KARACHI: People, who are booking Toyota Corolla now, will get the delivery in first quarter of 2015 and in some cases in the second quarter.

As a result, investors in connivance with dealers are cashing in on the late delivery situation by providing the car sooner to impatient buyers on a premium (extra money for swift delivery).

Investors after taking car delivery from the authorised showrooms of Toyota go to the unauthorised dealers who pocket hefty premiums from consumers who are keen to get new sedan promptly at any cost.

Authorised dealers of Indus Motor Company (IMC) said Toyota Corolla GLI automatic will be delivered by April 2015 in case buyers book the car today, while the customers will get GLI manual by March 2015. The delivery time of XLI, which seems not in high demand, is December 2014 while Altis Grande’s time of delivery is March 2015.

They said booking is full now for the next two to three months at all the authorised showrooms.

They denied their involvement in the business of charging heavy premiums or ‘on money’ from the prospective buyers.

Toyota cars can also be booked at partial payment of Rs500,000. It means that the company will keep the amount for all these months in the banks and earn interest.

Due to long delay, the on money on Corolla GLI automatic model ranges between Rs190,000-200,000 while on GLI manual it is Rs100,000.

Corolla XLI model attracts premium of Rs50,000 while the on money on Altis Grande is Rs300,000. Premiums also depend on colour of the car.

The price of XLI is Rs1.624 million while two models of GLI are available at Rs1.749 million to Rs1.824 million respectively. The price of different models of Altis Grande ranges between Rs2.024 million to Rs2.299 million respectively.

Earlier this month the IMC claimed that it had streamlined its production to ensure delivery of cars within committed schedule. In September 2014, production and sales swelled to 4,463 and 4,358 units as compared to 3,141 and 3,515 units in Aug 2014.

IMC had already asked its customers not to pay anything extra demanded by anyone to get a new car and book their orders on partial payments through its authorised dealers for timely delivery.

The company had dispelled an impression of benefiting from on money/premium being charged in the market. On the contrary IMC had been the loudest to voice against premium and the first company to offer partial payment bookings.

In contrast, Honda Civic production and sales are more than Altis Grande but it is strange that consumers are not facing any kind of long delays in Civic’s delivery rather than Altis.

An official in Honda Atlas Cars said that most of the variants are available “ex-stocks” so there is no question of any waiting period.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2014