Cars24 Slapped With Rs 50,000 Challan After Deploying Boat On Flooded Gurugram Road

Cars24, a pre-owned car platform, was allegedly fined Rs 50,000 by traffic authorities in Gurugram for deploying a boat on a submerged street in an apparent publicity campaign aimed at highlighting severe monsoon waterlogging in the city. "Rs 50,000. That is what it cost us to break the law in Gurgaon last week," Prachi Sharma, the Head of Brand, Creative, Communication at Cars24, wrote in a LinkedIn post.

According to her, the incident occurred when Cars24 launched a blue, brand-marked rowboat onto a waterlogged road in Gurgaon as a humorous take on the city's drainage crisis during the monsoon.

However, what was intended as a lighthearted marketing stunt quickly became useful for stranded pedestrians and office-goers, struggling to navigate the deeply flooded streets.

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Reflecting on it, Sharma noted that "a joke stops being funny the moment it becomes a commute," describing how stranded locals turned to rowing to cross the roads.

"We put a Cars24 boat in the water as a joke about the rain. The flooding has been arriving for years, and has never cost anyone anything," she wrote. "Then it got worse."

"People started getting in to get home because rowing was the fastest way across. A joke stops being funny the moment it becomes a commute."

See the post here:

"We have paid for the boat. We will pay the challan again (if we are required to take the boat out this week as well, to help people apparently)," she further added.

"Still waiting for someone to be billed for the water and sincerely hoping this does grab the right eyeballs."

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Social media reactions

The post triggered widespread discussion across social media, dividing public opinion. "If the challan is not fictional, you should post that too. Under what section you've received a challan for a boat not a MV . If not posted , everyone will assume it's fictional," one user wrote in the comment section.

"The boat may have been the headline, but the real story is that people found it useful. When a joke starts solving a real problem, it says more about the infrastructure than the campaign itself," another user added.

"During floods in the late 70s, boats on flooded main roads of Patna were a common sight. I wonder why it got challaned here?" a third user commented.