Hundreds of car owners in the city lined up at car accessory stores on Thursday to remove the dark films from their cars. Such shops remained open till late night on Tuesday when the deadline neared and many were open on Wednesday too, despite it being a holiday.
“I have started to book slots for my customers as too many people have been coming since the last three days. People had started coming since last week itself but the numbers have quadrupled now,” said S Mahender Singh, who own Pioneerz Kars Decors at Minister’s Road.
Although accessory stores are revelling in the sudden spurt of customers, owners believe that the ban on tints would result in losses in the long run. Anand Gupta, owner of Car Sonics, said that many of the accessory stores in the city have stocks of reels worth lakhs of rupees.
“Although the rule is good, as it is meant for the security of women, it will result in loss for us,” he said. He also added that without tints, car air conditioners would get spoiled faster due to exposure to sunlight.
Meanwhile, the process of removal of tints left many car owners frustrated. “I had to take a day off from work just to get this done. I had to pay Rs 650 to get it done, then had to get the car washed as it gets dirty during the process. Moreover, now I have to bear the heat in the car,” said B Naga Kumar, general manager of Yashoda Hospital.