor brush with other test car in parking lot. Just a minor scratch. Now the dealer behaviour changed. He was asking 15K for the front bumper of test drive Santro and other demo car Accent's bumper. He paid 10K and decided not to buy any car.

So these useless bad people are every where. You had the liscence so you were eligible to drive the SX4. Now its responsibility of the dealer along with Maruti to assure that the vehicle is properly insured and in perfect working condition.

You can certainly and must complain Maruti about this. We all people will do what we can do for you. The dealer cannot just go on doing illegal and wrong practicites. He must be taught a lesson . Yes I know its tough, but if not done that way, they might pressurize you further.

[gemithomas]

I guess this is the logical step ahead.
1.Immediate Stop Cheque notice to Bank in case you ahve signed a cheque.
2.Hire a good Lawyer and file a counter case on Dealers for Physically forcing you to sign a blank cheque.
3.Shoot a mail to Maruti Top guns (ask lawyer for any legal issues in such a mail).

ALl this needs to be done ASAP. If you want to wait thinking that they are strong and we are weak. Well. Its your call.

Hope you get good support from friends and family to get out of this trauma as soon as possible. Take care man.

What about the SX4. Are you still with the buying process. How much had you payed while booking?

[sunson]

What I cannot understand is that while you were doign the "shoulder checks", presumably the vehicle in front of you is not the auto in question. While you were trying to get into the right lane the Auto was not teher .. else you would not have turned. Then the question arises is where did the Auto appear from.?

Its not the same auto. I hit the divider, the car continued to 'accelerate' and traveled atleast another 200 meters or so. While spinning out of control, it hit another auto far away. I might be wrong about the 200 meters part... but I'm damn sure its not the same auto.

[amtak]

@ Sunson,

wasn't this a reddish type SX4? i was there on that day when this mishap occured. I saw the car on the divider and also the rickshaw. To be honest, the car was in a worse condition than the rickshaw. I don't understand what is wrong with we Indians that when ever some accident happens, we start beating the person instead of offering first aid?

Hope you have got yourself scanned for internal injuries.

Take rest and may some civic sense prevail in us to help others in case of emergencies.

[PatienceWins]

This incident has been daunting me since yesterday. Now I am getting scared to take my vehicle on the road. We are humanbeings and accidents are not created intentionally. This kind of treatment towards a person who has just recovered from an accident is brutal. I cant believe the violence from dealer happened in front of the police. Then do we have any safety in this city?

@ Sunson, The dealer is at fauly by giving you a Test Drive car without insurance and beating you up for an accident. Ask bank not to entertain the cheque if you have issued one. If the mistake is from your end, you are doing the right thing by owning the responsibility. But you can sue the dealer for offering a car without insurance, beating you up and for giving a faulty car for TD if the fault was with the car (doubtful). You can seek a high compensation for all this and take away his happiness.

[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

....... He confirmed that the test or popularly called Demo cars do not have any insurance and when there was Octroi in Gujarat ( Octroi is no longer there in Gujarat ) ..........

This confirms that the test car was not insured in your case, atleast the dealer behaviour confirms this. While asking for test drives hardly anyone will check your liscence at any brand ( Toyota here is the exception ) as they are busy telling you that their car can eat any other car of its class.

.....

Sunson.... If you have the luck and investigative brains to prove that the particular SX4 DOES NOT HAVE INSURANCE, YOU ARE SAFE. You can take BIMAL for a RIDE.

I Personally feel you should go to the MEDIA with this information and tarnish Bimal name so that every bangalorean thinks twice before going to such a cheap dealer.