[neil.jericho]

I spotted the story in the Deccan Chronicle and then saw that the Indian Express had a more detailed article (http://www.newindianexpress.com/citi...s-1598969.html). Does anyone know if these showrooms were known for overcharging customers?

The Legal Metrology Department on Friday conducted inspection at three car showroom-cum-service centres in Kochi and Thrissur and registered cases for overcharging spare parts and selling products without MRP tag.

The cases were registered against Rajashree Motors and Peninsular Honda in Vytilla and Pinnacle Hyundai in Thrissur.

The department conducted the surprise inspection after it received complaints regarding overcharging spare parts.

“In Rajashree Motors - dealer of Mercedes Benz cars in Kochi - fuel filters worth MRP Rs 17,996 were being sold for Rs 19,524. Similarly, brake pad with an MRP of Rs 14,501 was sold for Rs 17,710. In Peninsular Honda, new MRP tags were placed on old stock of spare parts. The headlamp assembly which costs around Rs 8,200 MRP was repriced to Rs 9,100. In Pinnacle Hyundai, the spare parts had no MRP price tag,” said R Rammohan, Deputy Controller, Legal Metrology, Central Zone.

The Legal Metrology Department officers said they had been receiving several complaints against dealers of luxury vehicles.

“As checking the price of each spare part is a time-consuming process, we could only check the stock of limited number of dealers. In the coming days, checking will be conducted at car dealers’ centres providing service,” an officer said.

The checking was carried out by Assistant Controllers B S Jayakumar, Anoop and Jeson, Inspectors Job Varghese and E Vinod Kumar.

The Rajashree Motors service team told ‘Express’ the price of spare parts was decided by the company across the country. “The spare parts checked by the Legal Metrology Department were last year’s stock. The company hiked the price from January 2017. But, we give up to 40 per cent price discount on these spare parts. In fact, they are being sold at a price lower than MRP,” a company executive said.

A top executive of Peninsular Honda said they had received the revised MRP tag from the manufacturers and there was no violation of rules on the part of the service centre.

“The team checked all the spare parts and found two MRP tags in one of the boxes. During price revision, the manufacturers provide us with the price stickers. We have checked with our legal cell about the matter,” he said. Though attempts were made to contact Pinnacle Hyundai, none responded.

[JohnKT777]

I'm deeply distressed to read articles like this. But at least it is comforting that the concerned offices are doing their part to ensure that dealers stick to the rules.

Incidentally, Pinnacle also has a Fiat-Jeep Dealership in Kakkanad. I looked at the Google reviews, and truthfully, I think many of them are just fake reviews to keep up the rating points. It is difficult to know if you're being ripped off part costs. Sometimes dealers change a lot of unnecessary parts to jack up the price and meet their targets. I've had bad experiences with VTK Fiat dealership in Chennai.

It's a pity that there aren't many Fiat posts these days, but with sales having been stopped and vehicles moving to become scrap, there isn't much space left among the newer tighter competitive space. Information about Fiat dealerships are also sparse, and it isn't helping.

[JohnKT777]

I've given my public review of VTK Fiat on this link. https://goo.gl/maps/DAPP5uTXCTh5FMmz9

It helps a lot when forum members share reviews of dealerships. I'm looking for review of Pinnacle in Kakkanad, Kochi for Fiat. Any review would help. The Google Reviews looks like they're pretty fake or doctored.