[sandman2010]

Hello, fellow BHPians!

I had a unique experience with a Modi Hyundai showroom in Mumbai while purchasing the Creta N10 recently. If it helps even one car buyer I would be happy. TLDR version at the end. Just FYI, I have had a Honda Jazz for 14 years and love everything about the car.

The Hyundai TD & sales process till this incident was absolutely fantastic and I chose the Creta N-Line N10 variant.

I paid the 25k booking amount and on the insistence of the SA paid 50k more (it would be clocked in his name before March closing and I also fell for the promise of the vehicle being delivered in 10 days). Here is where the plot thickens.

1. The dealership added the insurance in the booking form, which I asked them to remove as I wanted to check options. SA insisted he just needs to add it to his system. He also asked for any quotes I have received which I shared on WhatsApp (Acko and Elephant insurance).

2. The dealership went ahead and bought insurance in my name from Tata AIG without me having any say in the policy, company or terms. I came to know of it only when Tata started sending me SMS & WhatsApp messages. The SA was unapologetic about the purchase & insisted that it was a good policy. I informed him I won't accept this as a matter of principle. Was invited to the showroom to discuss this further, stating he had informed that he was going to "retail" the vehicle in his system. Apparently, this means they have to book insurance or whatever...I told him I didn't care for their internal terminology, and that this was very close to fraud.

3. I then called up Tata to inform them I didn't book this. They put their hands up and said all processes had been followed by the dealer. The "seniors" I talked to had no answer to my query on liability if something happens to the vehicle now as it isn't registered to anyone. They flatly refused to cancel the policy in my name unless I produce a letter from the dealer stating that they missold (really?) or cancellation is initiated by the dealer for which there would be a penalty. Would be keen to hear from any experts on the legality of booking insurance without a registration number... just a chassis number?

4. The visit to the dealership was a predictable affair. SA and his Team Leader started defending the purchase and asked me for proof when I said I had requested multiple times for the removal of the insurance. This debate was settled when I showed multiple WhatsApp messages where I asked SA to remove the insurance part from the digital docket given post-booking. This triggered a blaming exercise on the individual. I refused to accept this as it was clear from his demeanour he had full approval from his management. There were also scare tactics of penalties, missing date of delivery etc. I told them in that case I would like a refund as I would be cancelling the booking. By this time the car had already got into the stockyard at Bhiwandi and the dealer team was really in a fix. I walked out of the dealership with the ball firmly in their court, to either cancel insurance or booking.

5. Now the sales team (dealership GM) started offering me accessories up to 15,000 & talking about how good the insurance policy was. I refused to budge. I was polite but told him that it's a matter of principle & I can't condone this behaviour from his sales team. The GM was apologetic. Apparently, it cost the dealer 7k which the SA had the audacity to ask if I could share 50%, which got me riled up, forcing the GM to get involved.

6. By this time two delivery dates had been missed because they had to undergo some approval process and I also was busy with work.

7. I then got a call from the CEO of the dealership. He had to sign on the cost of cancellation and wanted to know why I was upset. I gave him my version of events (apparently the dealership had given a very different picture of the same). To his credit, he heard me out & quickly apologized and gave me 2 options -

Option A: Go with the current policy & Modi Hyundai will give me a letter stating all things over and above the policy will be covered by the dealership, in any unforeseen events. Along with this any accessories I like worth 15,000.

Option B: Cancel the insurance and I pay the down payment and get the car. Insurance choice would be up to me, from wherever I see fit.

I chose Option B, as I felt like I needed to stick to my stand and the Sales team needed to know they were in the wrong.

8. After this the sales team started enquiring about the down payment, but I told them I wouldn't pay anything till Tata AIG sends me a cancellation message or when I find the policy number invalid when I query their chatbot. Took a few days but the policy number got invalid.

9. After this it was quite smooth, obviously as I had the ear of the GM/CEO. I got the dealership to book the same policy from Tata AIG but with changes in terms/inclusions. Loan through SBI was also seamless. Delay of 18 days but I was fine with it.

TLDR version: Hyundai dealership bought Insurance in my name even before registration & without my consent. Got it cancelled and only then paid the down payment. Bought it on my own terms. All this was done without wasting my time on fights, just followed the escalation matrix & stuck to my guns without falling for freebies.

[GTO]

Glad you stood your ground, thanks for sharing! Car dealerships are notorious for such practices. But I really worry about the uninformed regular Joe who is taken for a ride by such dealers.

Your thread will be going to our homepage this week .

[Raghu M]

What's surprising is that we think going digital has helped us with paper work. This is the result of that process, has a lot of loopholes and can be bypassed. Glad that you stood your ground. I can't imagine how someone even took insurance without your consent.

[Newtown]

Originally Posted by sandman2010

Hello, fellow BHPians!

I had a unique experience with a Modi Hyundai showroom in Mumbai while purchasing the Creta N10 recently....

.....The dealership added the insurance in the booking form, which I asked them to remove as I wanted to check options.

Coincidentally something similar transpired with Modi Hyundai in the last 7 days. I was helping my aunt and daughter buy a Creta. It was discussed and agreed with the sales executive that unless the insurance quote was close to what is available in the market, it would be bought by them directly from te open market.

There was a good quote given by Tata AIG and the same was sent to the sales executive. He called back and said they could not quote anything similar and that their offering was far "superior" as it was provided by Hyundai. I don't know what he was saying or what that meant.

I was also informed by the gentleman that Tata AIG is not a good policy as there is very poor cashless coverage across garages.

The next day, I called 4 Hyundai authorized dealer workshops directly including Modi's own workshop. Every one of them told me that they do Tata AIG & it was cashless.

Passed on this same information to the sales executive. As expected, he was unhappy. However, I wanted things to be smooth so agreed to buy Tata AIG from their dealership which was about the same cost that was quoted directly by Tata AIG. Also signed up for about 30K of accessories, selected number, etc.

While delivery was done & things were smooth, the executive was very nonchalant. At the time of delivery, it was done perfunctory - They did not setup BlueLink, did not demo anything in the car.

And this is not isolated. I recall a Hyundai dealer at Bombay Central where I had gone with my elderly parents as they were seriously considering getting a Creta at some point. All they did was show me a white board with approximate waiting times of the car. We stuck to the VWs after that.

[inner_roadster]

The three things a buyer of a new car should be always be aware of to avoid being duped by these car dealers

1. Insurance from tie-up partners.
2. Car Accessories
3. Car financing through partnerships.

Car dealers work with insurance providers and financial organization on a commission basis. So, the customer may be required to pay higher premiums/ interest rate than what they would pay if the insurance / finance would have done through another mode.

Purchasing insurance through their tie-up partners is one area where we need to negotiate hard with these dealers. I recently purchased Maruti Fronx, and they too, pushed me to get insurance through their suggested partners. I simply refused it and stated that I will obtain my own and requested that they give the car details after the PDI. Based on this bargaining, I saved approximately 10K in insurance premium costs from the dealers. However, if I had bought insurance outside, I could have saved some more bugs. But still most of us end up purchasing this from dealers tie-up partners just to avoid the extra hassle.

Similarly, they are manipulating buyer with the accessories where they forced to buy accessories which may not be required or useful, simply playing on the buyers' emotions. This happens as most car buyers have this wrong idea that it is mandatory to purchase accessories only from the car dealer, otherwise the warranty will become invalid. This is completely wrong. As long as no electrical circuit is manipulated or engine tuning is tweaked, the warranty remains intact.

Because of this, we need to be extremely wary of the emotional manipulation that car sellers use to try and convince buyers to buy pricey insurance premium and accessories. Negotiation is a skill, and you must be very smart while dealing with a car salesman.

[sandman2010]

Just to clarify. I didn't have a problem with the tie-ups for finance and insurance. In fact I got a better deal and smoother experience overall. It was more the complete disregard to my choices or my opinion that shocked me. Also the "bordering-on-illegal" tactic of insurance without registration.

I still think deals can be worked out best from dealerships but awareness needs to be high. An "uninformed joe" as GTO has mentioned above, will really be taken for a ride.

Originally Posted by Raghu M

What's surprising is that we think going digital has helped us with paper work. This is the result of that process, has a lot of loopholes and can be bypassed. Glad that you stood your ground. I can't imagine how someone even took insurance without your consent.

A payment link in SMS came on my number which I didn't notice for a few hours. By then the dealership paid for it and I got the welcome message on WhatsApp, which I saw. Insurance in my name but am not the owner as it isn't registered in my name. Blows my mind even now.
I am still in shock over how the insurance company refused to cancel an insurance that was in my name and forced me to go through the dealership. Apparently a free look period listed in the policy document was not applicable to this purchase. I wish I had the time & energy to take them to court/ombudsman over this.

[Cresterk]

I wonder what kind of fraud the Tata AIG liaisons who are hand in glove with this did to generate insurance policy without a vehicle registration number. I wonder if the higher ups at Tata are aware of this and whether this glitch in their system is being used to commit even greater frauds like issuing insurance policies after car is totaled to defraud the company.

[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by sandman2010

....
TLDR version: Hyundai dealership bought Insurance in my name even before registration ....

Originally Posted by sandman2010

...Insurance in my name but am not the owner as it isn't registered in my name. Blows my mind even now. ...

Let me clarify one point here for benefit of everyone.

Insurance is done on a new car before registration. That is why a new car policy has the chassis number and engine number rather than the registration number. Any RTO in India does not allow regn of new cars without a valid insurance policy.

[sandman2010]

Originally Posted by svsantosh

Let me clarify one point here for benefit of everyone.

Insurance is done on a new car before registration. That is why a new car policy has the chassis number and engine number rather than the registration number. Any RTO in India does not allow regn of new cars without a valid insurance policy.

Thank you for this clarification. From what I was told, only the compulsory TP insurance needs to be present before registration. Is this correct or am I misinformed?

[ruskinash]

Originally Posted by sandman2010

Thank you for this clarification. From what I was told, only the compulsory TP insurance needs to be present before registration. Is this correct or am I misinformed?

Only TP is mandatory.

[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by sandman2010

Thank you for this clarification. From what I was told, only the compulsory TP insurance needs to be present before registration. Is this correct or am I misinformed?

You cannot do TP separately for regn purposes and then do a comprehensive/zero dep later on. It is all in one shot.

The cars in the dealers yard is under property/factory/warehouse insurance, like FG (finished goods) category. It is not covered by your regular TP, accident or scratch/repair claims. Hence the dealer is sitting on hot fire till the car is insured in your name and also his working capital is locked away.

PS - now you may recall the RED color vinyl/rexine number plate which is thrown inside the car during test drives. It is not covered by your typical car insurance.

[GTX+]

Originally Posted by sandman2010

Also the "bordering-on-illegal" tactic of insurance without registration.

Based on my recent experience directly with Acko Insurance, I am not sure if this is illegal.

I had liked the quote they had offered. I bought the insurance a day or 2 before I got the delivery and ofcourse the registration number. I was told by Acko that they would need chassis & engine number to issue the policy and that I will get a 1 time option to update (via their app or by calling them) the registration number once I receive it.

This is exactly how it went.

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by sandman2010

Thank you for this clarification. From what I was told, only the compulsory TP insurance needs to be present before registration. Is this correct or am I misinformed?

Correct. For the entire life of vehicle from registration to deregistration, only third party insurance is mandatory.

Originally Posted by svsantosh

You cannot do TP separately for regn purposes and then do a comprehensive/zero dep later on. It is all in one shot.

No, legally, one can always do registration with TP only policy and can take a standalone own damage policy any time later. It is just a under writing contract between you and insurer. You can cancel it any time too.

Only you cannot cancel a comprehensive policy (Own damage + Third party) unless you have proof of another TP insurance as required by law.

In reality, the premium will be more and needs inspection by insurer if you want to take the above route. Or insurer may refuse to under write the vehicle too.

[sandman2010]

Originally Posted by GTX+

Based on my recent experience directly with Acko Insurance, I am not sure if this is illegal.

I had liked the quote they had offered. I bought the insurance a day or 2 before I got the delivery and ofcourse the registration number. I was told by Acko that they would need chassis & engine number to issue the policy and that I will get a 1 time option to update (via their app or by calling them) the registration number once I receive it.

This is exactly how it went.

Same here. The second time around, paid DP on 25th, insurance was booked on 26th, Registration was done same day, delivery done 27th evening.

Yes this insurance too didn't have the registration number, which can be added later.

Only & the most significant change is I chose the policy and it wasnt forced upon me. All a matter of consent.

[steadfast]

Originally Posted by Cresterk

I wonder what kind of fraud the Tata AIG liaisons who are hand in glove with this did to generate insurance policy without a vehicle registration number. I wonder if the higher ups at Tata are aware of this and whether this glitch in their system is being used to commit even greater frauds like issuing insurance policies after car is totaled to defraud the company.

There is no fraud here. How do you think a vehicle is registered? Having an insurance and fast tag is a pre-requisite to initiate the number process.

I have a question from OP-
What changes in T&Cs did you get in the policy and regenerated the policy?
Because I believe Dealers give the best coverage - zero dep, consumables, RTI and etc.

So what exactly were you particular about from T&Cs point of view?