Customer goes to cops over 'poor mileage' of car

A city-based businessman has gone to the police against the makers of Jeep cars, saying he was sold a “faulty” SUV which returns a “ridiculously poor” mileage. The company has denied the charge and asserted that there’s no fault with the car.

Shashikumar R, a resident of JP Nagar, stated in the police complaint that when he purchased the Jeep Compass Limited (Black) from a dealer in Yeshwantpur on November 30, 2018, the salespeople promised that the SUV would run 16 kilometres per litre of petrol. He paid Rs 26.32 lakh for the car.

But the mileage is not more than 5 kmpl, he claimed. He had to foot hefty fuel bills because of the “poor mileage”. He took up the matter with the company’s customer care besides sending emails to senior executives “but did not get a positive response”, he added.

Shashikumar then lodged a complaint with the JP Nagar police. Accordingly, the police have opened a case of cheating and criminal breach of trust among other violations against the CEO of FCA India Automobile Private Limited, a fully-owned direct subsidiary of FCA Italy, which makes cars under the brand Fiat, Abarth and Jeep. Four other executives and the dealer have also been booked.

Speaking to DH, Shashikumar said he had gifted the SUV to his college-going daughter but travelling by car had proved costlier than going by taxi. She has to pay Rs 1,000 a day to travel 50-55 km, he added.

“Since the company and the showroom cheated me, I filed a police complaint,” he said, adding that he has also moved the consumer forum.

The company refuted Shashikumar’s allegations and said its customer care had been in constant touch with him.

It said in an e-mail reply: “Customer satisfaction is our top priority. Our after-sales service team has been in constant touch with this customer. Trained technicians have conducted thorough checks related to the fuel efficiency on the vehicle in question and have also test-driven it along with a representative appointed by the customer. It has been comprehensively demonstrated to the customer that the vehicle is not faulty. In spite of these facts, the customer has chosen to move the honourable court on this matter. Our customer care team, along with the legal department, will be handling this case.”