[CountMe91]

It is a common pratice to use customer vehicles meant for delivery for demo purposes. Bengal Hyundai in Kolkata follows this practice. I was practically shocked to see the odo disconnected and the car being used for TD purposes.

And then again there are kamikaze drivers in Maruti Sevice Centers. I have seen new cars being driven rashly, revved hard and badly handled at the hands of SA's. One such example is Zenith Motors ASC in Kolkata. This is one of the reasons that I am always afraid to leave the cars with them. It leaves one with such a bad taste. Companies like Maruti should take stringent actions against such dealerships and ASC's.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by Magemegento

While we are at it, how much is a good enough ODO reading to have while accepting a new car at the showroom? ... Read somewhere later (memory hazy) that a new car should have done max 8kms on the ODO, inclusive of driving to/from the yard etc. Any idea?

I was lucky to see my car getting unloaded from the truck. It had ~4 kms on the odo at that time. Guess it had ~8 kms when I took delivery the next day. But then, there is no hard & fast rule - some guys drive the car from their stockyard to their showroom / service centres and some clock more miles by driving it for RTO registrations. So it's always good to have a check on the details and calculate the distance it's supposed to clock.

Originally Posted by torque.steer

...He started shouting and even told me "JISKO JO JAAKE BOLNA HAI BOL DO". Piece of advice please dont buy maruti cars from rohan motors chhatarpur specifically ...

Have you registered a complaint with Maruti about this? If not, get it done ASAP please. Your report can wait. The option is NOT to run away from such dealers, but to stand and fight back and bring them down on their knees!

[nerd1200]

I wanted to post this to Maruti's facebook page for (potential) customers to see. And guess what, a few guys (BHPians, maybe) have already done that.

[govindremesh]

Originally Posted by Aromal

Also consider improving the design of the speedometer cable attachment to the wheels. In the current design, all it takes to disconnect the speedometer is just a simple pull on the cable

Well, it's time that car companies start developing wireless links between components! Not that no one thought about it, but such malpractices in developed nations (where the majority of cars are designed) are rare, while cars developed for India have strict budgets.

Originally Posted by anand_lukose

Pardon my ignorance but I did hear about proposals to bring a dedicated RTO staffer to a showroom or a cluster of showrooms within a locality to avoid these brand new vehicles from being driven till the RTO.

I am not sure if this proposal was specific to a state or at the national level. But it looks we need this high time/big time !

Even I was thinking of this, infact I thought that it was implemented! Manufacturers like Maruti and Hyundai would be selling atleast a 20+ cars daily (per dealer) and it would make more sense , specially in big cities for the Vehicle Inspector to come down than driving all those cars to the RTO!

Originally Posted by CountMe91

And then again there are kamikaze drivers in Maruti Sevice Centers. I have seen new cars being driven rashly, revved hard and badly handled at the hands of SA's. One such example is Zenith Motors ASC in Kolkata. This is one of the reasons that I am always afraid to leave the cars with them. It leaves one with such a bad taste. Companies like Maruti should take stringent actions against such dealerships and ASC's.

If my memory is correct, in the template of the Job card, somewhere near the place we sign, is written in micro sized font
"I hereby authorize the jobs mentioned to be carried out and the vehicle to be test driven at my own risk"

Have seen this atleast 4 times for sure when I was in Mumbai! Upon questioning, the reply: "how will we diagnose the car and make sure that the repair is proper sir!"

One SA even had the audacity to tell me that "We're here to repair your car and not damage it!". A smartly worded reply sealed his mouth.

With agreements like these, it would even get very difficult to fight a case in courts!

[Ramon]

Even I had posted it on the Maruti Facebook page along with a suggestion on how to prevent it. Strangely the post is "MISSING" now

[gthang]

A Maruti dealership is at least a Rs20 Crore business.

Volumes are huge, and with the primary share of the low end market, Customer satisfaction is way down on the priority list for most, if not all dealerships.

Expecting Maruti to invest even a rupee more in their cars to prevent dealer staff misuse will most certainly remain a distant wish.

If the dealer wanted to, all he has to do is stick these on the passenger doors:
http://solutions.3mindia.co.in/wps/p...4305852&rt=rud

Tamper evident stickers. Even a Rs1000 mobile phone box has one.

Simple, effective solution to at least prevent usage as taxi.

What are the odds that this will be implemented? Slim to none.

Cheers.

[AutoNoob]

I am really shocked !!

Raised this issue to right officials through a friend inside Maruti Suzuki (sent the link to this thread as well). I just hope they take stringent action against the dealer, more so to avoid naming and shaming of their company on social media.

Originally Posted by Ramon

Even I had posted it on the Maruti Facebook page along with a suggestion on how to prevent it. Strangely the post is "MISSING" now

Good that you highlighted. I will share this as well, so that the "Media Managers" get their part of treatment as well.

[kaushal21fb]

The behavior of Rohan auto is no surprise! Most of the Maruti dealerships are turning into sarkari daftars and most dealership staff behaves like Babu's.

We're looking for a second car for my wife and so we went to Batra Auto (Mathura Road) to check out the Celerio. The dealership did not have any car on display so the SA showed us customer car parked parked outside after the service. We knew enough not to get inside someone else's car without permission. But not sure to how many more customers that car was shown to. Thereafter the SA made us wait for about 40 minutes for a test drive, only to return back from his disappearance and tell us that they don't have the test drive car for that day.

Also like many BHPians I take my cars to service center myself and look after them till (it's shocking to some how many hours I waste maintaining my car) they're done. If I had a choice I wouldn't even let the mechanics/supervisors take test drives after service/repairs.

[blacksport]

Originally Posted by Ramon

Even I had posted it on the Maruti Facebook page along with a suggestion on how to prevent it. Strangely the post is "MISSING" now

I wouldn't be surprised if Maruti is trying to brush it under the carpet. The last thing they would want to have is bad press. So they would delete all the messages and pretend that the problem doesn't exist at all.

But little do they realize that dealing with it now will pay them richer dividends than after this has blown up into a nationwide problem.

At least we team-bhpians can avoid the above said dealership and also give maximum publicity to the incident.

[nerd1200]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Not just the cab part, its sad how rash cars are driven when at hands of these drivers. These happens when cars are given for service too.

Anyways, have messaged on Facebook this link to Maruti. Will update of any reply.

This is very true!

Just 2 days back I noticed a brand new Ciaz (T/R) being driven by the showroom guy near Doddenakundi - Old Airport Rd Junction (Bangalore). He was literally speeding over pot-holes and speed breakers.

He was probably driving to the Bimal Auto showroom (only Maruti showroom on Old Airport Rd). I felt really sad for the customer.

[a4anurag]

I just sent the thread link to my SA just in for caution.

Posted the same link on Maruti Suzuki FB page and Maruti Swift FB page.

It went 'Missing' within half an hour.

[D4D]

Originally Posted by gthang

If the dealer wanted to, all he has to do is stick these on the passenger doors:
http://solutions.3mindia.co.in/wps/p...4305852&rt=rud

Tamper evident stickers. Even a Rs1000 mobile phone box has one.

Not so simple in case of a car. Firstly, the car doors need to be opened for cleaning, so there's your first set of stickers ripped off. Who cares now?

He'll buy a set of stickers like that (fake or original), and put them just before delivery. If he removes the stickers, he can also remove the gum trace marks from the metal body easily.

Sorry to say, this is impossible.

Originally Posted by govindremesh

"I hereby authorize the jobs mentioned to be carried out and the vehicle to be test driven at my own risk"


With agreements like these, it would even get very difficult to fight a case in courts!

Absolutely true. That's why they're authorised service centres right? We give our cars in expecting them to be handled with utmost care.

THAT FINEPRINT HAS TO BE CHANGED.

[pamiboy]

I think once a car has been handed over to service (with a proper receipt), the entire responsibility falls on the dealer to take care of it. In cases of accident it should be the dealers insurance which should cover it and not yours. Yes, they are authorized to test drive it as they deem necessary for repairs/ diagnostics. If you are worried about test drives you can insist on going along with them during test drives- not sure if dealers will agree to that part.

[Dry Ice]

Tweeted!

Also emailed them as a current owner looking for replacing my older MS. Let's see if they keep mum or do something about it.

[pamiboy]

As far as using new cars as taxi by dealers / drivers it is a high risk unprofessional behavior. Just imagine getting into an accident where people were injured or killed. Who will take responsibility? What if the fare paying passengers are killed? It will be a mega nightmare for the dealership if such a thing happens.
People need to enforce self discipline (hire people with integrity and fire those without). It is just a reflection of general level of corruption / unprofessionalism in our culture. No use just complaining about it if we won't change ourselves. This is not just limited to auto field but our entire society.
Just go to places only where you feel the service is at a professional level. Many people don't care and they are just adding to this problem and encouraging such behavior by accepting cab rides but not reporting them. May be we should record it as a passenger and blow them out.