When 29-year-old city-based businessman and hardcore Harley-Davidson fan Simranjeet Gill booked his Fatboy Harley-Davidson (a Rs 19 lakh bike) in April this year,little did he know that he was signing up for a rough ride ahead. The Harley-Davidson dealership at the DT City Centre,IT Park,received the State Transport Authority approval only 15 days ago. In spite of this technical glitch,the bikes were booked and being sold for the past seven months. Gill,who was one of the first customers to book a Fatboy,got his delivery on July 14 this year. The fact came to light when Gill approached the Registering and Licensing Authority in August to get his bike registered but was shocked to find that the Fatboy Harley-Davidson was not registered with the State Transport Authority. The RLA refused to allot a Chandigarh registration number for his bike. Gill then approached the dealership but was told that he could hand over his documents to them and they would get his bike registered in 10 days. A lengthy correspondence ensued between Gill and the dealership. In the meantime,he met with an accident on the same bike on October 8. Adding to his agony,Gill was told by the Insurance company that he was not authorised to get the claim from it,as his bike did not bear a valid registration number and his temporary registration numbers validity had also expired a long time ago. This was when Gill entered into a series of communications with the dealership,but to no avail. He was not even told the exact reasons why his bike could not be registered for all these months. It is a Rs 19 lakh bike. I was issued a temporary number,on the basis of which I got the vehicle insured. The RLA refused to register my bike. They told me they did not have the vehicle code in their system and so they couldnt issue a registration number. According to the norms,the dealer needs to get the vehicles model approved from the concerned State Transport Authority,only after which it can be allotted a registration number. Unfortunately I met with an accident. The bike was damaged and as there was no registration,I was refused insurance. On informing the dealership,I was told on October 12 that they would repair my bike free of cost and later settle the claim with the insurance company. The bike is still lying in their workshop, rues Gill. When someone spends Rs 20 lakh on a bike,you expect a privileged service. You expect to be informed about the registration process,about technical things. You deserve to know it. The point of contention is that they were still selling without approval and kept procrastinating replies to my appeal, Gill added. Sidharth Garg,who runs Harleys dealership in Chandigarh,says,The UT Administration assured us of approval and said we could issue temporary numbers. We had applied for approval five months ago but the procedures took time. We have assured Simranjeet Gill that we will repair his bike,and that due to problems in customs and delays due to international events happening in New Delhi,we are still waiting for the parts to arrive here. In any case,technical details like registration and approvals are not to be discussed with customers. These things are discussed at the operational level. While Garg said that they got the STA approval a month back,RLA officials said that it has been only 15 days since their systems started recognising Harley-Davidson. On the status of Gills bike,he said,There are 2.7 lakh parts to a Harley and we cant possibly stock each and every part. We are waiting and Gill will be delivered the bike by next week.
