In a rare incident, a service centre in Bengaluru recently gave a customer an estimate of Rs 22 lakh to repair a Volkswagen Polo hatchback that cost the customer Rs 11 lakh.
Anirudh Ganesh described the incident on LinkedIn. He said that the recent flooding in Bengaluru had damaged his car. The car got fully submerged in waters, following which he sent his car to Volkswagen Apple Auto in Whitefield.
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He said, "My car got damaged due to the Bangalore floods. In the peak of the rain, I got the car out and sent it to the Apple Auto Whitefield showroom, where I had to push my car onto a towing truck in waist-deep water at 11 pm. No one to help but we middle-class people are tough. Karlete hai kisi tarah."
He claimed that, despite this, his nightmare was far from over because, after about 20 days, the service centre sent him a repair estimate for 22 lakh. He also shared that his insurance company, Acko, advised him that the car would be written off as a total loss and that they would pick it up from the repair shop.
But to his surprise, the repair centre insisted him to pay Rs. 44,840 to collect his car from them. Mr. Ganesh was informed by the Volkswagen repair shop that this cost was necessary in order to release paperwork regarding the damage the automobile had sustained.
Later, after speaking with Volkswagen India, he learned that the fee was 5,000, which he ultimately paid.
"Volkswagen India team (Mr.Sumanth and Ms.Poonam) have spoken and said that prices in such scenario will be set to the upper limit of Rs.5000 for estimation/storage for car owners in total loss cases. I hope this information helps everyone," Mr Ganesh added. He added that on September 26 he finally received his car back.
"The dealership ensured the same price to all other customers as well and as per my understanding, VW is charging the same across Bangalore now," Me Ganesh shared on LinkedIn.
The article has received hundreds of comments after becoming viral.
