With shoddy and old for new, why are there so many traps in car maintenance?

Recently, Mr. Liu from Changsha, Hunan Province, complained to reporters that he had encountered a car maintenance trap - he accidentally hit the roadside guardrail while driving, causing damage to the headlights, so he found an auto repair shop to repair and replace the new lights. However, less than a month after the repair, the new lights broke.

Mr. Liu felt that there might be something greasy in it, so he asked an acquaintance who was engaged in maintenance work in an automobile 4S shop to check it, and found that the new car lights that had been replaced before were actually second-hand car lights and problem lights. Mr. Liu immediately went to the auto repair shop to theorize, but the other party refused to admit it.

"I've heard of many car repair traps before, but I didn't expect so many. Mr. Liu sighed.

What are the pitfalls of automobile maintenance, and how should they be regulated according to laws and regulations? With questions, this reporter conducted an investigation and interview.

□ reporter Han Dandong

□ This newspaper is actually Xi born Zhai Qiyu

In August last year, Mr. Hu from Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, found that his car was a little abnormal when it started, and went to the local auto repair shop to check and was told that there was a problem with the spark plugs, and all six spark plugs needed to be replaced, otherwise it would cause irreversible damage to the vehicle engine. Mr. Hu agreed to the replacement and paid for it.

However, a few days later, the abnormality when the car started reappeared. Mr. Hu went to an auto repair shop again to check and was told that it was still a spark plug problem. The mechanic told Mr. Hu that only 3 of the 6 spark plugs on the car had been replaced last time, and 3 had not been replaced at all.

"Changing 3 but charging me 6 money, it's too 'black'. Mr. Hu said annoyedly.

In recent years, with the increase in the number of cars in the mainland, car maintenance is full of various problems, among which shoddy and old are the most prominent, which not only increases consumer spending, but also leads to a series of potential safety hazards in vehicles. In the interview, car owners called for purifying the car repair market and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

Shoddy and old for new

Car repair is hidden

On a complaint platform, a reporter from the "Rule of Law Daily" searched for "car maintenance" as the keyword and found that there were dozens of related complaints recently, mainly involving shoddy replacement parts and replacing the old with the new.

In October last year, Ms. Zhao from Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, was driving a private car from Dongxin Expressway to Zhuhai when the tire pressure was abnormal, and after getting out of the car for inspection, she found that there was a slight air leak on the left rear wheel. Ms. Zhao immediately found a merchant called "××× Auto Electric Tire Repair (Guicheng Store)" on a certain platform, and after dialing the merchant's phone, the merchant asked to add their social account and send the precise location to the merchant.

"After the merchant briefly understood the fault situation, he said, 'It takes 800 yuan to go to the high-speed rescue, pay a deposit of 500 yuan first, and the rest depends on the situation'. Ms. Zhao said that after she paid a deposit of 500 yuan, the merchant said that she had called a tow truck to come over and tow it to the next highway for inspection and repair.

Originally, the merchant said that the maintenance master would arrive in about 20 minutes, but after Ms. Zhao waited on the highway for nearly an hour, the maintenance master just drove a car over and did not tow the truck. After arriving at the exit of Guangzhou South Railway Station, the master helped her check the tires and found that the left rear tire was pierced with nails, saying that she could not repair the tire and could only replace the new tire.

In desperation, Ms. Zhao had to consult the price of replacing the tire, and when she was told that it cost 3,500 yuan, Ms. Zhao felt that it was too expensive, so she said that she didn't need it. Later, the master asked her to contact the merchant, and the merchant said that it could be cheaper by 200 yuan, and the new tire was installed and sent for maintenance service once, so Ms. Zhao agreed to replace the tire.

After that, Ms. Zhao waited at the highway for another 1.5 hours before the master came back and said that he had found the same brand of tires. After the installation, Ms. Zhao transferred 3,300 yuan to the master.

The next day, Ms. Zhao, who was suspicious, found a local auto repair shop and told the mechanic what had happened, and the master said that she could see the production date of the tire, and she found that the tire was installed in reverse and there was no way to see the production date. Subsequently, the mechanic helped her remove yesterday's tires and reinstall them, to Ms. Zhao's shock, she found that the tire had traces of repair, and looking at the production date, it was the same as the other three wheels, it was obvious that the tire was the old tire that Ms. Zhao had replaced before, and the merchant did not help her replace the new one at all.

"It was a complete fraud and I drove more than 100 kilometres with the old tyres attached. In order to make money, repair shops take the safety of consumers too seriously. Ms. Zhao said angrily. Subsequently, Ms. Zhao approached the merchant to ask for compensation, but was refused.

The reporter searched on multiple platforms and found that similar complaints are not uncommon, and most of these complaints are caused by parts fraud and concealment of key information about the car in the process of car maintenance.

In this regard, an employee of an auto repair shop in Hongqiao, Tianjin, told reporters that most car owners will leave their cars in the shop when they are repaired, and the merchants will only pick up the car after repair. Some auto repair shops use this time to remove the better quality car parts and replace them with old ones, as long as the car has no obvious faults, it is difficult for the owner to find the problem.

"Even if the owner is watching at the scene, he is not afraid, there are many lines and parts in the car, and the maintenance master points to the good parts and says that they are bad, and people who don't understand can't see it at all. In fact, most car owners don't know about these parts. The above-mentioned practitioner said, "Although auto repair shops will provide consumers with maintenance orders, listing maintenance items, required materials, costs, etc., this is not enough for car owners to understand the real cause of vehicle failure and the specific maintenance process." ”

If the auto repair shop is shoddy and the old is replaced with the new, resulting in potential safety hazards, what kind of responsibility should the merchant bear?

Liu Junhai, a professor at the Law School of Chinese University, believes that there is a contractual relationship between auto repair shops and consumers, and consumers' rights to know, choose, fair trade and safety should be protected in accordance with the contract section of the Civil Code and the Consumer Rights Protection Law.

Lawyer Ma Lihong, a senior partner at Beijing Deheheng Law Firm, believes that the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests stipulates that if a business operator commits fraud in providing goods or services, it shall, at the request of the consumer, increase the compensation for the losses suffered, and the amount of the increased compensation shall be three times the price of the goods purchased by the consumer or the cost of receiving the service, and if the amount of the increased compensation is less than 500 yuan, it shall be 500 yuan. Where the law provides otherwise, follow those provisions. Where proprietors clearly know that the goods or services are defective, but still provide them to consumers, causing death or serious harm to the health of consumers or other victims, the victims have the right to demand that the proprietors compensate for losses in accordance with articles 49, 51 and other legal provisions of this Law, and have the right to demand punitive damages of up to twice the losses suffered.

In Ma Lihong's view, if the auto repair shop cannot repair according to the actual needs of consumers, resulting in potential safety hazards, the merchant should bear the obligation to guarantee defects, and if there is a situation that causes losses to consumers, it should compensate consumers for losses.

Providing false supporting documents

The premium should be combined with the outside

With the rapid increase in car ownership, the strong demand for repair and maintenance has given rise to many auto repair shops.

Compared with street-side workshop-style auto repair shops, large auto repair shops with a better environment are more trusted by car owners, although the price is generally much higher, many car owners still prefer to "spend money to buy peace of mind". But in fact, it may just be wishful thinking on the part of consumers.

Mr. Huang from Hexi, Tianjin, told reporters that he had bought full insurance for his car, and that there was an accident some time ago, and the insurance company was indeed very responsible at that time, but Mr. Huang needed to repair it at their designated maintenance station, and Mr. Huang accepted the opinion of the insurance company. However, a few days after the car was driven from the garage, there was a problem of stalling.

After that, Mr. Huang went to the designated maintenance station several times but failed to solve the problem. In the end, when Mr. Huang paid for the repair at the 4S shop, he found that the parts that should have been replaced at the time of the accident had not been replaced. So, he immediately contacted the insurance company and the auto repair shop, but the other party said that there was no problem with the inspection at that time, and the repair cost could not be insured.

Mr. Zhang, an industry insider in Beijing, told reporters that many insurance companies' loss assessors will also reach agreements with 4S shops, repair shops, and owners of cars damaged in accidents to get "kickback" fees. "Once my colleague's car bumper was damaged, and it normally costs about 1,500 yuan to repair and replace it at the outside manufacturer. After going to a 4S store, the loss assessor made an appointment with him to assess the loss of 1,500 yuan, and the (claim amount) reported to the insurance company was 3,000 yuan, and the extra 1,500 yuan in the middle was 'shared' between the assessor and him. ”

He had personally seen an accident car before dismantling and assessing the damage, the shop's repairman smashed the originally intact car water tank frame with a hammer, and then the damage assessor took pictures to assess the damage, so as to ask the insurance company for more money. The owner of the car became the "wronged leader" and paid more money without knowing it.

Ma Lihong said that if the auto repair shop is designated by the insurance company and causes losses to consumers, the insurance company and the auto repair shop constitute joint infringement. The Criminal Law and the Insurance Law have clear provisions on penalties for insurance fraud, and if an appraiser, appraiser, or certifier of an insurance accident deliberately provides false supporting documents to commit insurance fraud, which constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be investigated in accordance with the law; if it does not constitute a crime, an administrative penalty shall be imposed in accordance with the law.

Strengthen supervision and make efforts from all sides

Jointly regulate the auto repair market

In the investigation, the reporter found that some auto repair shops encourage employees to earn commissions by selling more parts, and some employees increase their income by "manipulating" the vehicle, increasing the number of repairs or expanding the scope of maintenance. Some faults are very simple, replacing the fuse can solve the problem, but this does not make money, so some auto repair shops "treat minor illnesses as major illnesses", and the parts that only need to be repaired locally are replaced as a whole, and only small parts need to be replaced but are said to need major repairs. As a result, consumers often have to pay several times or even dozens of times more for repairs.

"Due to the large number of auto parts and miscellaneous categories, there are professional barriers, ordinary consumers simply cannot judge whether their car is over-repaired, shoddy, or even bundled for consumption, and often falls into a strange circle of more and more problems. Ma Lihong said.

For this kind of situation, Ma Lihong put forward several suggestions to consumers: before sending the vehicle for maintenance, we must first do some homework, understand the scope of maintenance in advance, master some basic knowledge of car maintenance, and try to avoid being routine; Consumers should keep relevant evidence, such as taking a picture of the mileage before sending it for inspection, check the list of spare parts when replacing the car parts, check whether the maintenance is in good condition again when completing the handover of the vehicle, and keep the vehicle maintenance records.

Ma Lihong believes that it is difficult for consumers to judge whether there is a problem in the maintenance process from a professional point of view, and there will be additional costs and a long cycle to find an appraisal agency. In order to completely solve this problem, it is still necessary for the industry authorities and self-regulatory organizations of associations to strengthen supervision and self-restraint, and to check the professional source.

"The industry authorities should also strengthen the supervision and industry construction of insurance companies, accelerate the construction of auto insurance information platforms, and establish industry standards for spare parts prices, repair man-hours, and man-hour rates. Only when the market is open and transparent, can we achieve no bullying and build a market development environment that operates in accordance with the law and is honest and trustworthy. Ma Lihong said.

Liu Junhai believes that consumers need to protect themselves, the auto repair industry should also establish a strict sense of self-discipline, and businesses should put pressure on themselves to eliminate the black sheep. At the same time, the regulatory authorities should also strengthen supervision to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

(Source: Rule of Law Daily)