Used car sales company ``Big Motor'' has repeatedly violated numerous laws and regulations, such as forcing subcontractors to pull weeds and clean stores. It issued an unusual recommendation, requesting an investigation report within 180 days.
The Fair Trade Commission held a press conference on the 15th and announced the results of its investigation into Big Motor for suspected violations of the Subcontractor Act, as well as the details of the administrative guidance.
As a result of an investigation of approximately 30 stores nationwide, ``Big Motor'' was found to be forcing subcontractors to do things such as weeding the grounds, cleaning stores, and waxing cars, as well as unilaterally charging subcontractors. Numerous violations of laws and regulations were confirmed, including making customers undergo vehicle inspections and signing insurance contracts with the intention of significantly lowering prices or suspending transactions.
In some cases, businesses that did not comply with the demands actually had their business terminated.
Additionally, when placing orders, the company communicated with subcontractors via phone and app, and did not keep any written records as required by law.
The Fair Trade Commission has issued an unusual recommendation to Big Motor, requiring it to set up a contact point to receive damage reports from subcontractors and to publish and report the results of its investigation within 180 days.
According to the Fair Trade Commission, there has never been a case in the past in which so many violations of laws and regulations were confirmed in a single investigation. This is a serious and unusual violation of the Subcontract Act brought about by a lack of compliance.We will continue to monitor the matter."
A man working as a subcontractor said, “We have finally come this far. Please continue to monitor.”
A man who was a subcontractor for the cleaning of cars handled by "Big Motor" responded to an interview with NHK in July last year and said that he had originally been contracted to clean dog hair left on car seats for at least 30,000 yen. He talked about Big Motor's legal violations, such as being forced to do things for free.
The man said that he was sometimes not paid on time and was forced to have his car inspected at a Big Motor store. ``In fact, I think the company's culture of making pet hair removal for free is a bit beyond common sense,'' he said, expressing his anger.
Regarding the Fair Trade Commission's recommendation, the man said, ``We've finally come this far, but I want Big Motor to continue to monitor the situation so that it can seriously deal with the businesses that have reported the damage.'' Ta.
Big Motor: “We will do our best to restore trust.”
In response to the recommendation from the Fair Trade Commission, Big Motor issued a statement saying, ``We deeply apologize for the great inconvenience and concern we have caused to our business partners and all concerned parties. We will continue to make a concerted effort across the entire group to restore trust, placing top priority on compliance to prevent this from happening again."