3 million Bentley new cars were repaired 17 times before being sold, the owner drove for 5 years without knowing, and the 4S shop sent mats to compensate

Reporter 丨 Huang Xinxu

Can a car of 3 million yuan become 9 million yuan after 5 years?

Recently, the owner of the car, Mr. Tian, found that the vehicle he bought at a Bentley 4S store in Beijing for 3 million yuan 5 years ago had been repaired 17 times. Before the purchase, Mr. Tian knew nothing about it.

In this regard, many netizens joked: "Refund one and lose three, 3 million to 9 million." ”

Image source: Sina Weibo

More netizens left a message saying: "I am so lucky, I also want to buy a maintenance car, and I will get rich." ”

However, the Bentley 4S store gave reasons to say that Mr. Tian did not have relevant legal provisions to inform the customer of the pre-delivery inspection procedure (hereinafter referred to as PDI) at the time of purchase, and the behavior of the Bentley 4S store did not constitute fraud.

Image source: Screenshot of relevant reports on Beijing time

"No matter what the reason, it cannot affect the seller's obligation to inform the consumer of the vehicle maintenance situation, which is the minimum consumer right to know." On May 7, a lawyer told the Daily Economic News reporter.

Wu Feng, a member of the Expert Committee of the China Automobile Dealers Association and a partner at LangChengit Law Firm, also said in an interview with reporters on May 7: "If the seller subjectively and deliberately informs the other party of the false situation, or deliberately conceals the true situation, inducing the other party to make a wrong intention, the consumer has the right to demand that the seller 'refund one and pay three' on the grounds that the seller constitutes fraud." ”

1 The "new car" has been repaired 17 times before it was sold

As early as May 2016, Mr. Tian spent about 3 million yuan at a Bentley 4S store in Beijing to buy a Bentley car. According to Mr. Tian, the car salesman of the Bentley 4S store said that the vehicle was a brand new imported vehicle. "After buying the car, I drove very cherished, driving only more than 10,000 kilometers in 5 years, and there was never any maintenance. When I was ready to sell the car, I found that the car had 17 repair records. Mr. Tian said he was very puzzled.

Image source: Screenshot of relevant reports on Beijing time

Subsequently, Mr. Tian made many inquiries to the Bentley 4S store, and the store finally admitted that the Bentley car purchased by Mr. Tian had indeed been repaired and gave a repair list. The list is basically similar to the content of the car test report issued by Mr. Tian. Both documents indicate that Mr. Tian's Bentley car has many traces of repairs and replacement of accessories, including replacing the front mesh, replacing the headlight ring, disassembling the left front wheel, etc.

Image source: Screenshot of relevant reports on Beijing time

Mr. Tian said that the Bentley 4S store had offered to send some car gifts such as foot pads and cushions as compensation, but Mr. Tian refused. Mr. Tian believes: "The 4S store did not inform consumers of the vehicle maintenance situation and record before purchasing the car, which is a fraud to consumers and also infringes on the consumer's right to know. ”

Image source: Screenshot of relevant reports on Beijing time

The practice of Bentley's 4S store has also aroused heated discussion among netizens. Some netizens said: "3 million fakes lose a gift? What about in-car fresheners? ”

Image source: Sina Weibo

However, the Bentley 4S store also gave its own reasons, saying that the maintenance records of Mr. Tian's Bentley vehicles before purchase met the PDI testing and technical processing standards. "As a special commodity involving consumers' personal and property safety and social public safety, automobiles should indeed undergo necessary pre-sales quality testing before delivery, the purpose of which is to determine whether the vehicle meets the due safety standards and quality requirements." Therefore, only tests that fall within the scope of this purpose can be classified as PDI tests, and their scope cannot be arbitrarily expanded. The lawyer said.

Image source: Screenshot of relevant reports on Beijing time

The Bentley 4S store further said: "Mr. Tian purchased the car in 2016, but there was no relevant law at that time that PDI had to inform customers, and it was not until March 2017 that the China Automobile Dealers Association issued the "Guidelines for Pre-sale Inspection Services for Passenger Cars (Trial)" (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines), which stated that PDI needed to inform customers. ”

In fact, the Guidelines belong to the normative guidance issued by industry associations and do not have mandatory legal benefits. The Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests (hereinafter referred to as the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests) promulgated in 1993 was revised twice, the last of which was in 2013. When Mr. Tian bought the car in 2016, the Consumer Rights protection law was in effect. This also means that whether the dealer has the obligation to provide a PDI test report or not, it cannot affect the obligation to inform the consumer of the vehicle maintenance situation, which is the minimum consumer right to know. The above-mentioned lawyer told the "Daily Economic News" reporter.

Image source: Screenshot of the Beijing time report

Mr. Tian did not accept the above statement of Bentley 4S store. At present, Mr. Tian has submitted relevant evidence to the Chaoyang District People's Court in Beijing, saying that he will protect his rights and interests through litigation.

2 Lawyer: The operator deliberately conceals it to constitute fraud

In fact, similar cases are not uncommon, and there have been the most expensive cars in China" case of "one refund and three losses".

In 2014, a car owner, Ms. Jia, bought a "brand new" Rolls-Royce for 5.2 million yuan, but when the vehicle was faulty and repaired, she was told that the mileage had been artificially modified and could not be warranted. Ms. Jia, the owner of the car, believed that the 4S store had fraudulent behavior and sued the 4S store to the court. After three years, the second-instance judgment of the case was officially announced, and the court found that the seller constituted fraud and ordered the dealer to compensate Ms. Jia for more than 13.81 million yuan for the purchase price of the car.

Image source: Rolls-Royce Motors' official Weibo

Mr. Chen of Chongqing bought a Porsche Macan for 619,800 yuan in 2015, and it was not until June 2017, when he was preparing to sell the car, that he discovered that the vehicle "BOSE original audio" was "counterfeit". After failing to negotiate with the dealer, Mr. Chen took the dealer to court. The Yubei District People's Court of Chongqing Municipality ultimately held that consumer fraud was established and the distributor needed to "refund one and pay three".

So, what exactly is the "refund one loss three" in automobile consumption?

"According to Article 8 of the Law on the Protection of The Rights and Interests of Consumers, consumers have the right to know the true situation of the goods they purchase or use or the services they receive. According to Article 20 of the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law, business operators providing consumers with information such as the quality, performance, use, and validity period of goods or services shall be truthful and comprehensive, and must not make false or misleading publicity. These laws all provide for consumers' right to know, full disclosure of truthful information, and false publicity. The above-mentioned lawyer said that if the operator has fraudulent behavior in the process of consumption, the consumer can get compensation for one refund and three compensation.

Image source: Per reporter Dong Tianyi photographed (data map)

In addition, Wu Feng believes that the applicable condition for consumers to require sellers to "refund one and pay three" is that "the operator provides goods or services fraudulently." "It is generally accepted that 'fraud' must have the following three constituent elements: First, the objective aspect. The fraudulent party has committed fraud by 'knowingly informing false information or knowingly concealing the true situation'; The fraudulent party has a subjective 'intent' to commit the fraud; The defrauded party makes a wrong judgment based on the fraudulent act and makes a wrong expression of intent based on it, that is, there is a causal relationship between the wrong intention and the fraudulent act. Wu Feng said.

However, it is not easy to determine "one refund and three losses". Public data shows that since 2017, 181 of the 298 auto consumer rights protection cases have been sued by car owners for "selling old cars as new cars" by car sellers. Of the 181 cases against car sellers for "selling old cars as new cars", 76 cases ended in the car owners losing the lawsuit, accounting for 42%. Most of the reasons for losing the lawsuit are due to insufficient evidence provided by the car owner, so the owner's retention of relevant documents when buying the car will be an important evidence for the later protection of rights.