[TusharK]

A Maruti Suzuki dealer in Kerala was fined Rs. 1 lakh for disconnecting the odometer of a new car.



According to a media report, the unregistered car was driven from Kozhikode to Trivandrum, which is a distance of around 370 km. The odometer was disconnected to avoid clocking miles on the brand-new car.

The report states that the dealer's actions came to light after the car was caught driving with its odometer disconnected. While the name of the dealer isn't specifically mentioned in the report, the temporary registration papers suggest that it belonged to Indus Motors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIxb8t3RZIw

Thanks to the Team-BHP fan (he prefers to remain anonymous) who sent this information in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP share page!

[Ashtoncastelino]

Finally some action against these types acts by dealers !
Still wondering what was the reason for travelling 370kms and that too with a fake TC sticker. According to me , the dealership license should be cancelled since

• An unregistered car isn't legally allowed to run on the roads.
• Disconnection of Odometer.
  

Dealer should be booked under section 420 of the IPC for cheating and fraud.

[govindremesh]

If my grasp of malayalam is good enough, The report ends stating that the vehicle has been released. I wonder which unsuspecting customer will the car be delivered to. :(

[CarNerd]

Good job by Maruti Suzuki This is how all car makers should deal with their dealers. I think all cars should come with a chip that stores all info about the car right from the day of its manufacture just like a Black Box found in planes. There could be sensors which record vehicle movement, distance travelled, etc which would be helpful to the customer.

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by Ashtoncastelino

According to me , the dealership license should be cancelled .

If it is Indus motors they are the number 1 or 2 Maruti dealership in India. I remember reading about the delivery of 1500 cars in a single day by them.

Originally Posted by CarNerd

Good job by Maruti Suzuki .

I think it is MVD who caught this car and fined.

ODO disconnection is a common practice in India. Many dealers even give customer alloted car for the test drives.

[adi.mariner]

Good work by the MVD to fine the dishonest Dealer. The name of the Dealer should have been mentioned so that other dealers take notice and discontinue such a practice. Feel bad for the unsuspecting customers who are sold these pseudo test drive vehicles as new.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by Ashtoncastelino

Still wondering what was the reason for travelling 370kms and that too with a fake TC sticker.

It's a fairly common practice across most dealers. In MSIL, there will be one dealer who will have outlets scattered across the state. It often happens that a particular trim needs to be transported and that's how it's done. Not justifying this in any way though.

Also their yard is usually located at one place and the cars are distributed from there, often to far away showrooms. Again, they use the same trick to disable the odo. Fuse is connected once the car is readied for delivery.

Dealers like Indus, Sai Service operate on a large scale and have presence in many districts, sometimes states. While inter-state transfer isn't that common, stocks are regularly transferred between districts.

[matizcrazy]

I suppose it is a fairly common thing to disconnect the odometer. Most car transporters of the cheaper variety drive the cars considerable distances to avail of the cheapest empty slot in a car carrier.
Car showrooms do very much the same; fortunately some cars have an interlock where the power steering doesn't work if the odo is disconnected as I found out during the test drive of the i20 at a Hyundai showroom.

[searacer932]

This is such a sad news. 1 lacs fine is nothing for such large dealers. This is not going to deter the dealer from doing such things again in future. Maruti has been treated very gently in this case.

[anb]

Originally Posted by adi.mariner

Good work by the MVD to fine the dishonest Dealer. The name of the Dealer should have been mentioned so that other dealers take notice and discontinue such a practice. Feel bad for the unsuspecting customers who are sold these pseudo test drive vehicles as new.

Like dealers, some medias and some reporters have some common practices also. They take money for not revealing the dealers name or for not publishing the news.

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Dealers like Indus, Sai Service operate on a large scale and have presence in many districts, sometimes states. While inter-state transfer isn't that common, stocks are regularly transferred between districts.

True. My 2011 SX4 was driven from Calicut to Kasaragod by Indus Motors. They had informed me about it too

[revmaxx]

Such practices are very common amongst dealers. The worst form is using cars meant for customers as test drive cars. I was a victim of such fraud in the year 2000. The dealer was Popular Maruti in Cochin. Fought a consumer court case for 10 years and got a compensation of 50k shared between Maruti and two dealers.

[pareekvirendra]

I recently went to test drive a Honda City 4th generation in Nashik City, and the dealer offered me a 5th Generation City for the test drive with its odometer disconnected. When I asked the attending executive about it, he said they didn't have a demo car with them and hence had arranged this car for me. I too was wondering who would be the unsuspecting person that would get the car.

Since then I have been wondering how to prevent my car from being offered to others for test drives in the showroom as I too am planning to book a Honda City in the coming few weeks. But I guess it is common practice.

[ronford]

Originally Posted by pareekvirendra

I recently went to test drive a Honda City 4th generation in Nashik City, and the dealer offered me a 5th Generation City for the test drive with its odometer disconnected. When I asked the attending executive about it, he said they didn't have a demo car with them and hence had arranged this car for me. I too was wondering who would be the unsuspecting person that would get the car.

Since then I have been wondering how to prevent my car from being offered to others for test drives in the showroom as I too am planning to book a Honda City in the coming few weeks. But I guess it is common practice.

Always insist on a proper PDI (Team-BHP PDI Thread) once you have identified the car that you will be getting.

This will ensure you don't get cheated and you can find if the car is used as a test drive car or not.

[fhdowntheline]

This can be resolved by some sort of regulation/industry practice. Car manufacturers must supply some test drive vehicles to dealers as part of their dealership agreement. These units can then be resold for fleet or some other use later on. Its much better than conducting malpractices and earning a bad rap for themselves as a dealership business.