Volkswagen Polo worth Rs 11 lakh gets damaged, garage asks owner to pay Rs 22 lakh: Here`s WHY?

A Volkswagen Polo recently got an estimated cost of repair of Rs 22 lakh for a car that he bought for around Rs 11 lakh.

German cars are known to offer a stupendous driving experience, but horror stories from their service centres have been constant. Although there are affordable German cars on sale in the Indian market, their ownership cost still remains high. Well, a recent incident from Bengaluru is apt at backing the aforementioned statement. A Volkswagen Polo owner in Bengaluru was recently handed over an estimated repair cost of Rs 22 lakh. Taken aback by shock, the owner Anirudh Ganesh, took it to LinkedIn to share his ordeals. Anirudh owns a Volkswagen Polo TSI, which was damaged by floods during the recent Bengaluru floods.

The owner gave his car for repairs to Volkswagen Apple Auto in Whitefield. He added, no one from the service centre showed up to help him load the car on the tow truck. After the car had spent close to 20 days at the service centre, Anirudh received a repair estimate of Rs 22 lakh. The owner then reached out to his insurance service provider - Acko, who replied that the car will be written off as a total loss. While the owner might have thought that his struggles would come to an end now, the workshop presented him with a bill of Rs 44,840 for estimating the repair cost and parking charges.

Thankfully, after reaching out to Volkswagen, he could settle it out for Rs 5,000 as the upper limit for estimation cost is only Rs 5,000. However, service centres often charge more from customers, since the estimation document is required to generate insurance claims. Failing to provide one, insurance companies will not initiate a claim. Therefore, workshops try to enjoy an upper hand with customers by charging exorbitantly high amounts in the name of estimation cost, although the maximum prescribed value for the same is Rs 5,000 only.