Petitioner K Sarvanan of Mandaveli purchased a Toyota car from T Indiran in January 2012. Indiran had purchased this car in 2010. It came with 36 months / 100,000 km transferrable warranty. This means, K Sarvanan managed to get a used car with company warranty.
A few days after the purchase Sarvanan noted that the vehicle failed to start and hence took it to Lanson Motors, in Koyambedu.
It was later ascertained that initial owner, T Indiran had also serviced the vehicle at Harsha Automobiles in Kumananchavadi for INR 85,000 and further sold the vehicle to him without disclosing its inherent defects. Sarvanan’s requests from Lanson Motors for a new car or to refund the cost of repairs stood no legal standing as the car was purchased second hand.
While Harsha Automobiles stated that warranty was null and void as it was a second-hand vehicle and not maintained properly, they also stated that the car was subjected to servicing by an unauthorized service center. Toyota Kirloskar Motors also turned a deaf ear to the complainant’s pleas leaving him no other recourse but to approach Consumer Court. Toyota said that the vehicle possessed no manufacturing defects and in fact was involved in many accidents which damaged its engine.
For representation purpose onlyConsumer Court bench lead by President K Jayabalan and Member T Kalaiyarasi stated that the vehicle was sent to the Automobile Engineering department at the Anna University wherein it was also confirmed that the vehicle had a host of defects following improper servicing by both Lanson and Harsha Motors.
The forum has hence directed both dealerships to pay the complainant a sum of INR 1 lakh as compensation besides INR 30,000 for vehicle repairs and INR 5,000 as litigation costs incurred.
via timesofindia
