Car dealers to pay a compensation of 25,000
The second hand car market in India is increasing, to the extent that the business of re-sale and purchase of second hand cars now has a greater volume than that of first car purchase (direct purchase of vehicles from the dealers). However, a lot of people who decide to buy or sell their vehicles do not follow proper procedures, and can land in a lot of trouble while doing so. While indulging in second hand transactions, it is absolutely essential that purchasers or sellers ensure that they are going through reliable people, and that the transactions also mean a settlement of all the documentation required (RC, Insurance, any outstanding traffic fines, pollution control certificates), etc.
Here is a case whereby a person gets into trouble by not following through on the documentation needed in the case of a second hand transfer of a vehicle. He gets cheated when the car dealers actually do not transfer the car to him, but instead transfer the car to a third person. It helps that there is a consumer forum which can help in ensuring that the car dealers follow through on the required steps (link to article):
Holding two car dealers guilty of unfair trade practice, the district consumer forum has directed them to pay a compensation of Rs 25,000 along with litigation cost of Rs 5,000 to sector-38 resident Manjit Singh. The forum headed by Jagroop Singh Mahal directed Prithi Pal Singh and Sukhwinder Singh, dealers of second-hand vehicles in Car Bazaar, to return Rs 1,20,000 with interest to Manjit for not providing him necessary documents of a car purchased from them.
Despite repeated requests, nothing was done in this regard which forced Manjit to report the matter to the police. Later, the complainant approached the Registering and Licensing Authority, Haryana, and was shocked to learn that the vehicle was under the process of transfer in the name of one Mahesh Kumar of sector 40-D, Chandigarh. Following this, Manjit filed a complaint before the forum alleging cheating, fraud, deficiency in service and unfair trade practice.