Own Money – Open Blackmailing by Car Dealers in Pakistan
Own money is an illegal selling practice by car dealers in Pakistan to exploit buyers. When asked from dealers why they practice and propagate such lousy notion in the car market, they say that they don’t have any other area in which they invest their money, so that is why they book cars ahead of their production and earn huge profit. Furthermore, the car dealers also charge customers own money by saying that the money is going to the company, which according to The Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts & Accessories Manufacturers (PAAPAM) former chairman Syed Nabeel Hashmi, who was talking to the press, is utterly wrong.
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Mr. Hashmi further said that car dealers in Pakistan earn additional Rs.150, 000 to Rs.250, 000 money from own money exploitation on each vehicle they sell to the consumer. This additional sum which they have earned is excluded from the profit margin which the automobile manufacturers have given to dealers. On some cars, like the Toyota Fortuner, the own can go up as high as Rs6 lacs.
The other reason why this malpractice is still lingering is due to the long delivery time, which the company offers to its consumers. Some customers have to wait for months to drive their car, so that is why to get the car immediately and on the spot consumers pay own money to car dealers fully knowing that they are being exploited by the dealers.
Customers blame auto manufacturing companies for the expansion of the own money practice; they say that auto manufacturers should develop a fast way to deliver cars so that this malicious practice would end in the country.
On the other hand, the government has devised a strategy to curb the own money practice.
- Introduced a tax on the transfer of vehicle registration
- The record of the ID of all buyers should be recorded
- Non-tax filers to be punished with extra with-holding tax
The government is going all out against the illegal scheme. However, the strategy is still not working because consumers are still buying cars while paying own money to the car dealers in Pakistan. So if consumers want to filter out this dubious practice, they should cooperate with the government with full commitment.
Government’s new auto policy 2016-21 would also help in eradicating own money practice as it will attract foreign auto manufacturers to function in Pakistan, which will fulfill the demand of local consumer and start a more healthy competition between automobile manufacturers.
Aside from government, auto manufacturers have also taken few steps to eradicate own money practice by refusing to book multiple cars on a single CNIC. Most of them are already working on full capacity. There is already so much they can do at least at this point.
But we still have a long way to go. The government has taken some solid steps in order to curb this extrotion but maybe it needs to be a bit more proactive and aggressively campaign against such dealerships.