[mathew1105]

Dear Fellow Members / Admin,

Seeking your advice / help on how to deal with the tyre dealership who damaged my car and refusing to take responsibility.

I had taken my car (Scorpio N) for replacing the tyres this evening (04/07/25) at XL Tyre Point Velachery, Chennai. The technician at the center, put the car on drive mode while doing the wheel alignment and ended up ramming the car on the wall causing damage to the front bumper and grill of the car. Fortunately it was closing time and no one was hurt.

While the service person who caused the accident was willing to take up total responsibility. The owner Mr.Ram who was unavailable at the dealership, when connected over the phone, initially mentioned that he’ll speak to his service person and get back to me. I waited for a while and the folks there said, the work is done with my car and I could take it.

I asked to speak with Mr.Ram again over the phone, he said I can claim my insurance and he would have his service guy pay the rest. When I asked him why should I pay through my insurance when it was their negligence. He turned completely unapologetic, refused to take any responsibility and that it’s illegal of me to ask for damages. He did not allow me to speak the entire time.

I tried telling him that I have been a regular customer to his dealership for the last 10+ years and in the last 3 months, this is my third car that I am bringing for a tyre change. The response from Mr.Ram was ‘you’re not a customer now; it’s an accident conversation with some stranger, that’s how this will have to be dealt’.

I am left speechless because this was going nowhere. While the employee who worked there and caused the damage was apologetic and wanted to take it upon himself. I haven’t seen any business owner In a long time ever talk to a customer like that!

It was already close to 10 PM, I left the place telling the folks that I am not coming back ever again: however I really want to do something about this callous attitude. No other customer should go through this, no one deserves to be treated this way.

I have tagged Vredestein (international and India) on twitter. Not sure if that’ll help.

I am exploring filing a complaint with the National Consumer Redressal; however not sure of what and the how of it. Have managed to do file one through WhatsApp and have a compliant number now.

Seeking inputs and guidance from the experts on what next. Taking the car to get it fixed tomorrow. Any advice or recommendation would greatly help.

Thanks in advance!

[anandtheleo]

People are ready to brazen out nowadays, there is very little empathy and ethics left. You did the right thing by putting it out here in the forum. Update the same in Google reviews and other social media avenues. That's the only way people seem to respond (or repent).

Penny wise pound foolish on his part. Instead of retaining a long time customer he will loose your business and many more now.

[Hayek]

Ideally, they should claim from their insurance and get the car repaired. My BMW was damanged at the Jio Mall in BKC by their valet - they ensured a proper repair at the dealer on their dime.

But small stores may not have insurance for consequential damage - and the reality is that you have no right to force him to pay for anything. You can try and make a third party claim through insurance - but that will take years to get resolved. So the best bet is the crib on social media (which hurts him a bit; but not too much since everyone will understand these are not everyday occurrences) and get your car repaired using your insurance and his offer to bear any excess.

[HappyWheels]

This is just sad.

I also keep visiting same outlets, and let few issues slide, as I believe long term relationships will matter when needed. But such experience with owners make it a questionable thought.

If not against the rules, why not have the title reflect the shop name? Google search will thrown up this thread.

[swiftnfurious]

You should give this enough traction on insta / facebook etc. Let the world know how the owner deals with mistakes happening at his place.

Hope you have some pics and videos taken at the spot.

[Ragavsr]

Originally Posted by mathew1105

When I asked him why should I pay through my insurance when it was their negligence. He turned completely unapologetic, refused to take any responsibility and that it’s illegal of me to ask for damages.

Its an accident and must be treated as one. You have willingly given the car to be driven by someone else and you can only morally expect the other person to take responsibility. If you want to get it repaired from the dealer , claim insurance , ask the person to pay the rest plus NCB and move on. However, if I am the shop owner and a customer expects a full repair job at a dealership which is going to be super expensive, that's simply not going to happen. I would at the maximum, pay repair costs at a outside garage of my choice. Legally, it's going to be difficult for you to press any charges, because when you hand over the car to anyone, you assume the liability. A bumper replacement and painting at a dealer will end up costing over 40k and assuming such a risk for every car is not possible with limited margins.

Imagine the circus that would happen when someone with only liability insurance ( third party only ) brings his car and such an incident happens.

I have had a wheel alignment guy dent a couple of doors of my car. They offered to fix it at their own garage and I took that offer up. Would have not costed them more than 8000. While a similar work at a dealer who push for door replacement would have spiked the cost to over 50k .

[VVN@mycar]

Unfortunate and unexpected event happened here.
Please talk to the tyre dealer and if he refuses to bear responsibility / repair charges, then contact regional police station and legal notice will serve the purpose. Negligent and irrational car handling, loss of your time and work hours compensation are points to be added. Repair charges in addition to no claim bonus if applicable in your case is to be asked for.
Hopefully out of court settlement happens in such cases.

Mod Note : Please go through Posting Etiquette and abide by it when posting on Team-BHP.
Thanks

[peddagunda]

Originally Posted by mathew1105

Seeking inputs and guidance from the experts on what next. Taking the car to get it fixed tomorrow. Any advice or recommendation would greatly help.

Put it on Google Maps review of the place, warning others. Also post on other social media. People look at Google maps for suggestions and reviews.

[techmotor]

I am of the opinion that the damages should be repaired under insurance; it is for unfortunate incidents like this the insurance exists. But the behaviour/response from the tyre dealership owner is completely unacceptable. As others mentioned, you did the right thing by posting it in T-BHP and you should post about this pathetic customer treatment in other public forums. What the owner should have done is to accept the error caused by his employee and dealt with this situation in a constructive way. Also, since you said you're a long time customer of theirs, the owner could even have done some good gestures - like offering discounts on the tyres, give some accessories etc. and handled it in a professional way. This could have made the feedback about their service rather positive.

[SkylineGTR]

There's little you can do. Post about your experience on social media, get the word out. Use local instagram pages or city based journalists. Let prospective customers know what they're dealing with. That's all you can do now. However remember if you do this he will withdraw his earlier offer and not pay you a single rupee.
If you have some pull with local authorities (say a cousin who's a cop) you could have him pay, but then you wouldn't be posting here.

Best option is to expose the guy on social media, then get it repaired on your own insurance and pay the OOP. Or, if you're feeling a little confrontational, record videos or photos of the grille, take his offer to pay the OOP, get it repaired, then expose him anyway.

BTW, I am wondering why you need to keep the engine running when changing a tyre? That's the only way shifting into D will cause the car to move, right?

[hajaar]

I dont understand. The owner said the tech would pay the difference on the insurance on the NCB (I assume that is what you mean by 'the rest').

So what do you want him to do further in terms of financial compensation? Pay you fully? It was a genuine accident, for which the insurance is there to be claimed.

Now, when coming to customer service, maybe he could have directed the conversation in a better way. I can't speak for him since we heard only your side of the story.

[N.A.GTC]

Originally Posted by Ragavsr

Legally, it's going to be difficult for you to press any charges, because when you hand over the car to anyone, you assume the liability.

That's incorrect, lol. A bailee has the duty of care towards the bailor to take reasonable care of any goods entrusted. As long as a person can show that there was a lack of reasonable care, or that the bailee was negligent in handling of the goods, the liability is upon the bailee i.e. the dealership.

Originally Posted by Ragavsr

Imagine the circus that would happen when someone with only liability insurance ( third party only ) brings his car and such an incident happens.

No circus. Just take good care of cars handed over to you, and you have no cause to worry. Just take a simple analogy. You hand over a piece of jewellery for some repairs. Can the jeweller damage the piece and tell you to screw off, simply because his margins are not high or that there "would be a circus"?

Just because one has an insurance does not mean someone else, a stranger to that insurance contract, can compel them to claim insurance. In fact, even if they do —*and report the facts as they truly are — the insurance company will then have a claim over the dealership to recompense them.

For anyone claiming it was just an accident — sorry, you're wrong. It's negligent conduct with a car. You cannot "just by mistake" put a stationery car in drive. You're supposed to ensure that does not happen with a two ton killing machine.

Originally Posted by mathew1105

I am exploring filing a complaint with the National Consumer Redressal; however not sure of what and the how of it. Have managed to do file one through WhatsApp and have a compliant number now.

You cannot directly approach the NCDRC in this case. The NCDRC can only entertain direct complaints for matters worth > 2 Crore rupees. Other than that, it only has appellate/revisionary jurisdiction. Any case for a violation of the Consumer Protection Act that you may file, if you have one, would go to the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission — which, in my experience, are essentially defunct and will take several years to do anything meaningful (but, there have been some positive stories too, so it's not as black-and-white).
This is not legal advice.

[Ragavsr]

Originally Posted by N.A.GTC

That's incorrect, lol. A bailee has the duty of care towards the bailor to take reasonable care of any goods entrusted. As long as a person can show that there was a lack of reasonable care, or that the bailee was negligent in handling of the goods, the liability is upon the bailee i.e. the dealership.

Just because one has an insurance does not mean someone else, a stranger to that insurance contract, can compel them to claim insurance. In fact, even if they do —*and report the facts as they truly are — the insurance company will then have a claim over the dealership to recompense them.

Sure, that is the reason why all valets make you sign a liability waiver when you hand over a car to them . If you want to take the fight the legal way , sure do it. That a business with low margin can't take up expensive liabilities is business logic, I really dont expect lawyers to understand that. You hire a driver and he crashes the car, it's the responsibility of the owner of the vehicle at the end of the day. You can't really escape responsibility stating that the driver was negligent.

And insurance companies dont waste their time going after wasteful litigation either. As long as the person who did the damage holds a valid driving licence, the claim will be approved. There is no need for the OP to lie to the insurance company to make a claim.

I am pretty sure the said outlet will start taking signatures before handling any car after this incident.

[rishi1402]

Originally Posted by mathew1105

Seeking your advice / help on how to deal with the tyre dealership who damaged my car and refusing to take responsibility.

1. Make a reel, having videos of damages and shots of the shop
2. Add a voiceover audio of the incident in local language.
3. Post the reel on insta and facebook and boost it.

Boositng a reel is pretty cheap imo. ₹100-₹200 gives you 10k views.

See the result then.

Tit-for-Tat.

[Lolafied]

My advice

1. Claim Own damage insurance. If everything is covered in the claim, make him pay the claim charges (approx 1500-2000 INR), car washing etc
2. If everything is not covered in Insurance, make sure he pays the rest & don't take oral assurance. Get it in written form.
3. Once you claim Insurance, your next year insurance premium is going to load (google "premium loading car insurance") ie your premium (apart from the NCB loss) will increase. Ask your agent to provide a quote without NCB for next year (he can provide you one) & ask the technician to pay the delta (your expected next year premium minus current insurance premium).
4. As compensation for mental harassment, demand some goodies.
5. Make your friends, people in your circle damage his google reviews. Dude deserves that. You don't need to write false reviews. Just make sure everyone down votes him completely. Despite his person's mistake & instead of taking ownership, he was being arrogant & rude.

Tough to swallow this, but unfortunately our legal system is so shit that can you can't sue anyone.