No More Handling Charges on Tata Nexon, Altroz, Tiago and Harrier

Handling or logistic charges is the amount that a car dealership charges the customer against managing the storage of vehicles and the fuel used during the practice. It, however, violates the terms and condition of trade practices. Therefore, if a customer complaints to the courts, the trade certificates of the dealership can be cancelled. At times, a lot of customers have raised voice against this illegal practice of the dealers in various courts of the country and the results have been in the favour of customers only. Although it is a bit late now, Tata Motors has silently removed the column of handling and logistic charges from their price list.

As a result, all Tata cars – Tiago, Tigor, Altroz, Nexon, and Harrier, now see a price reduction of up to Rs. 9,500. It has been calculated that till date, dealerships across the nation have collected over Rs. 550 Crores in total in the form of handling or logistic charges since 1999. Recently, when a petition was filed against the handling charges, dealer’s lawyer – Sandeep Sethi (Senior Advocate) argued that these charges were levied against the extra services provided by the dealership to the consumers. He added, it includes the cost of storing the cars and transporting them at and to the stockyards. The lawyer further claimed that these charges include the cost of petrol that is provided during the delivery of new cars.

Acting upon which, Bench reverted, “What do is it mean that you charge for petrol? Do you expect a buyer to put his car in his pocket and walk up to the petrol bunk, or should he tow it? Since you sell a product that runs on fuel, you cannot sell it without any. Why can’t you just deliver it to the customer’s home then?”

In general, handling charges are illegal practices that dealerships are a part of is confirmed by various car manufacturers at times. However, with this move of Tata Motors, we can adhere to the fact that the deferring of handling or logistic charges come as a respite for the customers.