Finding the defect is the easy part. The hard part is the next ninety seconds, standing in a delivery bay with a garland on the bonnet and your family taking photos.
What follows is what to say, who to say it to, and which of the dealer’s answers are actually fair. Because some of them are.
Most articles on this hand you a set of lines to deliver and tell you to hold firm. That advice fails for a reason nobody mentions: the person standing in front of you almost certainly cannot give you what you are asking for, no matter how well you ask.
Delivery bays are staffed by delivery executives. Their job is to hand over keys, explain the infotainment and take a photo of you with the car. They cannot authorise body shop work. They cannot allocate a different unit. They cannot approve a discount. Reciting a firm script at them produces an apologetic face and nothing else, and then you have spent your composure on the wrong person.
So before the words, three things.
One: work out who can actually say yes
Indian dealerships separate sales and service almost completely. This matters more than anything else in this article, because the classic brush-off you have heard about is usually not a brush-off at all.
| Who | What they can actually approve |
|---|---|
| Delivery executive | Nothing. They hand over the car. Be pleasant to them; they are not your obstacle. |
| Sales consultant | Nothing directly, but this is your route upward. They have a stake in you signing today. |
| Sales manager | Can hold delivery, can sometimes allocate a different unit, can approve accessories or small commercial gestures. |
| Service or works manager | The only person who can authorise actual repair work and open a job card. For anything involving paint, panels, fluids or electricals, this is who you need. |
| Dealer principal | Owns the dealership and answers to the manufacturer on customer satisfaction scores. Reserve for a genuine standoff. |
Here is what that changes. When a salesperson says “we will sort it at first service,” he is often not fobbing you off. He is telling you, in the only words available to him, that he has no authority to get a body shop technician to touch your car today.
Which means the correct response is not to argue with him. It is to ask him to bring someone who can.
Almost nobody asks for this. It works far more often than arguing does, and it takes the pressure off the person in front of you, which makes him an ally rather than a wall.
Two: know where you are in the process
Your position changes sharply depending on whether the car has been registered yet. The full mechanics are in the refusing delivery guide, but the short version matters here.
Section 41 of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930 says you are not deemed to have accepted goods until you have had a reasonable opportunity to examine them, and that the seller is bound, on request, to give you that opportunity. Section 42 says you are deemed to have accepted them when you do any act inconsistent with the seller still owning them.
Registering a car in your own name is difficult to describe as anything else. So every script below assumes one thing: you are having this conversation before registration is completed, not after. After, the same words carry a fraction of the weight.
Three: decide what kind of problem this actually is
Not everything you find is worth stopping delivery over, and treating a swirl mark like a fraud is how you burn the credibility you will need if you find something that actually matters.
I use three tiers.
The test I apply: would this be hard or expensive to prove and get fixed once the car is registered in my name? If yes, it gets resolved now. If any service centre will handle it in twenty minutes next Tuesday, take the car and get the promise in writing.
The sentence that does most of the work
You are not going to make a speech and you should not try. One calm sentence, and then the hardest part.
Then stop talking. Do not fill the silence. The pause is doing more work than any additional sentence you could add, and the first person to speak after it is usually the one who concedes something.
Three things about that sentence.
It removes the threat. The dealership’s worst case is a cancelled booking and a unit going back to stock. Take that off the table in the first breath and you stop being a problem to be managed and become a problem to be solved.
It asks for a joint act. “Can we note it down together” is much harder to refuse than “give me this in writing,” which sounds like the opening move in a legal dispute and makes people defensive.
It does not name a remedy. Say what you found, not what you want, and let them propose first. Their opening offer is frequently better than what you were about to ask for.
The joint note, which is the actual point
Everything else in this article is preparation for producing one piece of paper. If you leave with nothing written down, you have a memory of a promise, and memories lose to paperwork.
A joint note is not a legal document and does not need to look like one. A page from your notebook, photographed, with both signatures, does the job. It should contain:
Be clear with yourself about what the note does and does not do. If you take the car on the strength of a written promise, you have still accepted it. The note does not reverse that. What it does is turn a disputed conversation into a documented one, which is the difference between a service centre saying “we have no record of that” and a service centre opening a job card.
Photograph everything before you leave, with the chassis plate in frame where you can manage it. Photographs taken at the dealership are far harder to dispute than photographs taken in your parking spot at home.
Scripts by problem
Paint scratches and swirl marks
Establish depth before you say anything. Run a fingernail lightly across it. If it catches, it is through the clear coat and it is a repair, not a polish. If it does not catch, it is almost certainly swirl marks from a dirty wash cloth and it will buff out.
Asking what they would do, rather than demanding a specific fix, gets you a technical answer instead of a commercial one.
What to be wary of is a touch-up pen being produced on the spot. Touch-up is a cosmetic cover, not a repair, and on a car being sold to you as new it is the wrong answer. A proper repair means the panel goes to the body shop.
Paint that does not match between panels
Check in daylight, at an angle, not under the showroom’s lights. Look along the length of the car rather than straight at it. Metallic and pearl finishes are where mismatches show.
Ask it as a question, not an accusation. And ask for the answer in writing whichever way it goes, because a written “no” is worth having if the paint later proves otherwise.
Transit damage is common and repairing it is not itself scandalous. Not telling you is the problem, and Section 2(11) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 expressly includes deliberately withholding relevant information from a consumer within the definition of deficiency in service.
If a panel has been reworked and nobody mentioned it, I would ask for a different unit rather than a discount. You are going to look at that panel every day for eight years.
Fluid leaks and engine noise
Separate these two, because one of them is much more serious than the other.
A puddle of clear water under the passenger side is air conditioning condensate. It is completely normal and the dealer telling you so is telling you the truth. Anything coloured, anything with a smell, anything that feels oily between your fingers is not.
This is one of the few cases where naming the outcome up front is right. A leak on a new car is not a negotiation.
Engine noise is harder, and I would be careful about certainty here. Some noises really do change over the first few thousand kilometres, and diesel and turbo-petrol engines make sounds that alarm people who have driven neither. What is not normal is a knock, a metallic tap that rises with revs, or a noise that appeared while you were standing there. If you are unsure, ask them to start an identical unit in the same bay and listen to both.
Tyres
Every tyre carries a four digit DOT code on the sidewall. The first two digits are the week, the last two the year. So 2226 means the twenty-second week of 2026.
Compare that against the manufacture date on the driver’s door jamb sticker. A small gap is normal and expected. A large one means the tyres sat somewhere before they were fitted, or the car sat somewhere after.
Rubber ages whether or not the car moves, so this is worth checking even though it feels pedantic.
Sidewall damage is different in kind. A cut, a bulge or a gouge on the sidewall is a structural fault and cannot be repaired. Ask for a replacement and watch it fitted. Do not accept a spare being swapped in as a permanent answer.
VIN or engine number mismatch
This is the one that ends the conversation.
The chassis number stamped on the car must match the tax invoice, Form 21, Form 22 and the insurance policy. All of them. If any one disagrees with the others, you are looking at a paperwork problem that becomes yours the moment the car is registered.
“It’s a typo, we’ll correct it in the RC” is not an acceptable answer. Correcting a chassis number after registration is a long administrative process, and it will be you doing it, not them.
The excuses, and which of them are fair
Most articles list these and tell you to reject all of them. That is bad advice, because several are sometimes true, and a buyer who rejects a true explanation loses standing for the rest of the conversation.
| What they say | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| “It’s normal from transport” | Often true as to how it happened. Irrelevant as to whether you accept it. Transport damage is the dealer’s problem, not yours. |
| “We’ll sort it at first service” | Usually means the person speaking has no authority to open a job card today. Ask for the service manager rather than arguing. |
| “It’s just condensation” | True if the fluid is clear water under the passenger side. Not true of anything coloured or oily. |
| “All new engines sound like that” | Sometimes true, particularly with diesels and small turbo-petrols. Ask to hear an identical unit rather than taking it on trust. |
| “That’s within factory tolerance” | Panel gaps do have tolerances. The test is whether the same gap on the other side of the car looks the same. |
| “It’ll settle after break-in” | Plausible for some mechanical noise. Never true of a leak, a warning light, or anything electrical. |
| “We’ll give you a free service instead” | A commercial answer to a technical problem. Sometimes reasonable for a minor cosmetic issue. Never adequate for anything structural. |
The muhurat problem
This is the part that decides most of these conversations, and I have not seen anyone write about it.
A great many deliveries in India are scheduled on an auspicious date. The family comes. There is a garland on the bonnet, sweets, a coconut, sometimes a priest. Photographs are being taken. Your parents have taken the day off. Somebody’s grandmother has travelled.
Now find a defect in that room.
The real cost of saying no is not the delay or the paperwork. It is standing in front of fifteen people you love and being the one who ruined the day. Dealerships know this perfectly well. Nobody says it out loud, and nobody has to.
The fix is not to be braver. It is to not be in that room in the first place.
Inspect the car a day or two before the muhurat, at the stockyard, on your own. Take delivery on the auspicious date as planned. The date matters for taking possession, not for looking at a vehicle.
Ask for the car to be ready an hour before your slot and tell the family to come at the scheduled time. An hour alone with the car is worth more than any checklist.
A second pair of eyes catches things and changes the dynamic in the room. A crowd does the opposite.
One sentence at home a week earlier. “If something’s wrong with the car we might have to come back another day.” Said in advance it is sensible. Said in the delivery bay it sounds like cold feet.
Do this and the hardest conversation in car buying becomes an ordinary one, because you are having it with a sales manager on a Tuesday afternoon rather than in front of your entire extended family on a Thursday morning.
If they simply refuse
Rare, and it usually dissolves at the first step. Work upward and do not skip rungs, because each one lands better if you can show you tried the one before it.
“That’s fine. Could you email me that, so I have it on record?” In most cases the refusal evaporates here, because nobody wants to write it down.
In that order for anything technical. You want the person who can open a job card before you want the person who can make a commercial gesture.
While you are still standing there. Get a ticket reference before you hang up and note the time. Manufacturers audit dealers on these, and a live ticket changes the room.
By that title. They own the dealership and answer to the manufacturer on satisfaction scores.
1915, or 1800-11-4000, or WhatsApp 8800001915. Formal complaints go through e-Jagriti. The refusing delivery guide covers this properly.
What not to do
Some of this is as important as the scripts.
- Do not raise your voice. The moment it becomes a scene, the dealership’s objective changes from solving your problem to getting you out of the showroom, and those are not the same thing.
- Do not threaten social media in the room. It works, which is exactly why it should be a later step. Used as an opening move it makes you a reputational threat to be contained rather than a customer to be helped.
- Do not accept a cash discount for a structural fault. Money is tempting and it closes the file for them. It does not fix the car and it weakens any later claim, because you were compensated and you agreed.
- Do not complete registration while anything is open. This is the one irreversible step in the whole process.
- Do not go looking for a reason to refuse. New cars have tolerances. A gap is not a defect because it exists, only because it is outside spec or different from the same gap on the other side.
Frequently asked questions
What should I say if I find a scratch on my new car at delivery?
Say what you found and ask for it to be looked at, rather than naming the remedy you want. Something like: I have found a scratch here and I would like it sorted before I take the car, can we note it down together. Then ask for the service manager, because a salesperson cannot authorise body shop work. Check the depth first by running a fingernail across it, since a scratch that does not catch is usually swirl marks that will polish out.
Who should I actually be speaking to at the dealership?
For anything technical, the service or works manager, because they are the only person who can authorise repair work and open a job card. For a different unit or a commercial gesture, the sales manager. The delivery executive handing you the keys cannot approve anything at all, and the sales consultant can only escalate. Asking for the right person is usually more effective than arguing harder with the wrong one.
What excuses should I never accept from a car dealer?
Be careful here, because several common explanations are sometimes true. Clear water under the passenger side really is air conditioning condensate. Some engine noise really does change during break-in. Panel gaps really do have factory tolerances. What is never acceptable is a touch-up pen offered as a repair on a new car, a leak of anything coloured or oily, a warning light said to settle later, or an undisclosed repainted panel.
Should I reject a car with a mismatched VIN or chassis number?
Yes. The chassis number stamped on the car must match the tax invoice, Form 21, Form 22 and the insurance policy. If any of them disagree, do not complete registration. Correcting a chassis number after registration is a long administrative process and it will be you doing it, not the dealer. Ask for full verification or a different unit.
How do I check how old my new car’s tyres are?
Every tyre has a four digit DOT code on the sidewall. The first two digits are the week and the last two are the year, so 2226 means the twenty second week of 2026. Compare that to the manufacture date on the driver’s door jamb sticker. A small gap is normal. A large one means the tyres or the car sat somewhere for a while, and rubber ages whether the car is driven or not.
Is a verbal promise from the dealer enough?
No, and this is where most delivery disputes are lost. Ask to note the issue down together, with the date, the chassis number read off the car, what was found in specific terms, what will be done and by when, and the name and designation of whoever agreed to it. Both of you sign it and you photograph it. A notebook page is fine. It does not need to look like a legal document.
Should I take delivery if the dealer promises to fix it later?
It depends on what it is. If a service centre could resolve it in twenty minutes next week, take the car with the promise in writing. If it would be hard or expensive to prove and fix once the car is registered in your name, resolve it first. Be clear that taking the car on a written promise still counts as accepting it, so the note is evidence rather than a reversal.
What if the delivery is on a muhurat date with family present?
Inspect the car a day or two earlier at the stockyard, on your own, and keep the auspicious date for taking possession. If that is not possible, ask for the car to be ready an hour before your slot and have the family arrive at the scheduled time. Also mention at home beforehand that you might have to return another day if something is wrong, because saying it in advance sounds sensible while saying it in the delivery bay sounds like cold feet.
Can the dealer refuse to let me inspect the car before delivery?
Section 41 of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930 is headed Buyer’s right of examining the goods, and sub section 2 says that unless otherwise agreed, when the seller tenders delivery he is bound on request to give the buyer a reasonable opportunity of examining the goods. If a dealer refuses, ask for that refusal in writing and escalate to the dealer principal and the manufacturer.
The TNT PDI Master Blueprint is an interactive tool you open on your phone in the delivery bay. 70+ checkpoints built for your specific brand, with the issues owners of that model actually report, and photo capture for anything you want resolved before you sign.
