Cars play an important role in our daily lives, and for car consumers, the most depressing thing is not knowing how to deal with quality and service problems when cars occur. Due to the difficulty of obtaining evidence, the difficulty of identification, the lack of access to complaints and other reasons, many car owners are struggling to protect their rights. How should consumers properly defend their rights?
In this issue, China Automotive News invites legal professionals, veterans of the auto maintenance industry and used car industry to discuss and seek solutions. The panelists were Luan Feifei, partner of Beijing Huinuo Law Firm, Wang Hao, founder and CEO of Coppola Auto Consulting Services (Qingdao) Co., Ltd., and Wang Meng, deputy secretary general of Beijing Automobile Circulation Industry Association.
Luan Fifi
China Automotive News:
In the auto consumer rights protection cases that you have been exposed to in the past year, what kind of contradictions and disputes are more frequent? Which of consumers' rights and interests are most vulnerable?
Luan Feifei: Among the car consumer rights protection cases that lawyers come into contact with on a daily basis, the cases caused by "fraudulent behavior in the process of selling cars" are the most common. In the above-mentioned cases, the consumer's right to know was seriously violated.
In 2021, we represented a case in which a car sales company sold a "secondary painting" vehicle, the consumer did not pay attention to the first time he chose the car, and when he completed the formalities to pick up the car, he found that the vehicle had obvious paint marks, and the sales staff of the automobile sales company detained the vehicle and proposed to replace it for the consumer.
The consumer considered the car sales company to be malicious fraud and sued the court for a refund of the purchase price and triple compensation. After trial, although the court found the fact that the vehicle was painted twice, it held that the existing evidence was insufficient to prove that the automobile sales company deliberately concealed the consumer and deliberately delivered the vehicle to the vehicle knowing that the vehicle was repainted, and finally found that the automobile sales company did not constitute fraud.
Last year, our firm also represented a number of vehicle sale contract dispute cases, involving more than 100 consumers, most of whom had a weak sense of law and signed contracts with the seller without carefully reading or without reading the contract at all. When buying a car, consumers think that they are taking a loan method, but in fact, the form agreed in the contract is "renting instead of selling".
At the same time, the contract stipulates a very strict liability for breach of contract to the consumer, the consumer to pay the rent to the seller in installments to buy the vehicle, such as the delay in the delivery of any period of rent or illegal deduction of points to reach a certain limit, etc., the seller has the right to immediately recover the vehicle and claim liquidated damages to the consumer, many consumers therefore "lose both money and car".
According to Article 8 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests, consumers have the right to know the true situation of the goods they purchase or use or the services they receive. However, in the actual sales process, in order to achieve the purpose of profitability, the seller may take the means of concealing the real situation to deceive consumers, such as charging license fees, inflating the mileage of new energy vehicles, charging high insurance premiums, etc., which seriously infringes on consumers' right to know.
Wang Hao: Judging from the situation we have, most of the outstanding problems and consumer disputes in new energy vehicles and intelligent networked vehicles are concentrated in the following aspects. First, due to immature technology or weak production management, the product quality is not good and the failure rate is high. In this regard, the new car-making brand is more prominent, such as Xiaopeng, Tesla, Extreme Krypton, etc. have encountered more serious national customer complaints and rights protection.
Second, due to the weak after-sales service system, it is difficult for customers to make after-sales service and inconvenient after-sales service. In this regard, it directly rises to consumer disputes and relatively little public disclosure, but in the process of investigating the market and communicating with users, we learned that there are these situations: such as brands such as new car-making forces, less after-sales networks, and the maintenance of user vehicles needs to go to farther places, even across regions; maintenance time is long, waiting for more than 1 to 2 weeks; due to differences in manufacturer policies, some operational vehicles cannot enjoy after-sales warranty services, etc. (some brands launch special online versions, configuration, after-sales policies, etc. are different from private versions, After arriving at the 4S store, you cannot enjoy normal after-sales service).
3. Disputes over the reasonableness of vehicle after-sales service. A large number of typical is that when the user vehicle has an accident (especially the power battery system as the core system), the 4S shop will often tell the customer that the damaged assembly should be replaced, otherwise it cannot continue to enjoy the long-term warranty of the original factory (generally 5 to 8 years / 10 to 150,000 kilometers).
Insurance companies, based on the cost of compensation, generally require accurate maintenance, and only replace a small number of accessories. Once there is such a game between the 4S shop and the insurance company (including its designated repair point), the consumer must be one of the victims - to meet the requirements of the 4S shop, to replace the assembly, then there is a high claim of the vehicle, the insurance cost will rise in the next year; to meet the requirements of the insurance company, then after the vehicle maintenance, the subsequent 4S shop will refuse to provide the original quality warranty for the vehicle for various reasons.
Finally, there is a more hidden type of infringement of rights and interests - the invasion of user privacy by new energy vehicles and intelligent networked vehicles. Since most of the new energy and intelligent networked vehicles are equipped with Internet communication, intelligent control systems and other technologies, in the use of vehicles, vehicle operation data, audio and video of personal car activities, and personal preference information left by the use of on-board networks and applications have become "information assets" that enterprises can obtain free of charge for other commercial purposes. At present, there are fewer complaints and disputes in this area, and many consumers have not noticed it, but it is worth vigilance.
Wang Meng: This situation has also begun to appear in the second-hand car industry. With the increase in the number of intelligent connected cars and the gradual flow into the second-hand car market, the problem of privacy exposure and lack of supervision in the process of second-hand car trading has begun to appear. The survey shows that after the transaction of multiple brands of second-hand cars, the original owners can still access the App and obtain relevant information, that is, the vehicle is bound to the mobile phone numbers of the new and old owners at the same time, resulting in the leakage of information of the new owners. With the increase in the number of intelligent connected cars and gradually flowing into the second-hand car market, the privacy and security issues of second-hand smart cars have gradually become prominent.
Hao
What are the common misunderstandings of consumers in the process of buying, using and defending their rights? What suggestions do you have for car consumers to better protect their rights and interests?
Luan Feifei: Consumers are more likely to fall into three misunderstandings in the process of buying a car, using a car, and safeguarding their rights. First, trust the seller when buying a car. When consumers buy a car, they should see more, ask more questions, and shop around. From the price point of view, there should be a multi-channel price comparison, the price not only includes the price of the naked car, but also pay attention to whether the purchase tax, insurance premium and license fee are abnormally high; from the perspective of the quality and performance of the car, we must understand more, test drive, and when selecting the vehicle, we must clean and carefully check; when signing the contract, first of all, we must fill in all the vacant positions completely, and the position that does not need to be filled in can be crossed out with a slash, to avoid others from adding or changing in the contract later, and then we should pay attention to carefully reading the terms of the contract, which is obviously unfavorable to the side. The provisions that increase the liability of the party should be revised to avoid being deceived because of the trouble.
Second, problems with the use of the car do not pay attention to the retention of evidence. When there is a problem with the vehicle, the consumer should notify the automobile manufacturer at the first time and retain relevant evidence to facilitate future rights protection.
Third, improper methods and methods are adopted in the process of safeguarding rights. When defending their rights, many consumers are more inclined to solve problems by means of creating public opinion, but they do not know that with the development of the times, automobile manufacturers and sellers have sufficient legal awareness. Last year, the nationwide attention of Tesla's counterclaim rights defender incident fully illustrated the above problems.
Tesla owners after the vehicle problem, in a vain attempt to create public opinion to put pressure on Tesla, but Tesla company rigid response, suing the owner for infringement of his right to reputation and demanding compensation for losses, and finally Tesla won the lawsuit.
This is enough to prove that the era of rights protection through public opinion has slowly passed, and consumers should claim their rights and interests through legal means, otherwise they may cause lawsuits if they fail to protect their rights.
Wang Hao: Because new energy and intelligent networked vehicles adopt more cutting-edge and complex technologies, and the operating model is more innovative. Most car users lack professional knowledge and understanding of these technologies, so in automobile consumption, they often walk into several misunderstandings: first, when buying a car, they often mainly look at the appearance, price, and do not look at performance; second, they will only operate simply in the car, do not learn the user manual, and do not master the new functional operation; third, in the after-sales service, they lack the importance of their own rights and interests protection and the familiarity with relevant laws and regulations, and are always in a passive, blind, and infringed position.
I believe that in order to safeguard their own rights and interests, first of all, consumers should improve their awareness of the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of new energy and smart car consumption. For example, you can take a moment to understand the key information of vehicle configuration, the three-guarantee regulations, and the after-sales guarantee rules of automobile manufacturers before buying a car. Secondly, after the purchase of the vehicle, the dealer should first be asked to carry out training on the function and use, and the default personal data acquisition function of the vehicle should be used with caution in use.
Again, when there is a problem with the vehicle, consult the professionals around you to deal with it. When it comes to functions such as vehicle maintenance, additional fees, and subscriptions, be sure to read the original after-sales service policy and keep the relevant materials.
Wang Meng: When laws and regulations have not yet fully covered every detail, consumers can actually start from themselves, improve their awareness of privacy protection, and avoid losses as much as possible. Today's smart cars are like smartphones on four wheels, if you sell second-hand mobile phones, for privacy protection, you will take the initiative or ask mobile phone dealers to format your mobile phone. But the same situation is put on the car, and many people's awareness of privacy protection is still insufficient.
Wang Meng
What suggestions do you have for car companies, auto service industry, auto industry associations, government departments, consumer associations, etc. to build a good automobile consumption environment and reduce disputes, contradictions and complaints?
Luan Feifei: In order to build a good automobile consumption environment and reduce disputes, contradictions and complaints caused by car purchases, we first hope that the relevant laws to protect the rights and interests of consumers will be more perfect and scientific; secondly, government departments, consumer associations, automobile industry associations and other departments with certain management functions can strengthen supervision, guide producers and sellers to improve production technology and standardize sales behavior; finally, consumers enjoy the right to safety and the right to know when purchasing goods and receiving services. When purchasing a vehicle, the above rights of consumers should be kept in mind, and the awareness of law and evidence collection should be raised to avoid fraud.
Wang Hao: First of all, government departments, industry associations and other organizations should speed up the introduction and revision of regulations and standards for the protection of new energy and intelligent vehicles, and the protection of consumer rights and interests, and improve industrial service support. Secondly, car companies and car service companies should strengthen information disclosure, especially projects involving major interests such as the economic expenses of car owners and personal privacy, which need to be made clear. Third, it is suggested that consumer associations can regularly publish relevant information, including: the publication of the "blacklist" of automobile product quality, the warning of service traps, and the dissemination and popularization of consumer rights protection regulations.
Wang Meng: Consumers should still learn a certain amount of personal information protection knowledge and take preventive measures in place. Leading enterprises, circulation enterprises, and industry supervisory units in the automobile manufacturing industry should also jointly establish a creditworthiness system, formulate circulation standards for second-hand new energy intelligent networked vehicles, and strengthen data and information supervision.