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After the bankruptcy of the automobile company, how to protect the rights and interests of consumers and dealers?

According to China Business News, several car owners interviewed said that at present, the most serious shortage of Jeep brands is the appearance parts of domestic commanders, including front bumpers, rear bumpers, fog lights, headlights, taillights, wheel eyebrow accessories, car doors, covers and so on.

The claims of several Jeep dealers confirm the subjective feelings of car owners. According to dealers, since February 2022, there have been problems in the supply of after-sales parts for all Jeep domestic models, and most of the parts can not be delivered in time. Although the parts of imported cars can still be supplied, the waiting period for most of the parts is as long as two months. With the termination of Guangzhou Auto Fick made in China, the problem of parts supply is further aggravated. Water pumps, shock absorbers, bearings, motors and other parts have to wait for more than two months to arrive. Some parts have to wait for more than half a year.

Auto Industry concern learned from the complaint website that there are indeed a lot of complaints about the lack of spare parts of the Jeep model, and most of them focus on the model of the Big Commander. It is understood that the Chief Commander is a model specially built by Jeep for the Chinese market, that is, a Chinese special model. As the accessories of the global model are not common with the Chinese version, the shortage of exterior parts is particularly serious, especially the 2022 model.

Moreover, it is particularly troublesome for Jeep owners to find officially authorized stores for maintenance and repairs, even if there is a replacement of parts. Before Guangzhou Auto Fick filed for bankruptcy, there were more than 200 dealers across the country, but now only a few dozen are in normal operation, meaning car owners need to drive hundreds of kilometers. A car owner said, "I've been driving a lot more civilized since Guangfeike went bankrupt. I'm afraid of an accident. I can't afford to repair it without accessories."

"unable to afford repair" is due to a long-term shortage of accessories, which has led to a rise in the price of Jeep accessories on the "black market." the original price of the front bumper, which costs 2,000 to 3,000 yuan, may eventually reach more than 40,000. if the front and rear bumpers are replaced together, it may reach about 80,000, which can almost buy a brand new Japanese car. In addition, precisely because of the shortage of accessories, Jeep used cars are also unpopular, and second-hand car dealers refuse to buy Jeep models, or they can only close the deal at a very low price. For the big commander who landed 250000 yuan, the second-hand car only has a residual value of about 70, 000 yuan.

In addition to car owners, dealers are also "miserable". Before Guangzhou Auto Fick filed for bankruptcy, most dealers' agreements with Guangzhou Auto Fick did not expire, either a large number of cars in stock were not sold, or parts continued to fail to arrive, and these Jeep dealers also suffered heavy losses.

In November 2022, 26 car dealers jointly sent letters to the Letters and visits Bureau of the people's governments of Guangzhou and Changsha to protect the rights of Guangzhou Auto Fick, which is filing for bankruptcy. In the rights protection letter, 26 Guangzhou Auto Fick dealers put forward a total of four demands: first, to resolutely resist the bankruptcy liquidation of Guangzhou Auto Fick before the problems of dealers and customers are solved; second, the margin paid by the dealer to the manufacturer and the full cash payment of the rebate due to the manufacturer's formalities; third, due to the manufacturer's formalities, the customer is unable to complete the listing within the specified time, resulting in losses, such as the overstock of vehicles, the manufacturer should buy back the original price. The fourth is to make up for the business losses caused by the manufacturers' mistakes to the dealers.

Shareholders of Guangzhou Auto Fick, GAC GROUP and Stellantis have approved a resolution authorizing Stellantis to file for bankruptcy at a loss, according to a notice on its website on October 31, 2022. This means that the joint venture, established in 2012, will officially end its development in the Chinese market.

According to GAC GROUP's announcement, the annual revenue in 2021 was 3.861 billion yuan, with a net loss of 3.169 billion yuan, while Guangzhou Auto Fick's operating income in the first half of 2022 was 588 million yuan, with a net loss of 649 million yuan. As of September 30, 2022, Guangzhou Auto Fick (unaudited) has total assets of 7.322 billion yuan and total liabilities of 8.113 billion yuan, with an asset-liability ratio of 110.80%, which means that Guangzhou Auto Fick is insolvent.

In February 2023, Stellantis China said on Weibo that the joint venture can no longer guarantee the daily maintenance and after-sales service of Jeep-branded domestic vehicles, Fiat-branded domestic vehicles and Fiat-branded imported vehicles produced and sold locally by the joint venture. In order to enable the above car owners to continue to enjoy high-quality after-sales service, Stellantis China has decided to provide maintenance and after-sales service for the above-mentioned vehicles.

However, from the existing information, it is clear that the after-sale of Jeep brand domestic vehicles has not been effectively protected, and on the maintenance problems faced by Jeep owners, as of the press release, Stellantis Group has not responded.

In fact, this is not the only case. For example, Weima Automobile, which was mired in an operating crisis after entering 2023, withdrew a large number of its stores, causing Weima owners to run far away to repair, and because the capital chain was broken, the supplier had already stopped the supply of spare parts, and the problem of maintenance has always existed.

How to protect the rights and interests of consumers has become a new topic for the whole industry. In any case, car companies have the obligation to protect the rights and interests of dealers and consumers, and as consumers, when there is a difficult maintenance problem, they can report or complain to the local market supervision department or bring a lawsuit to the people's court. Of course, the time and energy involved is also huge.

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