Used Car Market and Wheels of E-commerce

You are not an intermediary sir

Whooof was the sound of a young lawyer’s breath hearing this

Flashback: In the scorching heat I was waiting for my turn to appear before the bench, the other party was not in yet, so I decided to take a seat and observe the court

In called an interesting matter and two nicely dressed counsels appeared and started giving submissions.

Sir, we are an aggregator just an intermediary, complainant should have made the vehicle manufacturer as party because they are supposed to honour the product commitment and not us

One of the lawyers handed over the prints of appropriate sections and news clippings from the print media while the colleague was making submissions before the bench it felt like a clear case where producer/ manufacturer should have been made party.

Presiding Officer, seemed quite convinced with the submissions and said will wait to hear other party, at his turn was a young lawyer who gave submissions.

Sir, since the day I purchased the vehicle, it is having an issue which was brought to the notice of the seller immediately, however at that time seller gave reasons like it’s a sound from rear rim and we will get it fixed before giving you the delivery of the vehicle, you can go ahead and book it

Sir, over the period of time, the situation of my vehicle has deteriorated, it is no more fit to be driven and till date seller/ portal is not addressing the issue, hence I was constrained to approach the consumer forum.

However, in the whole submission missing part was portals responsibility towards buyer as they were claiming immunity of intermediary and PO had already dealt with similar issues wherein platforms like amazon, flipkart were party and they successfully absolved the responsibility of customer service, this moment complainant counsel sought permission of the court to check back his file and bench said will hear it post lunch.

I waved to the counsel and hesitantly he opens up to discuss the matter, initially he thought I am taking information, to give him comfort I said I am inhouse legal counsel for a transporter and at times we deal with situations facing – stolen vehicle, accidental vehicles, vehicle used for crimes, warranty scams etc. since we also provide legal services to ecommerce companies, I think I can help you if you are OK

Briefly conversation went like:

Question – is this new vehicle or old?

Answer – it’s a used vehicle

Question – did you purchase vehicle from individual, dealer or company?

Answer – I purchased this from a vehicle selling platform

Question – which platform you purchased this vehicle from?

Answer – s.xxxx…. (Name of platform)

Question – who did you made payment to?

Question – was there any test report given to you, any warranty?

Answer – 100+ test report and return warranty of 90 days

We discussed and worked on points in note book and also shared couple of print outs since I also work as retainer lawyer with couple of companies with similar businesses, post lunch when the matter was called, it went briefly like

Sir, I purchased vehicle in question from s….xxxxxx platform which is not only an aggregator it has two business models which will be governed by two set of rules

• Rule 1 – s….xxxx permits user to use platform as an aggregator platform, wherein users posts their products with an asking price and deals directly with the customer, in here platform charges a fee from the seller (user) for post, with that they clearly mention in their terms and conditions to the buyers as to be careful while dealing with sellers and check their genuineness before making and money transfers, and responsibility of the condition of the vehicle etc. shall be govern by seller directly in short “caveat emptor”
• 2) Rule 2 – s…xxxxx has a department which actually buys vehicle from users, by the virtue of them having access to the database created on their platform, there are many filters working on their platform, with algorithms based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) they have a fair idea on customer behaviour, their demographics as to what sort of demand is coming in market, people are spending money on what type of vehicle etc. if a particular vehicle is posted on their platform and same falls in their filter they immediately negotiate a deal with the seller and buys the vehicle.

s…xxxxx and similar platforms being funded by investors loaded with cash to burn, within this they do two types of transactions wherein they close deal with seller and transfer a token amount to seller with a condition to transfer balance with 15/21 days and get the vehicle directly transferred to the new buyer.

Now, after purchasing this vehicle they do some 100+ tests on vehicle, recondition it as good as new and post the same on platform with hefty margins, while they post it for sale, they lure customer with an extended warranty, 100+ test assurance, buyback guarantee, insurance, transfer, loan facilitation etc. etc.

While there are many irregularities in this model but the question today is with regards to my client’s purchase whose transaction falls in second category and we were offered the warranty documents, payment details to s…xxxxx and ownership lies with platform only, my client is simply asking for proper service to the vehicle.

Now, presiding officer was clear and said to the counsel team of s….xxxx we are reserving an order with a liberty for you to settle the matter otherwise it could cost you more, since

You are not an intermediary sir…………!