Mr. Ge from Zengcheng spent more than 1.2 million on a Great Wall H6SUV in a store in Xintang this June. He drove happily for two months, and then went to maintain it. As a result, the master told him that the left door had been pried open for maintenance, and the rubber strips inside were in a mess.
In order to find out the situation, Mr. Ge traveled to Guangzhou and Shenzhen to find a third-party authoritative automobile inspection agency for professional inspection, confirming that not only the left front door of the vehicle was replaced, but also the original door was replaced, and there were traces of secondary painting on the front of the vehicle. The test proves that this is obviously a car that had an accident before it was sold to him! Mr. Ge took this test report to the store to claim compensation, but the store evaded it for various reasons and refused to return the car. Finally, Mr. Liang took the 4S shop to court. As of press time, the case is being accepted.
Coincidentally, recently, Ms. Cui from Beijing also took a local store to court. The same reason is that she bought a "new car" with nearly one million yuan in May of 20 14, only to find that it turned out to be an accident car, and there have been many maintenance records since 20 12. According to the relevant regulations, Ms. Cui sued the store for refunding the purchase price and vehicle purchase tax, and compensated for three times the economic loss.
New elimination method: the owner can get three times compensation if the lawsuit is successful.
The experiences of Mr. Ge in Zengcheng, Guangzhou and Ms. Cui in Beijing have made consumers feel sad: the car shop is a bit cruel. If you accidentally encounter a similar situation, how to protect your rights? Lawyer Zhou of Guangdong Xinhui Law Firm said: First of all, it is not too much for Ms. Cui of Beijing to ask for "returning the car and triple the compensation". When selling cars, 4S stores "concealed the truth" about the original car condition and failed to tell consumers the truth, which violated consumers' right to know. According to Article 55 of the Law on the Protection of Consumers' Rights and Interests, which was implemented on March 5, 20 14, if a business operator commits fraud in providing goods or services, it shall increase the compensation for the losses it has suffered according to the requirements of consumers, and the amount of the increase in compensation shall be three times the price of the goods purchased or the cost of receiving services. That is to say, when Mr. Ge, who bought a Haval H6 "new car" for more than 6.5438+0.2 million yuan, went to court for a lawsuit, he could also claim "one refund and three losses". Once the car is judged as an accident car or a used car by the court, she can finally get nearly 500,000 yuan in compensation plus the principal, and Ms. Cui can get more than 3 million yuan in compensation. Experts in the industry said that the new consumer law set such a high compensation amount, mainly to curb the seller's fraud against consumers in the sales process.
Protection of actual rights:
4S stores shirk their responsibilities. Consumers are in a weak position.
Although the new elimination method of "one refund and three losses" is very shocking, the reporter's unannounced visit found that there are still many deceptive behaviors in the actual sales process of automobile 4S shops. In addition to the overlord clauses such as binding authorization and boutique sales, when new cars are sold, accident problems with cars and used cars occur from time to time. These are the luck of car dealers and consumers who don't understand cars. Wang Xudong, the person in charge of CRRC testing in Guangdong, told the reporter: the owner found something wrong with the new car, and it often took months or even a year or two to find out. At this point, it is difficult for 4S shopping malls to admit their mistakes. Commodities such as automobiles are high-tech and professional, and there is information asymmetry for consumers. In the event of a dispute, operators can find various reasons to shirk their responsibilities with their rich professional knowledge. The most common thing is to put the responsibility of improper use on consumers. At this time, consumers are often in a passive and weak position.
The reporter found from the automobile cases coordinated by the Municipal Consumer Council and other departments that in the face of similar situations, automobile 4S shops will not only rarely take the initiative to admit it, but will strongly demand the owners to provide evidence, and consumers need to "lift the bar" with the car dealers many times. In the end, the 4S shop agreed to return the car and make huge compensation, and the owner often needs to solve it through legal means.
Lawyer's suggestion: How does the owner give evidence?
The "shop assistant" in 4S shop is very annoying. If the owner is accidentally recruited, how can he prove it? Lawyer Zhou told reporters that the law protects the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. For example, Article 23 of the Consumer Protection Law stipulates that if consumers find that durable goods such as motor vehicles, computers, televisions, refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines and other services provided by operators are defective or controversial, the operators shall bear the burden of proof for the defects within six months from the date of accepting the goods or services. "The staff of the 4S store has no reason to ask the owner to testify himself." However, in the actual process of safeguarding rights, consumers, as vulnerable groups, still need to prepare sufficient relevant evidence if they want to win the lawsuit.
Lawyer Zhou suggested that once the owner found the problem, he should collect the historical maintenance evidence of the vehicle as soon as possible. You can inquire about historical accidents and maintenance records from insurance companies or other 4S stores of the same brand through motor vehicle certificate and other materials, which is the most critical information. At this time, consumers can ask the Consumer Council and the industrial and commercial departments to intervene and make preliminary coordination. If the 4S shop still cheats and the coordination through the Consumer Council and the Industrial and Commercial Bureau is invalid, the owner can directly solve it through legal channels. In the process of proof, if the owner can't produce historical maintenance records, he can issue a neutral professional test report through a third-party testing institution recognized by the state, which will be more favorable evidence, and provide evidence such as pictures, recordings and car purchase invoices.
"This kind of case can basically be solved as long as the court issues a third-party authoritative test report." Wang Xudong, the person in charge of CRRC testing in Guangdong, said that they had encountered a local case of "an accident car as a new car" before, and the negotiation between the owner and the seller was delayed for 9 months without results. Then the owner made a third-party test and issued a report at the suggestion of the Consumer Council and other departments, and the seller made compensation within three days.
Expert advice: there are tricks to identify "refurbished cars"
When picking up a car, how can you tell that you bought a new car, not a car with hidden quality problems? Master Hou, a senior local mechanic, told the reporter that the paint of the refurbished accident car is bound to be sprayed, so there is a simple way to judge whether the car was accidentally repaired: observe the reflection of the portrait on the car body, and if the lines of the reflection are smooth and coherent, the probability of the paint being repaired here is low; If it is found that a part of the line suddenly appears a big arc bend, then the paint surface must have been repaired or sprayed.
In addition, experts in the industry also remind consumers to do the following five steps when picking up a car:
1. Check the "identity" document of the vehicle: if it is an imported vehicle, please read the certificate, date of manufacture, frame number, etc.
2. Check the appearance and interior of the vehicle: for example, whether the gap of the door is uniform, whether there are paint spots, whether the welding points are coated with soft glue, etc.
3. Try all the configurations in the car: such as window skylight, car navigation audio, lights, etc. If you open and close the window or skylight many times and find it inconvenient, there may be a problem.
4. Check the vehicle maintenance record: Please check the historical maintenance record of the vehicle in the 4S shop. When buying insurance, you can also ask the insurance company whether there are historical accident records.
5. Don't write less about the purchase tax invoice: 4S stores will tell car owners that it is best to write less about the purchase invoice, and the purchase tax and insurance can also be paid less. 4S stores do this to pay less taxes, but it will also affect consumers' future claims.
Stones from other mountains:
Buying a Land Rover refurbished car, the court sentenced 3 million.
On March 20 15, Mr. Huang bought a land rover range rover 2995CC off-road vehicle from a car dealer in Wenzhou, which cost more than1000000 yuan. 2065438+In June 2006, Mr. Huang found that the car had been repaired before he bought it. After the negotiation with the seller failed, Mr. Huang took it to court. The court finally ruled that the original and defendant terminated the automobile sales contract, Mr. Huang returned the off-road vehicle involved, and the automobile sales company refunded the car purchase price after deducting the depreciation expenses of the vehicle. At the same time, the car sales company needs to compensate Mr. Huang for three times the car purchase amount, totaling more than 3 million yuan.
This is the largest case of automobile rights protection in China since the "New Consumer Law" stipulated "one refund and three compensations".
Further reading: How to buy insurance, which is good, and teach you how to avoid these "pits" of insurance.