Kerala: Maker-dealer nexus alleged in vehicle sale with fake year of manufacture
The Chengannur Regional Transport Office (RTO) had recently booked four dealers.
Alappuzha: Sale of vehicles with fake manufacturing date is rampant in arts if the state. The Chengannur Regional Transport Office (RTO) recently booked four car dealers for not providing details in Form 21 and 22, which should contain details including the month and year of manufacturing. Many cheat customers omitting them while uploading online. Joint RTO Shibu K. Itty said the RTO officials realised the fraud when they corroborated the data in the sales letter (Form 21) and what provided by dealers. He said he would send a report to government to make customers aware of cheating.
“A 2016 model could reach them in the first month. So it is 12 months old,” he said. “When you pay for a brand new car, it’s the dealer’s responsibility to ensure it’s new. Automakers around the world use a vehicle identification number that can be decoded to know the month and year. Each vehicle has a unique VIN usually stamped within the engine bay, or passenger compartment.”
The RTO handed over cases against two dealers in Kottayam and two in Pathanamthitta to the Chengannur police which charged them under IPC 420 (cheating) and 465 (forgery). “Dealers usually have a particular type of financing called floor-planning. There’s some daily cost to the seller for vehicles remaining in the lot. It will incur interest or loss of credits. So they sell the older ones first," he said.