Used car sales to face closer govt scrutiny

• Source: Global Times
• [08:05 November 05 2009]
• Comments

A used car on sale. Shanghai GM launched its used car sales and exchange services October 31. Photo: CFP

By Li Qiaoyi

A new rule to impose tighter supervision on the country's used car market was issued by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) and six other ministries and commissions Tuesday.

Stricter market access conditions are to be imposed and running used car businesses without a license will be clamped down on, according to the new rule.

The measures are to be taken to efficiently regulate the used car trading market, as there has been unfair competition and cheating of consumers in recent years, an unnamed official of SAIC was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

The exact timeframe within which the measures are to be implemented was not specified, however.

The country's used car market has been improving in the past few years, partly driven by tighter rules and partly spurred on by dealers' growing awareness about how to attract customers, said Wang Miao, a car dealer at the Beijing Used Car Market, one of the largest in the country.

Standard sales contracts and invoices are already being used,

which is in accordance with the new rule, he added.

And now it is easier to check used cars' records in order to avoid illegal tricks such as falsifying mileage, Wang said.

'As used car deals are to become safer, the market should grow in the future," Wang added.

Sales of used vehicles rose 15 percent from a year earlier to almost 300,000 units in the first three quarters of 2009 in Beijing, according to information from the Beijing Used Car Market.

There is probably some cheating going on in the market, but buyers can play it safe by picking sellers with clean records, said Fu Tongqing, an engineer who has made many used car transactions at the Beijing market.

People sign contracts with dealers who promise if malfeasance is discovered, they will get a 100 percent refund as compensation, Fu added.

'The used car market will continue to improve since information about the automobiles has become more accessible to buyers," Fu said.