Dealers of pre-owned vehicles go on strike in Coimbatore

Dealers of pre-owned vehicles across Tamil Nadu, including Coimbatore, downed shutters for a day on January 30, 2025.

C.S. Venkatesh, joint secretary of the Coimbatore Pre Owned Dealers’ Association, said that moving from spot fines to online levy of penalties for violation of road rules has hit business for the dealers for the last six months. 

According to Mr. Venkatesh, the fine for drunk driving is ₹13,000. This does not reflect in all the vehicle mobile applications. “We get to know about such penalties only when we go to the RTO for vehicle registration. Neither the seller nor the buyer will bear this cost, and the dealer pays it,” he said. 

Of the 20-25 pre-owned vehicles sold by a dealer in Coimbatore in a month, there are such problems in at least 10 vehicles. In some cases, the penalty goes up to ₹15,000 a vehicle. 

The dealers are unable to get adequate finances too because of this problem. Hence, they decided to down shutters for a day. If the government does not modify the system, the dealers will continue the protests, he added.