[AutoNoob]

Dent in new car before delivery : Bengaluru advocate files plaint against showroom, maker

Source : TOI

A 36-year-old advocate filed a complaint against 10 persons, including staff of a car showroom off MG Road and CEO of the car manufacturer in New Delhi, accusing them of trying to deliver her a brand new SUV that was dented and refusing to replace it...

...the in-charge sales executive was explaining the features of the SUV to us when we noticed a dent on the right backdoor. The same was brought to the notice of all staff concerned, including the senior quality manager,” they said. According to the couple, the showroom officials emailed them saying they will replace the dented door panel with a new one. "We declined to accept delivery of the SUV and demanded that a new vehicle of the same brand be provided to us... Our vehicle is still in the showroom and they are not ready to deliver a new one. They have remained incommunicado. We have requested legal action against the accused persons,” the couple said.

I am not aware how big the dent is, but can understand the sentiments of customer. It's clearly dealers fault to deliver a damaged vehicle, let alone with a 'visible' damage. I wonder what was the staff thinking. Seems like dent was small enough to have gone unnoticed to the staff. Else they very well know how to 'handle' such cases.

And it seems dealer has processed the paperwork, that's why such negative response. Ideally, the OEM must step in.

And kudos to the OEM to have successfully camouflaged it's name from the news article. But I am sure it won't remain so for long.

[gkveda]

This is the second case in last one month that we are made aware of, where the car, just before delivery, is found to have dents and scratches. And we do not know number of cases that goes unnoticed because of dealers "solving" the problem themselves before the car is shown to customers.

The main point is, how dealers really handle the cars before car delivery. If they are aware that car can't be exchanged after RTO procedures, is It not their responsibility to take maximum care of the car? If there are dents and scratches on the car while delivering, this simply means, they care damn for the customer cars. And all of us have seen how these Service center staff drive the cars given for service, while parking or moving from one bay to another.

This clearly shows their over confidence and don't care attitude because, All we can do is to give some lower number during feedback survey which will result in some torture calls from manufacturers and dealer manager, and soothing words. Then, the matter is closed.

I think, we should utilize the legal system more and more to entangle the dealers and bring them to track. I know it is pain to go through the court procedures but I don't see any other alternate solution to this problem.

Courts passes several judgement like tinted glass prohibition, bumper to bumper insurance for first 5 years, 15 years rules, etc. Why can't they pass a common judgement stating if such dented car is delivered anywhere in the country, there has to be minimum 10 to 15% discount based on the amount of dents and scratches?

I fully support the customer lawyer who filed the case against the dealer and manufacturer for delivering a dented car.

[saisree]

Someone try to get the case no. Will be useful for reference if at all the judgement is on the customer’s side. No offence to the judge and legal system, but, Auto lobby is very strong and need to see how the judgement is given.

[Everlearner]

This is a grey area. Once the car is registered in the name of the customer, the car technically belongs to him. The dealer should take adequate protection measures to safeguard his customer's property.

With new cars, in most cases, customer is seeing the car for the first time since many people do not do a PDI.

When there is a grey area, it has to be dealt with a policy and SOP in place. The ideal solution to this is to make the vehicle registration online and instant.

1. Customer comes to the dealer.
2. Checks out available cars, selects one.
3. Dealer registers the car online instantly with customer details and delivers the car immediately.

No scope for any grey area. Ahhh, I have been dreaming

[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by AutoNoob

And kudos to the OEM to have successfully camouflaged it's name from the news article. But I am sure it won't remain so for long.

Not any more. Media still maintain a step-motherly treatment for certain brands

[AutoNoob]

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss

Not any more. Media still maintain a step-motherly treatment for certain brands.

Yes, I had seen this comment while I posted the story. However, didn't quote it as there was no way to cross verify it. Hoping to get some news article with more details mentioned. Though only one OEMs CEO has office in Delhi, Maruti Suzuki.

Now, comparing this case with the recent KIA Seltos case faced by UmangThaker79. I am expecting much faster resolution here. Reasons being :

1. The complainant is advocate.
2. His daily work includes going to courts
3. How fast the FIR was filed
4. FIR names 10 people, including CEO of the OEM
5. Sections invoked in the FIR (406, 409 : criminal breach of trust )

So, I think, the dealer will try to get this off it's back ASAP.

[RJK]

Originally Posted by gkveda

The main point is, how dealers really handle the cars before car delivery. If they are aware that car can't be exchanged after RTO procedures, And all of us have seen how these Service center staff drive the cars given for service, while parking or moving from one bay to another.

This clearly shows their over confidence and don't care attitude because

They don’t, simple. We have to care, folks who buy cars without PDI are just gambling with their money I feel. All the best to them, most people come under this category though.

Originally Posted by Everlearner

This is a grey area. Once the car is registered in the name of customer, the car technically belongs to him. Dealer should take adequate protection measures to safeguard his customers property.
When the is a grey area, it had to be dealt with policy and SOP in place. The ideal solution to this is to make the vehicle registration online and instant.
No scope of any grey area. Ahhh, I have been dreaming

Dreaming indeed you are, sir. Although Some countries do follow this model. But where RTO commissioners and the beauraucracy’s commission is based on how many cars are registered, the above is indeed wishful thinking

Originally Posted by AutoNoob

Now, comparing this case with the recent KIA Seltos case faced by UmangThaker79. I am expecting much faster resolution here. Reasons being :

1. The complainant is advocate.
2. His daily work includes going to courts
3. How fast the FIR was filed
4. FIR names 10 people, including CEO of the OEM
5. Sections invoked in the FIR (406, 409 : criminal breach of trust )

So, I think, the dealer will try to get this off it's back ASAP.

It will be fun to watch this unfold given the customer is a lawyer himself and has decided to take the dealer head-on. I suspect there will be Out-of-court settlement and public will not know how the situation panned out.

[Latheesh]

Looking at the way dealer staffs and accessory guys handle new cars, these things are very common. How many people do proper PDI before taking delivery of their car?

Few years ago I gave my car for periodical service and went to collect the car next day morning. Car was not ready and SA informed me that it is in the washing area. I waited for some time and went to the washing area behind the service centre to check the status. Their wash/polish area was small and there were few cars closely parked each other. The way boys driving cars in this area was very bad and careless. One of the cleaning boy reversed a brand new car in to another car and dented corner of the rear bumper. The car was scheduled for delivery in the evening. They pulled the dent and there were some small scratches visible which they buffed out.
They had delivery details of that day displayed near the reception. I could get the owner name and phone number from the sheet they kept on the receptionist's table. I called the owner and informed about the incident and told him to check in detail before taking delivery.

[anjan_c2007]

These days cars from the OEM appear in a can like sardines. The ASC's unpack such sardines from the can and their employees play with these. Hardly matters if some are injured or defaced. Because there are hundreds of sardines waiting for buyers.

Hopefully, the Advocate will herself release a press note clarifying the ASC and OEM names, fill her FB /Instagram wall and flood WhatsApp groups with the images together with her predicament for others to know and emulate her for the tough stance. Also it is hoped that she will be able to teach all concerned at fault , their life's lesson.

We are sure such ASC's get many gullible customers as victims, who prefer to maintain a stoic silence and take delivery of such deformed cars.

[GTO]

Recent forum thread about a Kia Seltos. If I pay for a brand new perfect car, I want a brand new perfect car. If you damage the goods, you should accept a damaged price. As simple as that. I'd bought a pre-owned City Vtec from Ichibaan Honda; they'd damaged it before delivery and after a fight, they knocked 25000 off from the price + (obviously) repaired it.

Originally Posted by saisree

Auto lobby is very strong and need to see how the judgement is given.

I beg to differ. No one cares about the auto lobby. We can see that from all the rules & regulations against them (taxes, 10-year bans, half-hearted scrappage policy, safety & emission norms etc.), and cars in general. The only thing the auto lobby & SIAM do is talk to themselves.

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss

Media still maintain a step-motherly treatment for certain brands

The Times has a policy not to name brands because the promoters believe that if you want publicity, you have to pay for it. They won't advertise your name for free. That's why you'll hear a story about a celebrity wedding at "a 5-star hotel in the suburbs"...they'll never name it for free.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by AutoNoob

sentiments of customer.

This seems to be the only issue here. Dealer did offer a reasonable solution.

From the news :

the showroom officials emailed them saying they will replace the dented door panel with a new one.

"We declined to accept delivery of the SUV and demanded that a new vehicle of the same brand be provided to us."

[amolpednekar]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

Dealer did offer a reasonable solution.

I saw similar comments on the other thread where a Kia Seltos was damaged, where the dealer offering a repair was considered "reasonable" by quite a few members. I don't think it is - people pay extra premium for brand new cars for a reason - for the "new car" feeling. Imagine having that completely dashed on day 1 for no fault of your own.

Dealer needs to repair and offer discounts/goodies to the customer (if acceptable to him/her),else deliver a new car.

This would also hopefully make the dealer handle new car deliveries with the care it deserves.

[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by amolpednekar

I saw similar comments on the other thread where a Kia Seltos was damaged, where the dealer offering a repair was considered "reasonable" by quite a few members. I don't think it is - people pay extra premium for brand new cars for a reason - for the "new car" feeling. Imagine having that completely dashed on day 1 for no fault of your own.

I stop with this one comment on this subject (this reply is not specific to you, for the crowd in same wavelength)

We pay for it, and we deserve it - 100% agreed, but why is this sentiment applicable only for a piece of material (car) here?
- We pay around 10-15% as road tax, but are our roads worthy?
- We pay around 50% of our earnings as IT, GST, etc, are we (the one who is actually paying) getting the right benefits?
- We pay edu-cess for most of our purchase, are we getting the right education from the government?

These are only few examples and no much noise raised for all of these, though they were not 'accidents', Why don't we raise the voice against the white & white babus in white cars?

And what ever we were discussing on Seltos thread was clearly an accident with no structural damage. I don't mean we should accept what ever is offered by dealer as compensation, but in this case when the dealer is offering to replace the entire door, at least to me it sounds practical. In additional we can ask for a little more (like extended warranty, few more discount, etc) not a brand new car as replacement.

Are we sure there are no reworks done at plant level? Since we don't see them are we are aware about them we accept it, but when the dealer is loyally explaining about the accident (with no major or structural damage) we wont. Because we pay for it and we deserve it.

[ajmat]

These things happen and the dealer was stupid to deliver the car as is. It could have been repaired easily.

[SolidusSnake]

Originally Posted by Everlearner

. The ideal solution to this is to make the vehicle registration online and instant.


1. Customer comes to dealer,
2. Checks out available cars, selects one.
3. Dealer registers the car online instantly with customer details and deliver the car immediately.

No scope of any grey area. Ahhh, I have been dreaming

This is the process being followed in Delhi since many years, registration is done online instantly on delivery day and we have to provide the OTP to dealer to complete the registration process. Other states should also adopt this procedure.