Consumer Court Rules in Favor of Customer

Consumer court cases against car manufacturers and judgments in favor of the consumers have now become a lot more common phenomena in India. The latest incident comes from Delhi where a customer who bought a brand new Kia Seltos SUV faced issues with some of the panels on the vehicle. The customer who was not satisfied with the response from the manufacturer took things to the court and made the manufacturer pay Rs 70,000 for his issue.

Also Read: Maruti Suzuki To Launch 8 New Cars Over The Next 4 Years: Details

The customer who faced this issue is Sameer Varma who bought a brand new Kia Seltos SUV. After purchasing the SUV, the customer noticed that the SUV started showing rust on some of the panels. The rust was visible on the chrome parts of the SUV. The customer who bought this SUV new was devastated after seeing rust on his car and got in touch with the dealership for resolution. He got in touch with the authorized dealership to get the issue fixed using cleaning and repairing methods.

However, the issue persisted. The customer who was not satisfied with the results then took things to the court and filed a case against Kia Motors and the authorized dealer. The case was registered back in 2020. The customer said that the issue that he faced on his vehicle was due to the poor quality of the material used on the vehicle. The respondents or the manufacturer, however, had a different story to justify their part. They blamed the use of unauthorized cleaning products and environmental factors like pollution and hard water were the cause for this issue. The manufacturer, in fact, blamed Delhi’s pollution as a reason for rusted chrome parts.

The court listened to the comments made by both parties and after examining evidence, action, and response provided by both parties the District Consumer Court in New Delhi rejected the arguments made by the manufacturer that the discoloration was due to pollution. While going through the arguments, the Court also noticed that the complainant was not adhering to certain guidelines that were mentioned in the Car Owner’s Manual and the parts were replaced by the opposite party as a goodwill gesture and not as a recognition of a defect in the car parts.

Also Read: Scooter crashes into Rs 12 crore Mclaren 765 LT supercar in Bengaluru [Video]

It was also found that in an email communication, the manufacturer tried to put the blame on the customer as he washed his vehicle with water on a daily basis and applied car products that are not recommended by the manufacturer. After analyzing the case, the Consumer Court ruled a judgment in favor of the customer. The court asked Kia Motors and Frontier Automobiles Pvt. Ltd. to pay Rs 70,000 as compensation to the customer for delivering a car with a defect. The manufacturer is asked to pay the amount to the customer within 2 months’ time. If the manufacturer fails to pay the sum in the above-mentioned time, an interest of 7 percent per annum would be levied until its realization. Recently we also came across another case from Surat where a consumer court had asked a private insurance company to buy a customer a brand new Maruti Ertiga after the declined customer’s claim.

Consumer court cases against car manufacturers and judgments in favor of the consumers have now become a lot more common phenomena in India. The latest incident comes from Delhi where a customer who bought a brand new Kia Seltos SUV faced issues with some of the panels on the vehicle. The customer who was not satisfied with the response from the manufacturer took things to the court and made the manufacturer pay Rs 70,000 for his issue.

Also Read: Maruti Suzuki To Launch 8 New Cars Over The Next 4 Years: Details

The customer who faced this issue is Sameer Varma who bought a brand new Kia Seltos SUV. After purchasing the SUV, the customer noticed that the SUV started showing rust on some of the panels. The rust was visible on the chrome parts of the SUV. The customer who bought this SUV new was devastated after seeing rust on his car and got in touch with the dealership for resolution. He got in touch with the authorized dealership to get the issue fixed using cleaning and repairing methods.

However, the issue persisted. The customer who was not satisfied with the results then took things to the court and filed a case against Kia Motors and the authorized dealer. The case was registered back in 2020. The customer said that the issue that he faced on his vehicle was due to the poor quality of the material used on the vehicle. The respondents or the manufacturer, however, had a different story to justify their part. They blamed the use of unauthorized cleaning products and environmental factors like pollution and hard water were the cause for this issue. The manufacturer, in fact, blamed Delhi’s pollution as a reason for rusted chrome parts.

The court listened to the comments made by both parties and after examining evidence, action, and response provided by both parties the District Consumer Court in New Delhi rejected the arguments made by the manufacturer that the discoloration was due to pollution. While going through the arguments, the Court also noticed that the complainant was not adhering to certain guidelines that were mentioned in the Car Owner’s Manual and the parts were replaced by the opposite party as a goodwill gesture and not as a recognition of a defect in the car parts.

Also Read: Scooter crashes into Rs 12 crore Mclaren 765 LT supercar in Bengaluru [Video]

It was also found that in an email communication, the manufacturer tried to put the blame on the customer as he washed his vehicle with water on a daily basis and applied car products that are not recommended by the manufacturer. After analyzing the case, the Consumer Court ruled a judgment in favor of the customer. The court asked Kia Motors and Frontier Automobiles Pvt. Ltd. to pay Rs 70,000 as compensation to the customer for delivering a car with a defect. The manufacturer is asked to pay the amount to the customer within 2 months’ time. If the manufacturer fails to pay the sum in the above-mentioned time, an interest of 7 percent per annum would be levied until its realization. Recently we also came across another case from Surat where a consumer court had asked a private insurance company to buy a customer a brand new Maruti Ertiga after the declined customer’s claim.