Tencent Auto News On March 16, some netizens exposed a Tesla "non-resale commitment letter" (hereinafter referred to as the commitment letter) on social platforms, according to the screenshot, users need to sign the commitment letter when they place orders for multiple Tesla vehicles at one or more times, promising not to transfer or actually transfer any vehicle to any third party within 365 days after picking up the car (subject to the date of the first invoice).
In response to the online commitment letter, on March 18, the relevant person in charge of Tesla told Tencent Automobile, "This agreement is confirmed, but one thing needs to be clear, users who buy multiple cars will sign an agreement, and users who buy 1 car are not affected." ”
Tencent Auto called Tesla 400 customer service consultation, the other party said, "have not heard of the relevant commitment letter, if the company purchases or more than 5 orders, you can contact Tesla's key customer department, car purchase, car pick-up, transfer is the rights and interests of consumers." ”
Lawyer: This clause infringes on the owner's right to dispose of it
Tesla has always adopted the direct sales model to sell cars, users can complete the car selection and booking online, but in the purchase process, Tesla will sign a relevant purchase agreement with the consumer, clearly indicating that any order involving resale has the right to unilaterally terminate the agreement.
It is worth noting that unlike the above agreement, Tesla further clarified the time period and liquidated damages. In response to the different attitudes of consumers in the above commitment letter, some netizens expressed their support, believing that "the car market should have maintained a good trading environment and resolutely cracked down on scalpers"; some netizens believed that this belonged to the "overlord clause" and "the freedom to buy and sell, Tesla managed a little more".
Regarding whether the above-mentioned commitment letter has a legal basis, Lin Lihong, executive director and senior lawyer of Beijing Quanyou Law Firm, told Tencent Automobile that the car company's clause restricting car buyers from reselling the purchased vehicles is illegal. According to Article 240 of the Civil Code, the owner of movable property enjoys the right to possess, use, benefit and dispose of it in accordance with law. The buyer acquires ownership of the vehicle through the sale and purchase contract and has the right to dispose of the vehicle. This clause infringes on the owner's right to dispose of the car owner and is suspected of violating the law.
In addition, the commitment letter mentions that if the commitment is violated, the amount of 20% of the invoice price of each defaulted vehicle will be paid within 7 days, otherwise Tesla has the right to restrict the binding account change of the defaulted vehicle and services such as supercharging.
Lin Lihong said that the premise of bearing the liability for breach of contract is that the agreed contractual obligations are not contrary to the provisions of the law and are protected by law. If the obligation of the car buyer stipulated in the contract is a violation of the obligation, the obligation clause is invalid and not protected by law, and the breach of the obligation does not need to bear the liability for breach of contract.
In the view of Yan Jinghui, a member of the expert committee of the China Automobile Dealers Association, from the current point of view, there is an imbalance between Tesla's supply and demand, and the company's launch of such a commitment letter is indeed somewhat strong, and whether there is a basis for further consideration. However, in the face of order resale, Tesla has its own considerations, the first is to maintain its own brand image, and the second is to protect its own direct operation model to avoid causing chaos in the price system.
"Three consecutive rises" in a week Used car dealers: selling nearly 60 cars a month
According to the Red Star Capital Bureau, the relevant person in charge of Tesla said that the "no resale commitment letter" is a preventive measure introduced in response to the recent phenomenon of individuals buying multiple Teslas at one time on the official website.
In the past week, Tesla car prices have risen "three consecutive times", the price of Model 3 and Model Y models has been raised by 10,000-20,000 yuan, and the delivery cycle of the whole series has been as long as 10-20 weeks, which has allowed some users, scalpers and second-hand car dealers to see business opportunities.
Tencent Auto found that second-hand car dealers and individual users resold Tesla orders on a second-hand trading platform at a price of between 4,000 and 10,000 yuan. Mr. Chen, the seller, told Tencent Auto, "At the beginning, I sold 5,000 yuan, and too many people asked, and now it is 9,000 yuan." Another seller said, "a new 'used car', promising a nationwide transfer."
It is worth noting that the "transfer Tesla order" that appears on the second-hand platform is actually a second-hand car trading process. The seller (or scalper) in the Tesla official website after paying 1000 yuan deposit began to queue up for delivery, close to the car when the seller increased the price to resell the order, after the transaction, the seller needs to first pick up the car to license, and then transfer the car to the buyer.
According to Mr. Chen's description, "most of the cars that receive cars are second-hand car dealers, and most of the orders on the second-hand platform only earn the money of the order price increase, and the car dealers see the price increase and then sell the car at a higher price, earning the difference between different links." ”
Mr. Xu, a used car dealer, told Tencent Auto that nearly 60 Tesla used cars have been sold in the past month, and each car has earned 6,000-8,000 yuan. According to him, "sometimes when receiving a resale order, you need to buy the whole vehicle to transfer to your own name and then transfer it to the buyer, if there happens to be a buyer when receiving the order, you can directly transfer it to the buyer's hand, without the need to advance money yourself." ”
"This kind of second-hand car transaction is very risky, and the price of the car continues to rise, and there will be an order resale default." Mr. Xu believes that "in a month, there will be no market for the car to rise in price again." Because how much the car is worth, it is not Tesla who decides, nor does it mean that we have the final say, it is decided by the market. ”
In response to the above phenomenon, Yan Jinghui, a member of the expert committee of the China Automobile Dealers Association, told Tencent Automobile that in the process of vehicle sales, consumers buy today and sell tomorrow, but the resale of new energy vehicles is actually a secondary transfer, and for consumers who buy cars, the retention rate of this car is certainly not as good as that of unturned cars. The retention rate of new energy vehicles is low, although Tesla is in a special situation, the retention rate is relatively high, and consumers will also have risks in this regard, so it is recommended that consumers still buy new cars in formal channels.
Zhuang Jingqian, deputy partner of Roland Berger, said that the pressure of collective price increases of new energy vehicles mainly comes from the upstream of the supply chain, and the price increase of new energy vehicles will inhibit market demand in the short term, but in the medium and long term, the price increase of new energy vehicles will not become the norm. (Text/Tencent Auto Auton)