A number of second-hand car trading platforms have been exposed The chaos in the industry is frequent and difficult to solve

Recently, the Beijing Consumers Association has carried out a survey on the "consumption problem of used car transactions". The survey mainly includes three parts: questionnaire survey, in-depth visit survey and experience survey.

A total of 14 platforms were selected in this experience survey, including 10 online trading websites and 4 second-hand car trading markets. The Beijing Consumer Coordination Survey found that there are different problems in many used car trading platforms.

Conceal the vehicle situation

In the in-depth interview and investigation link, on the basis of 550 valid questionnaires, the investigators arbitrarily selected 40 people based on the standard of "encountering typical problems and making more suggestions", and through one-on-one in-depth interviews, they understood the personalized problems encountered by consumers in the process of purchasing second-hand cars.

According to the investigation, the "RenrenChe" platform is suspected of concealing the real car condition. In the car selling experience, the experiencer contacted the "Renrenche" platform to sell a baicc new energy second-hand vehicle, the platform first sent an appraiser to conduct on-site vehicle testing, and "Renrenche" released the car sales information on its platform. Subsequently, the experiencer found that the content of the public information was different from the actual test results, and the platform was suspected of concealing the true situation of the vehicle and suspected of false publicity.

In fact, the problem of suspected concealment of the true condition of the car is not uncommon in the used car trading environment. Finance and economics network technology combing found that the information suspected of concealing for second-hand cars includes tampering with mileage (meter car), water soaking car, accident car and other issues.

A Mr. Gao who is ready to buy a car told Caijing Technology that he is very cautious about buying a car on the second-hand car trading platform, because many platforms give descriptions of the appearance and decoration of the vehicle, but there is no detailed testing instruction for the situation of important components such as engines and gearboxes, "The car mainly depends on the performance, if the merchant deliberately conceals it, it is difficult to find online." ”

As early as 2015, media reports pointed out that the user Mr. Jin took a fancy to a Mazda SUV on a second-hand website, and the online labeled the car traveled about 46,000 kilometers. After Mr. Jin delivered the deposit offline for a month, he learned through the 4S shop that the car had previously run more than 210,000 kilometers, and he asked the seller to return the car, but was refused.

Ji Jianliang, a lawyer at Shanghai Chuangyuan Law Firm, believes that the seller deliberately conceals the facts in the sales process, which is a fraudulent act in the Contract Law, and the person who buys the car can propose to terminate the contract, return the purchase price in full, and compensate for the relevant losses.

Financial commentator Zhang Xuefeng also pointed out to Caijing Technology that the problem of concealing the real car condition is suspected of infringing on consumers' right to know.

According to Article 55 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests, in the case of fraudulent acts by second-hand car operators, consumers may require the operators to bear the legal liability of returning one and paying three.

How hard is it to modify miles? Mr. Huang, the person in charge of a brand car 4S store, once pointed out to the media that the meter adjustment is not a complex project, some cars need to take apart the dashboard, remove the integration block and use software to adjust, and some cars only need to connect one or two wires and modify it through special instruments.

Caijing Network Technology enters "adjust the number of kilometers" in the search platform, and there are many web page information display tutorials to tell the public how to modify the mileage.

Industry insiders suggest that when consumers buy second-hand cars, in addition to choosing a reliable second-hand car trading platform, they should pay more attention to whether the vehicle has had an accident, whether there is a maintenance record, etc., which is the main difference with the purchase of new cars. On the one hand, the vehicle can be viewed by observing the wear of the chassis, the sound of the engine, etc., and the seller can also be required to issue a test report, insurance record, maintenance materials, etc. If you find any doubts, you can find a professional organization to test and retain the evidence.

Is the rental car license reliable?

In addition, the experience staff found on some platforms that the merchant release has "a large number of Beijing brands including Beijing A, rental and lifelong use can be handled".

In addition, the investigation also found that the "First Automobile Network" platform sales said that they could buy and sell with a number and rent the Beijing brand.

When browsing the second-hand car column information on the "People's Network" platform, the experiencer found a lot of content about "acquisition of Beijing brand indicators" and "marriage transfer", in which he found a page selling Land Rover Range Rover 2018 second-hand vehicles, the page details were marked with the words "buy a car and send a Beijing card", and the experiencer communicated with the merchant that this car was "back to the house for sale", which means that the merchant signed an agreement with the original owner to sell the right to use the Beijing license plate of the vehicle for a fee by means of risk control such as video and contract. This practice is an illegal operation, and there is a transaction risk for both buyers and sellers.

In fact, there have also been media reports that some people lease license plates through second-hand car platforms, and the bidder and the renter will even sign a "Passenger Car License Plate Index Lease Agreement", and will sign the "Car Mortgage Contract" before the car is licensed, with such an agreement to avoid the risks of both parties, such as the bidder will not cause trouble because of the traffic accident of driving, and can also ensure that the leaser will not lose money and money because the bidder regrets or has debts.

But does the so-called "insurance" really ensure that the rights of the bidder and the renter are not damaged?

According to the implementation rules of the Interim Regulations on the Regulation and Control of the Number of Passenger Cars in Beijing, the notification of confirmation of the passenger car index is limited to the use of the index owner. Where it is confirmed through investigation by public security, judicial organs, indicator management bodies, etc. that there is a notice of confirmation of the indicators of buying, selling, buying or selling, renting or leasing, lending or borrowing passenger cars, the indicator management institution shall publish the indicators as invalid; where the indicators have been used to complete the registration of vehicles, the traffic management department of the public security organ shall revoke the registration of the motor vehicle in accordance with law, and the indicators shall be invalidated. At the same time, the application for indicators submitted by the applicant will not be accepted within 3 years.

Zhang Xuefeng pointed out that for the act of "issuing a rental Beijing license plate", the license plate leasing itself is an illegal act, according to the "Regulations on the Administration of Motor Vehicles", motor vehicles and license plates are exclusive to special vehicles, non-statutory procedures, and cannot be borrowed and applied privately, and there are huge legal risks behind the above transaction issues.

Zhou Xuliang of Beijing Guanling Law Firm said that leasing a Beijing license plate harms the public interest and violates the normal vehicle management order, so the signing of the License Plate Lease Agreement does not have legal effect, and even if the lease agreement is signed, it cannot be protected by law. "Once there is a dispute between the two parties to the lease, it will be difficult to recover the loss."

Meng Bo, a lawyer at Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, told Caijing Technology that in the case of "marriage transfer", some buyers and sellers will sign the so-called "Beijing Car Purchase Index Marriage and Transfer Agreement", but such agreements violate public order and good customs, and according to the law, civil juristic acts that violate public order and good customs are invalid, so such agreements cannot be used as the reason and basis for one party to claim divorce.

Meng Bo stressed that there is no "fake marriage" in law, as long as you go to the Civil Affairs Bureau to register and get a marriage license, the two parties holding the certificate are legal couples, even if the marriage relationship between the two parties is only a short-term existence, there will be many risks such as bearing the joint debts of the husband and wife, and the division of property in the event of divorce. "In judicial practice, fraud cases involving Beijing-brand transactions occur frequently, and relevant personnel should enhance their risk awareness and not take chances."

Development and chaos coexist

In recent years, the mainland used car market has developed rapidly, and many domestic enterprises have been involved in the used car business, which has boosted the prosperity and development of the used car market. For consumers, in the second-hand car platform with clear price, it should have been a worry-free thing to easily buy a car with a click of the mouse, but the endless chaos not only infringed on the rights and interests of consumers, but also affected the reputation of the industry.

According to the survey data of the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court, between 2019 and March 2022, the Beijing First Intermediate Court concluded a total of 73 disputes involving new and old motor vehicle sales contracts, and 21 consumer rights protection disputes arising from the purchase of second-hand cars.

According to the 2021 automobile consumer complaint analysis report released by the Nanjing Consumer Association, among the reasons for the high number of second-hand car complaints, there are non-performance of the true notification obligation, private mileage modification, and concealment of the true situation of the vehicle.

According to the survey report on online purchase of used cars released by the Sichuan Provincial Consumer Protection Committee, 60% of consumers have encountered "cattiness" when buying used cars online, of which 28.0% of the consultation and publicity content is inconsistent with the actual situation; 22.5% of the vehicle documents, insurance and maintenance information are incomplete; and 20.5% of the vehicle source information is inconsistent with the Internet.

In addition, the financial network combed and found that the problems existing in the second-hand car e-commerce platform also involve various problems such as "false car sources", "hidden charges", "leakage of personal privacy", "overlord clauses", "imperfect after-sales service", "unable to handle the transfer", "buying a car without knowing it", "buying a car without knowing it", "inflating the price", "dispute over the ownership of the vehicle", "routine loan" and so on.

In fact, relevant departments, including the Consumer Rights Commission, have interviewed used car e-commerce platforms many times before, asking each platform to rectify prominent problems, but as of now, the chaos in the second-hand car market still needs to be solved.

Some analysts in the industry believe that the pursuit of low prices by consumers and the deliberate deception of sellers are the direct reasons for the frequent contradictions in second-hand car transactions, but the deep-seated reason is because the industry norms in the main market are not perfect and perfect.

Su Hui, executive director of the tangible market branch of the China Automobile Dealers Association, once pointed out that in view of the chaos in the second-hand car market, the commodity attributes of second-hand cars should be restored as soon as possible, so that second-hand car dealers can change from brokerage companies to operating companies, so as to take more powerful legal compulsory measures. Effectively avoid the occurrence of used car transaction fraud and boost the confidence of used car consumers.

Internet observers pointed out that the current regulations on regulating the second-hand car market are not in the minority, and the relevant departments are constantly improving the law, but the above violations are still emerging in an endless stream, which means that the implementation of the regulations on the second-hand car e-commerce platform is not in place, which requires the platform to strengthen itself, strengthen the review and release of information and self-restraint, and also requires the professional evaluation agencies of used cars, consumer associations, platforms and other aspects to work together and participate in many parties. "The implementation of the main responsibility and the increase of the entry threshold will make the industry better and better."