Consumer Court To Tata Motors, Dealer: Pay Rs. 30,000 To Nexon Owner For Causing Mental Agony
Reports of customers approaching consumer courts to resolve their vehicle-related issues are on the rise. The latest reports come from Chandigarh, where the consumer court has asked a Tata Motors dealer to pay Rs 30,000 to a customer for causing mental agony after he was sold a Tata Nexon car with several defects.
The customer, Durgesh Kumar Jha, had filed a case against Tata Motors Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, and RSA Dynamic Motors LLP, Chandigarh, a Tata Motors authorized dealer. The customer told the court that he bought a car from the dealership on March 25, 2022. He bought the Tata Nexon XM(S) petrol variant.
The customer took a loan of Rs 9.04 lakh from HDFC Bank for this purpose. The cost of the car was Rs 8.96 lakh. The dealer had also offered him accessories worth Rs 55,400. The customer has been paying an EMI of Rs 13,769 since then. The customer alleged that the dealership had sold him a car with defects.
Jha mentioned that after buying the car, he observed a technical error flashing on the instrument cluster of his brand new SUV. The EMS alert light continued to remain on. The customer raised this issue with the dealer. He also informed the dealer that the scuff plates on his car were not installed.
He also found that the music system in his car was not working properly. Just a month after he bought the car, in April 2022, the engine of this Tata Nexon was replaced. Three months after that, the customer found issues with the door, leading to more replacements. The customer was actually fed up with constant issues in his vehicle.
In response to the claims made by the customer, Tata Motors stated that the vehicle didn’t have any issues, as evidenced by the fact that the customer had already driven the car for 12,000 km. Issues related to the music system and central locking were arising due to road conditions and vehicle usage.
The Tata Motors dealer, RSA Dynamic, also told the court that the customer had not faced any major problems after the engine was replaced. The dealership also added that the complainant had gotten the vehicle serviced from another agency at least three times.
Looking at the evidence and facts put forward by both parties, the commission said, “Since, after the purchase of the new vehicle, it gave many problems and the complainant had to visit the workshop of OP No.1 many times, he needs to be compensated for the mental agony and harassment for non-use of the vehicle many times during the warranty period.”
The court then directed the opposition parties to pay compensation of Rs 30,000 to the customer for the mental agony and harassment that the vehicle had caused him.
Not the first time
This is not the first time a case like this has come up in the news. Recently, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission-II, Hyderabad, had ordered car manufacturer Toyota to pay a customer compensation of Rs. 5 lakh along with a full refund of Rs. 45.57 lakh after the dealer failed to deliver the customer the vehicle that he booked.
Consumer courts do not only rule in favor of the customer. Recently, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission set aside an order passed by the State Commission directing Honda to pay ₹1 lakh as compensation for non-deployment of airbags in the car at the time of the crash because it was found that the customer was not wearing a seat belt.