The shortage of chips and the rise in the price of raw materials not only slow down the delivery progress, but also increase the collective price of new energy vehicles. “Buy early and cost-effective” has become the unified voice of sales personnel of various brands, which makes some indicators about to expire and consumers eager to pick up the car fall into “anxiety”, so another business arises quietly at this time. The reporter of Beijing Business Daily recently saw on a second-hand platform that the resale business of new energy vehicle orders with the slogan of “early pick-up and low price” is very popular, and the orders of popular models can be sold for nearly 10000 yuan. However, when consumers are happy to find a bargain, they are faced with the risk of turning a new car into a second-hand one.
an order is changed hands to “earn 1000 yuan”
At the end of last year, Zhang Sheng (a pseudonym) ordered an electric vehicle on the official website of a new energy vehicle. However, due to personal reasons, Zhang Sheng temporarily gave up the idea of buying a car. Seeing that the time of collecting the car was approaching, with the idea of trying, Zhang Sheng hung his order on a second-hand trading platform and marked the transfer price of 2000 yuan. What he didn’t expect was that the previously worried orders turned into “sweet pastry”, and 5-6 intentioners came to him for consultation in only three days. “I used to sell things that I didn’t use on the platform to make a little money. I didn’t expect people to order new cars. Now I think the price is low.” He said.
However, Zhang Sheng is not alone. Beijing Business Daily reporter found on a second-hand trading platform that there are not a few sellers who resell their orders for new energy vehicles. Among them, many orders of Tesla, Xiaopeng and other popular brand models were resold. As long as you enter the words “brand + order” in the search box, relevant information will appear.
From the order display information, the seller will mark the model and vehicle configuration information, as well as the collection time, price, contact information, etc. if the consumer intends to buy, he can contact the seller through private letter to discuss the price and transaction method. There are not only the option of reselling the vehicle type order, but also the option of reselling the preferential rights and interests. A second-hand platform seller told the Beijing Business Daily that the price marked on the platform is only the price of the model order. This part of the price will be traded through the platform, and the actual car payment will be delivered by the buyer when collecting the car.
It is worth noting that due to the large number of sellers, the prices of order transactions on second-hand platforms are also different, ranging from 1 Tcl Technology Group Corporation(000100) 00 yuan, of which Tesla and Xiaopeng models are the most fried. The above sellers revealed that a Tesla order is 1000 yuan under the official website of the auto enterprise, while it can be fried to nearly 10000 yuan on the second-hand platform. The faster the car is collected, the lower the price, and the higher the order price. “After changing hands, an order can earn nearly 10000 yuan at most.” He said.
In contact with sellers, the reporter of Beijing Business Daily found that among these transfer orders, there are sellers who need to transfer orders for personal reasons, like Zhang Sheng, and scalpers who hoard goods in advance. In order to get rid of the orders as soon as possible, the transfer price of individual sellers is often not high, but compared with individuals, most orders in the hands of scalpers are purchased early, so the price is relatively high. While transferring the orders, they will also purchase orders from individual sellers. Mr. Li, the seller, told the Beijing Business Daily: “after the order was put up for a week, many people left messages under the order, and scalpers asked whether to sell it.”
price increase and demand under shortage of vehicles
Behind the emergence of reselling orders is the current market situation of difficult car collection and rising prices.
Due to the rising oil price, Mr. Wang, a citizen who has been considering buying new energy vehicles, finally decided to sell his fuel car and buy a pure electric vehicle. However, what Mr. Wang didn’t expect was that he thought the replacement would be completed in a week or two, but he was told by the store that he would have to wait more than two months to mention the new car. Just when Mr. Wang was considering whether to wait, according to a friend, Mr. Wang spent 6000 yuan on a second-hand platform to buy an order for new energy vehicles and picked up the car in the same month.
Since last year, due to the tight supply, the output of many car enterprises has been limited, superimposed on the rising market demand, resulting in a long time for consumers to pick up the car after placing an order. Beijing Business Daily reporter learned that at present, the collection time of Tesla rear wheel drive model 3 is 16-20 weeks, and the collection time of some configurations of Xiaopeng P7 is also more than 10 weeks. Tesla store staff said: “many consumers place orders directly on the official website. At present, the order collection time of some models has reached the second half of the year. If consumers need to order cars, they need to place orders as soon as possible.” In this regard, a second-hand platform seller told the Beijing Business Daily: “last year’s orders can basically pick up the car before March this year, which just meets part of the market demand.”
Economist song Qinghui believes that the reason behind these resale orders is mainly affected by a series of internal and external factors such as chip shortage and limited battery capacity, resulting in great uncertainty in the delivery cycle of new vehicles. Some consumers who are eager to buy cars choose to “resell orders”.
In addition to consumers eager to pick up the car, the rising price of new energy vehicles also makes some car buyers focus on resale orders on second-hand platforms. According to incomplete statistics, at present, 16 auto enterprises have announced the price increase of their new energy vehicles, including Xiaopeng, Tesla, Nezha, Feifan, Byd Company Limited(002594) and other auto enterprises. Among them, Xiaopeng automobile not only raised the price, but also tightened the rights and interests of users. Tesla has entered the price increase range this year. It has raised the price twice in March alone, with each price adjustment exceeding 10000 yuan.
Compared with the rising new car price, the order price on the second-hand platform is mostly kept before the price rise. The reporter of Beijing business daily noted that most of the orders sold on the second-hand platform were booked on the official website of car enterprises before the price rise, and the car collection price is generally lower than the current price on its official website. A seller took an order for a model y rear drive version of Tesla in his hand as an example. The new car can be picked up in March at a price of 28075200 yuan, plus a transfer fee of 5000 yuan, totaling 28575200 yuan, while the current price on Tesla’s official website is 316900 yuan.
When talking about buying transfer orders on second-hand platforms, Mr. Wang said bluntly: “it’s cheaper to pick up the car early. Although there is an extra transfer fee of thousands of yuan, it’s still cost-effective as a whole.”
highlight the potential risks of car purchase
It seems tempting to pick up the car quickly and cheaply, but is it really more reliable for consumers to buy transfer orders on second-hand platforms than ordering cars on the official website and stores of car enterprises? In Song Qinghui’s view: “order reselling may bring consumer disputes to automobile enterprises and have a great negative impact on automobile brand image. The main engine factory will generally eliminate this reselling behavior.”
A Tesla ordering agreement obtained by the reporter of Beijing business daily mentioned that Tesla sells cars directly to end customers. We have the right to unilaterally terminate this Agreement for any order that we believe is for resale or for other non bona fide purposes. The relevant person in charge of Tesla China told the Beijing Business Daily that Tesla is prohibited from reselling orders, which is clearly marked in the order agreement. As long as Tesla has placed an order to buy a car, consumers will see this agreement.
Sellers on second-hand platforms are clear about Tesla’s prohibition on transfer orders. However, in order to avoid being found unable to pick up the car by car enterprises, these sellers came up with a second transfer strategy to deal with it. A second-hand platform seller told the Beijing Business Daily that after paying the order transfer fee, the seller will accompany the buyer through the purchase and car collection process. In order to prevent Tesla from finding that the order is transferred, it will first buy the car in the name of the seller during the transaction, and then transfer the car to the buyer after collecting the car, so as to complete the transaction. “For the convenience of transfer, we will mostly choose local buyers.” He said.
The whole process seems smooth and secret, but there are still hidden risks. After the buyer increases the price to purchase the order, it seems to mention a new car, but it is a “second-hand car” in identity. The reporter of Beijing business daily noted that for the information of the secondary transfer, most sellers will not be marked in the order information, but in the private letter consultation, when the buyer asks about the transaction process, the seller will mention the secondary transfer and ensure that the seller will not touch the new car, and the buyer refers to the new model.
However, such operation involves the secondary transfer of ownership of vehicle models, which may affect the replacement of later models. As we all know, the residual value rate of new energy vehicles is generally not high, and the three-year average hedging rate of mainstream new energy vehicles is only 32.31%. “During the secondary sales of fuel vehicles, car owners will repeatedly consider the performance and state of the vehicle, while the new energy vehicles themselves have the problem of battery attenuation, and the maintenance cost begins to increase compared with new vehicles.” A new energy used car dealer said that when purchasing new energy vehicles, car dealers will be very cautious and try to keep the price down to prevent them from being sold. If the new energy vehicles are traded again, the residual value rate will be lower. Although Tesla has a high residual value rate, if the owner has a second transfer model, the car chamber will use this as a condition to lower the collection price.
According to Yan Jinghui, a member of the expert committee of China Automobile Circulation Association, although order resale seems to enable consumers to pick up the car early, it also sets a threshold. Even nominally used cars will not be affected during later replacement. If you want to avoid risks, you should buy new cars through formal channels.
For Online Resale orders, Tesla store staff said frankly that there is not only the risk of cancellation of orders after discovery, but also the orders for seemingly cheap models are mostly 2021 models, while 2022 models are now sold in the store.
