Zhongxin Jingwei Client March 9th (Fu Yumei intern Lin Yunsi) "The car was repaired 3 times in a month, and the engine problem has been detected in the previous 2 times, but it was not properly handled until the 3rd engine It was directly scrapped. "Chen Xing, a car owner from Jinzhou, Liaoning, recalled the bad news about Mercedes-Benz after-sales maintenance.

Photo by Mercedes

The engine as the "heart" of the car, problems will not only bring great hidden dangers to the safety of the owner, but also cause the car to quickly depreciate after replacement. Taking Chen Xing's case as an example, the valuation of used cars after the replacement of the engine is reduced by hundreds of thousands of yuan. However, due to the restrictions on the Three Guarantees policy of the car and the multiple "wheel wars" with Mercedes-Benz after-sales, Chen Xing's right to defend rights is particularly difficult.

Auto complaints surged 25.1% year-on-year

The "Analysis of Complaints Accepted by the National Consumers Association of China 2019" (hereinafter referred to as "Analysis") recently released by the Chinese Consumers Association shows that automobiles and parts, clothing, food, communications products, shoes and other products rank among the top five complaints. Among them, the number of complaints ranked first in the automobile and parts category was 34,335, a year-on-year increase of 25.1%.

In April 2019, a video of consumers defending their rights while sitting on the hood of a Mercedes-Benz car caused a national sensation, and also exposed the difficult road for consumers to defend their rights. The "Analysis" shows that the following issues have become the hotspots of automobile complaints: There are many product quality problems, and most of the complaints are reflected in automobile parts, such as engine, gearbox and other main components. It has been repaired sexually, there is a repair condition, or the failure has been repaired for many times but it cannot be completely removed, and the maintenance cannot be issued with details. It is difficult to testify and maintain rights, once the car has quality problems, it is difficult for consumers to provide evidence, difficult to identify, and difficult to obtain compensation.

Owner Chen Xing has encountered many irregularities in the after-sales rights protection. In March 2019, Chen Xing spent 1.13 million yuan to buy a Mercedes-Benz GLS400. After 8 months of normal driving, he found that the air-conditioning panel in the car was broken, and he was sent to Lixingxing Jinzhou Benz Star 4S Store for inspection and maintenance. After the 4S shop dealt with the problem of the air-conditioning panel, it did not tell him that the vehicle had any other faults, indicating that everything was normal.

On November 26, only 21 days after the first maintenance, the car failed for the second time, with antifreeze missing and garbled. The 4S shop eliminated the garbled characters of the system failure after the detection, and did not explain the failure reason in detail with him.

On December 6, Chen Xing's car broke down for the third time. It suddenly extinguished 3 seconds after starting the ignition. The 4S shop informed Chen Xing that it would further test the engine and said that it needed technical guidance from the docking manufacturers. Unexpectedly, after waiting for a few days, the test results showed that the engine was a quality problem, and the cylinder was scrapped, and the roof was scrapped, unable to be repaired. In the end, the manufacturer suggested replacing the engine directly.

At this time, under the strong request of Chen Xing, the 4S shop only provided the first two vehicles entering the factory for fault detection reports. The two reports surprised him: it turned out that during the first test, the report showed that the vehicle had other 4 problems: the turbocharger's engine electronics were malfunctioning, the boost pressure was too low, and the transfer case parts were malfunctioning. ; Actuating control module failure, coolant sensor failure, too low liquid level; parking system failure, electronic ignition switch communication failure.

In the second report, the above problems remained unresolved and worsened. "The 4S shop did not inform me of the above situation. During this time, I drove the faulty car on the road without knowing it. I have been 'ill for medical treatment' but 'untreated'." Chen Xing said.

Chen Xing's engine scrapping results are difficult to accept. He believes that the 4S shop failed to perform timely and effective repairs to the vehicle during the past two fault repairs, leaving the vehicle in a faulty state and eventually causing the engine to completely break down. The after-sales staff persuaded him: "Probability problems, bad ideas (luck), no way."

Hundreds of thousands of yuan of damage to the vehicle after replacement

The new car was scrapped by the engine. Chen Xing proposed to the Jinzhou 4S shop to detect the cause of the scrap and determine whether it was related to the previous two failures. After a few days of wheel warfare, the dealer replied that the car would be replaced with a new engine, and the old engine would be returned to the manufacturer for evaluation, but the test cycle could not be given.

Chen Xing is not willing to replace the engine at will, he said that he can bear the depreciation cost of the vehicle for 8 months and replace the new car at the store. The 4S shop told him: "The current selling price of used cars after changing the engine is only about 600,000." This means that the vehicle will directly depreciate 500,000 yuan. Finally, due to urgent use of the car, Chen Xing had to agree to the 4S shop to replace the engine.

According to data, Mercedes-Benz has maintained a value preservation rate of 60.6% for three years. Today, after only eight months of driving a new car, only 53% of the value-added space remains after being "forced" to change engines.

Zhou Yun in Hunan also encountered a similar situation. She told the reporter of Sino-Singapore Jingwei that the futures car Mercedes-Benz C180L purchased on loan from Hunan Renfu Automobile Sales Co., Ltd. on August 22, 2019, had lost antifreeze and oil leakage after driving less than 5,000 kilometers, and the engine showed Breakdown, "trembling like a tractor".

After that, Zhou Yun contacted the 4S store several times, but the 4S store refused to conduct further testing and only proposed to replace the engine. "The 4S shop does not give any written reports, nor does it continue to overhaul and give the cause of the failure. I have been disassembling the engine. However, the replacement parts are used cars, and the vehicle will be greatly devalued."

Zhou Yun hopes that the 4S shop can change cars or refund money, or propose other solutions. A month passed but no progress. "The 4S shop just left my car outside the shop and it hasn't been processed."

Vehicle failure map

Rights protection falls into an "endless loop"

In response to the situation encountered by Chen Xing and Zhou Yun, the reporter from China and Singapore Jingwei consulted the National After Sales Center of Mercedes-Benz. The other party stated: "After providing information, we will provide feedback to dealers and let dealers and car owners communicate."

During the rights protection period, Chen Xing and Zhou Yun called the Mercedes-Benz complaint phone many times, but formed an "endless loop", that is, complaining to the dealer, after-sales intervention, the dealer said that they waited for the manufacturer to reply, the manufacturer said that they should let the 4S shop take charge, and the owner Complain again .... . After a wheel of war, the problem remained unresolved.

Both of the above owners believe that the new car will encounter engine scrap. Is it related to the quality of the car itself? If there is a relationship, how should liability and compensation be defined.

Zhongxin Jingwei reporter contacted Hunan Renfu Automobile Sales Co., Ltd. that the car purchased by Zhou Yun on the 8th. The sales executive told the reporter that the 4S shop had submitted the technical report to the manufacturer, and Ms. Zhou did not agree to disassemble the engine for inspection, so the 4S shop had already Any maintenance testing of the vehicle was suspended. In response to Zhou Yun's return and replacement needs, the other party said: "Then you can only disassemble the engine for inspection."

The person in charge of the Benz Star 4S store in Jinzhou did not directly respond to whether Chen Xing ’s engine scrap was related to the quality of the new car and the previous two repairs. The other party said: "This involves more complex technical issues. In January we The car owner has been replaced with a new engine and this matter has been dealt with. "

Automotive industry analyst Zhang Xiang told reporters at the Sino-Sweden Jingwei: "It is abnormal for engine scraps to appear on new cars, and there are great safety risks. However, it is difficult to determine whether the quality of the car itself is the factory quality of luxury car owners. In the face of such a failure, it will indeed bring great losses. "

In addition, Zhang Xiang still mentioned that according to the Three Guarantees policy of the car, although the above two car owners meet the three guarantee period, they still do not meet the principle of return. The Three Guarantees policy for automobiles shows that if you want to return, you need to meet the engine and transmission after a total of 2 replacements, or the same main part of the engine and transmission still cannot be used normally due to its quality problems. The number of replacements of the transmission and its main parts is not doubled. "So even if the fault is serious, the loss is very large, and it is difficult for the owner to defend his rights."

In fact, there have been many disputes over the definition and requirements of the Three Guarantees policy. Chen Xing said that the 4S shop's attitude was "arrogant" because it did not meet the Three Guarantees policy. "They said that I did not meet the requirements for return and exchange, and that the complaint was useless. It depends on their mood to give me no compensation."

Zhao Zhizheng, deputy director of Beijing Zhilin Law Firm, said that in the case of Chen Xing, there is indeed a question about vehicle maintenance. The 4S shop has deliberately concealed the maintenance faults of the previous two times, which led to the eventual scrapping of the engine. Whether the first two inspections were not dealt with in a timely manner would have a direct impact. The manufacturer needs to provide the final inspection report to know. If the manufacturer delays, the car owner can take legal action to defend his rights and reasonably claim the losses.

In early February, Chen Xing's car broke down again. His car suddenly stopped on the highway from Shenyang to Jinzhou. The test results this time also made him sweat, the transmission and the chassis of the car are leaking oil, and the chassis is more serious, at the same time the transmission bulkhead, the coupling is damaged.

Accessories damage map

On March 3, the 4S shop informed Chen Xingxin that the parts had arrived and continued to wait for replacement parts for repair. When the reporter from China and Singapore Jingwei asked the staff of the 4S shop about the handling measures of the matter, the other party said "I don't know". Chen Xing was very tired. He said, "In a new car traveling 33,000 kilometers, during this period, the engine was replaced once, the transmission leaked, and the transmission partition was damaged. All of them are serious quality problems. This process has brought me huge Who will be responsible for the loss and potential safety hazards? "(Zhongxin Jingwei APP)

(In the text, Chen Xing and Zhou Yun are pseudonyms)

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