[freewheelburnin]

My friend's dad had purchased a Fiat linea diesel variant from RF motors cochin.My friend was in UK at the time of purchase.Also i was unaware that he was buying it from RF otherwise i would have advised him against it.Recently he came to know that the car is actually 11 months old.His dad is taking the help of a lawyer to file a case against the dealer.Any suggestions on the course of action?

[GTO]

Sorry to say, but your friend's Dad only has himself to blame. From our PDI checklist:

We recommend visiting the dealerships stockyard and checking your car prior to registration. Once it is registered in your name, there is little you can do. Check the car manufacturing month / year, especially when buying in the first quarter of any year. Fiat India was notorious for selling cars that have been manufactured up to 18 months earlier. Ascertain that the year of manufacture is current, and the month is recent. Best way is to ask the dealer for the "Form 22" certificate (issued by the manufacturer). You will find the engine / chassis numbers on this certificate, while the month / year of manufacture are on the "road-worthiness" certificate (part of Form 22).

There is no law that says the car should be of a recent manufacturing date. Brand new means unused. However, if he is facing many problems, or can prove that the car was used (as a demo vehicle or otherwise), ONLY then he has a case.

[julupani]

I definitely think that the car was used for some other purpose for some months.

How likely is it that a dealer would have held on to a car for almost a year long and not been able to get it sold? Close to impossible in my opinion.

But GTO is right, legally, unless you can prove the car has been used there is nothing much that you can do. But still sending a mail to FIAT authorities would not be a bad idea, but without much expectation.

[camchennai]

@freewheelburnin - Why not a mail to FIAT?? I hope they would be able to do something before you take the legal route.

Also do furnish some more details:-
1. Purchase date
2. Manufacturing date
3. When did u come to know about this?
4. What is Dealership response?

[julupani]

Legally, as GTO already mentioned, there is no claim whatsoever, unless you prove that the car has been used considerably before being delivered. Though I beleive that to be the case, its not something too easy to prove.

Mail to FIAT is definitely warranted, but more from a point of view of the good of other future buyers, rather than a complaint. If FIAT actually decides to replace the car, or anything at all, I will be shocked. But you should still insist on them at least taking some sort of action with the dealer.

[mjothi]

Sad to hear this, and that is one main reason to do a PDI. I agree its not ethical from a dealer to do this. Because, not all people check the car before buying. We Indian consumers rely on dealers and seller a lot. And finally taken for a ride.

For many, any car that is from the showroom is a brand new vehicle. And by definition it is. Speak up with the dealer, atleast let him know that you are aware of the fact. And make sure the warranty and other things are handled correctly.

What was the ODO on delivery?

[rager]

Thank you for your suggestions. I have been speaking to a lot many people on this and they are of the same opinion as yours.

Camchennai,
Answers to your questions are:
1. Purchase date - 07/01/2011 (As in the invoice)
2. Manufacturing date - Feb 2010 (From the RC book)
3. When did u come to know about this? - When we got the RC book
4. What is Dealership response? - Sales manager says they received the car from Fiat in October and they had no clue (!!!!) that the car was old.

The entire sales episode reeks of a well planned con job. This is what happened.
27-Dec-2010: My dad goes to the show room. They were offering a used car but my father refused as he wanted a brand new car. They said they can give a Grey colored Linea Dynamic and it is en route from the factory.
28-Dec-2010: They say the car is in the yard and my dad can see it if he wants to. My dad sees a dust covered car. He assumes the dust is because of the transportation.
04-01-2011: We tell them we do not want a stereo. They start canvassing my dad for a full polish and teflon coating job. They say they will charge him 6K but ends up charging 8.
05-01-2011: They call us saying sorry, that they have already drilled the hole in the rear for the speaker! They charge my dad for it too!!
07-01-2011: RF Motors delivers the car. They do not give us the invoice, but send it directly to the bank.
27-01-2011: We get the RC book and the date of manufacture is Feb, 2010. We check the car and see that all of the tyres have a date of Nov 2009 on them.
28-01-2011: I get to their place and ask them whats going on. They say the received the car in October and had no idea the car was old!!

We got the car thoroughly checked out. It is in mint condition giving 20kmpl mileage. The odo was showing 50 when we got it. This may not be relevant as I went testdriving a car from RF Motors an year back and they has some how managed to disconnect the odo and speedo.

Our lawyer has adviced us to file a criminal case against them.
I am in the process of writing to the folks from FIAT.
Fingers crossed.
Many thanks for all your suggestions and replies.

[anandpadhye]

I am not sure I understood this at all...

If this is a planned con job by the dealer, why does the RC book (or smart card whatever) show Feb 2010 as the manufacturing date????

Here is something that should interest you (regarding my cars):
#1:
My Laura Tsi was manufactured in August 2009, but the registration smart card has the manufacturing date as Feb 2010 (because that's when I bought it and the dealer himself told me that they can get the RTO to register the sale month as the manufacturing month on the registration card - no problems with that)...

#2:
My Hyundai Tucson smart card reads as follows:
Registration Date: 06/2005
MFG Date: 06/2005

And Tucson is a CBU imported from Korea. If it was manufactured in Korea, shipped to India, transported to the dealer in Pune and sold to a customer in the same month, Hyundai must win The Most Efficient Logistics award - if there is one!



Why don't you share the chassis number (VIN) and engine number on the VIN related thread and fellow member @wildon will give you the real manufacturing date (if you are really interested).

And BTW, if car is in mint condition and running fine, what's the problem?????

[freewheelburnin]

@rager,
I think the only way out would be to prove that the car was used for Testdrives.But there is also a possibility that the car could have been lying in stockyard unused as the colour you have chosen is grey and is not a fast moving color AFAIK.But if you can prove that the car was used for test drives or the car has some issues then you may have a legal stand.

[bejoy]

@rager,
Take the car to concorde and do an ECU check. Real odo reading will show up, if it was used as TD vehicle. (if speedo only was disconnected)

[noopster]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

And BTW, if car is in mint condition and running fine, what's the problem?????

That's exactly what I was going to post. How does it matter when the car was manufactured? As long as it looks new and feels new, it's new!

See if you can get the dealer to use his RTO connects to change the Mfg Date in the smart card. Otherwise bite the bullet and accept that your car will always look a year younger than it is .

BTW I haven't even checked the VIN number on my "new" Vento- for all I know it's an August 2010 manufacture. But it's mine!

[muneemmk]

I think they have test drive cars now, unlike before , they might have simply forgotten this car lying in their yard or might be a freebie from the factory itself, or it might even have got damaged and was awaiting parts all the last 10 months , you may never know ! anyway it was just a simple mistake from the buyers part to do a proper pdi before the vehicle goes in for registration.