When a new car arrives, everyone is looking forward to paying off the car in one lump sum and getting rid of the entanglement of loans. But in fact, consumers who are willing to take out a loan to buy a car still account for the majority, why is that?
On the surface, 4S stores are always enthusiastic about buying cars with loans, which seems to be for the convenience of consumers and reduce their financial burden.
There is a saying in the industry: "If a car makes enough profits, it will not earn handling fees, and if the profits are insufficient, it will also be earned along with loan handling fees." From these words, we may be able to get a glimpse of some of the hidden motives behind the 4S store's advocacy of taking out loans to buy cars.
01
Chain of interests
In the car sales, there are carefully designed "money-making chains", which closely link 4S shops with banks, insurance companies, repair shops and other institutions, and become the contractors of each other's interests.
4S stores, as the first front line directly facing consumers, naturally occupy the most critical link in this money-making chain, car sales is their main business, but with the intensification of market competition, a single profit model obviously can not meet the needs of stores. So, they turned their attention to add-on services that seemed unrelated to sales, but were inextricably linked.
Whenever a customer enters the 4S store and begins to choose a favorite car to be finalized, the salesperson will always warmly recommend the way to consider a loan to buy a car, which can not only save a lot of money, but also enjoy low-interest discounts.
In order to promote the loan business and expand its influence, the bank did not hesitate to give a part of the commission calculated as a percentage of the total loan amount to the 4S store to encourage it to make profits for the bank's services.
Through this "benefit delivery", the sales staff of 4S stores have a strong motivation to promote the loan to buy a car as a default consumption model.
In order to seize a larger share, banks and financial companies have already extended their competitive tentacles to 4S stores.
In addition to providing fixed commissions, the two parties will also sign loan rebate agreements, that is, when the annual loan volume of 4S stores reaches a certain scale, banks and financial companies will return with more generous rebates, which undoubtedly further intensifies the enthusiasm of 4S stores to market loans to consumers.
In this way, a large amount of funds are circulated between banks, financial institutions and 4S stores in the name of consumers, and loan purchases have become an increasingly popular form of consumption in car sales, but the story of buying cars does not end there, and the harvest of 4S stores for consumers is far from stopping.
As agents, 4S stores have always known how to grasp the psychological weaknesses of consumers, they either directly bundle insurance when selling, or induce customers to give up the right to buy insurance on their own, and confuse consumers with the so-called "professional" and "preferential".
These practices may seem simple, but in fact they are ready for winter, because in the process of promoting insurance, 4S stores have long been linked to insurance companies - as long as the 4S stores provide business to the insurance company, the insurance company will take up to 45% of the premium income and return the commission to the 4S store. This is jokingly called "hard work" in the industry, but it is actually the sharing of the spoils of the interests of the two companies.
For the 4S store, this amount is considerable, a vehicle of 100,000 yuan, the insurance cost is about 4,000 yuan, then the 4S store can earn nearly 2,000 yuan in commission income.
In addition to the insurance business, the interest chain of the 4S store has not stopped, in order to further make profits, through the so-called "free maintenance" benefits, the 4S store will induce consumers to go to the designated maintenance point with which the interests are bundled, when the consumer has a sense of trust in the maintenance point after several free maintenance, the "circle money" drama of the 4S shop and the maintenance point kicked off.
Similar to the cooperation model of insurance companies, 4S shops will receive a certain percentage of rebate commissions from repair points, which in turn can get more customers to continue to transfuse their blood.
Therefore, driven by interests, the maintenance point will inevitably raise the cost of the original daily maintenance project.
The interest conveyor chain staged in this scene has long tied 4S shops, banks, insurance companies, and maintenance banks together. They form a community of interests and share the spoils of profit in different ways, and the only ones who pay the price are destined to be ignorant consumers.
02
How to make money in 4S stores
There is a world of difference between buying a car in full and buying a car in installments in terms of high profits, but it is inevitable that the consumer's independent choice is a bit rushed, and the 4S stores will inevitably have some "unique skills" for many years, and they will first use the temptation of preferential activities to let consumers take the initiative to set their sights on the installment payment plan.
The preferential plan of "30% down payment with zero interest" lies in front of consumers, with the so-called "naked car discount", "free configuration upgrade" and other supplementary benefits.
Thinking about it, it doesn't seem to be a big deal, so consumers can easily "take the bait", but who would have thought that this simple decision is actually leaving the beginning of a trap for themselves?
Just the installment payment plan itself, the 4S store has earned the first pot of gold, and then the second step of the game begins - the link of invisible charges.
The first bomb is called "Financial Fees". Looking at this awkward name, consumers will most likely understand it as a reasonable charge from a bank or financial company, but they don't know that this fee is actually completely dominated by the 4S store, which has no industry requirements and no need to pay to a third party, it is just an excuse for "making profits".
In the past, car owners used to go to the vehicle management office to go through the registration procedures in person, and the cost was only a few hundred yuan. But 4S stores don't see it that way, they have the power to take care of all the procedures, and then raise the cost of this service to hundreds or even thousands.
What's more, in the marketing rhetoric of some 4S stores, an unheard-of "GPS installation fee" has been derived, which charges consumers in the name of the loan monitoring system, and at the same time implies that if the owner chooses other options, the vehicle will face the risk of theft.
03
How to choose
For those with strong economic strength, full payment is undoubtedly the most simple and direct choice, once the owner pays off the full amount of the car, you can completely keep the beloved new car as your own, no longer entangled with the bank or 4S shop, and do not need to worry about repaying the loan.
But for most ordinary consumers, paying hundreds of thousands of yuan at once is a bit reluctant. At this time, the way to buy a car with a loan highlights its own advantages.
With a down payment and a later installment, car owners can quickly own the new car of their dreams, while also effectively reducing the financial pressure in the early stage.
Buying a car with a loan has opened the door for ordinary consumers to realize their car dreams, but behind this door, there are still some hidden traps.
Hidden costs such as interest and handling fees are everywhere, bringing a heavy burden to the wallets of car owners, and once they fall into the "routine" of banks and 4S stores, they are more likely to suffer from false marketing and misleading consumption.
In this regard, only by having a full understanding of the loan details and a clear understanding of your own financial ability before buying a car can you avoid being left in the dark.
You must learn to use it flexibly, compare prices with different 4S stores repeatedly, and finally choose the loan plan that is most beneficial to you. Remember, it's better to be cautious than to follow blindly.
Of course, the risk prevention of taking out a loan to buy a car is far more than that, and there are some cunning merchants who will play tricks in the process of buying a car and ask customers to buy unnecessary additional services.
At this point, how to refuse without losing the dignity of being a car owner will test the wisdom and determination of car owners.
Resources:
[1] Sina Finance, on July 26, 2022, GAC Toyota No. 1 4S store mortgaged the new car certificate and owed debts and was involved in a lawsuit, and the owner could not get a license