From the Insurance Law, we can see the collective rights protection incident of the repair shop

"New energy + sheet metal spray" and "insurance + remanufacturing" will be the direction of change in the automotive aftermarket, and the current advantages of traditional repair shops must not be able to do the trend of future development.

Author 丨 Wang Jianyong

On March 15 this year, we saw an incident of a regional repair shop boycotting insurance companies, and with the successive disclosures of the media, the game confrontation between the two sides came from behind the scenes to the front, which aroused the attention of the industry inside and outside the industry.

In fact, this problem has a long history, but they love each other and kill each other, with the continuous expansion of "cats and tigers", the rapid development of new energy, the process of various auto parts platforms has intensified, the rising labor costs, the three-year epidemic has been repeated and so on, and the maintenance plant is no longer living. In addition, after the comprehensive reform of insurance companies' car insurance, the cost of compensation has risen, and for some unspoken rules in the automobile maintenance industry, the tolerance of insurance companies is also declining, and various contradictions have surfaced.

Repair shops are a vulnerable group, and insurance companies are not right for you to cheat big or small. But are insurance companies wrong?

The basic principle of insurance companies to settle claims is bound by the Insurance Law, and it is also regulated by the State Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, which shows that every policy issued by insurance companies is not a simple corporate behavior. The entire insurance legislation follows the principle of maximum good faith and the principle of insurance compensation.

The principle of maximum good faith does not need to be explained too much, the principle of insurance compensation, in the vernacular, is: how much the insured spends because of this accident, the insurer will compensate how much. That is, the insurance company pays the owner enough money to repair the car and return to the state before the accident (rather than the new car).

The new Insurance Law clarifies that insurance companies only bear the obligation of economic compensation under the insurance contract, and have no responsibility obligation for the repair of accident vehicles and related matters, and the repair shop that plays an important role in the claim of automobile insurance is the repair shop, and the repair price, duration and quality of the repair shop directly affect the service of automobile insurance. However, most insured persons believe that the insurance company must be responsible for repairing the vehicle after the accident; secondly, in the property insurance business, automobile insurance is the "hardest hit area" of moral hazard, and car insurance fraud cases occur from time to time, violating the principle of maximum good faith and the principle of insurance compensation.

About original parts replacement

Article 14 of the Commercial Insurance of Motor Vehicles of the China Insurance Industry Association stipulates that after an insured accident occurs, the insurer (insurance company) shall bear the liability for compensation within the scope of insurance liability, and the compensation method shall be decided by the insurer and the insured (car owner) through consultation. Whether the owner goes to the 4S repair or the social repair shop for maintenance is chosen by the owner. The standard terms do not clearly state whether the replacement parts are original or non-original parts involved in the repair. Due to the "vagueness" of the conclusion of the insurance contract, the "ambiguity" of economic compensation has been led to; but no matter how "vague", it is a matter between the insurance company and the insured, and there is no relationship between the repair enterprise.

Of course, the owner of the insurance will generally be asked by the insurance company surveyor where to repair the car. It's like when someone is sick and someone asks you which hospital you go to for treatment, and generally choose the nearest hospital with the best medical conditions. The same is true for repairing the car, after the accident, you will choose to go to 4S for maintenance, but the maintenance price of 4S is much higher than that of the comprehensive repair shop.

Especially for BBAP high-end cars, the 4S maintenance price will be 5 times higher than that of the integrated repair shop. For example, mercedes-Benz S-class 2015 model car front bumper outer skin spray paint, in the 4S need 3000 yuan, comprehensive repair shop generally 600 yuan to get it. In the same accident, the total loss of 4S will be several times higher than that of the comprehensive repair shop. Why are insurance companies willing to pay? The answer is simply: 4S has a lot of new car premium contributions.

Insurance companies are financial institutions but they are also enterprises, and enterprises have the right to make special terms of service for their customers who contribute a lot. However, 4S stores with low contributions to new car premiums have basically fallen into a state of no difference from comprehensive repair companies.

The insurance company and the 4S premium replacement, the insurance company bears a high cost of replacement, but according to the insurance compensation principle: the compensation for the loss of the insured vehicle or other property is "mainly repaired", which is contradictory to the Insurance Law.

According to Article 15 of the Comprehensive Commercial Clauses for Motor Vehicles of the China Insurance Industry Association (2020 Edition) Motor Vehicle Loss Insurance, "the insured shall inspect the insured motor vehicle damaged by an insured accident before repairing it and negotiate to determine the maintenance institution, repair items, methods and costs." If it cannot be determined through consultation, the parties entrust a mutually recognized qualified third party to conduct the assessment". Article 18 (2) Partial Loss "In the event of partial loss of the insured motor vehicle, the insurance company shall directly purchase maintenance services from the repair shop and repair the damaged insured motor vehicle or property damage to the pre-occurrence state". After some damaged parts have been repaired and tested by professional institutions, they can fully meet the original appearance and safety technical standards of the original accessories, and provide a warranty, which can be used with confidence.

Keyword explanation: The negotiation fails, and the two parties entrust a qualified third party to conduct the assessment - in this case, there is a solution, looking for the price department instead of pulling the banner. The insurance company is mainly repaired, and the repair shop is unable to entrust a third-party external repair (maintenance company), which involves a replacement of parts, and restores the pre-insurance state instead of the factory state.

The new automobile three-guarantee law implemented on January 1, 2022 has a clearer definition of auto parts during the warranty period, "Article 16, the parts used by the repairer for repair during the warranty period shall be qualified parts provided or approved by the manufacturer, and their quality shall not be lower than the quality of the parts and components of the original car configuration". Qualified parts here are not just for original parts.

Involving new cars, three cars and auto parts that affect safety, insurance companies will generally take the initiative to pay the original parts, for some old vehicles and second-hand cars, not more than the actual value of the insured vehicles, compensation for qualified parts provided or recognized by the producer.

Admittedly, 70% of the repair shop's profit comes from the difference in parts, and about 25% comes from maintenance man-hours (damaged parts are replaced by repairs). The insurance company has no right to object to the insured's (maintenance plant)'s claim to the original parts – after all, the insurance contract is not explicitly agreed upon, and everyone can sit down and negotiate. For the repair shop 15% spare parts management fee, the insurance company can refuse.

As for the repair shop's requirement that the original parts not be inspected, not re-inspected, and not recycled, I think this is a failure of the maintenance plant to protect its rights. Let's not say that the insurance company does not agree to "no inspection, no re-investigation", the replacement of the old parts belongs to the insurance company, if it is not recycled, the insurance company will deduct the residual value, what is the benefit to the repair shop?

Article 23 of the new Insurance Law states that the insurer shall make a request for compensation or payment of compensation from the insured or beneficiary in a timely manner, and shall make an approval within 30 days if the situation is complicated, unless otherwise agreed in the contract." ”

Keyword explanation: the accident car involves dismantling and inspection, additional loss determination, the situation is complicated, the contract agrees on up to 30 days; if you want to speed up, the owner chooses cash compensation instead of in-kind compensation, cash compensation within 10 days (insurance company cash compensation to the insured, and then the case is closed). However, the owner's choice of cash payment method is risky for both the owner and the repair shop.

Remanufactured parts cannot be confused with by-product parts and dismantling parts

I see that in the repair shop appeal, the perception that the remanufactured part is equivalent to the "sub-factory part" is extremely wrong. This misconception is spread through the media, and the social impact will be very bad. It is necessary to popularize the knowledge of remanufacturing here.

For remanufacturing, it is one of the best ways to achieve the national green circular economy, and it is also a key development project of the national 14th Five-Year Plan for the dual-carbon strategy. The standard definition of remanufacturing is the systematic engineering of the original factory waste and damaged auto parts using new processes and new materials for scientific and standardized treatment, and the quality meets or exceeds the standard of the original new parts. Its core is the use of manufacturing mode to do maintenance, is a high-tech content of repair technology.

Remanufactured parts can not be confused with sub-factory parts, refurbished parts or recycled dismantling parts, and remanufactured production enterprises must be certified by the National Quality Inspection Center - not a third-party certification body to recognize the "authoritative" certificate, and need to obtain the approval of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and enter the remanufacturing product catalog.

There are also illegal acts in the market that refurbished parts pretend to be remanufactured parts: they borrow the name of remanufacturing, and then spend money to find a third party to do a certification, print a large remanufacturing on the product packaging, which is a behavior that harms the rights and interests of consumers, and it is recommended that maintenance factories should polish their eyes when the insurance company provides remanufactured direct parts. The repair shop has the right to let the insurance company provide a photocopy of the approval of the REMANC remanufacturing production enterprise, remembering that it is not a third-party "authoritative" certification - the refurbished parts produced by the enterprise without the MIIT remanufacturing approval are passed off as remanufactured parts, and the repair shop has the right to refuse to use them, and can report to the market supervision department.

In 2021, Ping An Property & Casualty took the lead in setting up a remanufacturing working group to select qualified remanufacturing production enterprises, take photos from the source of bad damage, fly inspection and sampling during the production process, trace the quality of the labeling traceability code throughout the process, endorse the two-year warranty, include tax to the store package freight, and the responsibility for returning and exchanging goods for quality problems is borne by the remanufacturing manufacturer. According to changzhou Hanke Remanufacturing since 2021 signed a direct remanufacturing agreement with Ping An Property & Casualty Insurance, the return visit records since the supply show that there has not been a single return or replacement incident due to quality problems so far.

The trend of "insurance + remanufacturing" is irreversible

Maintenance plants must survive and develop, and insurance companies must reduce losses and reduce compensation, and this pair of contradictions has coexisted for a long time. Insurance companies are also reflecting on the insurance replacement policy, not considering the overall channel cost, and indulging and indulging in order to complete the phased premium task, which will eventually eat back the self-interest of the insurance company.

What is determined in the future is that the rapid development of new energy vehicles, the traditional automobile service industry will undergo tremendous changes, and new energy vehicles + sheet metal spray is the development direction of maintenance plants. The requirements for lightweight new energy vehicles, more than 70% of the body covering parts use 6 series aluminum magnesium alloy, is the maintenance capacity of the maintenance plant up to date with market changes?

In the future, it is determined that paint manufacturers will build their own sheet metal spray centers, new energy vehicle OEMs will build their own insurance brokerage companies and self-operated (authorized) sheet metal spray centers, "cats and tigers" will set foot in sheet metal spray centers, and a luxury brand OEMs will prepare for the establishment of direct operations and authorized sheet metal spray center projects.

What is uncertain in the future is whether the automotive aftermarket will need so many repair shops, and will there still be a place for you in the automotive aftermarket in a few years?

Using the insurance compensation principle of insurance companies, green maintenance should be repaired as much as possible, and can be repaired or not replaced. Since the repair shop replacement parts can not get the high profit of 4S original parts, then through the maintenance to obtain high profits (the compensation principle is generally 15% -30% of the original parts). By mastering the core competitiveness of high-quality maintenance of aluminum body parts, the repair shop upgraded the original sheet metal maintenance technology to the remanufacturing service technology, which is an effective way for the repair shop to break through and get rid of the low-level inner coil.

Document No. 101 of the Joint Political Law of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology [2020] clearly states that remanufacturing production should be extended to remanufacturing services, and remanufacturing services are also remanufacturing.

The maintenance plant will upgrade the maintenance to remanufacturing services, the current accident car aluminum body parts less than 15% of the repair rate increased to more than 70%, new materials and new processes to maximize the profits of maintenance enterprises, can reduce losses and losses for insurance companies, but also improve the game relationship with insurance companies, become insurance companies love without killing partners.

End with a sentence from Luo Zhenyu's New Year's Eve speech: "Use what will definitely happen tomorrow, pour out what you are going to do today, and see a clear future; do it now; learn quickly if you lack ability." The future is clear: the national strategy of carbon peak carbon neutrality, the rapid development of new energy vehicles, the sheet metal spray maintenance process will be upgraded to a remanufacturing process, do it immediately; maintenance enterprises aluminum body maintenance capacity is insufficient, hurry to learn.

"New energy + sheet metal spray" and "insurance + remanufacturing" will be the direction of change in the automotive aftermarket, and the advantages of traditional repair shops must not be able to do the future development trend. I hope that every repair shop can live a long time and work with insurance companies to create an automotive aftermarket ecosystem.

Article from: AC Cars

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