Jimu News Reporter Liu Dongli
Recently, consumer Ms. Wen complained that last year she spent 146,000 yuan to buy a BMW used car at a automobile service company in Qiaokou District, Wuhan City. The sales contract stipulated that the car was not soaked in water, but it caused a traffic accident due to the failure of electronic components during use. After verification, the car had quality problems such as soaking in water in 2018.
On October 26, a reporter from Jimu News learned from the symposium on consumer rights protection concepts in Hubei's second-hand car industry that from 2019 to the present, consumer committees at all levels in the province have organized and accepted 1,216 used car complaints, accounting for 8.22% of transportation complaints, showing an upward trend year by year. Among them, exaggerated publicity, quality issues, non-refund of deposits, and non-fulfillment of promises have become the hardest hit areas of complaints, accounting for as much as 80%.
The car with a "perfect record" may be a water truck
"Many water trucks are difficult to see from the appearance after being repaired." According to Lu Jiangping, senior lecturer of the Hubei Second-hand Car Trading Industry Association, some water trucks have been professionally disassembled, cleaned, dried, assembled, sprayed and other beauty processes of poor merchants flow into the second-hand car market, and consumers lack discernment knowledge and are easily deceived.
According to his recollection, once, he was commissioned by a client to test a 2012 Paramela. "The 4S store maintenance records of the car are shown as the optimal car condition, but the price is 30,000 to 40,000 yuan cheaper than the market." This made him a little suspicious. After inspection, the water tank frame on the front of the vehicle was replaced, the seats were seriously worn, the engine and main driver's airbag cover had traces of disassembly and assembly, the interior metal parts were rusted on a large area, and there was a lot of mud and sand at the air outlet of the center console air conditioner.
"This is at least a major accident flooded car that flooded the instrument panel." Lu Jiangping said that many car dealers used this kind of "perfect record" car to deceive customers with price advantages, and sold the real car condition without being seen.
So, how to avoid the pit of soaking water trucks when buying a used car?
Lu Jiangping introduced that the most intuitive and fastest way to judge is to observe the corrosion of the chassis, exhaust pipes, etc.; secondly, to see if aluminum components such as the engine bottom shell and the transmission bottom shell are similar to "mold". In addition, observing the corrosion of the fixing screws and brake baffles of the suspension components is also a good way to judge whether it is a water soaker.
"At present, the used car industry still lacks relatively complete business behaviors, mainly involving concealing accident information such as vehicle soaking in water trucks, such as accident cars pretending to be zero accidents, changing odometers without authorization, and are suspected of consumption fraud." Nie Xiyang, director of the Complaints Department of the Hubei Provincial Consumer Council, introduced that on the one hand, this phenomenon reflects the active consumption of the used car market and the continuous growth of market demand, but the industry's internal information asymmetry and integrity issues seriously restrict its development; on the other hand, it also reflects that the marketing concept of used car market operators has not changed yet and their service awareness is obviously insufficient.
The domestic used car market urgently needs industry standards
"Many car dealers selling used cars will equip themselves with used car appraisals and appraisers, but do you dare believe them?" At the symposium, Yu Zhiyong, president of the Hubei Motor Vehicle Appraisal and Evaluation Industry Association, a question aroused everyone's deep thoughts.
He gave an example: Huangshi A price appraisal and evaluation company does not have the qualifications for price appraisal and has never registered with the management agency. However, it has conducted appraisal and evaluation in the market many times, causing controversy and sued the court.
It is understood that second-hand car testing has strict legal norms abroad. Some states in the United States clearly stipulate that anyone who washes a water truck will be fined $2,500 for the first time, additional fines will be imposed on the second time, and the third time will be imprisoned for more than ten years. "They think that hiding the fact that water-soaked trucks is more abominable than water-soaked trucks themselves." Yu Zhiyong believes that the used car market is becoming a new engine to promote the domestic automobile circulation system, but the conditions of used cars are not transparent and the historical information of vehicles is not disclosed, which seriously restricts the growth of used car consumption. Among them, the judgment on the real vehicle condition has always been a pain point that the industry needs to solve urgently.
Hubei Provincial Consumer Council released data showing that in recent years, complaints about used cars have mainly focused on sales traps, no guarantee of quality, false test reports, non-refund of deposits, and breach of contracts.
For this reason, the Hubei Provincial Consumer Council reminds consumers that when purchasing used cars, they must choose a formal used car market with good credit, be cautious in consumption at low prices, and carefully verify vehicle information. Before paying the deposit, be sure to negotiate all car purchase conditions. Do not believe the fools of some merchants and pay the advance deposit too early. Once the deposit is paid, it will be difficult for consumers to gain room for price and service.
In addition, when signing the contract, consumers require operators to include the promised vehicles sold without accidents, water trucks, or no major repairs, etc. into the contract, and use the used car "Vehicle Information Form" as an attachment to the sales contract. Check whether the accompanying documents are complete and verify that the accompanying materials are complete.
recommends that consumers purchase used cars and conduct online inspections to fully check the car condition. If necessary, special water-soaking truck inspections can be carried out on the purchased second-hand cars to ensure that there are no major safety hazards in the purchased vehicles.
If consumers suffer losses in the process of purchasing used cars, please keep the written evidence such as car purchase invoices, product descriptions, car purchase contracts, repair records, bills, and other chat records, and log in to the WeChat official account of "Hubei Provincial Consumer Commission" to complain and protect their rights in real time. At the same time, you can also call the 12345 and 12315 hotlines to complain and report to protect their legitimate rights and interests. After the symposium on
, some used car companies and markets made unified commitments and will strictly abide by the relevant provisions of the " Consumer Rights Protection Law of the People's Republic of China " and the "Hubei Province Consumer Rights Protection Regulations", fulfill the legal obligations of operators, and achieve objective and authentic publicity, honest and trustworthy transactions, standardized complaint handling, transparent vehicle conditions, equal contract rights and interests, fair and orderly competition, do not engage in price fraud, do not conceal defective information, do not exaggerate performance publicity, do not harm the legitimate interests of consumers with their advantageous position, do not disrupt market order by improper business means, and guide consumers to rationally choose used car consumption.
For more exciting information, please download the "Jimu News" client in the application market. Please do not reprint without authorization. You are welcome to provide news clues and you will be paid once adopted. 24-hour information reporting hotline 027-86777777.
