[samyakmodi]

I am writing here on behalf of a friend who has been facing major problems with a premium skoda dealership in Indore. Premium Skoda?? Yes, I mean Volkswagen dealership in Indore.

In the month of November 2009, a dealership called "Shirani Automobiles" started in Indore retailing Volkswagen cars. The first car sold by the dealership was a diesel Volkswagen Passat (a 28 lac Rs. car) to my friend with all the pump and show. While booking the car my friend had made it very clear that he would buy the car only if the car is a 2010 model. That ofcourse was assured by the dealership. At the time of the delivery, the dealership representatives said that since it's their first car and because of the inauguration, they are giving a 2009 model Volkswagen Passat instead of a 2010 model, which ofcourse would be changed after 3-4 days as soon as a 2010 model comes to them. With that understanding the happy family took the delivery of the car.
After 3-4 days as promised the dealership came to their place as promised with a supposedly 2010 Passat, and exchanged the cars. After feeling the car for half a day or something, my friend smelt something foul. He called up the dealership and voiced his concern. To which he was assured that his is a 2010 car.
After getting into details he got to know that the car that was given to him at the day of the inauguration was infact a 2010 car, and the car that he got after a couple of days was infact a 2009 car.

To add to the dealership's credit, they got the registration done on a 2009 car and got the insurance made on a 2010 car (the one which was delivered at the time of inauguration). Not only that, they tried to cheat my friend with the registration charges too. The dealership took just Rs. 30,000 as registration fees and out of which they could only furbish receipts of Rs. 7600. While the registration tax in Indore RTO is 7% of the vehicle's ex-showroom value. Any which ways, the things don't add up.

After repeated requests to clarify the issue, about 2 and half months back took his car and returned it to the showroom. Since then he has been constantly in touch with Volkswagen people (the company not the dealership) and nothing has been taken seriously till date. Each time he ends up speaking to some new person who can do nothing about his case. Past few days he has been speaking to some lady called Ms. Jacqueline Opperman at Volkswagen Group and each time she committed that something would be done immediately. Each time some new person calls my friend, or some new "time-waster" from the showroom comes to the front saying that they will try to resolve the matter as soon as possible.

After being patient for more than 2 and half months, my friend requested me to bring this case to the team bhp forum, not only for help getting some justice but also to demask the Volkswagen Group completely.

Be it Skoda or Volkswagen brand, the parent company Volkswagen has similar working ethics (or lack of it) all over.
Right from the dealership, to the people representing the parent company, all of them have the same working manners.
1. To sell the car, commit anything to the customer.
2. Once the car is sold, try cheating him in every other way possible.
3. If the customer complains or cries foul, keep on ignoring him till the time his complains get loud and reach some people higher up.
4. The higher people do the best that they can - give further false commitments and delegate a sub-ordinate to "look" in the matter.
5. The sub-ordinate "looks" in the matter hand in glove with the dealership and reports to the seniors that there is nothing wrong with it.
6. Once the customer contacts the seniors directly, then again the seniors come to action by saying - they will do something about it OR someone from our side will contact you and resolve the matter.
7. Time passes by with N number of mails sent by the customer and N number of replies from the company saying that "something" will be done "sometime"
8. The customer is the only one who ends up suffering for buying an expensive car from a supposedly "premium" brand as for months together after buying the car, he still can't use it.

need help from everyone on the forum who has experienced similar kind of horror stories from any of the brands.

[k_ajay]

It's a shame that VW is also resorting to Skoda like tactics, reason why Skoda's name has been tarnished here [for good reason]. It is most pitiable when such experiences are to be borne by individuals forking such high sum for a top-notch experience car.

Why not recommend your friend to approach the city's consumer court. Of course, legal recourse is the most long winded process in which your friend may get justice, but he has to be prepared for a lengthy battle. Also important, is the fact that your friend should have every decision and discussion documented.

Without documentation, I suppose there is little help the consumer court could provide [I say that, based on my experience with a consumer court case with a smaller issue; documentation saved our case and we got it sorted, to our favour].

Sad experience; good luck to your friend. Hope it is solved soon.

[AlokSriva]

Not very clear from your post when was the original/first car actually delivered to your friend. I am assuming this has to be during 2010 (because your friend was expecting a 2010 model). Does this mean this dealer did not sell even a single car from Nov 2009 till the time your friend picked his car in 2010? Strange..

OTOH, you have mentioned that first car was delivered on the inauguration day (which again is expected to be Nov 2009), how can your friend expect a 2010 car in 2009?

Anyway, when the car was delivered to your friend, did it have a pakka registration or temp one? Again, going by the info you have provided, it seems to be a pakka registration. Does this mean the buyer was so naive at that point of time that he did not realize once a car is registered in his name, there is no going back?

Without mincing words, there are a few obvious gaps in the details provided by you. Additionally, is your friend a first time buyer that he believed all the BS dealer gave him at the time of signing the deal?

I am afraid there ain't too many options that your friend would have given the circumstances (except that the Insurance policy is corrected with the correct engine/chassis#).

In case he has left the car at the dealership out of desperation, there is a high likelihood that if nothing works out frm VW's end, dealer might slap your friend with a bill for parking his vehicle on their premises for an extended period of time!

Having said all this, I hope my thoughts are proven wrong and your friend gets what he had bargained for..

[A.R]

If the car itself is fine, I suggest to enjoy the vehicle and not worry much on the dates as it won't matter really. Well otherwise, one should check the VIN numbers during delivery (both times here) and not trust the dealers blindly, if so finicky about the MFD dates.

[samyakmodi]

@aloksriva

companies are known to produce next year model cars october onwards, hence the expectation of a 2010 model car, which was given at the time of inauguration of the showroom.

the charges taken from the dealership are still unclear as far as registration is concerned. take the base cost of the car as 25 lacs roughly. how much should 7% be? do the math. pakka or kachha registration has no semblance from the amount charged.
as far as the buyer being naive - i can't comment on it. the dealership registered an old year model and exchanged the car at my friend's home. fail to understand what could he have done about it, since he was under the impression that the car he was given at the time of inauguration WAS a 2009 model and this is a 2010 model.

believing the dealer's BS is what most of the buyers do. can't blame him for that. i am sure next time while buying any car he would be wiser.

there are a few options my friend.
1. moving the case both online and in the court. if Volkswagen group has learnt something from the past (read the skoda fraud cases found aplenty on the forum), it will not take this matter lightly anymore.
2. the dealership should replace the car. the GM there had blurted out that the commitment was made by one of their executives, which "somehow" doesn't work with them anymore. says a lot about the dealership if they can't hold on to an employee, who is in a position to commit, for more than 3 months. to add some credibility, the owner of the dealership himself had again confirmed the commitment.
3. the dealership keeps his car as a demo vehicle for the future & refunds his money. though highly unlikely as the Passat diesel has been discontinued now.


Ideally speaking, if he has left the car at the dealership for more than 2 and half months, he won't be wrong if he even asks the dealership to cough up the EMI for the time the car was parked with them. I doubt they would pay for the extra long parking hours ;-)


We all hope that your thoughts are proven wrong and my friend ends up being a proud owner of a passat.

[karizma_devil]

Am sorry to say your story apparently looks logically incoherent.
Either you have got the facts wrong or it you have not condensed your thoughts accuratley in this article.

[Cesc]

Originally Posted by AlokSriva

OTOH, you have mentioned that first car was delivered on the inauguration day (which again is expected to be Nov 2009), how can your friend expect a 2010 car in 2009?

Additionally, is your friend a first time buyer that he believed all the BS dealer gave him at the time of signing the deal?

My thoughts exactly as well. Please provide more clarity. The first thing anybody checks is the engine mfg. date etc. If at that time itself your friend would have checked he would have made sure that it is a 2010 car and there is no need to swap it. The dates are also clearly mentioned in the RC.

Also your friend should never have taken home a car for 3-4 days only to swap it. He should have waited till the time the car he wanted came to the dealership. 3-4 days is pretty much nothing. This has all muddled up the proceedings and your friend will definitely have problems explaining if he were to press charges.

OTOH I never had hopes from VW anyway. If they were really serious about the dealership situation they would have started by setting their Skoda house in order.

IMO you should also change the thread title. Looking at the title one gets the feeling that this is about something good concerning Skoda and VW.

@Samyak
Nobody here wants your friend to suffer and people are just requesting more details to the episode as things are somehow not looking completely consistent. For ex. in you second post you have mentioned about 'commitment to replace the car' whereas no such thing was mentioned in the first post. We are all here to help each other so would request you to consider the opinion expressed by people on the forum in good faith.

[designersf]

That is poor show by VW. After all if you notice one thing, the reputation of car makers lies with the activities that dealers do. VW should take stern action against such defaulters and not go easy with them

[AlokSriva]

Originally Posted by samyakmodi

@aloksriva
companies are known to produce next year model cars october onwards, hence the expectation of a 2010 model car, which was given at the time of inauguration of the showroom.

One of the two of us has incorrect information so far as model's year is concerned..

the charges taken from the dealership are still unclear as far as registration is concerned. take the base cost of the car as 25 lacs roughly. how much should 7% be? do the math. pakka or kachha registration has no semblance from the amount charged.

The context of pakka or temp registration was not the amount being charged. Request a re-read.

believing the dealer's BS is what most of the buyers do. can't blame him for that. i am sure next time while buying any car he would be wiser.

Good for him and all readers as it could help everyone avoid unpleasant experiences..

Ideally speaking, if he has left the car at the dealership for more than 2 and half months, he won't be wrong if he even asks the dealership to cough up the EMI for the time the car was parked with them. I doubt they would pay for the extra long parking hours ;-)

Your friend has left his car on dealer's premises out of his own free will and therefore, someone else paying EMIs on his behalf is completely illogical. OTOH, dealership's real estate usage is restricted on account of a vehicle forcibly parked by a customer can have penal and legal implications - assumption being, no action is taken by VW against the dealership.

We all hope that your thoughts are proven wrong and my friend ends up being a proud owner of a passat.

Ditto!

[xingamazon]

Originally Posted by samyakmodi

@aloksriva

companies are known to produce next year model cars october onwards, hence the expectation of a 2010 model car, which was given at the time of inauguration of the showroom.

I Samyak, I would like to know what you exactly mean by 2009 model and 2010 model. Is it the actual date on which the cars were produced or the date on which the cars were registered or is it the model as mentioned on the RC book.

We can rule out the first two options as the car was handed over post registering on Nov 2009.
If you are talking about the third option i.e. RC book having the model year to be mentioned as 2010 dont think any RTO will permit registering a car as 2010 model year on 2009.

Either ways if your friend really thinks of having the car as a long term prospect dont think the model year really matters, come on the car is still in tact why dont use and enjoy it.
Please dont consider me as a VW supporter, I am going by the rule Caveat Emptor meaning Buyers beware, No court is likely to rule in favor of your friend in this case.

Meanwhile, posting scanned copies of RC book of the car would help people who are doubtful about your claim

[Berj79]

dude you are making a BIG THING for nothing man, just enjoy the ride..

[Gilead]

Taking delivery of a 2009 car with the understanding that a 2010 car will be delivered 4 days later is one of the most bizarre things I have ever heard on this forum! Why couldn't your friend wait for another 4 days. And what kind of papers were given on the day of delivery of the so called 2009 car? I am sure he was driving illegally without any papers because he was expecting the actual car only 4 days later. How can you expect the dealership to have better ethics then.

Now at the end of the day, if your friend does not have any issues with the car he currently has, he should just close out this issue and enjoy the car. But I bet he can't do that as well as the car has been standing idle for over 2.5 months and it could have developed all kinds of issues due to the neglect. Water could have gone in, hoses might have been chewed off by rats etc. And if Skoda stories are to be believed, maybe even parts may have been swapped. Ask your friend to take the car back before it's too late.

And please post some documentation here as suggested by others.

[nitrous]

Originally Posted by Gilead

Taking delivery of a 2009 car with the understanding that a 2010 car will be delivered 4 days later is one of the most bizarre things I have ever heard on this forum!

2009 made, 2010 registered.
He was made an offer that he couldn't refuse.

[kadri007]

Originally Posted by A.R

If the car itself is fine, I suggest to enjoy the vehicle and not worry much on the dates as it won't matter really. Well otherwise, one should check the VIN numbers during delivery (both times here) and not trust the dealers blindly, if so finicky about the MFD dates.

I had a bike earlier which I took in Jannuary, but the manufacturing date was December in previous year. But the RC book had the registration date as Jannuary. I used it for 4 years plus and sold it. There was no problem due to this on the resale value. The resale value price is also determined on how you maintain the vehicle. I got a good price since it was single driven and I had maintained the vehicle well.

Also all the India assembled cars VIN numbers will be almost 4 or 5 months old before it actually reaches the dealership. The cars gets imported in parts and gets assembled in India and then gets dispatched to all dealers. So the entire process takes months till the car actually reaches you.

If you look at the manufacturing date it may show as 2009 but it might have been assembled in 2010, if the car is fine tell your friend not to worry on it.

[phamilyman]

While VW's behavior is anything but illustrious - your friend's walked into the trap, hook, line and sinker!