Not long ago, Mr. Jin, who works in a chemical company in Yangzhou, successfully completed the registration procedures for the transfer of used cars. "I found a joint venture brand car with Qingdao license in 2015 on the second-hand car trading platform, and the hand price was 33,500 yuan." Mr. Jin said that in Jiangsu, from June 17, foreign used cars that meet the national five emission standards can move in normally.
Mr. Jin is just one of the many beneficiaries of the favorable policy for used cars. On June 22, the executive meeting of the State Council decided that the restrictions on the moving-in of small non-operating used cars will be completely lifted from August 1, and the automobile sales enterprises will implement separate endorsement management and issue temporary license plates when applying for transfer registration from October 1. Luo Lei, Deputy Secretary-General of china automobile dealers association, said that favorable policies will further enliven the used car market, promote the renewal of automobile consumption and release the consumption potential.
Favorable policies help the market to accelerate development.
"The circulation of used cars is actually convenient and smooth." Chen Ji, general manager of Suzhou Lexuan UCAR, told the reporter that the company has collected more than 10 used cars with foreign licenses after Jiangsu province lifted the relocation restriction in mid-June. "The cancellation of the relocation restriction not only allows more foreign car sources to enter Suzhou, but also the second-hand cars with the national five emission standards that cannot be digested locally can be sold to various places more conveniently." Chen Ji said.
Wang Xiaoyu, co-founder of Guazi used car, believes that the cancellation of the relocation restriction policy has opened up the blocking points and card points in the circulation of used cars, which will activate the trading of used cars in different places and drive the continuous growth of the trade scale. "Since June 1, Hebei, Jiangsu, Tianjin, Zhejiang, Guangdong and other places have successively implemented the policy of canceling the national five emission standards for second-hand cars. The range of optional car sources for users in these places has expanded by about 6 times, and the proportion of off-site car sources on the platform has also increased from the previous 35% to 80%, which has driven the growth of platform car dealers’ sales." Wang Xiaoyu said.
"The policy of separate endorsement management and issuance of temporary number plates for second-hand car transfer registration implemented nationwide since October 1 is a big plus for second-hand car circulation enterprises in cities with limited purchases." Guo Jian, general manager of the famous car in Beijing No.1 Station, said, "In the past, in order to transfer and register used cars in Beijing, it was necessary to occupy the index of car purchase, and circulation enterprises could only rent number plates. After Beijing promoted the temporary license plate policy in advance, it reduced the company’s operating expenses, and the acquired used cars entered the company’s name, which can be treated as ‘ Inventory goods ’ Accounting has also opened the door to social financing. "
Feeling the huge development potential of the used car market, SAIC-GM launched a brand-new "Buick officially certified used car" brand last year. "Since 2020, especially since the first half of this year, a series of policies and measures to encourage the development of the used car market have been intensively introduced." Yao Fu, head of the marketing department of SAIC-GM Buick, said that the favorable policies cover all aspects such as encouraging to speed up the elimination and renewal of old vehicles, completely canceling the relocation restriction policy, and lowering the value-added tax rate of used cars. Combined with the implementation of the new policy, the company will open up the new and used car business chain through active car source repurchase, realize the three-dimensional sales model of national circulation, and gradually plan a standardized service system equivalent to the new car type to enhance the service experience of used car owners.
Branding and digitalization to enhance the transparency of transaction information
At the beginning of July, Mr. Ju, the owner of a restaurant in Shanghai, bought a Buick Angkewei in 2019 through the "Buick Official Certified Used Car". "I bought a new car with a car age of 3 years in the early 100,000 yuan, and I have been driving for more than 20 days. It feels really good." Mr. Ju said that he considered a new car, ran through the used car market, brokerage companies, and saw the online platform, and finally chose an officially certified used car.
"Quality and service are the two core competitiveness of used car distribution enterprises, and they are also an important way to build consumer trust and enhance consumer experience." Luo Lei believes that the official certification of used cars by car companies is guaranteed by high-quality first-hand car sources, standardized testing and evaluation processes, original factory warranty, after-sales service, etc., plus the endorsement of car brands, which solves the pain point of information asymmetry of consumers buying used cars.
In recent years, the booming second-hand car e-commerce platform has also contributed new solutions to improve the transparency of second-hand car trading information.
"Entering the platform and empowering the platform digitally is an effective way for traditional used car circulation enterprises to enhance their competitiveness." Chen Ji said that platform enterprises can carry out digital and standardized management of used cars in different ways. Consumers can see at a glance whether the vehicles have collided, to what extent, and which side has been painted, which is what most used car circulation enterprises cannot do. In addition, remote delivery, door-to-door delivery, seven-day unreasonable return, etc. are inseparable from the platform enterprises’ strong logistics system, financial support and remote after-sales maintenance.
"Digital means allow enterprises to reach potential customers nationwide." Wang Yong, general manager of Nanjing Qihang Famous Car, said that today, they have sold local car sources to more than 20 cities outside Nanjing, and the turnover efficiency of car sales has increased by three times.
Take precautions and standardize the development of new energy used car market
"In Shanghai, buying new energy used cars is not restricted by licenses, but I gave up after thinking about it again and again." Mr. Ju said that consumers have no way to verify the data related to safety and directly affecting the charging and driving performance of vehicles, such as the number of times of vehicle charging and discharging, the degree of battery attenuation, and whether the batteries are overheated and out of control.
"Since last year, China’s new energy vehicles have continued to double, and the annual sales volume this year is expected to exceed 5.5 million. How to standardize the development of the new energy used car market has become a problem that the industry must seriously face. " Luo Lei said that last year, the Technical Specification for Appraisal and Evaluation of Second-hand Pure Electric Passenger Cars, which was researched and compiled by china automobile dealers association for three years, was released, providing a set of scientific and practical appraisal and evaluation standards for second-hand cars suitable for new energy vehicles for the domestic market.
"Since the second half of last year, the market price of pure electric used cars factory in 2017 has almost doubled. This not only shows that the market’s recognition of new energy used cars has greatly increased, but also means that the previously underestimated hedge ratio is returning rationally. " For example, Shen Wenjun, the founder of Beijing Che Yi De New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., said that the EV150 of Beiqi New Energy, which has a driving range of about 100 kilometers and is six years old, sold for about 10,000 yuan last year, and now it is close to 20,000 yuan.
The second-hand car industry of new energy not only undertakes the replacement of new cars in the upstream, promotes the sustainable development of the new energy vehicle market, but also connects the cascade utilization and recycling of waste power batteries in the downstream, which is an important link in the whole life cycle management of new energy vehicles. Although the current appraisal and evaluation standards, new testing equipment, etc. have made quality identification no longer a problem, in Shen Wenjun’s view, the sustainable development of the industry is still facing challenges without a breakthrough in traceability management of power batteries.
All new energy vehicles are equipped with power battery monitoring system, which can monitor and upload key data in use, and even notify the owner in advance before the battery thermal runaway occurs, but this information cannot be shared. "We have been discussing whether to install a set of similar equipment on the used car for sale and record the operation data of the vehicle’s three electric systems." Shen Wenjun said that this move not only improves the safety of vehicles and user stickiness, but also contributes to the later cascade utilization and recycling.
"The standardized start of the new energy used car market is conducive to the healthy development of the entire used car market." Luo Lei introduced that in 2019, China’s used car trading volume exceeded half of new car sales, and in 2021 it reached 2/3 of new car sales. "With the obvious effect of the policy, in 2025, the transaction volume of used cars will be expected to be the same as that of new cars." Luo Lei said.
