[TusharK]

The Regional Transport Office (RTO) has suspended the license of Kothari Honda, Pune for violating the rules set by the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. It was found that the dealership was not complying with vehicle inspection formalities and was delivering vehicles to customers before registration.



The dealership's license has been suspended for a period of 1 month for non-compliance. The RTO will also be monitoring other branches owned by its parent company, Kothari Wheels.

This is not the first time that Kothari Wheels has flouted the rules. In 2018, the dealership was booked under Section 42 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 for the same reason. Licenses of other dealerships including BU Bhandari, Ace Kudale, Kalamkar TVS and Suyog Auto were also suspended back then.

Source: Economic Times

Link to Team-BHP News

[GTO]

Originally Posted by TusharK

In 2018, the dealership was booked under Section 42 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 for the same reason.

Well done, RTO . Kothari Honda appears to be a repeat offender. This ban is entirely in the owner's interest. A little delay on delivery is fine; on the other hand, riding / driving without a valid registration means outright rejection of insurance claims + breaking the law.

[NiInJa]

Pune being the Mecca of two wheelers, this practice has been rampant, many people used to just 'pick' up scooters like buying t-shirts and start using while the RTO formalities were in process till a few years back when RTO started pulling up the dealers themselves.

We recently bought a scooter and the RTO formalities were stuck to due some Insurance related orders, while it took a month and half for us to get the scooter (It was lying in the stockyard since a week after booking) due to that, some impatient customers did take them away from the stockyard by putting pressure on the dealer. They offered us too but we refused. Not sure if the RTO can be blamed for delaying paperwork.

[libranof1987]

I think the fault lies as much with customers as with the dealerships, not just Kothari Honda but several others who hand over the vehicles with the reg. no. I doubt dealerships gain a lot by releasing vehicles the moment they're paid for; it is the impatience by the customers that does the trick.

Every dealership I've visited in the recent past has mentioned that they won't hand over the vehicle until the reg. no. is received so RTO needs to educate the wider public first.

[rakesh_r]

I bought a Himalayan last year from Brahma Motors. The dealer outrightly refused to hand over the bike without completing the RTO formalities and the number being Issued. It took almost a week since I was getting a number from the newer series. On and all was a bit paranoid about leaving the bike post-RTO formalities but the Dealer delivered the bike without any issues.

[pandey.jai]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Every dealership I've visited in the recent past has mentioned that they won't hand over the vehicle until the reg. no. is received so RTO needs to educate the wider public first.

Same with me too. I think RTO needs to advertise the rules a little bit for the public to become aware of them. A couple of such suspensions will bring the rules into the public domain and people will slowly but surely fall in line.

[kailashnj]

I don't agree to this. Customers are the ones who can't wait. Infact people are ready to pay extra money to get their vehicles asap. This is risky business but the dealers do it so that they don't loose the customer.

But yes, good job on part of the RTO. More such motions should be taken up every where in India.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by kailashnj

I don't agree to this. Customers are the ones who can't wait. Infact people are ready to pay extra money to get their vehicles asap. This is risky business but the dealers do it so that they don't loose the customer.

But yes, good job on part of the RTO. More such motions should be taken up every where in India.

The other quote in the article seems related to selling unregistered vehicles used for test or demo as new ones. You're supposed to have test and display vehicles temporarily registered and sometimes the dealer doesn't do that.

[kailashnj]

Originally Posted by hserus

test and display vehicles temporarily registered and sometimes the dealer doesn't do that.

That's true - I have seen many such dealers, but I think they do inform that the bike is demo bike and give discount on the bike to the customer. I have seen Ducati even advertise that they are selling the demo bikes.

[sindabad]

I have first hand experience with Kothari group owned Crystal Honda, Bavdhan. Despite my repeated refusal, the very professional looking sales advisor kept urging me to take delivery of our new car before completing RTO formalities. Only after I showed him the news clippings from the local edition did he relent.

[Jaggu]

While anything illegal is not right at all, why do they need to inspect anything? High time process be made online which a user can do themselves. Update identity doc, invoice and pay tax and be done with it. What era are we living at? lol

[hserus]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

While anything illegal is not right at all, why do they need to inspect anything? High time process be made online which a user can do themselves. Update identity doc, invoice and pay tax and be done with it. What era are we living at? lol

If you do that, then you can very well register a merc as a maruti alto and pay a much lower rate of road tax. Or maybe a top end variant can be registered as a poverty spec one, and again, lower road tax. The physical inspection is to ensure the vehicle is in fit condition and matches what the documentation says.

Granted it gets bypassed after the RTO inspector takes his usual bribe but still that is the original purpose. "Trust but verify" so to speak.

[Traveler]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

While anything illegal is not right at all, why do they need to inspect anything? High time process be made online which a user can do themselves. Update identity doc, invoice and pay tax and be done with it. What era are we living at? lol

I agree totally to the process being online. In fact when I bought a new car in Canada I was surprised how easy it was to register a car.

The dealer recorded the sale in his system that updated the Registration Authority Database automatically.

I just needed to present my purchase invoice copy to any of the registration outlets and they just checked my invoice with their database and voila... they gave me a box having lot of number plates already ready. I could choose any number available, pay the licensing fee and done.

There was no physical inspection at all. In fact I did not even take the car to the shop where I got the plates from.

I think the key is to have all manufacturers report all their inventory to the RTO and when a sale is made the details get updated directly. The RTO therefore has all the details both of the car and the buyer already. All you need is to pay the license plate fee and pick a number.

[timuseravan]

Originally Posted by GTO

Well done, RTO . Kothari Honda appears to be a repeat offender. This ban is entirely in the owner's interest. A little delay on delivery is fine; on the other hand, riding / driving without a valid registration means outright rejection of insurance claims + breaking the law.

I don't completely blame the dealers. A large part of the blame is on RTO itself. About 3 years back, I got TVS Jupiter for my dad from Kalamkar TVS. The dealer asked me to take delivery without RTO formalities as that can take 3 to 4 weeks. When I asked him to deliver only post RTO checks, he immediately agreed. But I can easily see the customers not being ready to wait almost a month and pressurizing the dealers. Why does RTO need so long?

Originally Posted by Jaggu

While anything illegal is not right at all, why do they need to inspect anything? High time process be made online which a user can do themselves. Update identity doc, invoice and pay tax and be done with it. What era are we living at? lol

Makes completely sense to move online. The bike is directly out of the factory - what are they inspecting? However RTO is one of the most corrupt govt organizations. With everything online, how will they make money?

It is similar to the "PUC" scam. There was some news last year about RTIs filed on PUC data in Maharashtra. Turns out that RTO does not have any system or process to actually check if the PUC machines are giving correct results. And biggest of all, in the past 10 years not a single vehicles had failed the PUC check
The entire thing thing is just a money making operation.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by hserus

If you do that, then you can very well register a merc as a maruti alto and pay a much lower rate of road tax.
.

Absolutely possible to make it work, look at the next reply

Originally Posted by Traveler

The dealer recorded the sale in his system that updated the Registration Authority Database automatically.

I just needed to present my purchase invoice copy to any of the registration outlets and they just checked my invoice with their database and voila... they gave me a box having lot of number plates already ready. I could choose any number available, pay the licensing fee and done.

There was no physical inspection at all. In fact I did not even take the car to the shop where I got the plates from.

I think the key is to have all manufacturers report all their inventory to the RTO and when a sale is made the details get updated directly. The RTO therefore has all the details both of the car and the buyer already. All you need is to pay the license plate fee and pick a number.

Originally Posted by timuseravan

The entire thing thing is just a money making operation.

This is the crux of the matter, just money making by everyone involved. Just right size the department and allocate them to more productive work.