Dealer sells customer a fake Rapid Black edition sedan: Skoda replaces it with a new car

A Skoda dealership in Bangalore sold a regular Skoda Rapid to a customer saying that it is the limited edition Black Package car and after 3 years, Skoda has finally given a brand new Skoda Rapid Monte Carlo to the customer. In a bizarre incident, Team-BHP member Suhas Manjunath decided to buy a brand-new car in 2016 and he chose the Skoda Rapid over others because of its superior build quality and affordable price tag. However, he decided to inquire about the limited edition Black Package Skoda Rapid in Bangalore. After a dealership told him that they don’t have the Black Package Rapid, Suhas went to Vinayak Skoda. He was told that they have the Skoda Rapid Black Package in stock and they have only one car in stock, which is why the customer should hurry.

Suhas bought the Skoda Rapid 1.6 MT Black Package in Candy White colour from Vinayak Skoda after finalising the discounts. The car was sold for Rs 11.8 lakh, on-road price and Suhas paid Rs 20,000 as the booking amount on 14th October 2016. On 18th October, the dealer asked for Rs 30,000 more to produce a proforma invoice and fully block the car. On the same day, he paid the Rs 30,000 demanded by the dealership and got his loan approved too. On 24th October, the dealer said that the car will be ready for delivery on 26th October. However, he finally received the Rapid on 31st October.

On 31st October, Suhas received the car but found out that the price on the documents does not match the price told by the dealer. On the tax invoice, Suhas found out that there is a difference of around Rs 48,000 as the dealer has put an ex-showroom price of Rs 9.24,740 instead of Rs. 9,72,617 as mentioned by the dealership. He also found out that on the documents, the limited edition or Black Package was not mentioned alongside the name of the car. The dealership asked him to come back on 2nd November due to the public holiday on the days in between. Nonetheless, due to the price difference mentioned by the dealership, Suhas was offered a debit note of Rs 67,605 in total but he did not take the amount the same day. However, after a few heated arguments with the dealership, the officials of the bank had a direct conversation with the dealership people and accepted the debit note.

Suhas was still unaware of how genuine the car was and on 18th November 2016, he found out that the headlamp’s flash and high beam are not working. Since none of the documents mentions the Black Package, he called up the dealership and told them about the malfunction he is facing. The dealership edited the tax invoice and sent him a copy where the “Black Package” gets mentioned and they ask him to share the same invoice with the service centre too.

He visited the showroom on 27th December but the technicians were unable to find out the problem. They asked for 8-10 days to figure out the problems and asked Suhas to use the car normally. On January 6th, the service centre showed them how the regular Skoda Rapid headlamps are working alright with the car but the projector lamps that are offered with black package are not working. This is when Suhas realised that the dealership changed a few parts in the car and replaced them with the parts that are available only with the black package version to sell the car as a limited edition vehicle. Suhas was told on 20th January by the dealership that they are ordering specially made headlamps for his car but Suhas checked the VIN of his car on MySkoda app, which showed that his car is a regular version, not the limited edition.

Suhas filed the case with consumer court for unfair trade practices and cheating. After a long battle in court, earlier this year, a settlement was reached between Skoda and Suhas where a new car was to be given to him. Suhas also faced a lot of trouble during the case and Skoda even claimed that they have delivered the new car to Suhas towards the end. Suhas even rejected a few cars showed to him in the end as a settlement vehicle as they had deep scratches on the body. The court ordered Skoda to get new set of cars for Suhas and close the case. On 19th March, Suhas did a Pre-delivery inspection of the car he was expecting to get and on 23rd March, he finally took the delivery of the car. On 27th March, all the parties fighting the legal battle filed a document mentioning the issue has been settled.