A resident of Mariinsk, a town in the Kuzbass region, filed a lawsuit seeking 2.8 million rubles from a car dealer after purchasing a Lada XRay that turned out to have a faulty engine. This update comes from a Russian daily report.
In March of the previous year, a 60-year-old man named Sergey Zaitsev bought a 2020-model Lada XRay for 1.06 million rubles. Soon after taking ownership, he began noticing warning lights on the instrument cluster, specifically the Check Engine indicator, and the vehicle’s engine started showing signs of failure during operation.
Zaitsev sought a professional diagnosis from specialists who focus on electronic systems and control units. The experts confirmed an engine malfunction, reinforcing the claim that the vehicle was defective. When he approached the dealership to request an early termination of the sale and to seek a refund of the purchase price, his request was not addressed.
Following a second round of technical inspections, the court found in favor of the buyer, concluding that the car was indeed defective. As a result, the dealer was ordered to reimburse the cost of the vehicle and to cover fines, penalties, non-pecuniary damages, and court costs, totaling more than 2.8 million rubles. The seller appealed the ruling, but the civil chamber of the Kemerovo District Court upheld the decision.
Earlier reports noted that the Ministry of Industry and Trade announced terms of an agreement with Renault related to AvtoVAZ, signaling ongoing regulatory developments affecting the broader automotive sector. This context may be relevant to how similar consumer disputes are handled and to the evolving standards for vehicle warranties and consumer protections in Russia. (Source: Russian newspaper)