When buying a new car and paying a deposit, please sign the "insurance clause" in the contract!

Author: Zhou Yuwen, Fujian Zhouchi Law Firm

Source: House of Justice

The mainland's automobile production, especially the new energy vehicle update iteration, has accelerated, and the market competition is fierce, resulting in a relatively large decline in the market price of automobiles, including the price of the same brand and model of the car in the short term.

For example. Not long ago, the author received such a legal consultation on the sale of automobiles: in mid-January this year, Mr. Zhang was optimistic about a certain type of vehicle of a certain brand in a 4S store, and the seller said that the price of their vehicle was the most favorable, but the vehicle could not be delivered until more than a month later, but the buyer had to pay a deposit of 20,000 yuan first. As a result, Mr. Zhang and the 4S store signed the "Automobile Sales Contract", stipulating the terms of the vehicle's price, deposit, warranty service, etc., and the agreed delivery time of the vehicle was before March 15 this year. After the contract was signed, Mr. Zhang paid a deposit of 20,000 yuan as agreed, and only waited for the seller's notice to pick up the car. However, when he received a notice from the seller to pick up the car at the 4S store on March 10 this year, Mr. Zhang found that the price of the vehicle of the same brand and model he purchased had been reduced by more than 13,000 yuan. Mr. Zhang also asked the seller to close the deal at the current price, but the seller refused to solve the problem, and if he did not buy it, the deposit of 20,000 yuan would not be refunded, and it was not cost-effective. After inquiring about the relevant situation in detail, the author replied to Mr. Zhang: Unless he negotiated with the seller 4S and agreed to buy the car at the latest market price, there was no other way. There is no legal help or remedy for this situation.

In fact, Mr. Zhang's situation often occurs not only in the current automobile market, but also in the buying and selling of agricultural products, commodity houses, and luxury goods. Except for the purchase and sale of agricultural products with the exact same commodity, such as peaches of the same variety and quality from the same origin, the price purchased in the first five days will be quite different from today's price and the price in the next five days, but it is generally acceptable to people, but other commodities are difficult for many people to accept. Even if it is unacceptable, if the two parties cannot reach a consensus through consultation, the party who believes that it has suffered can only accept it, so why can't the law provide help and relief? The reason is not complicated:

Once the contract is established and valid, it is legally binding on the parties to the contract, that is, the parties must perform their obligations according to the contract, and if they fail to perform their obligations, the party as the obligee can request the other party to perform their obligations or compensate for losses. Just imagine, if after the contract is established and valid, the party that thinks that it has suffered a loss or actually suffers a loss can use this as an excuse not to perform its contractual obligations, will the contract not become a piece of waste paper! Then what predictability and market order can there be in people's economic activities? There is no need to study and understand the market in the people's provisions. In the final analysis, as mentioned earlier, the price reduction of the vehicle after Mr. Zhang's purchase of the car is fundamentally caused by changes in the market, because the number of automobile products has increased and the cost has decreased, but the demand side has not increased or even decreased slightly, and the price will naturally change. In order to ensure that we do not suffer losses or suffer less losses in purchasing commodities in the market economy, we must fundamentally study the market and be familiar with the market. Of course, this is a difficult problem, and it can be done and done well by ordinary consumers, but if it can be started from the perspective of contract formation, it can still play a certain role. The following is a brief introduction based on an actual case.

In August 2022, one of the author's relatives, Mr. Sun, wanted to buy a new energy family car, and consulted the author about signing a car sales agreement, and specifically mentioned that if the price was reduced immediately after the purchase or the price was reduced before the car was mentioned, whether it could be prevented in concluding the contract. I told him that of course it was possible to prevent it, but that the other party had to agree to such a contract. So, I introduced him to the knowledge of the "quotation clause" of the contract. After patronizing a number of 4S stores, Sun finally signed a "car subscription agreement" with a 4S store, ordering a hot-selling model of a certain brand, in addition to the terms of the price, deposit and delivery time, the price clause also specifically agreed that "if the buyer picks up the car according to the agreement, if the manufacturer adjusts the price of the same model, it will be calculated according to the new price, except for the increase in price." If the buyer does not agree to continue the purchase due to price changes, the seller guarantees to return all the deposits paid by the buyer and does not assume other responsibilities. When Sun picked up the car in mid-November 2022 as agreed, he found that the price of the manufacturer of the brand and model of the vehicle he purchased had indeed been adjusted, dropping by more than 12,000 yuan, and the performance had also improved in some aspects. At first, the seller's 4S store did not agree to return more than 12,000 yuan, saying that there was no such precedent.

However, after several negotiations, Sun was still reduced by 10,000 yuan. The author also pointed out to him that he could file a lawsuit with the seller to request a reduction of 12,000 yuan, or to terminate the contract and return the deposit. But Sun was afraid of trouble, so he made concessions to the seller. In fact, the seller's "concession" is fundamentally because of the constraints of the validity of the contract, and in fact it is not a real concession.

In fact, as a buyer, you can not only use the "insurance clause" and other clauses of the contract to ensure that the goods you purchase will not be higher than the market price at that time, but also use such clauses to purchase goods that are not higher than the market price in a short period of time. For example, a commercial housing seller claims in its commercial housing sales advertisements and promotions that the commercial housing it sells is guaranteed to be no higher than the price of the same type of housing in the same area, and if the sales price of the commercial housing of this type decreases within two months, the seller guarantees that the higher part will be returned to the buyer. In this case, as long as the buyer insists on including the above clauses in the terms of the contract, if the agreed situation really arises, the obligated party should perform its obligations in accordance with the agreement. Of course, even if the seller does not commit to this in its advertising and publicity, many sellers will agree if the buyer insists on including such content in the contract. Because in the current situation that the sale of goods belongs to the buyer's market, as long as the seller has a small profit or even no loss, it is also to try to satisfy the buyer, which is the law of the market. But even if the laws of the market exist, it still depends on the efforts and persistence of people with intentions. I wonder if you think so?

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