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The dealer can argue that he hasn't touched the Odo, and also can argue that the complainant has tampered with the Odo after buying the car.
Difficult to prove cases like this, unless the Sale document mentions the Mileage Figure.

Thanks for sharing. It will surely help others.

Tell (or pretend to) the dealer that you're not letting this go easily. I am sure you'll easily find something to prove his con. Try to contact the owner. It will be easier to settle things with individual rather then dealer. If only problem is more mileage and nothing major has come up in the history. You can ask for some refund, as returning the car would be a tough task.

Last month, I helped a friend purchase a used Duster. There was no trouble getting the complete history from Renault.

Thank you all so much for such positive and encouraging responses.

I have a meeting with the owner of this dealership tomorrow morning who is coming from Mumbai

To sum it up, here is the synopsis

1. Hyundai Service Advisor today suggested that I should get rid of the car at the earliest as it is due to have suspension and timing repairs done soon as Hyundai suggests such operations at 100k kms and he said such tasks take upward of Rs. 30k on a Verna

2. At this moment, I am still wary of going the legal route because the delivery note does not mention the mileage anywhere on it ... again my mistake stupid:

3. As of now, I am even willing to book a 40k loss on the amount paid just to get out of owning such a car. Don't get me wrong, the car is in good condition as of now and seeing it from outside no one can tell its run so much (in fact my best guess-timate is 120k kms) ... but as per me Indian cars over 100k on the clock are well near their retirement age especially when you do not know how well they are taken care of by their prior owner

4. The sole reason I want to get out is that most of my travelling is on highways and feel that a car over 100k kms (which I feel in my limited knowledge is in its middle-age ... much like me) can give-up mid-route someday and leave my family stuck/stranded

5. In fact, if I wanted to buy a car with over 100k on the clock, there are even Mercs out there which only cost a lakh over this one and then why not to own the 3-pointed star right ... but that was never the aim of this purchase

Will update this thread tomorrow based on what transpires with the owner (or should I say CCO [chief-cheating-officer]) of the dealership

Great. Play from a position of strength: mention you have the liberty of publicizing the fraud done by this dealership and of course, the judicial route.

This is under the assumption, the dealership knowingly lied. However remote, there is a possibility the odometer was rolled back by the previous owner and the dealership wasn't smart/capable enough to find out.

Lastly, be careful and gauge who you're dealing with. Possibly, take someone along with you and meet in a public place. However silly this sounds, we know from numerous examples how such meetings go wrong (OLX example in Bangalore for example).

Sorry to read your predicament. The fact that he has cheated you is clear. You can conveniently adapt the legal route. A police FIR is OK but I am not sure as to what action the police will take given the facts.

The points in your favour for a legal remedy are:-
(1) The second hand market goes by the word of mouth and not by recording kms on the receipt, when an old car is bought . Most of the the judges are well aware of this practice and if not, a good lawyer can explain it after recording the the facts in his plaint. Let the seller deny this. He can be cross questioned and cornered.

(2) Hence, firstly issue him a legal notice stating the fact that you shall be filing a case in a competent Consumer Court within 30 days of the date of issue of this notice, if he does not refund the purchase amount and take back the car in return on an as is where is basis. Do not use the car during such period.

(3) Please also talk to the media and apprise them of the facts. His reputation if at stake will make him run for cover.

(4) First of all, tell the broker about the remedial measures that you will be adapting, if he does not take back the car and refund the amount to you. If he is adamant, the remedial measures need to be taken.

GST for second hand goods is payable, if the original purchase price and the sale price are different i.e. if the sale price is higher. The difference is liable for GST. In the case of second hand automobiles (other than vintages) its always lower, so in most cases GST does not apply. For brokers GST is to be paid on their commission, which he may be wary about.

If you can't live with an old Verna there's no way you could service a Merc, get a thorough once over and don't add to your losses and get it up to shape and run it! Best would be to seek an FNG to keep your service charges under leash! It's been an impulsive buy don't burn your fingers with an impulsive sale. But first talk to the used car dealer and see what he has to say; used car dealers are a slimy lot. As suggested by Librano take a friend with you. Legal route can be meandering and cause a lot of heart burn unless you have a good friend who's a lawyer and won't mislead you with false promises.

Yes, very aware of that, which is why I never even thought of the Mercs lol:

Let's see based on the outcome of tomorrows meeting with the CCO and will update further for more inputs

This odometer tampering is quite common all over India even if the car has a full service history. You might ask the dealer to buy back the car from you for the same amount minus the name transfer charges.

We exchanged our 2012 Punto mjd in 2016 with an Ecosport, the Punto was taken by the ford dealer itself. The odometer reading at the time of sale was 103325 km, the dealership gave us a sale deed as a proof of the sale. There was no mention of the odometer reading on the sale deed & we didn't bother as we were selling to an authorized dealer.

While searching OLX.in after a couple of weeks I came across our Punto, now the odometer reading was 42744km. I was shocked to see this & do note that our Punto had a full service record till we sold her. Few days later I was at the Ford dealership for some documents, got hold of the person who was dealing in used cars & asked for an explanation. He replied that they have sold the vehicle to a used car dealer & he has no responsibilities now. Then I asked whose name is on the RC, I was replied the RC will be changed after the dealer finds a buyer. Isn't this illegal? Almost all dealers do this.

Since then I have spotted our Punto many times, my mother once did talk to the new owner. The owner didn't ask about the odometer reading nor my mother said anything about it. If the new owner comes to know of this fraud & the dealer puts the blame on us, we will not have any proof that we didn't tamper the odometer.

The last odometer reading that I clicked



The odometer reading on the OLX add

We checked out a 2016 May 32K driven top of the line used Jetta yday. Everything looked fine until the dealer revealed that car doesnt have an insurance for last 6 months and they will give brand new insurance as part of the agreed price. This raised some suspicion that how come a premium car is running without Insurance for a long time, so we digged more and found that the car has flood damage claims in the insurance and hence dealer was not ready to share that insurance policy with us and instead chose to give a brand new insurance with a different insurer.

Also those flood repair was NOT done at a VW dealer, hence details of repair are not available.

(30 minutes window just passed hence creating a new post)

Lessons learned from the above incident - Telling 'Insurance expired' (even with a valid insurance) could be an intentional way to hide a damage claim from current insurer ( so that we dont check the insurance claims with the carrier) and check in detail if the new insurance is from a different carrier.

Sorry to hear about your experience. It’s best you avoid the legal route. It won’t yeild any results and will just drain your funds. Negotiate with the same dealer to buy it back from you. You may incur some loss but it’s worth the peace of mind.

The suggestion someone had of using the local MP or corporator's assistance might also prove interesting. But that is only if you have some introduction or pull with them.

So today's update is that I met with the CCO (owner) of the dealership and he has kept the car at his yard now for sale and money refund will take place as and when it is sold

I am not sure if this is a good move from my side and at present i am so distraught with this whole episode, I fear I am not thinking too clearly

Any advise/guidance on what I should do next will be great as I am starting to feel my thought-process is getting clouded by the fact of the massive cheating that has taken place

Not a very good result, they will delay giving different excuses and make low offers after you lose patience. Perhaps, you should check any other car at his place that meets your requirement and offer him to adjust money. If he really wants to help you without losing his profits, he should be ok. You may get something at higher rates but at least you can hopefully get a clean car.

Every other car at his place will likely be tampered in some way or the other

This is not a best outcome for you. Its basically your money sitting in that yard with no sign of it coming back.

Remember you are not the first person to be cheated. You can put this down to a life experience and take it in your stride. Don't over think it, it happens to everyone.
- Be assertive with the dealer demand your money back in full.
- Do not let them sense you are willing to let go of some money, If they get the faintest hint, they will try to cheat you out of half the amount or more.
- Remember they cheated you, you need to be the aggressor here.
- Meet in public places and have a friend along.

Time is of essence here. If you need to take legal route, its better to do it sooner than later. You need to figure out if these guys are willing to deal now or not. If they are playing hardball, I would say go the legal route. It may be hard and long route but you need to teach those slime balls a lesson.