On July 26, 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation officially announced the Provisions on the Responsibility for Repair, Replacement and Return of Household Automobile Products. On the basis of the "Provisions on the Responsibility for Repair, Replacement and Return of Household Automobile Products" implemented in 2013, the regulations have been substantially revised, so that the rights and interests of consumers can be more comprehensively protected, and more importantly, pickup trucks are included in the scope of three guarantees of claims. The new regulations will be officially implemented from January 1 next year, and the specific changes that need to be paid attention to are as follows:
First, expand the scope of application of the "three guarantees"
1. Incorporate special components such as batteries, motors, and electronic controls for household electric vehicles into the scope of "three guarantees" adjustment;
2. Include pickup trucks in the scope of "three guarantees" adjustment;
3. Pollution control devices are also included in the "three guarantees" condition.
2. Improve the relevant regulations on returning and replacing vehicles
1. Added the "returnable within 7 days" clause: if the family car needs to replace the engine, transmission, power battery, driving drive motor or other major parts due to quality problems within 7 days from the date of delivery, the seller shall return and replace it free of charge according to the choice of the consumer;
2. The restrictions on the cumulative repair of the same quality problem more than 5 times or the cumulative repair time of the whole vehicle exceeding 35 days during the validity period of the three guarantees in the original regulations shall be reduced to 4 times and 30 days;
3. If the conditions for replacement or return are met, the seller shall complete the replacement or return for the consumer within 20 working days from the date on which the consumer submits the replacement or return request, and issue a replacement certificate or return certificate. At the same time, in view of the fact that the seller cannot complete the replacement of household automobile products for consumers within 20 working days, the provision that consumers can request a return of the car is added.
Third, reduce the cost of returning and replacing cars
1. The compensation coefficient for consumer use is adjusted from 0.5%-0.8% to no higher than 0.5%;
2. Increase the provisions on the seller's compensation for the loss of the consumer's return and replacement of the car, including the vehicle registration fee, the installation and decoration fees charged by the seller after deducting the corresponding depreciation, and the relevant service fees charged by the seller to the consumer.
Fourth, optimize the conditions for exempting the "three guarantees" from responsibility
1. Limit the scope of defective automotive products, and limit the scope of defective automotive products to automotive products that "have defects that do not violate laws, regulations or mandatory national standards";
2. Household automobile products used for rental or other business purposes are also applicable to the three guarantees.
Fifth, improve the convenience of "three guarantees" services
1. The "three guarantees" voucher is no longer used as a necessary voucher for consumers to enjoy the "three guarantees" service;
2. Prohibit "compulsory maintenance", and operators must not restrict consumers from independently choosing to maintain and maintain household automobile products, and use this as a reason for refusing to bear the responsibility of "three guarantees";
3. The "three guarantees" voucher shall include the method of inquiry of the information of the repairer's outlets agreed upon by the producer or seller.
6. Refine the responsibilities and requirements of business operators
1. Further clarify the "three guarantees" responsibility of the producer, and the producer shall actively cooperate with the seller and repairer to perform their obligations;
2. Further refine the information of the "three guarantees" voucher and the scope of the documents accompanying the vehicle, and the operator shall integrate and list the contents that the "three guarantees" voucher should include;
3. Clarify the assumption of the "three guarantees" responsibility stipulated in the contract.
7. Refine the relevant time limit requirements
1. Clarify the time limit for filing information;
2. Clarify the starting time of the "three guarantees", and the validity period and repair period of the three guarantees shall be calculated from the date when the seller issues the car purchase invoice; if the date of issuing the car purchase invoice is inconsistent with the date of delivery of household automobile products, it shall be calculated from the date of delivery;
3. Clarify the time limit for keeping repair records, and the maintenance period of repair records shall not be less than 6 years;
4. The calculation standard of further accurate repair time, the single repair time is calculated in hours.
VIII. Increase the intensity of punishment for illegal conduct
Those who refuse to perform the "three guarantees" responsibility may be given a warning, confiscation of illegal gains, or a fine of not less than one time but not more than ten times the illegal gains according to the circumstances, and a fine of not less than 500,000 yuan if there are no illegal gains; if the circumstances are serious, order the suspension of business for rectification, and revoke the business license. In addition, where laws and regulations do not provide for penalties in the obligations of business operators, the market supervision departments are to give a warning, order corrections within a time limit, and if the circumstances are serious, a fine of between 10,000 and 30,000 yuan is to be imposed, and the results of the punishment are recorded in the national enterprise credit information publicity system and disclosed to the public in accordance with relevant provisions, so as to increase the intensity of credit supervision.
9. Encourage the establishment of third-party dispute handling mechanisms
Encourage social forces to establish a third-party dispute handling mechanism, and provide consumers with free fair, professional, convenient and efficient automotive "three guarantees" dispute handling services.
X. More respect for the requirements of agreements between civil entities
1. Under the premise of complying with the quality requirements stipulated by laws and regulations, household automobile products shall also meet the quality requirements agreed upon by the parties, and the quality requirements of household automobile products agreed upon by consumers and producers shall also be included in the scope of "three guarantees" management.
2. The operator and the consumer may separately agree on the "three guarantees" repair compensation method, as long as the operator and the consumer agree on the compensation method.