Own money is an illegal selling practice by car dealers in Pakistan to exploit buyers. When asked from dealers why they practice and propagate such lousy notion in the car market, they say that they don’t have any other area in which they invest their money, so that is why they book cars ahead of their production and earn huge profit. Furthermore, the car dealers also charge customers own money by saying that the money is going to the company.
If you book a car in Pakistan, it takes 5-8 months on average to reach your doorstep. So to avoid delays and cut short the delivery time, customers pay a ‘premium’ (own rate) on top of the price of the car. This practice by dealers is unethical and spiteful since dealers and auto manufacturers take advantage of customers by overcharging them in the name of premium.
Despite some efforts by Indus Motors Company (IMC) to reduce and diminish this “premium” practice, dealers are still charging customers extra money. IMC canceled orders of 1300 booked cars recently and gave a refund to the customers involved in this so-called premium scam. However, many Toyota cars are still being sold on premium and in fact, it has hit an all-time high in terms of value.
Not just Toyota, dealers for all local cars have put a premium on almost all major models.
We also investigated the current situation of car own money on different car dealers in one of the city in Pakistan, it starts from Rs 30,000 (Mehran) up to Rs 250,000 for Toyota.
We also tried to do a car finance from one of the private banks and they also told us there is own money involved but still it will take time from 20 days to 30 days for the car to reach our doorsteps. We were trying to book Toyota XLi 1.3, after getting all information we were actually paying an equal amount of down payment for own money and taxes.
I was unable to understand one point, WHY CAR COMPANIES LIKE TOYOTA, SUZUKI AND HONDA are not delivering cars to the customer instead of dealers to avoid middlemen that will increase companies sale and cars will be available on actual prices. The idea of cars delivery by these big brands is not a new thing. These brands are doing same in other countries like UAE (Dubai), India, KSA etc.
Banks finance teams are also involved in this game to get more top up money from the buyer.
We also talked to one of the companies support center on phone to get their views on own money and they told us we discourage this practice but we can’t provide you with more information.
Since Pakistani courts are so active to actions on public issues, this can be a big case involving big car brands and automotive business.
Tags: car own money in pakistan, car rates in pakistan for 2018, Own money, Premium rates in pakistan
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