Good news for car owners: With the implementation of the Automobile Industry Anti-Monopoly Law on January 1, 2015, cars will no longer be limited to 4S stores for maintenance during the warranty period.

On September 18, the official website of the Ministry of Transport promulgated the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Transformation and Upgrading of the Automobile Repair Industry and Improving Service Quality". The opinion pointed out that "my country's auto repair industry has made great progress," but there are also "problems such as poor market structure, irregular development, opaque consumption, and dishonesty."

The opinions were led by the Ministry of Transport and jointly with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission. Several ministries and commissions participated in the review and approval, aiming to regulate the chaos in the automobile repair and after-sales service market. This move has received enthusiastic attention from car enthusiasts and consumers.

You do not need to choose a 4S store for maintenance during the warranty period:

"Consumers shall not be restricted or interfered with in their independent choice of repair companies and repair services, and the car shall not be used during the 'Three Guarantees' period." Refusal to provide repair services on the grounds of choosing non-authorized repair services.” Article 11 of the Opinion clearly states that the abuse of automobile warranty terms is restricted and consumers’ right to choose repairs is protected. Many 4S stores implement the warranty clause that "new cars must be maintained in the 4S store during the warranty period, otherwise they will not enjoy the warranty policy." This actually hinders consumers' freedom to choose auto repair shops. In addition, consumers can also freely choose what maintenance to do for their cars. Many car owners who have objections to the maintenance orders issued by 4S stores can go to professional auto repair shops to have their cars maintained.

As long as the car is used and maintained correctly according to the manual, the car owner does not not enjoy the "three guarantees" policy just because the car owner has not performed maintenance at the 4S store. At the same time, car maintenance companies should disclose technical information, and failure to do so will result in penalties.

The opinions pointed out that it is necessary to establish and implement a vehicle maintenance technology information disclosure system to ensure that all companies have equal rights to obtain vehicle maintenance technology from automobile manufacturers, promote fair competition in the vehicle maintenance market, and improve the quality of vehicle maintenance.

"Since January 1, 2015, automobile manufacturers must provide independent operators (including independent maintenance companies, maintenance equipment manufacturing companies, maintenance technology information publishing units, and maintenance technology training companies) with new cars when they are launched on the market. Institutions, etc.) to disclose vehicle maintenance technical information. That is, if a new model fails to effectively disclose vehicle maintenance technical information within three months of its launch, the model will no longer be available for sale.

The opinions encourage original parts manufacturers to disclose the vehicle maintenance technical information to the vehicle. The after-sales market provides original parts and independent after-sales parts with its own brand, trademark or logo. It also encourages authorized repair companies to resell and provide original parts to non-authorized repair companies. This means that consumers do not need to go to 4S stores. The chances of auto repair shops buying original parts will be greatly increased. Auto parts manufacturers can directly supply auto parts to auto repair shops, which can bypass manufacturers and 4S stores, reducing the circulation link, and the prices of parts will also tend to be reasonable.

However, after-sales maintenance is the biggest source of profit for 4S. Therefore, after the introduction of the monopoly law, businesses are bound to come up with various countermeasures to reduce the effect of the anti-monopoly law. In the 4S service, car owners have encountered new problems. It is well known that in the automobile service industry, there is a common phenomenon of "4S is expensive and roadside stores are fake". Most car owners still have no choice, but the owners of Mai Truck Friendship Club are blessed. The Card Club spent seven years exploring and designing a model of "exchanging quantity for price, quality, service, and credit". It also introduced the "special service station (group station)" format from outside third-party inspections to take steps forward. The collective power of truck owners has limited violations and fraud at service stations, and completely solved the worries of car owners. After five years of practice, the Micah model has been successful. The six special service stations approved for introduction in the past five years have not yet been approved. Malicious fraud and counterfeiting occurred, and all complaints were resolved satisfactorily, which greatly protected the interests of car owners. With the implementation of the monopoly law, more and more car owners are bound to join the Mika Club, and the number of service providers will be expanded. and quality, and provide services to all districts for the convenience of car owners. We welcome car owners to join our own free public welfare service platform - Mack Truck Club