[drmohitg]

Its not all that bad. I have had the experience of transporting cars thrice, Delhi-Bangalore-Delhi and then once Amritsar-Vadodara. And all three times the car was delivered as promised without any damages.

[V.Narayan]

Dear Dileep, Sorry to hear about your troubling experience. Thank you for cautioning BHPians about this rougue. This 420 could happen to anyone of us tomorrow. Allow me to offer some different thoughts even if they pinch you a little (though that is not the intention).

(A) Did you think of air transporting it? In 1994 I shipped my Premier Padmini from Mumbai to Delhi through Indian Airlines. They used to operate the large Airbus A300 and a mid-sized car comfortably slid into the rear hold on a holding barge. The car arrived in perfect condition. The cost was about 3X the charge of sending by road but it was worth the bother, quarrel and repair effort saved (I cannot recall the Rs figure now and in any case with inflation they are only of historical interest). I will confess, however, that I do not know if any airline offers this service today within India.

(B) Forgive me for this one. Why did you sell your car to someone 2500 road kilometres away? Wouldn't convenience of delivery be a factor in deciding whom to sell to? equally for the buyer. A car owner living in Paris, France is not likely to sell to someone in Kiev, Ukraine - ~2400 road kms away. That really was the starting point of the problem.

(C) Did you or the buyer visit the transporters office/depot just to get a smell of things and look him in the eye. Rs 12,000 to transport a 1500 kilo object over 2500 kms sounds like an unusually low price. And in today's world most of us are gullible to assume that anything over the web is kosher when the reality can be the opposite. I get the impression that internet trusticitus infection played a role here.

Any way, apologies for my letter. Glad the 4 wheels are back with you - that is a miracle with Gurgaon police for sure.

[dileep]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Well more I think about this, more I feel that this was just a trick by these scamsters to earn some extra buck by hiring out your car as a Taxi and probably cite all kinds of reasons to you for a delay. After sometime they would have probably shipped the vehicle. That is the only explanation I can think of which can explain them not changing their contact details and still staying in touch.

I think this was their motive. It seems the people they rented the car out to, duped them too and did not return the car.

Also they were planning to have it driven to Bangalore. Apparently a driver took it to Jaipur, from where he decided to do his own 'taxi' business. And so it went on. The car was found in a village near Loharu (160 km from Gurgaon towards the Rajasthan border).

[dileep]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

(A) Did you think of air transporting it?
(B) Why did you sell your car to someone 2500 road kilometres away? That really was the starting point of the problem.
(C) Did you or the buyer visit the transporters office/depot just to get a smell of things and look him in the eye. ... I get the impression that internet trusticitus infection played a role here.

Thank you for your observations.

(a) No. It seemed prohibitive (we did not check the costs though)
(b) My car is single handed, beautiful condition. Offers from Punjab, Uttarakhand were from people who would use it as a taxi. I did not want that. The offer from Mysore was from a person who would look after the car as I have done.
(c) No neither the buyer nor I visited the transporters office. Yes, 'internet trusticitus' infection played a role here. In this day & age we get somehow used to believing what we see on websites!!

[sukhoi30]

Originally Posted by dileep

It is a bit complicated. My car is 14 years and 10 months old and needs a new home very soon, else the RC will expire. If I had filed an FIR the cops would have nabbed the guys, I would have got a better compensation, my car would be taken from them into police custody and then I would get the car back from the Court on 'superdari'. This means I cannot sell the car until the case is settled in court. And I dont know any case in India that can get over in less than 2 months.

Hence, we chose not to make an official complaint. I made a complaint, but did not register it.

Why don't you make a complaint to the Consumer Forum? You can also register a complain with the cyber cell of police as they seem to mislead people through their website claims.

[autobahnjpr]

Sorry to hear your bad experience. I had a similar doubt when i transported my car to Bangalore. Some guy had come and collected the car and given me some receipt. Once it was gone, I realized that if he runs away with it, I have nothing except his mobile number.
Fortunately, the transporter was a genuine one and I got the delivery done on time and safely.
But the risk is always there if we choose services of a local package company.

[catchjyoti]

When I moved from Hyderabad to Pune and had to transport my car, I also took quotes from Aggarwal and some others. But I just didn't feel OK while talking with them.

Ultimately chose to hire a driver and got the car driven from Hyderabad to Pune with me in it. I will choose this method whenever I can. Either drive myself or get a driver.

[udainxs]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Aggarwal is not good as such; they're just the lesser evil.

Had a similar issue with them when my car was moved from chd to hyd. There was a new dent on the car and the caps of the battery were missing

I followed up with them and they offered me Rs 500, while the service center quoted Rs 8000 for the damage, and then stopped responding altogether

[ShreyasM8]

How traumatic it was, for no good reason! I have also heard that these cheaper transporters drive the vehicle down albeit claiming it to be shipped through containers, which also would have been the plan this case but I wonder what would they substantiate the increased odo reading with? Nevertheless, an eye opener to a lot of people out here.

[udainxs]

Originally Posted by ShreyasM8

I wonder what would they substantiate the increased odo reading with? Nevertheless, an eye opener to a lot of people out here.

At the time of booking, they mention the car will be driven a bit from truckstop to trailer parks etc. Also from truck drop off point to the delivery point. Mine was driven about 60km

Beyond that, its not hard to disconnect the odometer. Iv noticed that more than once at car dealerships as well when out on a test drive.

[wanderernomad]

It seems nothing new. Last year a friend of my brother's shifted his car from Mumbai to Delhi. The transporter refused to deliver the car unless some extra amount was paid as he said that the guy at Mumbai quoted a very low amount and he will give the car only if extra amount was paid. Fortunately a close friend was with Gurgaon Police who called the transporter and conveyed in no uncertain terms as to what will happen if the car was not delivered in 24 hrs. Guess what, not only was the car delivered but it had been washed and cleaned too before being returned.

[MunnabhaiMBBS]

This is why I always prefer established players. Established players = less fumbles, more accountability! Of course, exceptions are there.

You are very fortunate to get the car back. Why didn't cops take an immediate action and requested you to wait for 4-5 more days?

Make sure to hand over the post servicing vehicle assessment report to the buyer to ensure peace of mind of both parties.

[vijaycool]

Rates vary a lot among transporters. When I was moving out from Bangalore to Chennai, I was quoted 25K from Agarwal and after enquiring various P & M we found the guy who transported from Chennai to Bangalore. Some trucks are contracted which means they just deliver the goods and return empty. All our things are moving to chennai for a mere Rs.5000.
Some packers calculate volumetric area so the rates will differ

[7heaven]

Horrible experience, as mentioned in one of the earlier posts, you had the option of not filing a FIR but what would have happened if the vehicle was used for some anti social activities or had it met with an accident?

You would have ended up with bureaucratic red tape and time consuming procedures. Lucky you got back the car, Personally I would have availed myself a holiday and driven the car for the sheer experience.

Thanks for sharing... A warning for all our members.

[vigsom]

On a slightly different note , all my 26 items that were transported from Surat to Chennai under part load were damaged.The carrier was Associated Road Carriers , engaged by Mahadev Packers and Movers.

The P&M did an outstanding job of P&M at Surat but ARC played the devil till here.

On the Qualis issue here , I did a math - 2300kms Delhi to Mysore = Approx 9.6k diesel and approx 2k toll which makes it almost 12k even if the car is driven. With the GQ in place, driving doesn't seem to be too bad an idea.

In my view the onus of transportation should have been on the buyer(at least that is what I would've done)