[vroom5346]

Dear Community Members,

I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to share a troubling experience my family has faced concerning the sale of our Maruti 800 car back in 2011-2012, and I am seeking your guidance on the best course of action moving forward.

In summary, we sold our vehicle to Trident Hyundai used cars during that time and received payment via cheque, with the understanding that the dealership would handle the transfer of car registration to the new buyer. However, what appeared to be a straightforward transaction has turned into a legal nightmare that has left us in shock and distress.

Recently, the police served my dad a court notice indicating that a pedestrian was killed by the driver of the car, resulting in the driver being accused 1 and my father being named as accused 2. This situation was incredibly distressing, especially considering that the individual who purchased the car remained unaffected. Consequently, my father, who is 73 years old, had to undertake a journey from Bangalore to Chikmagalur to present all the necessary documentation proving that the car had been sold to the Trident Hyundai Bengaluru - Jakkasandra branch. Fortunately, we had meticulously maintained all relevant paperwork.

Upon investigation, it became evident that the buyer had obtained a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Bangalore RTO but failed to complete the registration process in Chikmagalur, leaving the vehicle legally in my father's name. This failure to transfer ownership appears to be a common issue, as highlighted by the police during their examination of our case.

Despite our efforts to seek clarification and resolution from Trident Hyundai Bengaluru - Jakkasandra branch, they have been unresponsive and unable to provide satisfactory answers regarding the ownership transfer lapse. Consequently, my father was fined for the oversight during court proceedings.

Now, we are faced with yet another legal notice from the family of the deceased, seeking compensation for their loss.

Given these circumstances, I humbly request your advice and suggestions on the best course of action to address this complex situation. Any insights or guidance from your experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your attention and support.

[SideView]

Originally Posted by vroom5346

Dear Community Members,

Now, we are faced with yet another legal notice from the family of the deceased, seeking compensation for their loss.

Given these circumstances, I humbly request your advice and suggestions on the best course of action to address this complex situation. Any insights or guidance from your experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your attention and support.

You are faced with two options:

1. Fast option and expensive :
Settle this out of court and get some proof so that no further harassment.


2. Slow, time consuming and maybe expensive:
Contact a good lawyer and fight it out but I am not sure how this will play out.

Did the earlier case put some blame on the real culprit? Or was it only your father that was fined.



Did the vehicle have active insurance? Shouldnt the third party insurance cover for this? (It may get messy due to ownership complications, insurance companies are after all looking for ways to avoid payments)

[vroom5346]

Originally Posted by SideView

You are faced with two options:

1. Fast option and expensive :
Settle this out of court and get some proof so that no further harassment.


2. Slow, time consuming and maybe expensive:
Contact a good lawyer and fight it out but I am not sure how this will play out.

Did the earlier case put some blame on the real culprit? Or was it only your father that was fined.

Did the vehicle have active insurance? Shouldnt the third party insurance cover for this? (It may get messy due to ownership complications, insurance companies are after all looking for ways to avoid payments)

He is not, only his driver is and he is accused #1

As per the government website, the insurance expired on May 27th,2012 but in the compensation case, one insurance company is tagged.

[Asoon]

Obtaining NOC and not transferring ownership is a reality (its rare but it happens) a lot of times the buyer users the car for some time (up to couple of years) and then sells it avoiding the ownership drop depreciation.

Trident is at fault here, although this is outside Bangalore case and trident can only get clearance from Bangalore RTO (NOC) its their responsibility to follow-up with the buyer and get the transfer complete. Be it Trident, Pratham, Bimal, the user car segment in all these dealerships are infested with a lot of non ethical / shady employees making side income on secondary transactions from dealers / individuals.

Now in the current situation, there will be no productive outcome/ response from Trident (these kind of cases are common, your's got escalated due to fatality), hence you will have to take this up to Consumer court / police station

[vroom5346]

This morning at 11:30 am, I reached out to Hyundai with my concerns, and to my surprise, I received a call from customer support around 4:30 pm today. During the conversation, the representative included the Trident Hyundai used car branch manager, allowing me to express my frustrations thoroughly. They have requested time till Monday evening to address the issue and assured me of a follow-up.

I have requested a callback from Hyundai customer support on Tuesday to check for updates.

With all my valid documents in hand, I made it very clear that if they don't resolve this issue, I would pursue legal action and share my experience across various social media platforms.

I did not get the Trident Hyundai director's email ID, I had plans to loop them.

[SideView]

Originally Posted by vroom5346

This morning at 11:30 am, I reached out to Hyundai with my concerns, and to my surprise,.

Do get complaint ticket id, so that you dont have to start explaining again and again of the complaint and status is tracked properly.

Not sure how they track it within Hyundai.

The only fault at you end was not checking the ownership was transferred properly or not, i know we maybe trust these company supported used car dealerships a bit too much that they do everything by the book. Unfortunate that you are in this situation, but have seen many similar ownership transfer issues reported on the forum.(maybe search such threads also to get a picture)

All the best.

[anjan_c2007]

Due to negligence, apathy with mischief not ruled out its a nightmare that is making you and your family members suffer mental agony and also torture.

Please do attend all the court hearings where a lawyer must represent you. Perhaps its the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) where the suit for financial compensation and claim is filed. Now these MACT's act very swiftly unlike the other courts. Not a single hearing should be missed.

In the meantime you need to issue notices through a lawyer to both Trident Hyundai and that new owner of the M800 stating that if the transfer of the car is not effected within two weeks, you shall be constrained to file a civil suit to claim a hefty compensation for the mental agony and torture caused and also praying to the court to issue directions and strictures against these two respondents. I would suggest that this writ petition be filed in the High Court under Articles 226 and 227. Directions can also be prayed for in the High Court (HC) to stay proceedings of the MACT claims suit till this HC writ petition is heard and decided. Also in case any other new lower court suit is filed by these people/entities the HC can always issue directions.

[SS80]

"I have just left a 1-star review on Google along with a link to this thread. If more members do the same, it might catch the attention of the PR team at Trident, and they might take action to help our affected member."

[Geo_Ipe]

Originally Posted by SideView

1. Fast option and expensive :
Settle this out of court and get some proof so that no further harassment.

How do you expect to settle a pedestrian fatality out of court? Compensation will be in the terms of dozens of lakhs. Do you want the OP to shell out so much for no fault of his?

Fight it out legally. If you get a half decent lawyer, he/she will manage the proceedings in the local court. Will be time consuming, however as long as you have enough documents to prove your innocence, shouldn't be too much of a hassle.

[PrasannaDhana]

Sorry OP, that you have to go through this ordeal.

But it is our responsibility to check if the car we sold has been transfered to the new owner's name. We have so many apps including vahaan to check it.

Let me share my own experience. I wasn't affected as I very firmly make sure my cars are name transfered within 15 days of sale.

I sold my celerio in 2021 and made sure it was name transferred. Later last year, I happened to have a chat with one of my friends who is a Sub inspector of Police. He was sharing about a peculiar case where a car was spotted in the same place on an isolated river bank for 3 days, and when checked, they found a man dead inside. He was totally inebriated from the state he was found and they ruled it to be a suicide. When he proceeded to show the pic of the car, I was shocked. It was my celerio.
First thing the SI uttered was "Luckily you transfered the ownership, else you would have faced problems".



https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities...le67161951.ece

https://www.dailythanthi.com/amp/New...-decay-1024235


Always make sure your vehicle has been name transferred, even if you exchange it through dealer


We should get delivery note as well as aadhar copy of the buyer attested by him. It's the only proof of sale that can legally help if some mishap happens like what the OP is facing.

[Guna]

Through Google map timeline and other evidences, your father should be able to prove that he was not driving the car.
Delivery note should be sufficient proof that the car was hander over to Hyundai.
I would suggest filing a case on the new owner for causing the accident (what if it is a deliberate murder?) and trying to trap your father and causing mental agony and financial loss.
File a separate FIR on Hyundai for causing agony through their irresponsible acts.

[Joli]

This is a long ordeal. I recently sold my car to an out of state individual. The NoC from my end took at least a month, however the process from the buyer's end stretched to almost 2 months. This also includes a new number for the car now. Thankfully, I was checking every alternate day if the transfer has happened.

[abaliga]

Transfer of vehicle ownership is an issue in our country, it appears that there is grey area and despite MORTH trying to plug this with the new law, it does not appear to have taken effect.

This is exactly why I like to sell a vehicle to an individual and complete the transfer formalities myself, I have done this for the last vehicle I sold and luckily for me, the buyer was co operating in terms of handing over the required documents of transfer, many people including individual buyers do not transfer the vehicle for long to avoid increasing the number of owners on the vehicle RC, this needs to be fixed by the government in the form of a law, here is what I saw in the states and I am sure this type of process if adopted here can rid owners the headache in future

- Vehicle license/number plate is tagged to an owner, owners are to remove the plates at the time of the sale, only vehicle title is signed and handed over to the buyer
- DMV (aka RTO in our context) is to be notified by the owner selling the vehicle with the details of the new buyer, this is done even if the car is sold to a dealer
- If the vehicle is sold to a dealer, the dealer has to notify the DMV that the car is available for sale with them and is reflected on vehicle history (this does not increase the number of owners, just an interim state until the vehicle is sold to the next owner)

These two steps ensure that the seller is relieved of all liabilities around the vehicle, it is up to the buyer to immediately transfer the vehicle, if not, the car has to ply without plates and will end up being stopped by cops.

[BhayanaV]

This is a stark reality of India, huge proportion of used cars never get registered, or are registered very late, to save on transfer cost etc. It is equally buyer's responsibility to follow up and get it transferred, especially in this digital age where it extremely easy to check ownership online.
In this scenario, with NOC and sale proof, it is sufficient proof the car was indeed sold, it is a matter of proving it in technical legal terms. Try fighting it out before discussing any out of court settlement. Since it is a fatality case, amount might be on higher side.
For ownership transfer, what has always worked for me is - telling the buyer/agent, get it transferred else I will file an online FIR for my car being stolen.

[SideView]

Originally Posted by Geo_Ipe

How do you expect to settle a pedestrian fatality out of court? Compensation will be in the terms of dozens of lakhs. Do you want the OP to shell out so much for no fault of his?

Fight it out legally. If you get a half decent lawyer, he/she will manage the proceedings in the local court. Will be time consuming, however as long as you have enough documents to prove your innocence, shouldn't be too much of a hassle.

Thats what i was trying to highlight.


By out of court settlement what i meant is, where I have seen people pay some compensation and the other person withdraws the case if you dont want the hassle of court hearings and what not.


If the person is willing to put effort and attend court hearings (wherever/whenever it is, need not be nearby) then legal is the maybe less expensive route. But you can never be sure what amount the court may reward the victim.