Consumer forum asks them to pay compensation to buyer for delay in delivery of car.
A fortnight’s delay in delivering his dream car to a Warje-based buyer has cost the Skoda automobile company and the car dealer dearly. The Pune District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has ordered the car manufacturer and the dealer to pay 10 per cent interest for 15 days of the entire car amount and Rs 6,000 as compensation and plaint charges to the complainant.
Shridhan Rokade, a resident of Ovelnest Apartment in Warje, had filed a complaint against the sales manager of Asset Auto India Private Limited, Pune and Skoda Auto India Private Limited, Aurangabad on December 12, 2011 for deficiency in service.
According to Rokade, he had booked a Skoda car (Rapid Elegance 1.6 TDCR MT model) in diesel version by paying Rs 25,000 on October 27, 2011. He had paid the remaining amount of Rs 10.08 lakh in November. The dealer had promised to deliver the car to Rokade in November, 2011 but it got delayed from time to time and he finally got it on December 22, 2011. “The dealer failed to deliver the car booked by me. I was given a different model, which I accepted after protest. Besides, there was inordinate delay in the delivery,” the complainant said.
The manufacture and the dealer had filed a common written version in November, 2012 before the forum. They claimed, “It is flatly denied that we agreed and assured to deliver the car to Rokade and there was no agreement between Rokade and us. The model which is referred to was not at all launched and it was not possible for the dealer to fulfill it.
Rokade had accepted the car without any protest at the time of delivery. Our manufacturing company is situated at Aurangabad and the delivery is given at Wagholi godown. Thus, the complaint has to be dismissed.”
However, the forum president V P Utpat and member S M Kumbhar observed, “The car was booked in October, 2011 by paying a token amount of Rs 25,000 and remaining amount was paid in November. The car was delivered 23 days after receiving the full payment. There must be a legitimate reason in the mind of the consumer that he will receive the car as early as possible. Rokade had to visit the showroom of the dealer from time to time for making inquiries about the vehicle’s delivery.”
The forum added, “The dealer and manufacturer have caused deficiency in service by not delivering the car within a week after getting the full payment. Both of them are directed to pay 10 per cent interest for 15 days on the amount of Rs 10.33 lakh for deficiency in service, Rs 5,000 for compensation and Rs 1,000 for costs of proceedings.”
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