[neelkumar]

This is my first thread here and I neither imagined nor wanted to start with this topic. Though I purchased the Trailhawk a month back, this was rather embarrassing for me to share here. 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.


Pic: Resting just after a wash

The rundown of events:
Staying in Bangalore, I was looking for a pre-owned Compass 4x4 from almost a year within Bangalore. My parameters were: less driven, 1st owner, manual 4x4 variant with a fixed budget of 20L and age less than 3 years, so that it has an active warranty. Initially, I was not in a rush, so, even after looking at few options on the market, I did not consider them as I was not fully satisfied with their maintenance or ownership history. After a long search for countless months, I started looking for one in Hyderabad as well, which is my hometown.

During mid of January, I found a Jeep Compass Trailhawk 2019 with 31k on the ODO and an asking price of 27L (To come to think of it now, look at how audacious they are, asking more than its ex-showroom price). The ad on OLX specifically said that this is a 1st owner car. I asked my sister and another friend who was also my family's go-to-driver for longish trips around Hyderabad, to do the inspection and test drive. After they gave me the go-ahead, I started discussing on the price and settled on 24L. This took about 3-4 weeks on calls and texts with me still in Bangalore. The long search and scarcity of good options had forced me to extend my budget and consider this. Even though 24L is still high for this, I was ok considering this one was a relatively less used 1st owner car and an automatic for a fact (even though a stupidly slow one).

With the price finalized, I along with my wife went down to Hyderabad and straight to the showroom and did another round of inspection of the documents, along with the Jeep's 125 point inspection report, the car itself and a test drive. We also went down to the service center to check the history. We finally okayed it and paid the amount.

Mistake #1: As this was less than 3 year old car, it had 2 separate insurances, a Third Party insurance taken when it was new and valid for 3 years and another Own Damage insurance which was taken just few months back. The dealer only had the Own Damage insurance copy with just a mention of the TP insurance policy number on the same insurance. I did not specifically ask for the third party insurance copy. As this car was directly from Jeep sold by their authorized dealer and the dealer handling all the transfers, I kind of trusted them and turned a blind eye.
Mistake #2: Frankly, this is not a mistake, but a genuine miss. Telangana's transport department is highly digitized with its own vehicle search facility and a document wallet app called "RTA m-wallet", developed way back in 2016 and accepted for most official purposes. If you are from Telangana, you don't have/need to use mParivahan/DigiLocker. So, I used this portal for checking the history and not Vahan.
But, unlike other states (Karnataka, for example), the RCs in Telangana do not show the number of previous owners of a vehicle. This is an easy loophole for sellers and a serious lack of proof for buyers.
Mistake #3: I did not ask for the Jeep's 125 inspection report to be shared with me during delivery.

We waited for 5 days for the registration to be transferred and only then we were allowed to take delivery of the car. After delivery, I requested the SA to start the process of insurance transfer too. No red flags till now. But, the SA started insisting that only Own Damage insurance should be transferred and TP will stay on the car and also that I don't need to carry a copy with me. Even after sharing all the IRDA and MVH rules about how the name on RC and insurance document should match, he didn't reply with the insurance document. I was still not suspicious, but just angry with the lack of response. So, I finally called up the TP insurer directly and asked for the transfer process. The owner's name uttered by the call center agent finally threw the light on this cheat. She said a name which is not present on any of the documents shared till now. I share this with the SA and again I got no reply from that person. Perplexed, I immediately open the Vahan portal (I don't know why I took this long to do this) and searched for this registration number, which was clearly showing 2 registration records for the car with different owners.


Pic: This is after the registration transfer showing 3 owners including myself at the top.

I shared this screenshot to the SA and still got no reply. When I asked about the 2 earlier owners and how this was missed in the 125 point inspection report, he finally replied with these exact words: "Sir, This is Telangana, What is Telangana govt website, We followup!", implying that the RC and the state's RTA portals do not show the number of owners. When I told him that both the registrations are within Telangana and the TP insurance is on the 1st owner rather than the 2nd owner, I get no reply. This later followed by a heated exchange on call, where he argues that "the RCs do not show the number of owners, so, in Telangana, it does not matter how many owners a vehicle has, only the condition of it matters", "no one in Telangana checks for the number of previous owners" and also "number of owners does not effect the resale value", with every sentence preceded with "Sir, I'm in this industry for X time, I know how it works". When I asked why they didn't mention this in the OLX ad, he simply said that they do not bother about the number, but as this is a mandatory field for the ad, they just select "1st owner" for all ads and then goes on to say that they sell luxury cars too and all have the same info and that no one has complained.

Other irritants:

• After many follow-ups, I got the TP insurance document, but they were just not interested in transferring this to my name. So, I took help of a known insurance agent to get this done.
• I still haven't got the Jeep 125 point inspection report from the dealer even after many-many follow-ups.
• One fine day, while all of this is still going on, my dad went to clean the car and found the rear number plate detached and on the ground. Why you ask? Because the dealer did not screw-in the number plate. They just pasted it on the spot with a double-sided tape. Angry, of course, I share this with the SA and call him up and he, again with a calm careless attitude replies that "number plates are removed when the cars are on display. The mechanic/attendant might have did this in a rush to the delivery". Remember, these guys had 5 days between me paying the total amount and then taking delivery. So, they couldn't spare 5 minutes in these 5 days to properly fit the number plate. Where's my mistake, you ask? Because it has just dawned on me that this vehicle was registered few months after the HSRP rule came into effect and yet, it did not have the HSRPs for some reason and even HSRP sticker was missing on windshield. It just had some fancy number plate. I yet again get the same indifference from the SA. I ordered replacement set of HSRPs from an online vendor, so this was not a major concern.
• Strangely, I did not get the Owner's Manual for this. This kind of pushed my plans to upgrade the stock headlights and fog lights, among other things, which are awfully lacking on highway drives.

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.

Key take-aways for you as a potential buyer:

• There's a basic rule about purchasing something and especially when you love that "something":
  "Take a friend/relative with you when you inspect the product. They can provide an unbiased opinion and also do the inspection. This helps because you definitely will be clouded by your love and eagerness to own and experience that product"
• Ask for all the documents before taking delivery. A well known rule, but still missed due to the above point. This includes the inspection reports too and even the "useless" scan/photo copies of vehicle history and the likes. Do not take delivery if anything is missing. Do not fall prey to any of their verbal promises.
• Utilize all the available platforms for checking the history. I made the mistake of not searching for the registration number on Vahan search portal while inspecting this car. I completely relied on the state's portals for this.
  Related to this: This hack might be fixed in the future, but currently there's a bug in how the vehicle registration data is shared between the Telangana state's department and the Vahan portal and you can utilize this to your advantage. See, when the ownership of a vehicle is transferred, the registry should either deactivate the existing record and add a new one or update the existing record. But currently, Telangana is just adding a new active record to the Vahan portal and doing nothing to the old ownership records. So, when you search for a registration number, you might be able to see all the duplicate registrations and transfers of a vehicle. Also due to this, you cannot download the RC copy too on Digilocker or mParivahan apps. I'm still fighting with the state's RTA to get this sorted.
  
  
• And finally, noticed how we were cheated even after multiple checks? Because we were blinded by the trust on the brand, so we were not thorough. Don't make the same mistake. Read all the documents under a microscope. Don't even ignore a typo.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Dealership section. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage later this week

[poloman]

I have been writing extensively about pitfalls in buying used cars in India based on my experience. Whether it is a shady dealer or manufacturer backed used car companies or online sales portal, all are the same. They do the same tricks on hapless customers. We are drawn in by shiny exteriors, tall claims, smooth talking and lack of good options. Good that your car is not having any flaws. But all may not be as fortunate.

We have so many check lists, so many educative posts on the forum and in general, still even the most cautious people fall in to such traps. Such is the sad state of affairs in used car market today.

[swarnava.ch]

Originally Posted by neelkumar

This is my first thread here and I neither imagined nor wanted to start with this topic. Though I purchased the Trailhawk a month back, this was rather embarrassing for me to share here. But, I just wanted to share this, put this aside and get on with enjoying my ownership.

Dear neelkumar, first, congratulations on the beautiful acquisition. It looks amazing and a very good choice. Wish you miles of happiness. What is done is done, move on and love your car.
I would like to comment on the learning for us all in the forum while going through your experience. For example, I would also have committed that same mistake #1 as you - to trust in the brand. This is the only reason we go to the branded shops because we believe inherently that they will not cheat us like the corner used car shop guy. So I cannot fault you for this.
Question - did you not reach out to Jeep India about this experience ? If you have not so far, please drop an Email to them with a link to this thread, you will see the magic happening - power of this forum. Think about it, they are also responsible for this experience of yours.

[sunikkat]

Congratulations on a great car and wish you many miles of happy driving.

Good that you don’t have to deal with that dealer again as you are in Bangalore. But you should definitely escalate with Jeep, to the most senior management possible. It’s Jeep’s responsibility to have good conduct from the dealers.

And finally no point being frustrated on this and spooling your experience. Enjoy the car.

[vinu_h]

Originally Posted by neelkumar

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.

I'm on your side when I write this - You got proof of this ? Take them to court.

[sagarpadaki]

If you have the time, money and energy , I suggest you take them to consumer court with aim of getting a compensation of a few lakhs in lieu of the car being a 2nd owner at the time of purchase. This is a pretty straight forward case IMO

[vinaydatla]

There are multiple instances mentioned on team bhp itself regarding Pride motors cheating customers.

One example - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...heated-me.html (I think PRIDE HONDA cheated me)

I remember reading here on Team-BHP about one odometer fraud when selling a used car from Honda Terrace. Also had a first hand experience when they did not check brake pad wear and tear ending up with worn brake pads and screeching discs on a ghat road in a different state within 800kms of the last service in a Honda City.

[Guna]

Hiding information about the number of previous owners is cheating and something even small-time used car dealers won't indulge in. This seems to be deliberate and they have been ding it consistently. Either take them to consumer court or at least issue a written apology. They should stop this practice.

[streetfighter]

Damn... so sorry for this ordeal. Looks like this is the modus operandi and common across dealers across the country; even the luxury brands indulge in this. I was lucky enough to find this scam in the nick of time and walked out of the deal. I have shared my experience here - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...-needed-2.html (Buying a used Audi Q3 | Advice needed)

I would strongly advise to seek legal opinion here and decide the next course of action. I'd urge everyone to keep sharing this on social media and give Pride Motors Hyderabad some publicity

[mak.prasada]

Congratulations on your Trailhawk and wish you plenty of miles on it.
The conduct of the dealer was highly unethical. Merely because the RTA M-wallet does not show the previous owners does not allow him to mis-advertise it as a single owner car.
I don't buy this entire "no one in Telangana checks for previous owners" for a single second. Assuming no one does it also, your requirements were clear i.e., low-use/ single-owner car and no prudent person would believe that even they were unaware that the car had two owners since they follow the m-wallet app. The m-wallet is 99% used only to show your RC and license to the cops. A showroom that sells Rs. 20-25lakh+ cars on a daily basis must be aware of the local RTA procedures, if they don't, they are either very bad at their job or they know it and still do it anyways, which in this case seems the letter.

Although the showroom experience left a bitter taste, the Trailhawk is a beautiful beast, enjoy it.

[kartoosh]

First of all congratulations on your purchase. Trailhawk is a very capable vehicle indeed.
However I am a bit surprised that it was put on sale so early in its life. This in itself is a big question which should have bugged you when u already had prior experience of not finding many Pre-owned Jeeps in Bangalore. I would suggest you find out about any pending court cases against it or it being involved in some shady accident. This is not to scare you but it's based on multiple such experiences.

Hope all must be well since Jeep showroom was involved and wishing you many happy miles on the stallion of Stellantis.

[Maverick1977]

Caveat Emptor or Buyer Beware. This was one of the first things that we were taught in law college, more than 2 decades back. Our Prof was very clear that as per the Law of Contracts, a buyer has to take all possible care before entering into a contract with anyone. This is a clear case, where there was negligence on part of the buyer. Of course this doesn't absolve the dealer of the wrong doing but then the onus lies on the buyer to ascertain that everything is in place before he enters into the contact.
The OP has also mentioned that it was his mistake on an open forum and this can also go against him in the court of law. In such cases I belive it is better to sort out the case and then put any details on the public forum.

[poloman]

Originally Posted by kartoosh

First of all congratulations on your purchase. Trailhawk is a very capable vehicle indeed.
However I am a bit surprised that it was put on sale so early in its life. This in itself is a big question which should have bugged you when u already had prior experience of not finding many Pre-owned Jeeps in Bangalore. I would suggest you find out about any pending court cases against it or it being involved in some shady accident. This is not to scare you but it's based on multiple such experiences.

Very rightly put. I am always surprised, why people sell cars so quick..with in a year or so. Business reasons, moving abroad, change of mind etc.. can be some valid reasons. But why should two owners sell the same car in a period of 2 years. This is a huge red flag however good the condition the car is in.

If there is an used car with a too good to be true offer, always see huge red flags during every stage of the evaluation process.

[ramnaresh_2000]

Why am I not surprised by the actions of Pride Motors Hyderabad? It is in their DNA to cheat customers. It maybe by adding atrocious charges like AC cleaning and fooling the customers saying it is mandatory or Pride employees taking customers money and not giving extended warranty.

Related thread on how Pride Jeep Warangal which is subsidiary of Pride Jeep Hyderabad cheated me.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...-warangal.html (Fraud by employee of Pride Jeep Warangal)

The SA's has the atrocity to make a statement "No one in Telangana checks previous owners"? If I was on spot there I would have made his life miserable.

Don't leave them. Share the screenshots of conversation with SA and this thread to Jeep India on their FB page and official email. The Jeep India fb responds well via messenger than emails.

Finally your Trailhawk looks too nice for potential buyer to assume it has 2 previous owners. I don't blame you for getting cheated. You will hear comments like this is your fault, you should have checked before buying etc, but let them know that it is your right not to be cheated by such an establishment.