Repair delays drive Gujarat man to sue Italian car maker Maserati | Ahmedabad News – Times of India

AHMEDABAD: A disgruntled Maserati Quattroporte owner sued the Italian luxury sports car manufacturer and its Indian dealer, alleging delay in repairs.
National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission issued a notice to the company, its dealer and service provider after the car owner, Devin Gawarvala, a resident of Gandhinagar, sought a refund of the price he paid for the car — Rs 2.02 crore, along with Rs 60 lakh compensation for the harassment he faced due to the delay in repairs and service.
According to his complaint filed through Advocate Arjun Sheth, Gawarvala bought the car in August 2022. After a month, the car met with a minor accident with an autorickshaw in Ahmedabad’s traffic. A team of experts from Mumbai came down for the car’s inspection and conveyed to him that the car would need to be taken to the Mumbai workshop. It was taken to Mumbai for the repairs, and Gawarvala began losing his patience because it took 107 days for the dealer to bring parts from Italy and repair the car.
When the car was being repaired in the Mumbai workshop, its fuel flap housing got damaged during the repair. The car was returned to its owner with instructions that the remaining repair work, as well as the service, would be provided at a workshop in Ahmedabad – Bhaskara Fiat.
Gawarvala was already disappointed with the delay in repairs and was flabbergasted when he took his car to the workshop in Ahmedabad. In his complaint, he stated that “the said workshop was also used for repairing auto rickshaws and non-luxury cars where the said car (Maserati) was suggested to be serviced.” He claimed that this workshop “by no stretch of imagination has any capability to repair/maintain a Maserati.”
Gawarvala sent a legal notice to the company and the local dealer in December 2023, raising his grievances about the repairs and service. The dealer responded to his notice twice, but he filed a complaint with the consumer commission citing 30 different grounds for seeking a refund and compensation, including the car manufacturer’s operations in India, by which the services provided are not only monopolised but also not competitive, he claimed.
The car owner contended that the service by the Italian company is such that for the two-year ownership period, he had possession of the vehicle for five months only. For the rest of the period, the vehicle remained in the workshops.
In the alternative of a refund, Gawarvala has prayed for quick repair and service of his car, along with directions to the company to make widespread “corrective advertisement” setting out the long time they take in repairing and servicing the cars in India.
The commission has sought a reply from the car manufacturer and dealer and posted a hearing on March 3, 2025, Advocate Sheth said.