Car dealers demand extra payment for quicker delivery
Customers, especially Qataris, claim that car agencies are demanding an extra 20 percent to ensure early delivery of vehicles. “Should you need a timely delivery, pay extra or wait for a few months” seems to be the slogan of agencies.
Customers grumble that they have to wait for up to six months after the launch of a vehicle and say this is happening because of the monopoly of a few car agencies.
When contacted, The Peninsula received mixed reaction from leading agencies. While some denied, some others neither denied nor admitted that they were charging extra 10-20 percent for timely delivery of vehicles, but asked this daily to submit a detailed questionnaire to be responded to later.
Some commentators have written that many agencies are intentionally holding the delivery of latest models of cars, especially the luxury ones. Customers allege that once the limited new models arrive in Qatar, senior employees of some agencies book them in their names and ‘re-sell’ them to some highly excited customers at higher prices.
“Many agencies in Qatar are exploiting customers by denying them the latest models of cars until six months of their official launch. Those who are offering, they charge 10-20 percent extra price compared to the prices in neighbouring markets,” wrote a commentator on a social media forum recently.
A section of potential buyers have complained to the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, urging the Consumer Protection Department to intervene immediately.
“Although these practices are becoming common in the GCC States, in Qatar, they have become rampant,” said another customer.
“Executives at car agencies and dealers should not be allowed to book more than one car in their names unless they are booked for personal use.
“And if they book more than one car, they should not be allowed to sell all of them within the same year. The erring dealers and agencies should be blacklisted,” he said.
However, industry leaders deny the allegations.
“The allegations about holding the latest models of luxury cars for six months or charging extra money are completely baseless. The fact is this is a competitive market and customers will have to deal with both the extremes,” said the manager of a leading car agency.
Another section of Qataris is of the view that customers are to be blamed for the situation. “Why should we be so crazy about buying new cars every year, despite the fact that most of the time the latest models carry the same features or specifications of the previous ones? Changing cars every year is a sheer wastage of money,” they argue.
Read more on The Peninsula
MM haha daily 8hrs in bars??? are you stalking him how do you know that??? were you guys friends once upon a time?? can i have half your liver khalli? if its detoxing all that skimmed milk, it will surely detox all my mountain dew too :-)
A person who remains daily 8 hrs i.e. 8 PM to 4 AM inside bars { indoors } & still claims loves SUN etc ! That 's separate from sleeping & working of course { in case one works truly } . I don't want to refute the lies of other QLers ....................... Sun, 24.08.2014, 07.33 hrs
wow 20 yrs is a long time in the sun man, you've literally seen the place come up from the desert...i wish it was a colder country with snow and stuff lol..on a cold rainy doha night, driving alone at 4am on the corniche; in that moment, i like to imagine there isn't a happier person in the city than me :-)
wow khalli! you love all the s in Qatar! ..... sun, sand, sea, s . . ! ^_^
khalli, you only love the sun and the sand of Qatar... *_*
that other section of qataris mentioned at the end of the article are the qataris that will play an active role in the development of this country; i reserve a special kind of hatred for the qatar dealerships and their greedy policies; but i agree that the consumers play a huge role in emboldening the agencies and encouraging their behaviour; i remember people paying up to 700000 rials to be first in line when the nissan gtr was launched in 2007...the actual price was well under 400000 riyals...the toyota dealership won't even give you the part numbers for spare parts because they fear you will buy the parts much cheaper online and not pay the criminally high prices they charge; unless these monopolistic practices are not curbed, the business environment in qatar will never reach the sophistication of even dubai, let alone the rest of the world; they even monopolize the franchises of international brands so that no one else can compete with them; what are they scared of? that someone will do a better job? well then improve yourself you cowards and not shut others out of the market...its like usain bolt asking to be the only one allowed to wear running shoes and the others to wear lead shoes....face your competition, don't run from it...if any qatari reads this and wants to attack me for saying this, well my friend, i love you and this country more than you ever could and hate anyone or anything that holds it back from reaching its sky high potential...its a great country being held back by a few arcane policies and i wish for nothing more than to see qatar prove everyone wrong and succeed and become a truly developed nation..rant over..