[rnidumolu]

Originally Posted by escaflowne

You can check with ABT. Really good customer service. I was quoted 5500 for EW with ABT. Just visit ABT you will feel comfortable.But the price will be same, if not more.
ABT Maruti - Guindy
(Sales, Serivce & True Value)
102, Mount Road,
Guindy

Hi escaflowne, Thanks for the suggestion. I stay at Ponneri. So how far would be Guindy from this place? I am new to Chennai.

[escaflowne]

Ponneri is quite far from guindy.I think more than 45 KMS.You should come via Ambattur.Better look for Dealer around your area.

[supremeBaleno]

There is ABT at Ambattur too, if it helps. And I guess there is CARS India too at Ambattur. Look up the Dealer link on the MSIL webpage for the dealer closest to you.

[rnidumolu]

Originally Posted by escaflowne

Ponneri is quite far from guindy.I think more than 45 KMS.You should come via Ambattur.Better look for Dealer around your area.

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

There is ABT at Ambattur too, if it helps. And I guess there is CARS India too at Ambattur. Look up the Dealer link on the MSIL webpage for the dealer closest to you.

Thanks Guys! As far as I remember CARS India at Ambattur is a service station. Anyway this weekend I will go and check again.

Meanwhile, the update on my case is, MSIL has forwarded my complaint to Khivraj and one person called Mohmmed Asif had called me up, took my mail id and sent the quote again. The twist in the story is not the quote got increased slightly by 1K and the person is saying that it is because of VAT.

The details are as below -

Ex-Showroom 6, 42,650.00
Insurance 18,797.00
Handling charges +service tax 8,767.00
Life tax 64,265.00
Safety tax 1,500.00
Registration fees & RC 650.00
Basic accessories with VAT 2,977.00
Extended Warranty for 3rd year
(optional) 5,607.00

When I have informed him that the Handling Charges are very high he was telling me the same story which was told by the SA that this is for the driver batta (for registration), petrol, blah, blah. When I have told him that I dont want Khivraj to do the registration and I would be doing it on my own, to my surprise he told me that as a policy they will charge me 10K for that. And also telling me that this is the common practice by all the dealers.

Is this true?

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by rnidumolu

The details are as below -
Handling charges +service tax 8,767.00

When I have informed him that the Handling Charges are very high he was telling me the same story which was told by the SA that this is for the

Seeing this post only now know its already late and if you would have got the car then it would have completed second service also . However, handling charges as such is not a legal entry. There is another thread about the same http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...s-scam-12.html

[JayKis]

This is my second run-in with a car dealership this year and am beginning to hate them now.

Back ground
I booked a Fiat Linea TJet from Pandit Automotive in Pune on Sep 15 and the price quote given to me was as below and I paid the same before taking delivery. There were some freebies including insurance but we could ignore that since the problem is with the exshowroom price and registration tax.

Ex Showroom 893602
Registration 81349
Insurance 18429
Extended Warr 7303
Logistics 5500
Total 1006183

On the day of taking delivery, on reaching home found out that there was an anomaly in the invoice generated and the tax receipt w.r.t the ex showroom price.

Ex Showroom 883596
Registration Charge 550
Registration
Certificate of Taxation 79524

I immediately raised a concern with the dealer as well as FIAT and he said they were facing a problem with the RTO and he would generate the receipt within a couple of weeks and it should all be fine.

After a continuous one month follow up, they issued me a new invoice with the correct invoice price 893602.

Analysis and Intrigue

But what got me intrigued is this.
The road tax in Pune is 9% for a fiat Linea TJet. The tax receipt of 79524 is exactly 9% of the first showroom price of 883596. So I asked the dealer to give me an incremental tax receipt for the incremental exshowroom price paid which the dealer said he would give it initially but now says that RTO doesnot issue incremental tax receipts.

Unanswered questions
Now these are the unanswered questions. Any help would be appreciated.

1. Is the dealer short changing in both the exshowroom price as well as the tax? Has he inflated the exshowroom price by 10000?
2. How does this anomaly in exshowroom price happen? All I can think is that Fiat reduced the prices of TJet by 10000 in the month of October and the whole fiasco happened.
3. Is there anyway I can verify this?

[HillMan]

The dealer has taken you for a ride. The vehicle variant prices are published to the RTO beforehand for taxation purposes. Here, the tax paid is only 79524 on the published price of 883596. In your case the revise price is not published to RTO, but the dealer is happily collecting the money. Ask your dealership to refund the excess tax collected or provide receipt for the same. Every govt. office will provide receipt for every amount received. If there is no receipt, there is no payment made, as simple as that.

Not remitting collected tax amount to govt. is a crime.

Worst case scenario:
You can simply file a complaint at RTO with the invoice and tax payment details.
Go with duplicates and get an acknowledgement of the same.
That can put the dealership in trouble.
RTI can be used to follow up on the action taken by authorities.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by JayKis

[*]How does this anomaly in exshowroom price happen? All I can think is that Fiat reduced the prices of TJet by 10000 in the month of October and the whole fiasco happened.

When we bought the i20 recently, the booking was done towards the 3rd week of a month and delivery was expected in the next month. We'd paid in full during the booking. The dealer mentioned that Hyundai updates the ex-showroom price every month and if that happened, we'd have to pay the difference.

I'm not sure how it would have impacted the road tax had there been a hike though. But yea, ex-showroom price is subject to change.

[F150]

Originally Posted by HillMan

TAsk your dealership to refund the excess tax collected or provide receipt for the same. Every govt. office will provide receipt for every amount received. If there is no receipt, there is no payment made, as simple as that.

The dealer or the sales executive has pocketed the difference. Claim a refund from the dealer. Tell them that you will tip off to TOI on this story, this will bring them to negotiating tables.

[mints21]

My experience here with Noida RTO office in U.P says that the office of RTO gives you a complete receipt of the tax that has been collected by them towards registration amount. The breakup includes: Registration Amount, number allotment charges, hypothecation fee etc. When the dealer submits a file for the registration of a car he is given this receipt. My dealers (Hyundai Motor Plaza, New Delhi) have always passed this receipt to me. In your case, the dealer is wrong and is trying to cheat you.
Take him to task, write to as many media houses as you can and I am sure someone will certainly take up your case. Moreover, write to your dealer asking him to explain this anamoly and send this by speed post. Then write to ministry of consumer affairs, state revenue department and you will see dealer running behind you. This process will take sometime but will work for sure. Always keep Fiat India in the loop and send a copy to their top brass as well. PM me if you need more assistance.

[HillMan]

Please do not jump the guns. Talk easy with the dealer first escalate to the manager. If they seem to not take any action. Let them know you will lodge a formal complaint and go to media.

Keep calm and do not raise you voice at any point. That's the key to negotiations

[JayKis]

Thanks @Hillman, Libranof1987, F150, Mints21

I had contacted the FIAT India customer centre atleast 5 times to resolve the issue and they did respond by folowing up with the dealer.

The dealer had agreed to give the difference in Tax amount back but thats only 1250

So i send the FIAT guys a strongly worded letter today. Lets see what they come back with. Next step is obviously to get to the RTO if things fail.

[JayKis]

Update to the issue . The dealer has provided me with an incremental TAX receipt from the RTO of 1100 which translates to roughly 12000 worth of ex showroom.

So all is well. The issue has been resolved though it took a long time and required a lot of chasing up!

[narsi_6989]

Friends,

I am in the process of buying a Skoda Rapid in Chennai and below is the price split up given by the dealer.

Ex-Showroom: 978414
Insurance: 40223
Life Tax+Reg+Basic accessory: 113341 (Basic acc contains Floor mats, mud flaps and wax polish)

Points to ponder:

• In Chennai, Life tax is 10% AFAIK and add registration charges of ~500 to it. The price quoted is a whooping 15k more than what I calculate.
• In today's market situation floor mats and mud flaps are given for free. But I could see here that it is hidden in the name of ESS pack.

What do you guys suggest? What can I bargain out of this? I hope to get the Insurance for free and hence that need not be taken into account.

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by narsi_6989

I am in the process of buying a Skoda Rapid in Chennai and below is the price split up given by the dealer.

Ex-Showroom: 978414
Insurance: 40223
Life Tax+Reg+Basic accessory: 113341 (Basic acc contains Floor mats, mud flaps and wax polish)

Good to know that you are upgrading from Fabia to Rapid. I would suggest following:
1. Skip Skoda mats and rather get Kagu 3D mats. Ask dealer to reduce price of mats from Ex price.
2. Car waxing at workshop is of no good and they would rather add swirls to a brand new car even though worker doing it may be wearing 3M shirts. Skip it like a plague.
3. Get a quote from VW and try to pitch them against Skoda and both cars shall be almost equal. VW is anyday better, personal opinion.
3. Try to get a corporate discount.
4. Do insurance on your own, that too zero dep. Would be cheaper than dealers quote. BajajAllianz & BhartiAXA are good companies.
5. If you have another Skoda dealer, try to get quote from him and pitch both dealers against each other.
6. Dealers charge 15K extra for registration, call it convenience or agent fee. Tell them that you got quote from RTO directly and it turns out cheaper. Either match it or I will have registration myself or better ask them to match it if they want a booking.

Lastly.
1. Purchase extended warranty. Better safe with Czeck.
2. Get extended roadside assistance 2+2 yrs. Had to do personal towing recently and cost almost turns out to be same even if used once.