Focus on the "hidden bills" of 3.15|4S stores: compulsory insurance loans, unclear charging routines

Economic Observer reporter Wang Shuaiguo Changsha Zhang Zhiqiang (pseudonym), in December 2020 in Hunan Zhongtuoruizhong Automobile Sales Service Co., Ltd. intends to buy a car, he fancyd the FAW-Volkswagen SUV model exploration, but encountered the problem of forced in-store insurance, mandatory manufacturer financial loans; Foshan's Li Wei (pseudonym), when purchasing BYD Song plus in May 2021, encountered the problem of door-to-door test drive has negotiated the price, but after arriving at the store, he was charged extra fees.

Sun Haiyang (pseudonym) planned to buy a Romeo model worth 460,000 yuan in the Guiyang Tongyuan Alfa Romeo 4S store two years ago, and encountered the inducement of consumption by the salesman, who promised to take a low-interest loan, but the actual loan interest rate was high. "At that time, the loan was 180,000, and the interest was about 30,000, and later when I wanted to pick up the car, the sales told me that it was more than 70,000 interest, and then I returned the car."

Financial service fees, insurance premiums, license fees, outbound fees, vehicle consignment fees, these long-term phenomenon of car purchase random charges in 4S stores across the country continue to exist at present, and due to the tight supply of new cars in the past two years, the unknown charges of dealerships have shown signs of increasing.

Recently, the Economic Observer and Tencent Automobile jointly launched a car consumption 315 questionnaire survey, in the 567 questionnaires received, 78 people mentioned the purchase of car arbitrarily charged, disguised price increases and other costs, accounting for 13.75%.

For consumers, being deceived and forced to consume has become a pit that is difficult to avoid. Due to the low profit of bare cars, loans, insurance, license plates, decorations, and after-sales have become the main sources of profit for auto 4S stores. In order to get more profits and commissions, the behavior of forced loans, compulsory insurance, compulsory licensing, and disguised car increases have become the key points in the daily work of automobile salesmen.

At the same time, some nascent car brands are already trying to seek change, and a new model of direct car sales has emerged. Theoretically, in this model, consumers no longer need to bargain with salespeople, online price, all fees transparent, so that consumers can experience a better car purchase service. But there are other problems with the direct-operated model.

New names for fees are emerging

The opaque cost of car purchase has always been one of the important reasons for people's bad impression of car 4S stores. The first time he bought a car, Zhang Zhiqiang was deeply touched by this. "The general offer of the 4S store is that he guarantees the approximate price of the landing, and after calculating the total price, you don't care what kind of service you are doing." It may make the price of bare cars relatively low, and then give you a high price in various services, forcing you to buy something you don't need. Zhang Zhiqiang said that when he bought a car, he actually only needed to spend about 4,000 yuan to buy a relatively basic insurance, but the sales forced his insurance to 6,000 yuan.

What bothered Zhang Zhiqiang the most was that he was also forced to take out a loan. "Because the total price of the car I bought was not high, it landed about 1450,000." I can come up with so much cash on my hands. I wanted to pick up the car in full, but the sales didn't agree. He said that we must do manufacturer finance, saying that factory finance is more cost-effective or something, if you do not do manufacturer finance, you will not sell it to me. ”

Because he has paid the deposit that the 4S store stipulates that he does not refund, Zhang Zhiqiang can only take the loan in desperation. "The handling fee is particularly high, almost five or six thousand yuan, which is very unpleasant, and I feel that this money has been spent unjustly." They collected this money, in fact, did not help you to do anything, is to help you fill in the information, a total of less than an hour, they charged you five or six thousand yuan. ”

Sun Haiyang also had a conflict with the 4S store because of the loan problem in his previous car purchase experience. "Tongyuan Group (4S store) told me that it was a monthly profit of more than 3%, and then did not say anything installment fee. Then Tongyuan Group's own financial company told me that the monthly interest is more than 9%, 180,000 a year interest is more than 20,000, plus more than 10,000 installment fees, 3 years of loans down more than 70,000 interest. This interest rate is too high, or installments, and it is not a first interest rate and then a capital. ”

The difference between the interest rate in the mouth of the sales staff and the interest rate said by the employees of the financial company is huge, making Sun Haiyang feel that he has been deceived. In his view, this is a "routine" for 4S stores to induce consumers to make a deposit to buy a car with low interest, and then raise interest rates under various pretexts.

In addition to the loan problem, there are countless problems such as compulsory insurance, licensing, and bundling in 4S stores. What's more, some consumers complained in the questionnaire that there are also outbound fees, vehicle consignment fees, and GPS fees for buying new cars.

What are outbound fees and vehicle consignment fees? Some industry insiders familiar with the automobile consumer market told reporters: "The outbound fee is the fee that needs to be paid to take the car out of the warehouse of the 4S store, which is almost the fee that every brand and every 4S store will charge when the owner buys a new car." The outbound fee is generally more than 2,000 yuan. This part of the fee is completely unnecessary to pay, which is a private fee charged by the 4S store. ”

The vehicle consignment fee refers to the cost of transporting the new car from the manufacturer to the 4S store. GPS fees generally appear in mortgage purchases, because it is installment payment, the car is not completely owned by the owner, so the loan company needs to install GPS on the vehicle, so that the loan company can grasp the movement of the car, the general GPS fee is about 3000 ~ 3500 yuan. There will be no such cost for a full purchase of a car. In addition, if you buy a car through a regular bank mortgage, there will generally be no GPS fee.

In the eyes of consumers, the dazzling charging items when buying a car are essentially a means for 4S stores to obtain more benefits from customers.

How to avoid the "routine" of buying a car

The problem of arbitrary charging in the process of automobile consumption has existed for a long time, and experts have long reminded consumers that buying a car requires shopping around and choosing the most suitable products and services. But more people believe that the solution to the problem lies in standardizing the auto trading process from the standard system.

At present, the Measures for the Administration of Automobile Sales, as a regulation specifically for the field of automobile sales, stipulate the code of conduct for dealers. Article 10 stipulates that dealers shall expressly indicate the prices of automobiles, accessories and other related products sold and the service charges in an appropriate form at the business premises, and shall not increase sales or collect additional fees in addition to the list price.

It is understood that many domestic car companies and manufacturers have formulated brand sales and after-sales service standards for their brand authorized stores, and for dealerships that violate the regulations, the brand authorizer will usually make corresponding binding measures. Some large automobile distribution groups have also increased the standardization of sales experience and service experience.

But now that the problem of arbitrary charges has re-increased, what is the reason behind it? There is a view in the industry that in the past two years, due to the insufficient supply of automotive chips and core components, auto manufacturers have reduced production, and the vehicle resources on the market have become tight. Auto sellers are seizing on the "rush to buy" psychology of consumers to implement a series of new charging projects. Similar irregular dealer behavior includes delayed delivery of orders, sale at a markup, etc.

In addition, with the great development of intelligent electric vehicles and the rise of new car-making enterprises, the accompanying direct operation model has become a new way of car sales. In the direct-operated store model, automakers invest in building stores themselves, select and train employees themselves, and abandon the practice that each sales store enjoys the final pricing power of new cars, and implements a new sales method of online one-price and full cost clear price. This model is seen as a revolution in the traditional 4S store sales model, and the industry has great expectations for its prospects.

However, with the rapid growth of sales of new car brands, the scale of directly operated stores has also expanded, and there has also been a differentiation between car companies in how to balance the cost of opening a store and ensure the quality of service. Among them, Weilai Automobile and Ideal Automobile still adhere to the direct operation model, and Xiaopeng Automobile and Nezha Automobile adopt the direct operation plus authorization model. Tesla began building its own 4S store.

In fact, whether the automobile sales process is standardized or not, the root cause is not the model of the store, but how the distribution store requires the performance appraisal and work mode of the sales staff. An executive of a domestic luxury car company once expressed his views on this: "The direct operation model is relatively expensive. Are so many of our dealers and sales consultants across the country really ineffective? It's not, but the long-standing work model has led them to focus on achieving KPIs. What we have to do is to change the sales model, change the KPI, and let the dealer return to the source of reception. ”

"If he can communicate with you in advance, make a clear list of expenses, and then negotiate the price with you, and finally make a total price." I think that's acceptable. Zhang Zhiqiang summed it up after experiencing an impressive car purchase experience.