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-   -   Mishandling of cars by Dealerships - Any remedy? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-dealerships/147235-mishandling-cars-dealerships-any-remedy.html)

I have aggregated few facts of mishandling of brand new cars as well as sold cars in the Indian Auto dealerships. Let me share the facts. I have kept a track from unloading the vehicle from the truck, to driving it to the stock yard, the way cars are handled in the stock yard, the way they are driven back to the showrooms for delivery and how they take care of your car when you give it for servicing or fitting the accessory. I will not take the name of any particular dealer over here but have seen almost the same scenario across India. This post is not directing to all the showrooms across India but many do so.

1) Unloading from the truck-

The showroom guys or the truck drivers with there assistant mainly do this job. I have seen while unloading once a car slipped of from the slop and it hit the lower driving shaft. Few guys lifted it back and it was parked by the side. Now if the new cars driving shaft gets damaged who will be responsible for it? The factory has sent a perfect car but it gets damaged while in the transit and the blame goes to the car manufacturer for procuring a defective vehicle.

Secondly i was shocked to see a driver took his friend along with him with a 2 liter bottle of diesel. He pour that in the vehicle and he was training his friend how to drive! No wonder few new cars land up with a higher odometer reading at the time of delivery. Now when the owner will buy that car he has every chance to get a car with shortened clutch life. Again the manufacturer is blamed for no fault of them.

In another occasion i saw a car while getting loaded in the truck for going to the showroom. The guy climbed up the slope so fast that he goes and straight away hit the car parked in front. Both the cars suffer a damaged bumper and they were again off loaded from the truck and went inside the factory for repair job. Again the owner will get a brand new car with a repair job.

These are three occasions i witness and am sure there will be many more.

2) Driving from the truck to the showroom stock yard-

New car has less fuel. So what the driver did was he was putting the ignition on and off for several times. So the fuel pump can get some fuel. With very less fuel in the tank it can affect the fuel pump. Secondly when the car got started he was revving like hell! A new car with hardly 1km in odo is revved hard! Another driver put on the self in 1st gear with out clutch and the car jumped forward then he just holds the accelerator and tries to start the car. This is what they do to start the car. :Shockked:Once they are on road they are no less than a F1 driver! Oh did i mention the cars with factory fitted music systems and air condition are treated as air conditioned Disco on wheels.

3) Inside the stock yard-

Most of the showrooms don't have shades in there stock yard. So for a good period of time your new car is exposed to a layer of dust, rain, harsh sun light and the heat of the day with rolled up windows. It can fade the plastics and make the rubbers hard. The car cabin in summer becomes no less than a hot oven! I wonder does it damaged the electronic systems inside the car or not. At least if they keep a window 1 inch open it can disburse the heat. But they never do that.

Apart from the above points the more worst case occur during the monsoons. Few stock yards are placed in low lands and during heavy rain those places get water logged and the cars are kept in 2-3 feet deep water for few days. This has happened with few eminent dealerships in India. The good dealers scraped the defective cars and the rouge dealers sold those cars to the customers.

4) Driving from stock yard to the showroom-

Its pretty similar to the situation i said in point no 2.

5) At the time of delivery-

This is the time your car is pampered the most. Every one will clean it polish it. They will show you how they take care of your prized possesion. Starting from the cleaner to the manager of the showroom will take good care of your car.

6) Fittings of accessory-

There are few experienced mechanics, few are novice. The novice ones are under training. If the experienced mechanic do the job you are lucky. But when a trainy mechanic is doing the job for your car i am afraid of the out come in the long run. What i have seen is if its a costly car the experienced mechanics always do the job but in case of a cheaper car the trainy / newbie will try to make there hands set.

7) After deliver you give your cars for the routine servicing -

The service executive will be polite with you and will pose as if he is the most knowledgeable person out there. He will try to influence you to get the unnecessary jobs done. For example- Engine de-carbonizing on a car with around 20-30k in the odo or cleaning the braking system every 10,000 etc etc. The mechanic will come to test drive. They will drive the car in the most disgusting way like sudden steering the car, sudden braking, revving it hard, jumping from stand still and what not. I wonder why those are required for a car which has no complaints and if a car has a particular problem he should focus on that.

Now what can be the remedies for all these-

Buy a car when you can spare some time. While booking a car avoid taking delivery from the stock yard. Ask your SE when your car will be unloaded from the truck. Personally go over there and take care of the vehicle. If you cant spare time send some one you can trust. If possible take the VIN number in advance so you can get to know the exact car. If VIN is still not alloted you can make a guess by the model/trim and color you booked. Follow the car to the stock yard. If required tip the driver so he drives it with extra care. Again do the same when it will be brought back from the stock yard to the showroom. And off course carry a Team BHp PDI list with you. Once in the showroom your car goes for the fitment of the accessories you stay with your car and get the job done.

Before giving for a servicing do your homework. The day before read out your owners manual for what all needs to be changed and what are not needed so the service executive cant take you for a ride. Get the things done that are mentioned in the owners manual for that particular service. If your car has no complaint avoid getting it test driven by there mechanic. While on a test drive you drive yourself or if there mechanic drives the car be strict with him so he drives in a sane way. In case your car has got any complaint and you feel the service center guys are charging you too much do not given in. Politely walk out from there take a second or third opinion from other mechanics and then decide. If you are too confused Team Bhp is there to help you.

These are few points i can think as of now. Am sure other members over here will have many more valid points to share and guide us. :)

Very nice and informative thread. You are absolutely right in saying that this happens in almost every state and with majority of dealers.

I had gone to a particular showroom (again not taking any names here) to get a quotation for a car that I intended to buy. The sales manager was under tremendous stress. I asked him and he told me that they had recently hired a new sales executive who offered test ride to a customer on a car that was registered and was to be delivered the same evening to someone. The customer had banged the car head on into another car. Both the cars suffered extensive damage and were sent to the police station. His dilemma was "the company will not take the car back because as per the policy the car which has been registered and installed with high security number plates cannot be sold again as new after repairs. Moreover, knowing all this the person who was suppose to take delivery will not agree to take delivery. They had no time to repair, even if they would have replaced all the panels from a similar new car. Now let me also mention that this was a company owned and company operated showroom. Who bears the loss and who owns the responsibility? These questions were haunting him.

Final decision arrived at was; The company gave a new car to the buyer, got sale letters signed from him for the damaged car, got an NOC from the bank by foreclosing the loan, compensated customer by bearing the processing charges of a new loan, showered him with a few accessories and sent the damaged car after repair for sale in their used car showroom and suffered the loss. The sales executive lost his job along with the guard who allowed the car to leave the showroom without a valid gate pass. The person who banged the other car paid to the other person whose car was damaged because of his fault.

In the entire process the person who suffered was the one who was to take the delivery of new car. Since, the car was financed in his name and amount disbursed, RC issued he had no choice to bear the delay.

In a second incident, my brother bought an Innova from a dealer in Punjab, next day visited us on temporary number, we made a trip to Agra and they went back. Four days later the car goes for 1st free service and the service manager banged the car into a truck. My brother refused to take the car back and insisted on getting a new car. We escalated the matter to Toyota. The company intervened and with some push and pull from other known common friends he managed to get a new car almost after a month. The earlier innova, we were told was sold to someone as new after repairs.

These are two incidents, I had witnessed. Who knows how many such incidents happen across all dealerships in India and the bigger question is how many get noticed/ go unnoticed?

I agree with all the points you have mentioned here.

The solution to keep your car safe and not to get it mis-handled is:

1) Stay there when the car is received by the delaer;

2) Stay there when the dealer does the PDI and side-by-side do your PDI also;

3) While the car is given for service stay with the car and blindly follow the owners manual as the manufacturer knows the car more than the dealer.

4) If point 3 is not possible due to work constraints then build a good honest rapport with the service advisor who deals with you and go to him regularly, appreciate him of his work.

Anurag.

Are there any company operated showrooms too? Which ones and where? Wouldn't it be much easier to buy a car from such outlets rather than dealers?
For instance I generally always buy fuel from company owned pumps.

Yes, there are a few company owned company operated showrooms. I will PM you the details. It may not be correct to name them on the forum and that too on a thread where they are being discussed for wrong reasons.

Been giving my swift for service at Hercules been happy overall till yesterday :(

Had given car for 1lakh service a month back. Just noticed yesterday that all four of my S drives were in the rotation! Sigh.

That is the very reason I write on the job card:

1) NO Alignment
2) NO Balancing
3) NO Rotation
4) NO Teflon coating
5) NO engine flushing and injector cleaning.

Have been writing this regularly in presence of the Service Manager so things fall in place and go according to the Owners Manual.

Anurag.

I think we should share the names over here. So next time anyone visiting the the particular dealer can be careful or avoid them and choose a better dealer. Just my thought. I have not shared any name over here because it was not from any particular dealership or a company. I shared a general trend.


I second you on this. I had an Alto in Bangalore back in 2008. From day one the car used to pull left. That time i was not aware of Team Bhp hence no PDI. On complaining to them there reply was they will rectify in the 1st service. On 1st service they did nothing. The problem persisted. Told me they will take care in 2 nd service. On 2nd service they told i have to pay them for wheel alignment and balancing as the car has already done 5000kms! I told the SE that your showroom told me they will repair it for free. I told him the name of the person who committed me on that. His reply was he left the job so he cant help. I was dejected told them not to do the alignment and balancing part. I got it done out side and got my problem rectified.


On another occasion my friend bought a Maruti 800 from True value. The process was smooth but he was learning how to drive on that car and on that process he banged into a Scorpio. His Maruti was badly damaged and he got an estimate for rs 44,000 from the dealer. He asked for the insurance. They took his papers and replied he cant get the insurance as in the insurance paper the name was still of the previous owner. It was not transfer'd! He was a first time buyer and trusted true value but they never told him about this. Then another guy from the work shop came and told him, if he pays him rs4,000 he has some contacts he will get the insurance name changed. Obviously illegally. A Maruti dealership service manger is telling this to my friend! He was having shortage of money and agreed to him. BIG MISTAKE. Few days later the service manager told the insurance guys took the money and left his job so he cant help. :Shockked: When ever a person commits to do something and do not do it the other guy replied 'Sir he left the job'. Am sure he himself took the money by bluffing. So the only option left was to take the car out of the showroom and get it done out side in a cheaper rate. Later he did so.

At the time of buying a car from True value they will say if the owner wants to sell the car back to them they will buy it at a rate of 5% depreciation per year. But when the actual time comes to sell the car they will quote a much lesser rate denying what they committed while selling.

All the above three occasions were with Kalyani motors Bangalore.

What i can say is most of the dealers will treat you like a king before you sign on the dotted paper. Once that is done you are like other XYZ's.

In another occasion just two months back i purchased another Alto . This time a K10 for our city use from Bhandari motors Howrah. I wanted a white Vxi but the sales executive told me that's not available in November and he can get me a copper red Lxi instead. I told i can wait but he told next months the exchange bonus wont be there, plus the discounts will come down. I trusted him and i agreed and booked the car. The deliver was on 29th November. The delivery was smooth, car was neat, accessories were fitted as promised. No complaint on that. He gave me the car on TR number. That is temporary registration so i can legally drive the car till 5pm. I was told i have to take the car to the RTO to get the cf done. I told that the showroom people should do and his reply was 'Sir now the rule has changed'. Cool i accepted and took a day off from my work and went to the RTO. To me utter surprise i saw other Hyundai cars were there and there showroom guys brought the car. I inquired them and they told the showroom guys only do this work to get the security number plate fitted the owner has to go! I felt cheated.

Now on next month just out of curiosity i called up the showroom to know about the current discounts. I didn't disclose them my name. The reply was Sir if you buy a car this month we are giving bla bla bla discounts. I calculated and concluded if i would have bought it in December i could have saved another 8k plus get the model and color of my choice!

Next came another surprise. Before taking the delivery my SE called and asked me to get the music system fitted so they can put it on the RC book. In Kolkata stereo needs to have a mention in the RC book or have a seperate license. I agreed on that too. I got the stereo fitted and two days back i got my RC book. It was mention no in the audio column. This time i lost the cool called them up and blasted. They told they will sort out. Called me back in 10 minutes and told its a fault from the RTO so i have to take my car again to the RTO they will rectify it. God knows whose fault was it but the customer had to suffer on this. So its like another day wasting on the RTO.

This was my and my friends experience with two Maruti's in two different states. On contrary i have an Etios from Topsel Toyota Kokata. I must say they need a special mention for there flawless service i got since delivery till now.

The above points in this post are not directly linked to mishandling of the cars rather mishandling the customers by the dealerships!

This is not possible all the times with most of the dealers having their warehouses most of the times outside the Octroi limits esp in Maharashtra. If one notices most of the new owners when they post the pics of the snaps during the warehouse visit always show cars dust laden, rust on the rims, brakes etc. The only alternative is to ask the dealer the factory PDI report which is done before the despatch and the dealer PDI report which is done after the receipt of the car at the warehouse. This way the owner can have a look at the car before he does his own PDI. The dealers would take utmost care before the delivery of the car but once the car is handed over the antics start during the regular servicing. I know a few BHPians (incl myself) who wouldnt mind staying at the workshop till the complete servicing is done. Not that I dont believe the workshop guys but mere presence of the owners would force the service guys to handle the car with care.

I've had pretty bad servicing experience with MASS like Zenith Auto at Tegharia,Kolkata. I'd given my car for a normal service to them and they'd given me an estimate of INR 5000. However when the bill came I was shocked to see a bill of INR 17000. They changed what most of them I couldn't comprehend. They were told to just adjust the clutch against which they'd slapped a charge of INR 750 as labour citing clutch overhaul which was ridiculous. Furthermore they'd adjusted and damaged my clutch which I could comprehend only after a few months and had to shell out quite a lot of money to get it replaced properly with the correct procedures. These thugs will always try to milk you out whenever your car is taken for servicing. On top of this the way they drive the car inside the small area accelerating rapidly screeching the wheels sudden braking I really wonder till when they can keep the car from bumping into another car or a post maybe. I too have seen cars being driven by dealership guys like they're in for some race and overtake cars like they aren't even present on the road. We need to find some way to prevent this from happening. Otherwise god help those idiots who are not only risking the new cars but also their own lives as well as lives of pedestrians on the road.

Whatever you have listed is absolutely true Samba. Even I have witnessed the above quoted 3 points.

My office is right next to the Audi yard in Chennai and I see the guys drive away the beauty on daily basis. They literally drive these beauties like maniacs and as if they are on a race track. God only knows what would happen in case they hit anything or worst case hit anyone.

Thank god the yard is covered as it is an incomplete building (Someone started to build it as IT park but they did not complete it for long time now). But apart from the natural elements like sun and rain, there is another problem faced by this yard. At the backside of the yard is a thickly vegetated area (marsh) and is infested with venomous and big snakes. One fine day I was having a chat with the security guard of the yard and he informed me that he could hear the snakes hitting the cars on daily basis :eek:. The tuk-tuk sound in the night really keeps him awake and alert :D.

I second that but in few service station's i was not allowed to go inside. There excuse was if all the owners enter the service bay there mechanics feel disturbed. I generally avoid these service centers where the owner is not allowed to go inside. Before giving for the service i straight away ask the service manager whether the owner will be allowed to go inside or not. I take a whole day off when ever i give my car for a service and i stay all along with my car till the end.

But in few occasions where you have to leave your car for more than a day in the service center then its not possible to stay all along and with a heavy heart we have to trust on these morons.

My friend works as a sales manager in a reputed showroom in Kokata. I asked him about this mishandling of cars.

His reply was the showroom officials and the higher authorities are really concerned about it. But the fact is these drivers and the mechanics who do these jobs are mostly young, uneducated and arrogant. Most of them don't even have the proper manners to talk to a person. So controlling them is a headache for them. On the top of this he added the customers come to know only about there car's, behind the scene these guys are so careless that they many a times damage the costly instruments or spare parts of the service team. What the management can do at most is sack them but in few days or months this same guy will be working in another showroom and will be damaging some one else's property. Because of these stupid fellow's the showroom authorities has to bear a certain amount of loss every month.

Man that's scary! Forget about doing the PDI this can turn out to be life threatening. As in monsoons the snakes will prefer the engine heat of the car and in summer they will prefer the shade under the car. So if a guy is doing a PDI unaware of the snakes he can be a victim of snake bite. This is sheer callousness from the management of the showroom. Forget about cars, a showroom worker can be a victim of this. Thanks a lot for sharing this. If possible please add the exact location of the yard. So next time any one reading this goes to the yard to do a pdi can be extra cautious!

In the past I have always taken delivery of the car either from the dealership showroom or stockyard. However last year when I bought the RS5 I took the extra effort of going to the place where the transport company unloaded the car from the flatbed.
I arrived a few hours after the car was unloaded and found a few minor scratches on the rim and under body of front bumper. However the dealership went out of its way to rectify that by repainting the damages to my satisfaction.
There was a R8 that came along with my car, this was picked up by the dealership driver and boy did I thank my stars for coming to pick my car. This chap floored the R8 and flew over every broken road, it was a brand new car! There were times were he tried to encourage me to race him :lol: Ofcourse I was being overly careful with my new possession. It was an eye opener to watch the driver to enjoy the R8 with its top down like he stole it without any guilt. Quite an envious job!

Quite an envious job but the poor customer!:D This problem of technicians mishandling our cars are common and seen in all ASC's.

I see all times my car was mishandled while giving it for service so from that time I stay with the car and tag along where ever it goes. No chances I can take.

Anurag.