[neelkumar]

Thanks everyone for your support and suggestions.

1. I've emailed service.indiajeep@stellantis.com and jeep.india@fcagroup.com (only mail-ids that I know) with a link to this thread. Let's see what they reply on this.
2. Frankly, I did not even think about filing a legal case on them. I was expecting them to accept their mistake and at least cover the depreciation. And also learn from it and not to repeat this again.
3. The earlier transfer apparently happened between 2 friends. The recent owner liked the car and bought it, but then exchanged this with Citroen C5 Aircross at the same dealer when it was launched.

[fazayal]

Selling a 2nd owner car as 1st owner is not only unacceptable but also a crime. You should demand a heavy compensation. Please understand that you would find it very difficult to sell a 3rd owner car in future. Whether between friends or family, if ownership changes on paper, it changes the value of the car as well.

[aniketi]

Originally Posted by neelkumar

Fortunately, looks like this was maintained well by the earlier owners and was cleaned up properly by the dealer. In this 1 month I put additional 1k on the ODO, including my trip back to Bangalore and I'm enjoying the drive. So, touchwood, no complaints on the car so far. Also, I am planning to enjoy this for at least 6-7 years. So, I'm not too concerned on the resale value currently. But, I was angry and still am, on how easily they cheated and how indifferent they are even after pointing this out. And, we don't know the future. If I have to sell this anytime, I will incur huge depreciation and some platforms do not even accept 3rd owner cars.[/list]

Whatever happened is happened now, it's a past. Everyone makes mistakes and learns from it. You are very fortunate that you got the good car, just that it is owned by couple of people which you didn't know.

Just forget everything now and enjoy your ride. Life is all about going ahead and not about looking back. All the best.

[poloman]

After seeing such experiences people will think that buying direct from the owner will be a much better experience. But that will also turn out bitter most of the times. The snobbish and arrogant behavior of owners will instantly turn you off, particularly if you are trying to upgrade to a luxury used car. They will treat you with disdain specially if your current car is a cheaper one. Most will not provide details you ask for and will display take it or leave it attitude. They will not respond to your calls or mails for unspecified reasons.

After seeing the update from the OP this looks to be a less serious cover up. Nothing sinister even though the number of owners is a key factor in used car selection. Transfer from company to employee also will result 2 owners. If the change of ownership is well explained like changing hands to a friend or relative, I think that is OK rather than passing an accidental car as a well maintained one. But again transparency is the key.

[Stribog]

Congrats on the ride, thankfully that's going good.

That said, I don't understand one thing, even the RC book / card doesn't have the owners listed? Both owners + you that is?

[W16rocks]

As all the experienced and knowledgeable members have already presented their views on your ordeal, I would just like to say even though the smallest issue can destroy a once in a while special occasion like car buying, but you should still enjoy this beauty and have many more fun miles with it.
On the dealer’s part he has definitely done a fraud and should be taken to the consumer court for it.

[hyper-VTEC]

These unscrupulous crooks will always be there in life and in this world. However, i can only say, go past it and enjoy happy miles with the beast. If you have the time and patience, take him to court.

DRIVE SAFE

[Varun_HexaGuy]

Well, unfortunate but true. Telangana State Road Transport Authority does not display the number of owners on the RC card. I don't get it as to why TSRTA doesn't do this.

Pre 2009, when it was united AP, it used to show up no of owners. Post that, when the RC format changed, they've dropped this particular altogether. So one has to be extremely vigilant while buying used cars in Hyderabad or elsewhere in Telangana. If one has the time and sources, they surely can find out the ownership details. But the process is extremely tiring. The RTA actually keeps a record for all the vehicles and the transactions against the registered vehicle. There was this one time I was looking at a clean BMW 3-series GT for a client of mine. Car passed out of the preliminary checklist with flying colours. Couldn't find anything wrong with the car. Then comes the bit of verifying service records of the car. This car was a second owner car apparently. I had the details to the actual first owner. But while verifying service records with BMW, it showed a new name altogether as per their records. Raised my eyebrows. A quick call with a known MVI, he looked up against the registration number and gave me a clear cut of everything. The car was now currently owned by the fourth owner and my client, if he'd bought it, would've been the fifth owner. The seller who was selling the car was not aware of this fact either. He bought the car on the pretext of "first ownership" and paid a bomb for it not so long ago.

The MVI, infact, gave me the exact dates for the ownership transfers too. So I had first hand info at hand. Also TSRTA is not fully integrated with Parivahan either. That's a bummer because cars from certain RTAs of TS even if looked up on Parivahan cannot show the number of owners.

[boniver]

Originally Posted by Stribog

That said, I don't understand one thing, even the RC book / card doesn't have the owners listed? Both owners + you that is?

I don't think this is unique to TS. Even WB-01 RTO doesn't show the number of owners on the RC card (whereas WB-24 does). One of my UG classmates bought a third owner Esteem (he was the fourth owner), and then sold it on as a first owner car because the RC card didn't mention the number of owners. This was in 2019-20. Caveat emptor, I would say.

[monster2]

Originally Posted by neelkumar

But, I just wanted to share this, put this aside and get on with enjoying my ownership.

Summary:
I purchased a pre-owned Jeep Compass Trailhawk 2019 from Jeep's certified pre-owned car purchase program called "Jeep Selected for You". They made the sale by claiming that this was a 1st owner car, when in fact it already had 2 owners. The sale/cheating happened through Pride Motors, which is their only authorized sales partner in Hyderabad.

Firstly, congratulations on the buy. I do buy and sell cars as well for passion of using newer ones. So one thing I can say don't get disheartened looking at number of owners, if the car miles are genuine, it is troublefree and has full service history you should be fine. It is still better to buy a second owner car rather than a car that was single owner on rc and driven by 10 individuals . Hope you understood what I meant.

Secondly, I am from Hyderabad and lived in Bangalore for 8 years and have got duped almost 3 times by the so called known dealers. With the experience in this space I would be the last person to recommend going to a used car dealer to buy a car for following reasons.
1. 90% People tend to sell cars to dealers either because they had no buyer giving the right price or ofcourse had issues that they do not want to own after selling
2. Most often dealers buy accident car repair them outside which shows a clean service history in showroom so no way the online valuators can show the right car rating. I came across a steal deal Polo GT TSI once that caught my attention when the dealer agreed later that yes it was repaired outside.

Mod Note : Please quote ONLY the relevant bits of a post. Quoting a full, long post inconveniences our mobile readers.
Thanks!

[Axe77]

This is really quite appalling and just on the principle of it I would be livid if this had happened to me.

Depending on your inclination to spend time and perhaps even money on this, I think you are well within your rights to go after them tooth and nail with cheating (police complaint?), consumer court, or at the very least provide a detailed account of this to Jeep India. Try not to seek recourse from Jeep India but instead bring to their attention the practices carried out by their dealer which they should be aware of.

Basically create heat or bad publicity for them wherever possible.

I am really appalled at the casualness with which he is dismissing the misrepresentation on ownership.

EDIT: Just read your subsequent post escalating this to Jeep / Stellantis. Do keep us posted on the outcome from the escalation.

[neelkumar]

It's been more than 2 weeks since I posted this here and exactly 2 weeks since I escalated this to Jeep and there's not much update to share here to be honest.

• I received a customary call on 30th March and I have explained everything again.
• Unrelated to the Jeep's complaint and only based on this thread, I received a call from the dealer on the same day. Still not ready to accept this as a mistake and still argued that this is how things run in Telangana. After much argument, SA gave a verbal promise that they will make sure to post correct history in all ads in the future. They gave me an option for buyback at the same price at which I bought the car. But I declined because I found the car itself to be good enough and didn't want to start the whole search process again. Also, it will be a huge embarrassment to sell it back immediately after sharing this news to everyone in my family and friends.
• After almost a week, I had to ask for an update on the mail chain as there was no call or mail from either Jeep or the dealer. I received a, kind of automated response, that Jeep is coordinating with the dealer.
• Today, after one more week, I've called the Jeep's customer care number and had to explain the whole situation again, because they couldn't find an active complaint for this. The customer care executive said she'll track all the details and schedule a callback with the person handling this. And thanks to her, I got a call within a couple of hours.
• In the call, I was offered the same buyback option, which I declined again. I explained that, from my point of view, Jeep is equally responsible because I purchased this based on their official 125 point inspection report and still Jeep is not taking this seriously. Finally I was told that they'll schedule a conference call with the dealer and can discuss the options in that call.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by neelkumar

After much argument, SA gave a verbal promise that they will make sure to post correct history in all ads in the future

It will be good for everybody if they keep up their promise. Thanks to your thread and the reach of our portal

They gave me an option for buyback at the same price at which I bought the car. But I declined because I found the car itself to be good enough and didn't want to start the whole search process again.

So, what exactly is on your mind? Do you want them to throw some freebies for causing you all these sufferings? If you like the car, my advice will be to forget and move. Life is too short to pick arguments/ fights beyond a point but that's me.

Enjoy your ownership and open a thread detailing your experiences with the vehicle.

[neelkumar]

I think this response pretty much sums up the mood of this dealer:


Even after the official complaint, this thread and all the feedback received from this thread (I know that they've read this thread completely), they are not even ready to accept their mistake, but rather blatantly claim that this is how all the dealers and the customers deal in Telangana and even in Andhra Pradesh. Look at the audacity!

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Do you want them to throw some freebies for causing you all these sufferings?

"throw some freebies"? I don't know if I have to be sad or angry with these choice of words, especially coming from a mod. No sir, I don't want any freebies. But, as I've already shared earlier:

Originally Posted by neelkumar

Frankly, I did not even think about filing a legal case on them. I was expecting them to accept their mistake and at least cover the depreciation. And also learn from it and not to repeat this again.

When I created this thread, it was only about spreading awareness, about the dealer and the scam. But with the support that I received on this thread, now I am expecting the dealer to cover the depreciation. If some freebies would cover the "sufferings", surely the option of buyback would seem ever more lucrative (few thousands in freebies vs few lakhs loss in depreciation). But, buying back the car does not cover everything. 1) I took a loan to buy this car, which I cannot pre-close and I am already paying the EMIs. 2) We took leaves from office to check and buy the car. 3) I went to great lengths to get the insurance documents and get them transferred, to get the HSRP number plates and affix them. 4) My family members and friends visits to the dealership to inspect the car and also to take the transferred RC card from the dealer. 5) And especially, after almost 2 months and covering 3k kms, me and my wife now love to drive around in this, so much so that, we didn't even start our other ride (a 2 wheeler).

But, I think I've achieved at least one of my "wants":

Originally Posted by neelkumar

SA gave a verbal promise that they will make sure to post correct history in all ads in the future.

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Enjoy your ownership and open a thread detailing your experiences with the vehicle.

Thank you! I am in process of writing the ownership thread and will post it once this "situation" is sorted.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by neelkumar

Look at the audacity

This mail does not sound very professional and in acceptance of their wrongdoings. So I can understand your point. But, as I mentioned before, you can return the vehicle and scout for something else. And, next time, be very careful. Since you have also said you like the car, and it's to your satisfaction, you can ignore this message and don't patronise the dealer again. I hope they learn their lesson as the goodwill lost is not easily made up.

"throw some freebies" No sir, I don't want any freebies. But, as I've already shared earlier:
was expecting them to accept their mistake and at least cover the depreciation

.

So, what's this depreciation that you are asking? They hid something, which is standard practice in your state(as per the dealership); you found them cheating, and now they have accepted and given you an offer to return the car and take back the money you paid! As per the dealership, they have charged you a fair price, how can they cover future depreciation?

Edit - I missed this -

now I am expecting the dealer to cover the depreciation. But, buying back the car does not cover everything. 1) I took a loan to buy this car, which I cannot pre-close and I am already paying the EMIs.

If you have made up the mind to return back the car and are having thoughts due to foreclosure charges, demand clearly the amount the bank will charge on the loan. That's not a freebie or depreciation, it's your right given the situation you are in.