[wilful]

A Delhi doctor's car - a Chevrolet Cruze - was stolen from the company's authorised service centre where he had given his car for repairs. The service centre did not inform him of the theft and he came to know of it only when he went to collect his car. Instead of helping him with the case the service centre offered him a used substitute car and then washed its hands of the issue when he refused.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/39202314.cms

This is truly a bizzare case and makes all car owners concerned.
(Mods please move if required)

[BinFord]

I think there are many missing links.How can a car just vanish like that.Some foul play happened with the SC and people out there.

Originally Posted by wilful

A Delhi doctor's car - a Chevrolet Cruze - was stolen from the company's authorised service centre where he had given his car for repairs. The service centre did not inform him of the theft and he came to know of it only when he went to collect his car. Instead of helping him with the case the service centre offered him a used substitute car and then washed its hands of the issue when he refused.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/39202314.cms

This is truly a bizzare case and makes all car owners concerned.
(Mods please move if required)

[.anshuman]

Incidents of cars getting stolen from Authorised Service Stations is nothing new. I have had an experience earlier: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...e-station.html

At the end of the thread, read this post- http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...tml#post571440 15 cars that were stolen from Service station were recovered.

[scopriobharath]

There is definetly a hand of the service centre. Without gate pass, one cannot move the car out and secondly, if the SA is taking the car for a test drive, an entry is made by the security guard.

Legal is the only way out, but he could at the very least file an FIR on the theft and also an FIR for carelessness on the service centre part.

Again - If one can spend 14 lacs on a Cruze, he could have as well spent another 14,000/- and got a GPS tracker system to buy him peace of mind.

[Jred]

IMHO there has to be an insider angle here. Like mentioned in the previous post, there are checks in place for movement of vehicles in and out of service centres. It is bizarre for the car to just being stolen from within the service station. The worst was, the doctor wasn't informed of the theft until he came to collect the vehicle apparently.

Is the GPS tracker system tamper proof? Considering it is a service centre and they probably can disable it without being noticed. Well, would it send some alert to owner if the system is tampered with? This makes it very concerning indeed for car owners.

[h@r$h@l]

A month to or 2 ago a E class was stolen from merc service center here in Ahmadabad. Like many have hinted in past also, this is quite difficult to execute unless an insider is involved

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

There is definetly a hand of the service centre. Without gate pass, one cannot move the car out and secondly, if the SA is taking the car for a test drive, an entry is made by the security guard.

Legal is the only way out, but he could at the very least file an FIR on the theft and also an FIR for carelessness on the service centre part.

Again - If one can spend 14 lacs on a Cruze, he could have as well spent another 14,000/- and got a GPS tracker system to buy him peace of mind.

Well, the doc did try to register an FIR for theft with the Okhla police station. But they have registered the case under 'criminal breach of trust' and asked him to submit all the documents service center gave him - the job card I suppose. They will investigate and change it to a theft case after investigation.

Agree about the GPS tracker. But should be one with an independent battery. The ones which are powered by battery can be rendered useless if the battery is disconnected. Or if not for a gps tracking system, put a old nokia 1100 or like cellphone in complete silent mode somewhere in the car. Police can easily trace the whereabouts of this phone via cell phone towers.

Originally Posted by Jred

IMHO there has to be an insider angle here. Like mentioned in the previous post, there are checks in place for movement of vehicles in and out of service centres. It is bizarre for the car to just being stolen from within the service station. The worst was, the doctor wasn't informed of the theft until he came to collect the vehicle apparently.

Is the GPS tracker system tamper proof? Considering it is a service centre and they probably can disable it without being noticed. Well, would it send some alert to owner if the system is tampered with? This makes it very concerning indeed for car owners.

Absolutely. Insider hand is a given.

Also can't believe there were no CCTVs on the premises!

[scopriobharath]

Originally Posted by Jred

Is the GPS tracker system tamper proof? Considering it is a service centre and they probably can disable it without being noticed. Well, would it send some alert to owner if the system is tampered with? This makes it very concerning indeed for car owners.

Yes - the GPS device can send alerts, if tampered with and can also disable the car in such a scenario. IT logically assumes that if one tampers with the device, then most likely, he is planning to steal the car.

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Agree about the GPS tracker. But should be one with an independent battery. The ones which are powered by battery can be rendered useless if the battery is disconnected. Or if not for a gps tracking system, put a old nokia 1100 or like cellphone in complete silent mode somewhere in the car. Police can easily trace the whereabouts of this phone via cell phone towers.

Most units now-a-days have built in battery. The telematics kit is bolted on a place, where only the owner and the installer know the location. It is bolted in places like the frame, underneath the chassis, spare-wheel well, were it is highly unlikely that one would check.

The cellphone method needs an FIR to disclose tower information and that too with the help of police. The mobile companies will not share that info with common man. OTOH, telematics give the freedom to track a car at one's will through SMS / online map portal while also offering a geofencing facility. A 5 km radius from the service station at midnight can be termed as joyride and the car can be disabled after getting a geofencing alert. Also, some high end telematics devices, offer to disable the car through SMS. This would render the car useless and the thief would abandon the car and run away instead of try to start the car. At least, the car can be retrieved easily without much hassles.

[tazmaan]

Feel really sad for the owner. Rendered carless with a added task of running from pillar to post to prove car is stolen in order to claim insurance. I hope he can claim insurance in such a case.

If it was a joy ride car should be found abandoned in a couple of days else hope its never found.

I for once don't believe the service center doesn't have operational CCTV. Service center is hiding facts!

[S_U_N]

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

Yes - the GPS device can send alerts, if tampered with and can also disable the car in such a scenario. IT logically assumes that if one tampers with the device, then most likely, he is planning to steal the car.

Is there a more appropriate thread which discusses the GPS tracking devices in more details?

On another note, in the US, there are facilities to create cloud 'copies' of your keys (all sorts of keys, including car keys).
All you have to do is to scan the key using an app on your iPhone.
You can then log on to the cloud provider and order a copy of the key which is printed using a 3D printer at the nearest kiosk.
The key works flawlessly, by the way.
This facility is going to be misused and will reach India quite soon.

So, if you leave your key even for one minute, the game is over.

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

Yes - the GPS device can send alerts, if tampered with and can also disable the car in such a scenario. IT logically assumes that if one tampers with the device, then most likely, he is planning to steal the car.



Most units now-a-days have built in battery. The telematics kit is bolted on a place, where only the owner and the installer know the location. It is bolted in places like the frame, underneath the chassis, spare-wheel well, were it is highly unlikely that one would check.

The cellphone method needs an FIR to disclose tower information and that too with the help of police. The mobile companies will not share that info with common man. OTOH, telematics give the freedom to track a car at one's will through SMS / online map portal while also offering a geofencing facility. A 5 km radius from the service station at midnight can be termed as joyride and the car can be disabled after getting a geofencing alert. Also, some high end telematics devices, offer to disable the car through SMS. This would render the car useless and the thief would abandon the car and run away instead of try to start the car. At least, the car can be retrieved easily without much hassles.

Agree. A full GPS tracker is a definitely the best solution. What I proposed is an el-cheapo method which has proved to be successful many times for retrieving stolen cars. If anything, it can even be put as a second line of defense in addition to the GPS tracker - that is if you are extremely paranoid about the car's safety.

Sure it cannot give you vehicle details etc on the fly but will help you when you need it the most.

[devil_klm]

Originally Posted by tazmaan

Feel really sad for the owner. Rendered careless with a added task of running from pillar to post to prove car is stolen in order to claim insurance. I hope he can claim insurance in such a case.

Service center is hiding facts!

I have same opinion. Service center trying to hide some of the facts. Can imagine how much they will support to get the insurance claim. In these scenarios does the service centers have their own theft insurances?

[scopriobharath]

Originally Posted by S_U_N

Is there a more appropriate thread which discusses the GPS tracking devices in more details?

On another note, in the US, there are facilities to create cloud 'copies' of your keys (all sorts of keys, including car keys).
All you have to do is to scan the key using an app on your iPhone.
You can then log on to the cloud provider and order a copy of the key which is printed using a 3D printer at the nearest kiosk.
The key works flawlessly, by the way.
This facility is going to be misused and will reach India quite soon.

So, if you leave your key even for one minute, the game is over.

Yes: There is a thread and also stories on how these devices has helped track down the vehicle. (LINK)

Absolutely - I am pretty sure that would be misused in India.

Even the service centre guys can do some malpractice by trying to duplicate the key or duplicate the RFID Sensor when we leave it for service.

This is when telematics helps. Telematics is programmed to a choice of our mobile numbers (Self and spouse for example). Under no circumstance would i hand over my sim to anyone else. Even if the car is stolen, with geofencing (breach alerts), I can disable the car within a 2 km radius of my location and retrieve it without the hassles of police procedures.

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Agree. A full GPS tracker is a definitely the best solution. What I proposed is an el-cheapo method which has proved to be successful many times for retrieving stolen cars. If anything, it can even be put as a second line of defense in addition to the GPS tracker - that is if you are extremely paranoid about the car's safety.

Sure it cannot give you vehicle details etc on the fly but will help you when you need it the most.

Absolutely - True - Oh Really ? AFAIK - the location of cellphone tower is shared with only police that too with FIR and other legal things. How would the nokia help in this case? I mean would it not be too late, by the time i request to file and FIR, the police files it and then the mobile provider tells me the location? I think google lattitude does this without these hassles.

The below argument is from a common man perspective. Anyway, a vehicle belonging to a person with contacts with Mafia / Political / Police will not be stolen in the first place.

My logic is this - Ok - Assuming that a smartphone tells me my stolen car is at location X, I would be nothing but a sitting duck. When i reach the police station to explain the scenario, 50% of the time will be wasted asking me to "calm down" "relax" "dont take tension" etc. If someone acted really fast, i would not be talking fast or with urgency in the first place.

By the time police acts on this case, the vehicle will be long gone out of their jurisdiction and on most occassions, it would have crossed the border into another state. OTOH, If i disable my car within a 5 km radius, I can at the very best go with an armed private security guard and retrieve the vehicle. They will charge me, but they will be ready to go with me immediately, without any hassles or asking me to calm down. Either ways, I have to pay the police to come with me.

If the doctor had telematics installed, and the device sent a geofencing alert outside his service station, he could have disabled the car and in all probablity, retrieved it with telematics and a private security guard

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

...
If the doctor had telematics installed, and the device sent a geofencing alert outside his service station, he could have disabled the car and in all probablity, retrieved it with telematics and a private security guard

I am not disputing the effectiveness of the GPS trackers. All I am saying is, if you chose to not install a GPS device, at least throw in an el cheapo phone in there with a working sim. In the unfortunate case of having the car lifted, you can simply give the police this number and they will do the rest. Coulple of cars were recovered this way in Delhi when the owners 'forgot' their phones in the car. I repeat, this is NOT an alternative to the tracker. Anyway, I guess we have already gone way off topic with this. I will stop here.

EDIT:
By the description of places in the article and the police station, most likely it is this one -

Treo Chevrolet
A-231, Okhla Industrial Area
Delhi South 110020
Phone: 41855500

Treo Chevrolet
B-25, Okhla Industrial Area
Delhi South 110020
Phone: +91-11-41855500

[ad3952n]

Really pathetic to say the least. The owners go to ASC with a trust that their vehicle is in safe hands but even these ASCs are darn thieves. Above that the attitude of General Motor's concerned ASC is shocking. I for one have no interest in taking my car to an ASC. I would like to share my experience with 2 GM ASCs based in Noida and Delhi respectively which I have visited during the ownership of my Optra:

1) Shiva Motors, Noida:

Exactly the same situation had been faced by me at Shiva Motors Noida. I had got my father's Optra serviced at their workshop in Sector 8 Noida. While parking the car inside the right corner of the front bumper rubbed the pillar. When my driver saw this, he immediately called me up and I asked the SA about it. He said it must be an old dent. After listening this I got so furious and spoke to their GM. That bugger said please read our job card which says that in case of any damage which occurs in the workshop to a customer's car the owner should inform us and it will be set right as insurance company shall be paying for it and we don't charge the customer. My question to him was why will insurance agency be involved?

I did not budge as I told him it is your mechanic's fault and not mine. The executives apologized and tried to convince me but I warned them not to cheat me. Finally, The GM paid for the damages and got the bumper painted from their Sahibabad Workshop within 24 hrs.

Link: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...verywhere.html

2) Metro Chevrolet, Chattarpur: The car was given for major accidental repairs and there was no care taken of the car and was kept in real bad shape. I had informed about the same to General Motors, Gurgaon with help of a friend who worked for GM.

Here is the mail that I wrote:

Dear S----;

Please refer to our telecon on Saturday July 06th 2013, in regards to
my dad's official car i.e Chevrolet Optra (Silver) with reg. number HR
26Y 4625 owned by Skoda Power Gurgaon. The car has been there for more
than a month and it finally got repaired on 02nd July 2013. I had
visited the Metro Chevrolet premises in Vasant Kunj on 03rd Jul 2013
and was very upset with the way the car has been kept over there. The
entire upholstry was in the worst condition and to add up there were
empty beer bottles inside the car which my driver saw. Apart from that
there were 2 scratches on rear left quater panel and 1 dent on front
right side door aswell of the car which was not there at the time when
the car was given for repairs. Spoke to a SA by name of Pradeep who
said we will arrange photos from surveyor and then take action on it.

Best Regards

So, overall, the ASC network of General Motors is really in a poor state and needs urgent improvement.

Thanks