On March 16, the big V "Han Chao" exposed a Tesla "non-resale commitment letter", which required the owner of one or more cumulative orders to buy multiple Tesla vehicles to sign a "non-resale commitment letter", promising not to resell to a third party within one year, and the violator paid a penalty of 20% of the vehicle's fare.
In this regard, the relevant person in charge of Tesla (TSLA.US) confirmed the authenticity of the "commitment letter of non-resale" to the Red Star Capital Bureau. It said that the "non-resale commitment letter" is a preventive measure in response to the recent phenomenon of individuals buying multiple Teslas at a time on the official website. The purpose is to maintain the fair and transparent car purchase experience of the majority of consumers, and truly protect the rights and interests of consumers, so it will not have any impact on the normal car purchase and overall experience of ordinary consumers.
However, on March 17, Tesla's official customer service and sales staff told Red Star Capital Bureau that they did not know the "commitment letter of non-resale".
Red Star Capital Bureau learned that Tesla's delivery is difficult, successive price increases, and quality assurance do not follow people, so that many consumers are willing to accept order transfers. Hoarding orders only need a deposit of 1,000 yuan per vehicle, and a transfer can make a profit of tens of thousands of yuan, driven by interests, and even scalpers are determined in batches.
It is worth mentioning that on March 17, Tesla's official website in China showed that the price of the rear-wheel drive Model Y rose by 15,060 yuan. This is Tesla's third price increase in a week. So far, all tesla domestic Model 3 and Model Y models have increased prices.
Is Tesla's "no resale commitment letter" illegal?
Tesla's "non-resale commitment letter" spread on the Internet is as follows:
Because I have been aware of the "no resale" clause in the Terms and Conditions of the Car Order Agreement before confirming the order, I understand and agree that tesla's direct operation model is to sell cars directly to end customers. In view of the fact that I have placed one or more cumulative orders to purchase multiple Tesla vehicles, Tesla has reasonable reasons to confirm with me the purpose and use of the vehicle, and I hereby make the following commitments and warranties:
Provide the purpose of purchase as soon as reasonably as possible as tesla requires, in accordance with the agreed instructions and support materials; to ensure that all of its purchased vehicles will be registered and actually used in accordance with the vehicle buyer specified in the agreement, and there is no purpose of resale to any third party.
Undertake not to transfer or actually transfer any vehicle to any third party within 365 days after pick-up (subject to the date of first invoicing).
Agreed to provide the vehicle registration as required by Tesla within the above one year, and proof of whether it is used as agreed, including cooperation with the vehicle management office to verify the vehicle registration.
If the commitment is violated, the penalty will be paid within 20% of the invoice price of each defaulted vehicle within 7 days, otherwise Tesla has the right to restrict the binding account change of the defaulted vehicle and services such as supercharging.
Big V "Han Chao" exposed Tesla's "no resale commitment letter"
Does Tesla's "non-resale commitment letter" infringe on the rights and interests of consumers?
Song Hongyu, a lawyer at Tahota Law Firm, told Red Star Capital Bureau that "Tesla's 'non-resale commitment letter' restricts consumer rights, conforms to standard terms in form, and restricts consumers from exercising ownership rights in content, so it is more likely that it will be invalid." ”
According to Article 26 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests (2013), where business operators use standard terms in their business activities, they shall draw consumers' attention in a conspicuous manner to the quantity and quality of goods or services, prices or fees, performance periods and methods, safety precautions and risk warnings, after-sales service, civil liability, and other content that has a major interest in consumers, and explain them in accordance with consumers' requirements.
Proprietors must not use methods such as standard terms, notices, statements, or store notices to make unfair or unreasonable provisions that exclude or restrict consumer rights, reduce or exempt business operators' responsibilities, or increase consumer liabilities, and must not use standard terms and use technical means to force transactions.
If the standard terms, notices, statements, store notices, etc. contain the contents listed in the preceding paragraph, their contents shall be invalid.
Tesla's price increase and delivery are difficult to become scalper business opportunities
Many Tesla owners have told Red Star Capital that they hope that the "letter of commitment not to resell" is true, because "scalpers are too rampant" to do so.
Due to hot orders and limited production capacity, Tesla's delivery time has been as long as 4-5 months. Tesla's official website shows that the current delivery time of tesla Model 3 is 16-20 weeks, and the various versions of Model Y are 10-20 weeks.
In addition, Tesla's successive sharp price increases have also prompted some consumers to choose order transfer transactions.
At the end of 2021, the price of the Model 3 rear-wheel drive version increased by 10,000 yuan, and the price of the Model Y rear-wheel drive version increased by 21,000 yuan; on March 10, the domestic Tesla Model 3 high-performance version and the Model Y long-endurance and high-performance version both increased by 10,000 yuan; on March 15, Tesla's official website showed that the model 3 high-performance version and the Model Y long-endurance version/ high-performance version increased by 18,000-20,000 yuan; on March 17, Tesla's official website in China showed that the rear-wheel drive Model The price of Y was raised to 316,900 yuan, an increase of 15,060 yuan.
Red Star Capital Bureau learned that Tesla can book directly online or offline physical stores, and after booking, the owner only needs to pay a deposit of 1,000 yuan. Orders that have already paid a deposit before the price adjustment are not affected by the price increase.
Tesla officially does not support the transfer order, but the buyer and seller can directly transfer the car after picking up, the buyer gets the new car, and the seller only needs to bear the transfer fee of a few hundred yuan. Tesla does not have the "first owner's rights", the warranty of the new car is transferred with the ownership of the vehicle, and the rights and interests of the previous and subsequent owners are not much different.
This allows scalpers to see business opportunities. There are a large number of Tesla order markup transfer stickers on idle fish, and the price varies depending on the morning and evening delivery time and the level of the scheduled price, and the price increase can be up to tens of thousands of yuan.
Red Star Capital Bureau searched on idle fish and found that the order transfer price of Tesla's various models was less than half of the price increase, and it could be transferred by 2,000 yuan with good luck. With Tesla's continuous price increases, the order transfer price has also risen.
Idle Fish on Tesla order transfer
A prospective owner of a Tesla Model Y rear-wheel drive version in Ningbo, the order transfer price before the first round of price increases was 9,000 yuan, before the second round of price increases was 11,111 yuan, and it was changed to 13,000 yuan on March 17.
Domestic Tesla prices rose three times in a week, and a Tesla prospective owner told Red Star Capital Bureau, "Tesla is expected to rise." I only met someone yesterday who placed orders in batches, and the probability is that they are scalpers. I hope that Tesla can manage this chaos well through the 'no resale commitment letter'. ”
Red Star News reporter Wu Danruo
Edited by Yu Dongmei
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