[sharad_agl]

I feel these days MARUTI is treating its customers based on model of car purchased. Expect least amount of support if you happen to be a OMNI customer. Customer care believes that if you are a OMNI customer then you must be running a unauthorized taxi and overloading the vehicle. They are not at all interested in solving any issues. My long story-

• This car(OMNI 8 seater) was bought for my private use using full cash down payment on 29th March,2013. This included insurance from maruti and full road tax fee in advance. I had purchased this car to transport my office and factory staff between our three factories located in Ghaziabad,Uttar Pradesh near Delhi.

• At the time of delivery, I was told that I can drive the car anywhere in Ghaziabad and final RC and number plate would be installed in next 6-7 days ( communication from Mr.Naveen at the time of delivery). I was following up with Mr.Naveen daily since 5th April regarding the final RC. Every single time he gave me a excuse telling me that their is lot of "PENDENCY" at RTO office and hence the delay. I even asked him whether to continue driving or not to which he told me that there is no problem in driving it withing Ghaziabad.

• The above car was being driven by my own driver and was also carrying my three colleagues. This car was intercepted by local RTO authority and they inquired about the registration papers. My driver called me and I talked to the concerned authority and briefed him that the car was bought on 29th March from Rohan, Ghaziabad and they are in process of getting it registered. The concerned officer did'nt accept any of my argument stating that registration does not take so much time and either I was telling a lie or Rohan has not completed the registration formalities. They immediately confiscated the vehicle and deposited it with local Kavi nagar police station. This was around 5pm in the evening on 12th April. I called up my sales agent (Mr.Naveen) at Rohan motors and asked him to come to police station and clear the situation. Mr. Naveen started giving excuses and did'nt turned up. I was alone at police station till 8:30 pm talking to police and RTO people explaining them the situation and they asked me to followup with Rohan next day. Kindly note that this was the first time in my life that I had to visit a police station and you can very well understand the UNPLEASANT experience that I had faced.

• Since the RTO office was closed on 13th and 14th( Sat and Sun),I went to Rohan motors Ghaziabad to meet Mr.Naveen and customer care executive. Their behavior and way of talking at that moment was not at all expected from a dealership of Maruti. Instead of co-operating and trying to resolve the issue they refused to help and told us that we need to directly contact RTO and get the vehicle released. They do not have anything to do with the situation. On asking the fault from my side in this situation, they did'nt had any answer. Their language and cold attitude made me leave the dealership with a heavy heart.

• With no options left, I decided to check with RTO myself on 15th. After much inquiry and running pillar to post, I got to the challan window to discuss my case with the concerned officer. It was already 2 pm and it was their lunch time. Got to meet the officer at ~ 3 pm. He did'nt listen to me, just had a casual look at the file and asked me to arrange 28,000 rupess as CHALLAN AMOUNT. On digging further, I came to knew that dealer is not allowed to deliver the vehicle untill temporary or permanent registration is made. This was confirmed from FAQ section on RTO website as per CMVR law-
  
  Q4 Can dealer deliver vehicle without registration ?
  
  No, the dealer cannot deliver unregistered vehicles to the customers. The dealer gets the vehicle registered in the name of customer first then will hand over the vehicle to the customer. If Un-registered vehicle is found plying on the road shall be liable to be prosecuted under MV Act. A trade certificate is issued to the dealers by the Transport Department to drive the unregistered vehicles upto the zonal office for registration purposes only.

• After reading so many pleasant experience from Maruti customer care here on TEAMBHP, I decided to write to them. Case ID 3906344879 was issued promptly but what followed was not at all expected!

• The dealer told Maruti that the vehicle was overloaded and the customer is telling them a lie . I talked to their customer care and told them this was not true and infact the complete challan report is with me in which each and every fine is mentioned. I even mailed them the scanned copy of the challan which presented the breakup and mentioned that total 3+1 people were travelling in the car. The challan was 10K for running vehicle w/o registration +15K for running without fitness + ~1K for without number plate,PUC etc..Total was ~26K. Bribes were paid at RTO and PS to get the paper work done. Total 27.8K

• Expecting no support from Rohan, I was continuously following up with MARUTI, I received a apology letter from ROHAN as- With the reference to your complain of Registration Certificate, We would like to inform you that due to non working days(holidays) in Ghaziabad authority,we were not able to deliver your Rc in Fifteen days,now you have received your Registraion Certificate from authority directly on 15th April 2013.
  We regret the inconvenience caused to you. We assure you our best services at all time.
  Thanks & regards
  Jyoti Aneja
  Rohan Motors Ltd.
  Ghaziabad

• After this mail MARUTI closed the case ID and I received a SMS saying that my case has been solved as per my satisfaction. On calling them they said that this is the maximum they can do!!

My queries to fellow BHPian's-

• What was my fault?

• As a car customer, am I supposed to know all the legalities of CMVR law. Dealer should not have delivered the car without registration in the first place

• Is'nt MARUTI taking its OMNI customers with a pinch of salt or they seem to be losing it to their dealers? I feel that if it had been a Swift instead of OMNI then the outcome shall had been completley different.

• At the moment, my garage has- Honda Accord(current gen), Fortuner Auto, Innova and Ertiga. Never had such a horrible experience before. Never imagined that the law authorities and car companies asses you by the car model you drive.

My experience with MARUTI Customer care has been awful. I advice to OMNI buyers to kindly consider their purchase without any "Customer support" because the class of people who buys OMNI are considered to be cheaters who "Overload and abuse their Omni's"

[saket77]

Hello Sharad,

Very sorry to know what you had to undergo. But yes, Vehicles cannot be driven on road without proper registration or Temporary registration. Temporary registrations are obtained easier and quicker and are valid upto one month, in the meanwhile permanent registration is procured. This is common knowledge but I am amazed how the dealership delivered the vehicle without any registration in place. Also, frankly, I am equally amazed that you were unaware of this fact.

Just imagine a situation, how would you trace a vehicle which is new, involved in a hit & run case with no number plates? Also, what would you do if the vehicle is stolen?

I would not charge Maruti with step-brotherly attitude with Omni owners after reading your case but I would definitely charge the dealership for delivering a vehicle without any registration; neither permanent nor temporary. This is why they side-lined themselves from this case. You could have gotten them into a big one if you persisted on this point. Also, why did you let-off the dealership for framing a lie that the car was overloaded?

Regards,
Saket

[oxyzen]

Closed the case?

What about the 27K.

What about registration?

This this clause is true "No, the dealer cannot deliver unregistered vehicles to the customers." it is probably worth fighting in court.But then how are cars with temp no. plates plying on road?

[AmarPaithankar]

This is expected to happen when customers and the media (both print and web) start endorsing Maruti on most counts.

In India, there are other manufacturers also with equal or better products but we tend to brand them blindly.

Every manufacturer has flaws and every one's experience differs. That does not mean a certain manufacturer is bad and venting out stepmotherly treatment.

[kartik.virmani]

I had a similar experience with a Maruti dealer last year where in the RC/temp registration was not done by the dealer . After running from pillar to post i.e. dealer/maruti Customer service I finally managed to get hold of Maruti regional manager and put pressure on the dealer through that channel.
Unfortunately your seems to be an extreme case where in the RTO has impounded the vehicle
Only couple of things that come to my mind are as follows:
1. Get hold of Maruti Regional Manager , some senior members should be able to help you with that.
2. As you have already discovered vehicle was delivered to you without temp registration so you can make a case of point against the dealer for that.

Let us know how it went .

[rajeev k]

The car has to be registered temporarily or permanently before the delivery is what the rule book says. If the buyer is not located within the jurisdiction of the RT Office, under whose area the dealer is located, a temporary registration is a must. For taking the temporary registration even the vehicle need not be presented for inspection. A temporary registration can be taken even if both the dealer and the buyer are under the jurisdiction of the same RT Office. This would additionally facilitate the option of booking a fancy or a preferred registration number and the vehicle can then be produced for inspection and permanent registration within a month. Generally the road tax is also remitted and accepted on the same day of the permanent registration. Without either of these the vehicle is not to be used on roads.

Where you erred was in not ensuring that either of the above had been carried out by the dealer which is his primary responsibility. The temporary registration paper and the temporary number would have saved you from the ordeal or trauma you underwent, if not registered permanently before delivery.

Needless to mention that, this is where the Team BHP PDI checklist comes in handy.

[Ajaybiz]

Post deleted by the Team-BHP Support : Please do NOT post messages that add little or no informational value to the thread. We need your co-operation to maintain the quality of this forum.

Please read our rules before proceeding any further. We request you to post ONLY when you have something substantial to add to a discussion.

[anuragn]

I have my full sympathies with you for all the mental agony you went through and, of course, unnecessary amount of money you had to spend on fines.
It seems, the dealer accused you of overloading the vehicle just to save their skin because they are at fault in delivering the unregistered vehicle to you, without even a temp number plate.
But I am surprised how you can drive a new unregistered vehicle, without even a temporary registration, that too for 10-12 days.
I too belong to UP and I can very well say, that it is because of our "chalta hai" attitude that we do not assign enough importance to legal compliances. Here in Mumbai, I would dare not take out my vehicle even for single small trip without atleast a temp number plate.
I believe, it would not be correct to put the entire blame on Maruti's dealer in this case.

[sharad_agl]

Originally Posted by saket77

I would not charge Maruti with step-brotherly attitude with Omni owners after reading your case but I would definitely charge the dealership for delivering a vehicle without any registration; neither permanent nor temporary. This is why they side-lined themselves from this case. You could have gotten them into a big one if you persisted on this point.

I have communicated several times to ROHAN about this and always insisted that the only issue is delivering the car without registration. They never reply to this message. Completley ignorant.

Originally Posted by oxyzen

Closed the case?

What about the 27K.

What about registration?

This this clause is true "No, the dealer cannot deliver unregistered vehicles to the customers." it is probably worth fighting in court.But then how are cars with temp no. plates plying on road?

Probably not worth trying court in this part of country!! Going to court is like taking more pain for no gain

Originally Posted by kartik.virmani

1. Get hold of Maruti Regional Manager , some senior members should be able to help you with that.
.

Pls. let me the mail ID's of RM so that I can forward them the mails.

Originally Posted by rajeev k

Needless to mention that, this is where the Team BHP PDI checklist comes in handy.

What about people not referring to TEAMBHP checklist. Why as a customer we are at mercy of manufacturers? I have always used TEAMBHP checklist for myself as well as my friends/family but only concentrated on car instead of registration etc..

Originally Posted by anuragn

I have my full sympathies with you for all the mental agony you went through and, of course, unnecessary amount of money you had to spend on fines.
It seems, the dealer accused you of overloading the vehicle just to save their skin because they are at fault in delivering the unregistered vehicle to you, without even a temp number plate.
But I am surprised how you can drive a new unregistered vehicle, without even a temporary registration, that too for 10-12 days.
I too belong to UP and I can very well say, that it is because of our "chalta hai" attitude that we do not assign enough importance to legal compliances. Here in Mumbai, I would dare not take out my vehicle even for single small trip without atleast a temp number plate.
I believe, it would not be correct to put the entire blame on Maruti's dealer in this case.

Anurag can very well understand "chalta hai attitude" in UP. No wonder Maruti takes its customer for granted in this region.
The car was not been driven from 29thMarch to 10th April. But since dealer was taking too long to get the RC, he assured that you can start using the car and it won't be issue since it is ROHAN's car with its sticker on it.

[TheARUN]

This is a normal practice in North Karnataka. I've mainly seen it with two wheelers. People buy bikes, don't register them, disconnect the speedometer cable and ride them for months before selling them off. Mainly Teaders who travel long distances in a day but within a 50kms radius. The second buyer gets to have a 'new' bike registered in his name and that's when the 'model' year also begins. I remember seeing a SPLENDOR that was 2 years old and still not registered

[PetrolRider]

I may sound a bit harsh, but this is a basic rule, not to drive an unregistered car the same way as it is illegal to drive without a license.

Yes, I do agree that, the dealer made an illegal job by providing you with an unregistered car. He can be made accountable for this, if you consider legal options. If you do not prefer that way, consider this as a lesson learnt and move on.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by PetrolRider

Yes, I do agree that, the dealer made an illegal job by providing you with an unregistered car. He can be made accountable for this, if you consider legal options.

I don't think that the OP can just file a suit and get away himself. Reason: Ignorantia juris non excusat This means that "ignorance of the law does not excuse". So, if the dealer is to held responsible for selling an unregistered vehicle, the purchaser can also be held liable for driving an unregistered vehicle. Stating that someone did not know the law, does not excuses the purchaser.

Better to see it as a lesson learnt and move forward.

[bhp_maniac]

Sorry to hear your case. I strongly recommend you to escalate this issue to Maruti RM. I am not sure about who is the RM for your area but any dealership can get you this info. Please talk to him over phone and sort out the case. From a third party point of view I would say that even though dealer passed on the car without a registration, it was not a wise decision from your part to use the car without a temp registration. I was into such an incident a couple year back.
My friend was in need for a new car and we asked for test drive for Chevy Optra. The guys form dealership brought a car which was brand new and without any kind of registration done on it. I refused to be in driver seat for this reason and one of my friends decided to give it a try. For our bad luck, there was a police checking nearby and they fined the driver an amount of 2500/- for driving such a car and the car was taken into custody. Chevy dealers had to pay some hefty amount to get it released. In this case, I think going to court will attract more issues for both you and the dealer. Instead I suggest negotiate with the RM for a re-imbursement may be in sort of a discount in paid service bills. They do have such practice

[wanderer4x4]

Originally Posted by sharad_agl

.........The car was not been driven from 29thMarch to 10th April. But since dealer was taking too long to get the RC, he assured that you can start using the car and it won't be issue since it is ROHAN's car with its sticker on it.

Don't mind my saying this, but I think you pulled all the trouble upon yourself in this case. As per the quoted text, it can be seen that you were not using the car since 29th March to 10th April because you did not have the RC, implying that you knew the consequences of driving a car without RC. But, since the dealer was taking too long to get the RC from RTO and told you to use the car as "it is ROHAN's car with its sticker on it" and there'll not be any problem and you believed that and used the car illegally on the road, is to my mind a gross naivety or negligence on your part. And from the list of cars in your garage, we see that you are not a gullible first time buyer. So, you should have put your foot down and at least have insisted on a temp registration.

In all this, I don't think the manufacturer has any direct role and they'd most definitely try to brush this issue off them. Rather its you and the dealer who are responsible for this fiasco. And then to blame manufacturer for stepmotherly treatment to all OMNI customers, is a bit over the top IMO.

Sorry if I sound a bit harsh but I think your case is one of those times when we goof up in small things resulting in greater loss. So, chill...it happens to everyone of us in some way or the other. Take this in your stride and carry on. (At the most, try if you can corner the dealer a bit on this issue and extract some anti rust treatments, teflon coating and free servicing. )

PS: IMO the thread title is slightly off the mark and does not exactly describe the issue. Rather it might spook existing OMNI owners unnecessarily as this has nothing to do with OMNI, the vehicle or services related to it as such. Mods might want to change the title a bit.

[sharad_agl]

Originally Posted by wanderer4x4

Don't mind my saying this, but I think you pulled all the trouble upon yourself in this case. As per the quoted text, it can be seen that you were not using the car since 29th March to 10th April because you did not have the RC, implying that you knew the consequences of driving a car without RC. But, since the dealer was taking too long to get the RC from RTO and told you to use the car as "it is ROHAN's car with its sticker on it" and there'll not be any problem and you believed that and used the car illegally on the road, is to my mind a gross naivety or negligence on your part.

Of course we knew that it is illegal to drive car without RC and number plate, but this was only going to happen if dealer delivers the car without registration. If he hadn't delivered the car in first place then this whole issue would not have happened. As far as responsibility of manufacturer is concerned, don't you think MARUTI should intervene and make ROHAN responsible for delivering the car without registration???? Does all the MV rules apply to customers only? Dealer does not need obey the law?? MARUTI and ROHAN are completely ignoring this fact.