[SirAlec]

Being Near Gujarat, it came to my knowledge a very unique case from Baroda through reliable sources.

There is a dealership in Baroda named EAST AFRICA Toyota. They took money in tune of about Rs. 3 cr. from people against booking of Toyota Cars but never delivered the cars till date. In fact funny thing is the owner is missing in action like a Ponzi scheme dealer.

In fact people have talked to Toyota itself, but got reply that they should contact Dealer itself. Only in November they gave a small advisory in local paper that Toyota is no longer associated with EAST AFRICA, when the said dealership was taking booking money as early as October.

Its a very shortsightedness from company as big as Toyota to miss such a fraud. Because any company does not disassociate itself from its dealer on one fine single day.

The company website is defunct.
http://www.eastafricatoyota.com/index.html

The owner missing, I have came to know that he also owns a dealership of Bajjaj, but have not visited that place too.

Dealership Address
EAST AFRICA TOYOTA
OPP. G.S.F.C., N.H. NO. 8,
VADODARA(GUJARAT)
PHONE:0265-2242480,2242590
EMAIL:eastafrica@sify.com

Any inputs from Gujarat/baroda members to confirm this would be helpful.

Thanks

-K

[GTO]

I'm surprised Toyota lets this dealer get away with a scam. Worse still, Toyota is doing nothing about it! When people put their down payment for an Innova, it's the Toyota brand they are betting on (and not necessarily the dealer). Further, just the fact that the strangely named dealership was an authorised one means - in my books - Toyota is accountable to the cheated customers.

Looks like Toyota was made well aware of this scam a full 9 months back (Sample link).

Just giving a newspaper notice doesn't absolve them of the obligation it holds to those Toyota customers.

Has any customer filed a criminal complaint against this rogue dealer? Has Toyota? That would be the logical step forward. Sell the crook's assets and pay off customers, staff & suppliers (in that order).

[HammerHead]

This brings me back to the basic question, Is dealership not the 'face' of the company?
At least or me it is. (I'm talking purely about car dealers here).

Toyota just can't wash their hands of this scam.

[Vishal.R]

This is really shocking.

IIRC This was very old Toyota dealership in Gujarat, from Qualis days.

Surprisingly, Bajaj website still shows "EAST AFRICA MOTORS LTD" as their dealer in Vadodara.

Don't know what kind of relationship is shared between this Bajaj dealer and previous Toyota dealer.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by HammerHead

This brings me back to the basic question, Is dealership not the 'face' of the company?
At least or me it is. (I'm talking purely about car dealers here).

Toyota just can't wash their hands of this scam.

There are two kinds of dealerships: The authorized ones which represent the manufacturer, and the un-authorized ones, which are independent outfits.

To give you an example, my local tyre dealer is an authorized seller for Michelin, but he does stock JK and other tyres too. If he is not authorized for the same, he is just an independent reseller for these brands. Again there's a JK tyre dealer who stocks and sells Maxxis tyres.

I don't know if this arrangement works with cars.

.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by honeybee

There are two kinds of dealerships: The authorized ones which represent the manufacturer, and the un-authorized ones, which are independent outfits.

I don't know if this arrangement works with cars.

.

I doubt if this arrangement is there with car dealers. In fact I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist. Otherwise we would have seen a multi-brand outlet for sure.

Originally Posted by SirAlec

Dealership Address
EAST AFRICA TOYOTA
OPP. G.S.F.C., N.H. NO. 8,
VADODARA(GUJARAT)
PHONE:0265-2242480,2242590
EMAIL:eastafrica@sify.com
-K

Going by the short (& partial) address, this looks to be in Chaani area, quite a bit outside of the main city. "Opp GSFC" - that's a huge township + factory area which is very vague for an address. It's like saying XYZ office, opposite Arabian Sea, Bombay.

I'll try to find out if any further local info can be obtained from my friends based out of Baroda. Also maybe @drmohitg could be able to get (local) info on this - I believe he is based out of Baroda currently.

[micrographics]

Thru Justdial I got following details :

East Africa Toyota
National Highway No 8,
Opposite Gsfc Fertilizer Company, Chhani,
Vadodara - 391740
Call: +(91)-(265)-2242480
Also See : Car Dealers-Toyota, Car Dealers-Toyota (Authorised), Car Dealers-Toyota Innova (Authorised)

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

I doubt if this arrangement is there with car dealers. In fact I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist. Otherwise we would have seen a multi-brand outlet for sure.

Well, I think I have seen a couple of multi-brand car dealers around my town. The name, as expected, does not sport any particular manufacturer's name/logo or brands. They have a variety of vehicles parked outside from various companies. So I am sure they do exist. However it's a rare breed.

[Nitrous Power]

This Toyota dealer, East Africa Toyota has been in news in local automobile circle for quite a few times now because of their practices and financial conditions. I am not amazed at all hearing this news. Termination of their dealership was on for a card for some times now since Toyota appointed new dealer for Vadodara last year.

What I am amazed is, why was he facing difficulties? East Africa Toyota was one of the first dealer in Gujarat and was serving not only Vadodara but from nearing districts Anand to Surat. He had a very good run as far as sales and services were concerned.

Oth, Toyota should act proactively in this situation and help customers in getting their cars delivered or getting money back.

[skartik2]

wow! this is something, Can this really happen. I mean normally dealers have atleast 80-100 cars in their yard. This would mean they have inventory of 8-10 crores including spares. They have a few dozen employees and generally the turnover is in a few hundred crores. Leaving all this the guy takes 3 crores in bookings and vanishes.

Can we make the booking and payment cheques directly in the name of OEMs but what happens if Toyota vanishes.

[SirAlec]

Originally Posted by Nitrous Power

This Toyota dealer, East Africa Toyota has been in news in local automobile circle for quite a few times now because of their practices and financial conditions. I am not amazed at all hearing this news. Termination of their dealership was on for a card for some times now since Toyota appointed new dealer for Vadodara last year.

What I am amazed is, why was he facing difficulties? East Africa Toyota was one of the first dealer in Gujarat and was serving not only Vadodara but from nearing districts Anand to Surat.

Oth, Toyota should act proactively in this situation and help customers in getting their cars delivered or getting money back.

We hear in our forum, many cases of dealership cheating customers, thats not new. What amazes me is the outlook of Toyota company. If they were having difficulty with them and appointed dealer for the district a year prior, why did they let them take bookings as early as October this year.

This is the second similar story after the Skoda mumbai one.

We should do something about it.

[HammerHead]

By the way what legal action could customer take in such situation? Case can be filed against Toyota? Any expert comments?

Originally Posted by honeybee

There are two kinds of dealerships: The authorized ones which represent the manufacturer, and the un-authorized ones, which are independent outfits.

I knew someone will come to this point that's the reason specifically said 'Car Dealers'.

Originally Posted by honeybee

Well, I think I have seen a couple of multi-brand car dealers around my town.

Are you sure? I mean are there any dealers selling multi-brand 'new' cars under one roof??

[subratasenn]

Well one East Africa Toyota is/was operational in Kenya too. They also sell/used to sell Yamaha motorbikes. That's what I gather from Net.

Would like to know what has happened to that company in Kenya.

I presume both the companies in Kenya as well as in Baroda are linked in some way or the other. Otherwise how can one explain the name having "East Africa" for a dealer in Gujarat?

[lurker]

A lot of Gujratis were/are settled in East Africa like Kenya, Uganda (before Idi Amin), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and so on.

[rjalihal]

Shocking to hear this. Appears there is a Skoda deep down every manufacturer. Toyota should have done a proper background check before issuing a dealer license to them. Toyota's fault and they are accountable.