Online dealer point registration will ensure faster registration of vehicles without the customer being duped by transparency in the money charged.
It isn’t startling that dealerships at various levels tend to extract the maximum out of a customer in the name of hidden costs, depot charges, overheads and even during the vehicle registration process. While a hard bargain can compensate for these hidden costs with the dealerships, there is very little you can do about the registration process that just happens to be the dealer’s prerogative. However, to prevent the customers from being duped of their hard earned money, the transport authority has launched the online dealer point registration system in order to ensure transparency in the entire registration process.
Apart from the ex-showroom price and VAT, there is also an additional Rs. 300/- charge known as RTO charges that is known to be elevated by dealers, thereby extracting the same from the buyers. In addition, another issue common with dealers is the late payment of the registration fees. If a vehicle is not registered within 7 days of purchase, the RTO attracts a late fee penalty of 5 percent of the cost of the vehicle. In most cases, it is the dealer who is at fault, but leads to the customer paying the additional penalty amount instead. The new online dealer point registration process makes sure that malpractices like these are curbed and accounted for.
Online registration does not allow scope for malpractices as dealers cannot claim amounts they cannot justify later. It will also stop major corruption issues including the RTO staff and dealer nexus, hoarding of buyers’ money as well as overcharging by dealers. However, online dealer point registration is still not mandated by the transport authority and one can only urge the dealerships to register themselves. In Lucknow, only 24 of 56 dealers have registered with the RTO for online registration with most of them dealing into four-wheelers.
The situation is similar in other cities as well. Most buyers are not even aware of such a system and usually go on the dealer’s word for the registration process. Therefore, it is essential that customers ask for online registration from the dealer. The RTO provides every dealer who has registered with a username and password to access the transport department portal completing all the details including form submission, insuring the vehicle and realizing the cost of the vehicle online, while the RTO provides only the registration number. The process ensures that the money is deposited with the RTO within 7 days of purchase with the entire process taking lesser time than usual.
Source – Economic Times
