Joy riding customers’ cars by service personnel existed and incidents like this, are bound to shed more light on this issue
A Kia authorised dealership in Jaipur, Rajasthan, going by the name Rajesh Kia Motors has been in a ruckus with one of its customers. Jalaj Agarwal had left his Kia Sonet sub 4m SUV for general servicing at his nearest Kia authorised dealership and 6 days later, he was shocked when he was told that his car was wrecked as it hit a cow.
After a chain of events that underwent between Agarwal and Rajesh Kia Motors, the dealership finally agreed to offer a brand new Kia Sonet. This is unusual as generally, dealerships usually propose to fix the car and not replace it. A New Kia car was offered to customer and the dispute seems to be settled.
That’s it? Good guy Kia? Well, it was not exactly smooth sailing for Agarwal and the way Kia dealership in question went about covering its tracks can be termed as dishonest. Let’s take a look at what’s what.
New Kia Car Offered To Customer
The Kia Sonet in question was less than a year old. It was dropped off at Rajesh Kia Motors authorised dealership for general service on 17th November. After six days, Agarwal gets a call from the service manager saying that his Sonet was involved in an accident. At first, there was a story stitched around the incident which involved an alleged cow.
Agarwal was informed to claim insurance on his vehicle and initiate the repair process. The Sonet in question allegedly hit a cow when the car was under testing and inspection post service. There was a lot of damage to its front including its bumper, headlights, radiator, bonnet, front crash beam, and other components.
Later, Rajesh Kia service manager revealed a new version of his story in which it was revealed that a cleaner had smashed it into a wall within the premises of the authorised service centre. This is clear negligence at Rajesh Kia dealership’s expense. Jalaj Agarwal took to social media and gained some traction.
He was asked to claim insurance on his car for a mistake that he didn’t make. He was promised a temporary car in the meantime, which was not arranged. The owner also claims that there have been miscommunication and avoidance at Kia’s end as well. This saga has finally ended with Jalaj Agarwal being promised a brand-new car, of the same model.
Service Center Mishaps
Point is not that a new Kia car was offered to customer as a truce or the damage was minimal and could have been easily repaired. It is that it happened at service centre premises by their personnel and tried to cover their tracks by blaming a made up cow. There was an attempt to shift the blame and cover their tracks and deny responsibility for their fault.
Joyriding of customers’ vehicles by service centre personnel has been prevalent. I once saw my car 10 km away from the service centre where I had dropped it off. Later found out that service personnel had taken it home for lunch and had to drop off one of his relatives at the bus station. Yeah! For them, it was “vehicle testing and inspection post service”. Even though there was no damage, it was wrong to joyride customers’ vehicles.
