"Amoy" Mercedes-Benz accessories: online shopping only 4 thousand 4S shop selling three no products to earn 24,000
Sino-Singapore Jingwei Client, August 11 (Fu Yumei) According to CCTV’s "Weekly Quality Report" report on the 9th, Mr. Cai from Zhengzhou went to the Mercedes-Benz 4S store for vehicle maintenance, but he did not expect that the middle cylinder of the engine in the car was replaced with The "three noes" product was used, which caused the engine to "explode." Mr. Cai has been defending rights for more than three years, and finally ushered in the final ruling: 4S shops need to pay a fine of 420,000 yuan.
How did the "Three Nothing" products enter the 4S store? Many people in the industry said that the use of non-original parts for after-sales maintenance is very common. If inferior products are used, it may involve the transfer of benefits between the insurance company and the 4S store.
A reporter from China-Singapore Jingwei found on the online shopping platform that some "three-nos" Mercedes-Benz mid-cylinders cost only 1,000 yuan. In the CCTV report, the 4S shop purchased the cylinder from a supplier for 19,000 yuan, and sold it to the insurance company for 42,700 yuan.
CCTV report screenshot
Accessories from the Internet
According to CCTV reports, in 2017, Mr. Cai only drove a Mercedes-Benz E200L car for one year, and the engine block was damaged due to heavy rain. Mr. Cai previously purchased all engine damage insurance for the vehicle, and the insured Zhengzhou branch of China Life Insurance Company agreed to provide insurance compensation.
The original maintenance plan should be to replace the engine assembly. The price was about 210,000 yuan, but the insurance claims adjuster suggested that the middle cylinder of the engine could be replaced by purchasing, without the need to replace the entire engine.
As mentioned in the report, the term engine usually refers to the engine assembly. As one of the most core parts of the assembly, the middle cylinder is the key to supporting the movement and combustion of the piston and converting heat energy into power.
Mr. Cai said that the insurance company promised him that he would use authorized 4S stores to replace original parts.
In the end, the insurance company selected Zhengzhou Huisheng Benz 4S store (hereinafter referred to as Huisheng Benz). After more than two months of maintenance, Mr. Cai went through the procedures for picking up the car at Huisheng Benz in September 2017, and went to the insurance company to sign a direct compensation agreement ten days later. The agreement shows that the maintenance cost of Huisheng Mercedes-Benz is 156,000 yuan.
On the 21st day after picking up the car, when Mr. Cai was driving on the highway, the temperature of the vehicle's water tank unexpectedly exploded. On the way to Huisheng Benz for maintenance, the vehicle completely broke down. After dragging it to Huisheng Benz, it was confirmed that the antifreeze leakage was caused by the failure of the water pipe buckle, which eventually caused the engine to burst.
Regarding the responsibility for this accident, Huisheng Benz believed that it was caused by the driver's improper driving and was unwilling to bear the cost of repairs again.
Mr. Cai complained and reported his situation to the relevant departments and was filed for investigation at the end of 2017. Law enforcement officers soon discovered that the cause of the engine cylinder explosion was an engine overhaul. From the insurance claim settlement statement of the vehicle repaired by Mr. Cai, law enforcement officers analyzed and confirmed that Huisheng Benz did not use the original mid-cylinder parts.
After further obtaining the information on the supply list, law enforcement officers identified Zhengzhou Huayuan Auto Parts Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Huayuan Auto Parts) as the supplier of Huisheng Benz mid-cylinder parts. The manager of Huayuan Auto Parts Safety said that Huisheng Benz did not require any quality at the time, nor did it have any requirements for the factory.
Manager An also said that the middle tank provided to Mr. Cai was bought from the Internet. "Now there are too many on Taobao, just look for it. You can also search (search) for Mercedes-Benz four-cylinder cylinders on Taobao. All of them are found on this, because they are all online now, and many of them are bought online. "
This middle-cylinder part was first sold to a sales and service company at a price of 8,900 yuan, and then resold to Huisheng Benz. The law enforcement officers compared the price increase of Huisheng Benz's accessories and found that Huisheng Benz purchased the middle cylinder for about 19,000 yuan, which was priced at 42,700 yuan for the insurance company. With just the "three-no" middle cylinder accessory, Huisheng Benz earned a gross profit of nearly 24,000 yuan.
Industry "hidden rules"?
The "three-no" accessories, which have been increased in price, have finally entered the maintenance vehicle and have "exploded" in value.
According to the above-mentioned manager An, reporters from Sino-Singapore Jingwei searched on multiple online shopping platforms using "Mercedes" and "Cylinder" as keywords. The displayed prices ranged from a few hundred yuan to tens of thousands of yuan. The sellers were mostly auto parts suppliers. .
Screenshot of online shopping interface
A reporter from Sino-Singapore Jingwei randomly contacted a seller, Chen Ke (a pseudonym), who said that his goods were all "new and original off-line", and the model 274 middle cylinder assembly was priced at 3,800 yuan.
When answering questions about the product's purchase channel and whether there is a certificate of conformity, Chen Ke said: "Our purchase channel is the manufacturer, the kind of good goods that have no problems. Zhongguan Chengdu does not have a certificate. We have one. The model is a dedicated repair station with a wooden box, and the price is 4,000 yuan."
When a reporter from Zhongxin Jingwei asked whether the middle cylinder assembly for the repair station had a certificate, Chen Ke no longer responded.
Another seller said that the sources of his medium tanks were all disassembled from second-hand cars and accident cars, and auto parts that could be used after testing were commonly called "disassembled parts." For the same Mercedes-Benz mid-cylinder mentioned above, his initial offer was also 4,000 yuan. "It's not the final price. It can be discussed according to the specific model. There is no certificate, but it supports inspection. It is absolutely original."
According to a CCTV report, in response to the "three noes" products, Mercedes-Benz China once responded that the manufacturer would not provide the middle cylinder parts separately, only the entire engine assembly. This statement was also confirmed in the certification materials issued by Mercedes-Benz China in cooperation with law enforcement investigations. .
Mercedes-Benz China's response letter explains the source: CCTV report screenshot
The market situation is difficult to control. A business manager of Mercedes-Benz China told a reporter from Sino-Singapore Jingwei that, from a business perspective, the situation of purchasing accessories by 4S stores does exist in the industry for a long time. "The manufacturers are actually very helpless.'The road is one foot high, the magic is one foot high.' This has also formed an industry'hidden rule'."
The above-mentioned business manager said that the insurance company's request to replace only the middle tank is intended to reduce the cost of compensation, but the quality of procurement from external channels is inevitably uneven and it is difficult to form a unified standard.
Between 4S shop and insurance company
In the CCTV report, Huisheng Benz and the insurance company have changed their slogans from the same words to their own words.
Mr. Cai said that because he bought full insurance, all maintenance costs in Huisheng Benz were paid by the insurance company. He really couldn't figure out how to pass the inspection of the insurance company for such obvious mistakes?
As the investigation deepened, Huisheng Benz and the insurance company began to "break the news" with each other. The general manager of Huisheng Benz said that it was the insurance company who instructed them to go to Huayuan Auto Parts to buy middle-cylinder parts.
The insurance company subsequently issued an "Insured Accident Vehicle Maintenance Cooperation Agreement", which clearly stipulates that Huisheng Benz must use original parts when repairing accident vehicles covered by insurance companies.
When faced with Mr. Cai’s question, the relevant person in charge of the insurance company admitted that their work was not in place.
Liu Dong (a pseudonym), an auto insurance agent with 8 years of experience in the industry, told the China-Singapore Jingwei reporter that the biggest profit chain among them is the insurance company and 4S shops. "Insurance companies hope to get low-cost maintenance services from 4S shops, and 4S shops want to get paid parts profits from it. Both parties have this level of interest."
Liu Dong said that the insurance company's compensation principle is the principle of repair. If the accessories themselves can be repaired and the driving quality can be guaranteed, repair or partial replacement must be given priority. As for the extent of repair, this has also become a bargaining space between insurance companies and 4S stores.
Liu Dong also mentioned that the auto parts market has not yet been regulated, and the concept of "original" is rather vague. The so-called factory authorization and certification, the source of goods does not really come from the OEM, it is probably just "OEM". "Other than the original factory is called the'secondary factory'. This part is very complicated. In fact, there will be good quality products, but it is true that most of them are'three no' products, and the purchase price is relatively low."
Fang Da, a lawyer from Beijing Jingshi (Shanghai) Law Firm, told the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client that, judging from the current number of domestic subsidiary factories, the use of subsidiary factories for after-sales parts maintenance should be very common. After the increase in the number, because of the unevenness of the good and the bad, some businesses deliberately conceal consumers in order to earn high profits.
"Automobiles are a kind of high-precision products. Consumers do not understand relevant knowledge and technology, so there is a big information gap between them and merchants. Merchants deliberately conceal consumers and use sub-factory parts instead of original ones. Consumers It is also difficult to find out. If consumers encounter such problems, it is recommended to report to the Consumer Protection Association or the Market Supervision Administration in order to retain evidence. If the Market Supervision Administration punishes the business after finding the facts, the business still If the consumer refuses to compensate the consumer, the consumer can file a lawsuit in the court accordingly.” Fangda said.
Mr. Cai, who was replaced with the "Three Noes" product, ushered in the final judgment after more than three years of defending his rights. At the beginning, the Zhengzhou Municipal Market Supervision Bureau determined that Huisheng Benz violated the law of infringing consumers' rights and interests. In April 2019, it made a decision to confiscate the illegal income of 20430 yuan and impose a tenfold fine of 204,300 yuan.
The administrative penalty decision wrote: “As a 4S store authorized by Mercedes-Benz China, Huisheng Benz scorned the trust of consumers. After the incident, it not only failed to actively negotiate with consumers to solve the problem, but also further concealed the truth and plot, and even passed Forged evidence, self-made agreements, etc., to shirk responsibility, the circumstances are relatively bad, and the principle of operation is dishonest."
However, after the penalty decision was made, Huisheng Benz appealed to the court due to dissatisfaction. In May of this year, the Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court ruled in its final judgment to support the administrative penalty decision of the Zhengzhou Municipal Market Supervision Bureau.
The court held that: "Whether it is the Zhengzhou branch of China Life Property Insurance, which is responsible for auto insurance, or Huisheng Company, which undertakes the vehicle maintenance business involved, have a statutory obligation to truthfully inform consumers of whether the engine cylinder of the vehicle involved in the case is repaired and replaced by the original manufacturer. In the real situation, providing goods and services of the same quality as the price charged, otherwise, it constitutes fraud to consumers." (Zhongxin Jingwei APP)
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