The trick they used to sell RSA was it is a free RSA and just the membership card would cost 3500. Considering it as a scheme to upsell from the dealership, I just ignored it.
BHPian ambarkhan recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Ever since I have bought Thar last year, I started receiving sales calls that are related to my purchase.
The first call, as I remember, was from Club Mahindra’s local sales team, which I ignored considering it a cross-selling attempt as both companies carry the same name Mahindra.
After a couple of months, I started getting calls regarding RSA cards, which costs similar to buying RSA for the second year from Mahindra. The callers have all the details like my father’s name, address, the month of purchase.
The trick they used to sell RSA was it is a free RSA and just membership card cost you 3500. Considering it as a scheme to upsell from the dealership, I just ignored it.
After service last week again I got the same call and I asked if they were from Mahindra or some 3rd party; they confirmed they are an independent service provider.
Recently saw on a FB group someone posted a similar experience. When we discussed in MPs that owners’ group, many people shared the same experience. Previously, I used to think someone from my dealership has sold the data for some quick cash.
When discussed with Fellow BHPian Rajiv0909 he also said he had received similar calls. Me and Rajiv both have Thar’s purchased from different dealers in different states. Which Raised a lot of concerns
At the time of a new vehicle purchase, we give a copy of sensitive documents like PAN card, Adhar card, bank statements in case you are financing through dealers. Do manufacturers have any guidelines for the dealers to handle these documents? Is there any law to prevent this? I have signed no privacy policy agreement with the dealership; in no way I have allowed them to sell my confidential information.
As they leak the same sensitive data from multiple dealers which are not related, this raises a few questions?
- Is Mahindra directly selling customers’ sensitive data? I hope not.
- Is there some data leak from Mahindra which is not detected/ not reported?
- Is there some nexus operating that gets customers’ sensitive data from all dealerships and aggregates them?
- Is this problem prevalent across the brands? If yes, what we can do?
Disclaimer: My experience is just limited to Mahindra hence, the title contains Mahindra.
Few Screenshots
Here’s what GTO had to say on the matter:
They are 100% selling customer data, but sadly, it’s not a new practice. I remember years ago when I was in the education abroad business, there were vendors selling reliable data of premium car owners for peanuts. IIRC, it was like 5 – 10 grand for a long list of Audi, BMW & Mercedes owners from Bombay. All sourced from inside dealerships.
Here’s what BHPian Shreyans_Jain had to say on the matter:
All dealerships are guilty of selling customer data at some level or the other. Hard fact of the country is that only the top 10% or so of the population owns cars. Which means we car owners are the primary drivers of consumption in the market, especially the non essentials. That makes us prime targets for any and every kind of advertising. So, where do you get bulk data of car owners? From dealerships as well as from insurance providers.
Here’s what BHPian dr_TJ had to say on the matter:
I too got multiple calls for Mahindra RSA of 15 years. They had my Aadhaar and PAN card details. I did post it on the official Mahindra Thar review thread. I also asked the mods to move my post to a separate thread about this 15 years RSA scam and the Data leak.
Thanks for starting this thread.
Mahindra needs to put out an official statement to put an end to this 15 years of RSA scam.
Keyword: Mahindra: Fake RSA scam due to leaked customer data