Owners of flood-hit vehicles decry slow pace of repairs

Accuse workshops of taking them for a ride

The owners of flood-ravaged vehicles awaiting repairs here today alleged that the workshops were taking them for a ride.
As per rough estimates more than 15,000 vehicles have been damaged by worst ever urban floods that hit Kashmir in the first week of September.
As per the owners the slow repair of their vehicles is adding to their woes.
“First it is mental agony to tow a car to workshop. Then the time taken by the workshops in the repair is terribly frustrating,” Muhammad Arjumand Khan, a vehicle owner, who has car pending repairs since September 19 at a workshop in Srinagar.
The owners alleged that at some workshops the mechanics without checking the interiors of vehicles declare that its Engine Control Module (ECM) is damaged which costs more than Rs 15,000.
Shahzaib Qureshi – a vehicle owner: “Pre-floods I had sent my car for servicing at the Hyundai showroom and after that floods hit the showroom in which my car was also submerged.”
He added that about two months have now passed since the floods hit Kashmir, “yet they are to repair my car.”
The common complaints by the flood-hit vehicle owners are: slow pace of repair work, wrong estimations by the mechanics, replacement of parts that actually don’t need any replacement, etc.
“My vehicle (white colour Alto) is grounded at a workshop for last around two months. When I enquire about the reasons for delay, the response from workshop management was that it will take three to four months more,” said Syed Abdul Rouf.
The owners alleged that the workshops have not adequate number of mechanism to cater to the growing rush. “They should have brought mechanics from outside,” they said.
The workshop and vehicle dealers have different tale to tell. “The shortage of spare parts and huge quantity of damaged vehicles coming to us is the reason for the delay,” they reason.
Managing Director, Jamkash Vehicleades Pvt Ltd, Irfan Ahmad said the customers in Kashmir have to be patient as one of the worst urban disasters has hit this part. “Our workshops are not designed to cope with such huge rush of vehicles. Besides, the floodwater has damaged ECMs of cars which otherwise is very rarely damaged. The spare parts are not readily available. We have to procure them from the companies,” he said.
He said that Maruti has sent 100 workers and technicians to Kashmir in order to expedite the repairs of flood-hit vehicles.
Managing Director, Peaks Auto Private Ltd, Baldev Singh said shortage of spare parts is hampering their work. “However our teams are working round the clock to repair the flood-hit vehicles on priority basis,” Singh said adding that the workload flood-hit vehicles are much higher than our capacity.
“Despite that we have already repaired more than 500 vehicles but more than 1000 vehicles are yet to be repaired which may take some time,” Singh said, adding that in many cases such as Maruti 800 which is not manufactured nowadays, getting the spare parts is a challenge.
A senior executive of Hyundai showroom also blamed the shortage of ECMs and other spare parts for delay in repairing the flood-hit vehicles.

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