Uzbekistan’s Competition Committee Identifies Violations in Over 60 Car Dealerships

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — The Committee for the Development of Competition conducted inspections of more than 60 car dealerships engaged in retail sales across the country.

During the current year, the Committee received over 350 consumer complaints related to vehicle sales. As a result of the inspections, a number of systemic violations were identified.

One of the main issues was the absence of service centers in five dealerships. In particular, clients of Roodell LLC and Riteyl LLC in the Surkhandarya region, selling KIA, Haval, and Chery vehicles, have no access to warranty servicing. According to the Law on Consumer Rights Protection, manufacturers are required to provide repair and technical maintenance of products during the warranty and operational periods.

Additionally, 39 dealerships lacked vehicle user manuals in the state language. For example, Damas, Cobalt, Onix, Tracker, Malibu, Equinox, and Traverse vehicles come with manuals in Russian and English, while Chery and Haval vehicles include manuals only in Russian. It was also noted that Roodell LLC (KIA) and ADM-ASTER LLC (QK) dealerships did not provide technical specifications in the state language.

Another violation involved inconsistencies in warranty periods for vehicles and their components. For instance, BYD vehicles sold by Auto Region Plus LLC have a total warranty of 96 months or 150,000 km, but the lead-acid battery is covered only for 12 months or 20,000 km, and certain spare parts for 48 months or 120,000 km. Similar discrepancies were noted with UzAuto Motors vehicles, such as the Cobalt model, which has a 36-month or 100,000 km warranty, while the engine is covered for only 24 months or 50,000 km. The Law on Consumer Rights Protection clearly states that component warranties must not be shorter than the warranty for the main product. Analysis showed that this requirement was violated for all vehicles inspected.

Cases were also identified where warranties were voided because maintenance was carried out outside official service centers, beyond scheduled intervals, or after the installation of additional equipment such as alarms or gas systems. In such situations, sellers and manufacturers refused to honor warranty obligations. Consumer feedback indicated that even when all operational conditions were met, warranties were terminated if maintenance occurred outside recommended centers, despite the overall warranty period not yet expiring.

Furthermore, Uzbekistan currently lacks a unified database to verify whether a particular vehicle is still under warranty or has expired.

The Competition Committee intends to take appropriate measures to address the identified violations and improve the warranty system in the automobile trade sector.