Recently, Jiangsu Weijie Group, which acquired 10 Baoxin BMW 4S stores for 300 million yuan, is facing rights protection from car owners.

According to media reports, in early April, the signs of 10 BMW 4S stores in East China collectively changed their names overnight, such as Hangzhou Baoxin changing its name to "Weijie Zhibao", Suzhou Xinbao becoming "Dragon Zhibao", and Suzhou Wudong Road Baoxin BMW changing its name to "Jiezhibao". Weijie Group quietly took over the business and quickly applied for authorization, changed its storefront, and changed its business registration. When car owners realized that "this 4S store is not that 4S store" and could not exchange after-sales rights, everything was settled.

Not long after, many car owners in Hangzhou, Suzhou, Shanghai and other places posted on social media, stating that most of the maintenance packages, double guarantee worry free, repair vouchers and other benefits previously purchased at Baoxin BMW 4S stores cannot be used. Weijie Group does not recognize the after-sales products sold by Baoxin, and even package contracts stamped with official seals have been rejected.

After BMW dealerships change ownership, they refuse to accept old debts, and the million dollar after-sales rights of car owners are lost. The 4S package lock up model is becoming ineffective?

The 4S dealership is hit by lightning, and it's always the car owners who get injured. Similar incidents in the past are still vivid in my memory.

Originally, car owners would only use real money to purchase such prepaid equity products based on their trust in 4S stores; The purpose of 4S stores launching various after-sales service packages is to firmly lock in the after-sales service needs of vehicles. But when the original owner fled, along with the money and trust of the car owners who were taken away.

As more and more rights protection car owners with similar experiences gather, the means used by 4S stores to lock in customers are gradually becoming ineffective. Only the OEM can personally sell packages, but it can only attract traffic for 4S stores, making it difficult to convert and make profits. The business crisis of 4S stores is still fermenting.

01. BMW dealer refuses to accept old accounts after changing ownership, and does not take responsibility for accepting the deal?

According to statistics from a car owner rights protection group at the former Baoxin BMW 4S dealership (now renamed Weijie Zhibao 4S dealership) in Hangzhou, there are currently over 200 registered car owners who are unable to fulfill their obligations, with a total amount involved exceeding 1.5 million yuan.

After the continuous relay of rights protection by car owners, the Weijie Zhibao 4S store provided a solution: some maintenance packages with contracts and payment vouchers can be fulfilled for service; For maintenance packages without a contract or not included in the system, an additional fee of 600 yuan is required; The maintenance fund and maintenance fund vouchers are temporarily unavailable.

However, currently only car owner registration is supported and no written commitment has been provided.

It is understood that the rights and interests of car owners mainly focus on various maintenance packages, worry free double protection, repair vouchers, and other aspects:

The maintenance package is divided into 5-20 small maintenance and lifetime maintenance according to different amounts ranging from 4888-20688 yuan;

The dual guarantee worry free service benefits include 6 years of free oil and filter maintenance and an extended 3-year warranty for the three major components;

Car owners receive large amounts (over 10000 yuan) of repair funds and vouchers through methods such as old car replacement, insurance refunds, and financial compensation from 4S stores.

According to the information compiled by car owners, small maintenance projects involving after-sales rights can be fulfilled by car owners with contracts and payment vouchers, but subsequent situations still require car owners to register or re-enter the system.

The approach of Weijie Zhibao 4S store does not satisfy car owners. On the one hand, the vehicle is maintained up to twice a year, and without re signing the contract and entering it into the system, it is difficult to guarantee that the 4S store will not continue to shirk responsibility next time; On the other hand, 4S stores have not mentioned a single word about the larger amount of after-sales rights, and will provide specific results for registered car owners in June.

Car owners believe that the Weijie Zhibao 4S dealership is using a "drag" tactic, dragging until their enthusiasm for rights protection dissipates, and finally there is no other option. Therefore, they are very angry about Weijie Group's acquisition of Guanghui Baoxin's 4S dealership assets without taking over customer after-sales rights.

It is reported that the Weijie Zhibao 4S store is just one of the stores that have been sued for rights protection. The 10 BMW 4S stores acquired by Jiangsu Weijie Group are specifically distributed in Hangzhou 2, Shanghai 3, Suzhou 3, Taizhou and Yangzhou 1 each, namely Hangzhou Baoxin, Hangzhou Fuyang Baoxin, Shanghai Baoxin, Shanghai Zhongbaobao Hong, Shanghai Guanghui Baohong, Suzhou Baoxin, Suzhou Xinbaoxing, Changshu Baoxin, Taizhou Xinbaoxing, and Yangzhou Xinbaoxing.

However, car owners have worked together to protect their rights through other means, but have not yet achieved the desired results.

After BMW dealerships change ownership, they refuse to accept old debts, and the million dollar after-sales rights of car owners are lost. The 4S package lock up model is becoming ineffective?

▲ Image from car owner

02. Weijie Group's "BMW Territory" Expansion Concerns, 4S Store After sales Disputes Urgently Need to be Resolved

According to public information, Jiangsu Weijie Group has 8 BMW 4S stores in Jiangsu. After acquiring 10 BMW 4S stores, the radiation range extends from Jiangsu to Zhejiang and Shanghai, creating a complete "BMW map" in East China.

After BMW dealerships change ownership, they refuse to accept old debts, and the million dollar after-sales rights of car owners are lost. The 4S package lock up model is becoming ineffective?

Industry insiders have stated that the reason why Jiangsu Weijie Group dares to bet on buying 10 BMW 4S stores at a price of 300 million yuan during a decline in BBA sales is twofold; On the other hand, it values BMW's channel value - the after-sales service system of luxury brands is still a "gold mine".

However, the attitude of Jiangsu Weijie Group towards the after-sales rights of former BMW 4S dealership owners is also a potential rejection of their future needs for maintenance, repair, and replacement. Why is this?

According to the statement provided by the Weijie Zhibao 4S store, the system did not find any information about the equity packages purchased by some car owners, so car owners need to come to the store with purchase contracts and payment vouchers.

However, some car owners have found in their inquiries that the recipient of their payment is not the official account of Baoxin BMW, but a personal account with the name changed to "Hangzhou Baoxin Automobile Sales and Service Co., Ltd.

After BMW dealerships change ownership, they refuse to accept old debts, and the million dollar after-sales rights of car owners are lost. The 4S package lock up model is becoming ineffective?

▲ Image from car owner

This statement has been confirmed by insiders of Guanghui Baoxin on a certain social platform.

According to the person, the individual maintenance packages sold at that time were all paid by the car owner to a private WeChat account, and were only sold for 500 yuan each time, starting from 5 times. They have been sold for several years. This also means that the Baoxin 4S store did receive payment from the car owner at that time, but it was not entered into the 4S store's system.

In addition to the Baoxin 4S dealership deceiving car owners by "stealing beams and changing pillars", they also make verbal promises to car owners, and even guide them to purchase various packages at the dealership before selling. Car owners who have let down their guard have chosen to trust 4S dealerships without exception, but now they have become the most angry group in the rights protection movement.

For Jiangsu Weijie Group, taking over the business is easy but managing is difficult.

The first challenge that lies ahead is the after-sales "legacy" problem of acquiring Baoxin BMW; Secondly, BMW's official announcement of fully integrating into the HarmonyOS ecosystem has undoubtedly promoted its new energy transformation process and given dealers strong confidence, but it has also raised the assessment standards for the proportion of new energy vehicle sales among dealers.

In the eyes of industry insiders, relying on traditional channels to sell new energy vehicles in order to achieve a "dual handed" pattern of fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles still requires a period of transition. Currently, the urgent problem that Jiangsu Weijie Group needs to solve is still how 4S stores can stabilize customer sources and regain trust from a large number of existing BMW owners.

03. 4S "running away", OEM rescue, and fundamental changes in customer lock mode

In the wave of 4S store closures, the experience of Weijie Zhibao 4S store rights protection car owners is not an isolated case.

According to media reports, over 200 Volvo car owners have reported that when the Beijing Yanhao Volvo 4S store closed, they promised to transfer users' maintenance rights to Beijing Xinyihao Automobile Trading Co., Ltd. However, the latter claimed that they could not provide maintenance services due to "no stored value found in Beijing Yanhao's system" and "insufficient evidence provided", resulting in some users' over 10000 yuan maintenance savings being unable to be redeemed.

Even while the owners of Weijie Zhibao 4S dealerships were advocating for their rights, the media also exposed the sudden bankruptcy of Dongguan Baoxin, resulting in non refundable deposits and wasted maintenance packages for car owners; The authorization of Shaoxing Jieshun Porsche 4S store has been cancelled, and car owners' maintenance packages, vouchers, etc. cannot be serviced or refunded; Beijing Yuntong Group's Yuntong and Sheng Audi 4S stores, Yuntong and Qiaojie Leopard Land Rover 4S stores, and Yuntong Xiangbao BMW 4S stores in Hangzhou have collectively closed, resulting in the loss of after-sales rights for nearly 2000 car owners.

There are various situations, but none of them are sufficient.

What makes car owners laugh and cry even more is that the neighboring 4S store has already taken action, attracting car owners to come to the store with complimentary and free benefits. However, it is evident that car owners are no longer easily tempted by such promotional information, and are particularly wary of the "store protection rights" launched by 4S stores.

After BMW dealerships change ownership, they refuse to accept old debts, and the million dollar after-sales rights of car owners are lost. The 4S package lock up model is becoming ineffective?

▲ Image from car owner

It can be seen that the traditional prepaid package lock up model of 4S stores is facing a serious trust crisis: firstly, frequent changes in ownership or closures of 4S stores result in the inability to fulfill long-term after-sales services purchased by car owners; Secondly, the chaos of bundled sales and excessive promises has repeatedly infringed upon the rights and interests of car owners.

This collapse of trust directly affects the consumption decisions of car owners - they no longer blindly trust the "store guarantee package" of 4S stores, but cautiously transfer their trust to car manufacturers.

In this context, host manufacturers need to maintain cooperative relationships with distributors while also preventing channel risks from affecting brand reputation, so they have to intervene.

On the one hand, SAIC General Motors and Chery have officially launched online maintenance sales business; On the other hand, for example, BYD prohibits 4S stores from bundling manufacturer rights and bundled package rights, and the way 4S stores lock in customers is undergoing fundamental changes.

However, the involvement of host manufacturers is more aimed at attracting traffic to 4S stores. Due to high price transparency and limited profit margins, it is difficult to truly convert it into a sustainable source of profit for 4S stores. The original after-sales "profit cow does not produce milk" will become the most serious survival crisis that 4S stores face.